redoldsman

I am betting on an old stretched timing chain and a clogged cat. Those would take away a lot of power.

GEARMAN69

Besides the stuff above like duals , a major problem with th 80's 307 is they had the leanest most horrific thick secondary metering rods in the Quadrajet. The DD rods are the ones at the bottom of the list. Allows almost no fuel and completely worthless.

http://www.hioutput.com/tech/qjetrod.html

I friends mom had a mid 80's 307 full-size and it was turd slow and with air cleaner lid flipped over it did nothing , it was like the secondaries didn't even open. The car couldn't power brake spin the tire or anything. We inspected the rods and found the gross .1047" tips and swapped them to something normal that would pass fuel and it was amazing night and day difference. It now would hit the secondaries like it should and sound and pulled pulled pulled. It would now power brake and spin tires too. All it took was to flip the lid and swap the rods in the rear. That was without doing anything else like freeing up the exhaust that would compliment the carb change. Try some rods from the middle of the list between .410-.567 tip size with lid flipped. Its cheap

Long term a 403 build makes sense and can be dressed to look like the the old 307

Northern Custom Cruiser

Thats what i thought, but im under here and it doesnt seem to be to obvious of its location

Northern Custom Cruiser

I dont think the cat is clogged, it smells fine if thats how you tell. And by adjusting my timing would that solve the stretched chain causing a loss of power?

GEARMAN69

If it still has a heavy pancake pellet filled style converter its killing off a lot of power too

Northern Custom Cruiser

How would i know which it is without pulling it off?

GEARMAN69

just the look of it is easy


Here is the crappy pellet kind

GEARMAN69

here is the better type and the new aftermarket if you must use one in your state

GEARMAN69

Check those secondary rods, all you need it a small flat head screw driver unless it has the Torx type connection but you can also grab it with regular pliers to break it loose if you dont have the Torx tips for screwdriver

Here are new .527 tip ones
http://www.jegs.com/i/Edelbrock/350/...rentProductId=

Northern Custom Cruiser

When adjusting the timing, how do you lossen the distributor in order to twist it around?

Northern Custom Cruiser

What exactly are those and where do they go haha

GEARMAN69

Here , they are what allows fuel in the back to large barrels of the carburetor. The rods are what is changed to "re jet" the carb on the four barrel

GEARMAN69

Here is a visual of the dreaded "DD' stamped thick rods

Professur

What he's not telling you is that changing those rods will cost you half a tank of gas for every Prius you encounter.

GEARMAN69

What ever man , lets not cloud his head with BS

Professur

Found a video on looking for stretched timing chains. He's working on a Ford, but the method works for GMs too.

Costs nothing to check, but it'll save you a lot of maybe unnecessary work hunting in other places.

MDchanic

I really think it's time the OP got a proper manual and read through it before going much further.

He's got a lot of background information to catch up on.

- Eric

GEARMAN69

The old Chiltons manuals actually taught me when I started in the 80's . So good point.

Northern Custom Cruiser

Ive got a Chilton manual, but it seems to leave out all of the fine details. For example, im attempting to adjust my timing and i read through the whole section of timing and adjusting it and it doesnt tell me exactly how i go about adjusting it. Just repeatedly states to adjust it to what your car alls for. If im correct, dont you rotate the distributor to adjust the timing? I do not have a tach meter so i was going to just adjust it by listening and i cant even figure out how to loosen it without taking it apart. I dont care if the book were 3000 pages long, id read it all if it contained the info i was looking for. I dont know, maybe im looking in the wrong place. Ill take all of your advice on getting a factory manual, as ive heard from alot that the Haynes and Chilton are a waist of time if you plan on trying to go in depth.

