ok. i just cleaned up my motor number plate and found out i have a 307. now the fun begans. i have to wait till i get my stearing column in and on to know if the car is gonna run. if all is well im gonna put in a small RV cam,new lifters,rockers and pushrods.i was wondering if its worth the money and trouble to put headers on my motor wile i have it torn down. i already got rid of the smog pump and mounts and the cat converters are next to go along with the stock muffler.

 

You may find that pulling the smog pump may make the engine run worse as the o2 sensor expects to see some extra air mixed in.
The 307 runs best when either all smog crap is there and working correctly, OR all of it is removed and a non-smog disty and carb are used.

Here is a nice guide to go my when improving the 307...
http://tlentz.oldsgmail.com/more_power.html

 

Sink the money into a 350. (Oldsmobile version, NOT a Chebby motor). Sadly, the power from a 307 isnt there unless you do some SERIOUS upgrades.

John

 

Either that or a 403.

 

That's just a myth. A 307 running on the computer will not be affected in any way by removing the smog pump ( and some other emission devices as well ) guaranteed.

Wildcard, I'd say put the headers on. It isn't going to make a huge difference in power but when you convert to a bigger motor in the future ( and you will! ), you'll already be setup with a nice exhaust system and headers.

 

Exactly.

I would do the headers since headers have to fit both the body and the motor, and as long as you plan on doing an Olds motor in the future, do te headers now and exhaust is done. I'm in the process of doing the same thing.

However, dropping all that cash into a 307, Not worth it. Get the parts, then drop the cash into a