GEARMAN69

Don't loosen it unless you have a timing light handy to check it before doing anything. Also have to disconnect vacuum advance or computer connection single wire to show base timing. Assuming you have the electronic Quadrajet and Feed back ECM setup. BTW the secondary rods thing is a non computer part of the carburetor and no different to tune than an older one. Once you have the timing light and can check current timing you would loose clamp below distributor where it goings into block and a 9/16 hex head bolt retaining it you would loosen only. Then small rotation adjustment of distributor , very minor amount. Idle will increase if you advance it normally. You really need an experienced person there with you to show you the ropes though. Stock is like 20 degrees BTDC so if it is a good bit lower than that you may gain some torque from bumping it up. Honestly though if it runs smooth and drives good I would just swap those rods and flip over that air cleaner lid and go for a drive

Northern Custom Cruiser

As long as it only costs me that gas when i want it to cost me that gas and it doesnt hurt anything i see no issues haha

GEARMAN69

Here is what it looks like but don't mess with it yet

Northern Custom Cruiser

It drives smooth enough, but i have to give the pedal a good press and make it kick it into overdrive just to stay at 40 mph up a hill. When it idles, however, it sounds terrible. Not strong at all. If i give the pedal a quick press while its parked to rev it real quick on its way slowing back down it almost stops completely, then comes back to live. The other CC i had soumded much more tight, stong, and persistent than this one is performing

droldsmorland

Here is my suggestion. Try to get the most out of the 307 by checking its health with a compression test, for now, (theres a right and wrong way top do this). Purchase a compression gauge and a vacuum/pressure gauge. You should have these in your basic tool collection. Sears has decent tools at decent prices. You could even open up a Sears charge which IF managed properly will help you build personal credit. If the 07 checks out OK then try to get it to run the best that it can...ONE STEP AT A TIME. Ignition tune, and carb/fuel sys, check for vacuum leaks, verify the exhaust isnt clogged etc.... This approach will do a few things; acclimate you to the engine and its quirks, buy you time to look for a suitable donner engine if needed and make some friends who have grease under their fingernails. Getting frustrated with a project is the WORST thing you can do when learning the ropes on wrenching, ask how I know. Do the cruse-nights and car shows. This is where you network and find other fellow like-minded grease monkeys. xxxxx street machines dot com usually has the cruse schedule posted for your area. Put your nearest city name in place of the Xs. Oldsmobile Club of America is another great club. Get out there and meet folks and make friends and enjoy the cruising and commendatory. Dont be cocky, close mouth and open ears and ask questions at the right time and you be off an running, most of all enjoying the experience.

Northern Custom Cruiser

All of which i find great advice. I even have an extra CC with a good engine, but its a 87 which from the guys on here say isnt quite as good as the earlier 83.

GEARMAN69

^^^ Yep what he said. Also though lets say the compression is ok on all 8 cylinders and it just has a funky yucked up ECM Qjet and ECM style HEI,,, an option is to set up with a 1976-1980 style 5.7-6.6 Olds Qjet that does not use computer and a regular new HEI distributor. The new Dizzy is cheap on Ebay ready to go if that decision comes later

$42.50 LOL
http://www.ebay.com/itm/OLDSMOBILE-V...ui8xPg&vxp=mtr

droldsmorland

Vacuum leak likely. This is where you need to purchase a vacuum gauge. With the miles of hose you have chances are they're brittle, cracked and leaking. Pull some spark plugs and "read"(look) at them. White tips mean lean which means vacuum leak. A vacuum gauge is the single most important tuning tool in your arsenal...for now. "Working-fluid" would move to this position after your 21.

Northern Custom Cruiser

What is this "working-fluid" you speak of?

Northern Custom Cruiser

In this video is shows a tiny measuring thing with teeth, ive tried to find this on my olds but it doesnt seem to exist

droldsmorland

BEER! of course...

Northern Custom Cruiser

Technically, i do whatever i want in my garage as the Constitution allows me to do in private, i dont think im obligated to wait until im 21 and as far as the law is concerned, it was given to me by a legal guardian (;

GEARMAN69

Everyone have a BEER-TASTIC weekend !!!

droldsmorland

Before I go into a lengthy description of exactly how to time your car by the book. Lets do it shade tree style(also lengthy...lol).
Loosen the clamp that pinches the distributor shaft to the block. (Special L shaped timing wrenches exist to make this easy...google). I think its a 9/16" bolt, but verify it. Only loosen enough to allow twisting of the entire distributor in the block. Grab the cap and twist...Experiment. Go too far in one direction and the engine bogs...go too far in the other direction and the engine skips. Bog is too retarded, skip or popping out the exhaust is too far advanced. You want to twist the distributor towards the skip as far as it will go without skipping or spark knocking. I will leave my distributor loose (just enough to allow twist) and take it out on the road. Punch gas, pull over adjust. Repeat until it knocks. Then back off slightly. If it still knocks back off a little more until the knock goes away. That setting is the most advanced that the engine will run without pre-ignition (aka spark knock). Snug the hold down clamp, not over tight.

Now I suggest before doing this that the ignition parts are in good shape and there isnt any vacuum leaks. Then adjust timing and the air fuel adjustment screws in the carb(if they are there?).

Another method to get these two settings close while the car inst moving is to use the vacuum gauge. By twisting the distributor while watching the vac gauge you want to achieve the highest possible vac signal you can achieve. Same goes for the carb air/fuel adjustment...highest reading.. Go back n forth at each of these two settings doing small tweaks until the gauge gives you the highest reading. If the gauge is too erratic that indicates a vacuum leak at the carb or one of the many hoses. See how important the vac gauge is for tuning.

droldsmorland

Agreed, responsibly of course. If you can enlist in the service and die for this country you should be allow a beer or seven. Change the enlistment age or the drinking age to match IMO. Been on that band wagon for years...30+

droldsmorland

Only in Texas! Hopadillo and a mason jar. I like your style sir!

Northern Custom Cruiser

See, you accomplished more than the book has in this one post haha. Seem like buying a few gauges are in my near future. Thank you very much for this post

Northern Custom Cruiser

[QUOTE=GEARMAN69;914264]Besides the stuff above like duals , a major problem with th 80's 307 is they had the leanest most horrific thick secondary metering rods in the Quadrajet. The DD rods are the ones at the bottom of the list. Allows almost no fuel and completely worthless.

http://www.hioutput.com/tech/qjetrod.html

I friends mom had a mid 80's 307 full-size and it was turd slow and with air cleaner lid flipped over it did nothing , it was like the secondaries didn't even open. The car couldn't power brake spin the tire or anything. We inspected the rods and found the gross .1047" tips and swapped them to something normal that would pass fuel and it was amazing night and day difference. It now would hit the secondaries like it should and sound and pulled pulled pulled. It would now power brake and spin tires too. All it took was to flip the lid and swap the rods in the rear. That was without doing anything else like freeing up the exhaust that would compliment the carb change. Try some rods from the middle of the list between .410-.567 tip size with lid flipped. Its cheap

Long term a 403 build makes sense and can be dressed to look like the the old 307
Ill give that a try, turd slow sounds like an accurate description of my car, also i believe i have that crappy pancake cat that was mentioned earlier. My state has no emissions crap laws that would hinder anything i could do to this car so would a regular aftermarket cat be my best choice?

Professur

Look down from the top, behind the belts. It's there. Not really necessary until you're actually timing it. If there's any significant delay between moving the crank and the rotor moving, it's too much. If it's an original chain with all the plastic worn off, it'll be significant.

Professur

Important question NCC ... do you know why there is a vacuum and what it's doing there?

GEARMAN69

If you don't need a Cat on it to pass inspection then if moneys too tight to get duals put on I would just put a straight pipe to replace the cat it has if the rest of the pipe is in good shape.

Like already mentioned you likely have a lot of dry cracked old vacuum lines and hoes and dried up hard carb base gasket too. The mid 80's GM V8's were really covered in a spaghetti mess of crap but can be liberated of it. If the carb has not been off in years I would buy a new base gasket while replacing and or capping off some of the vacuum lines.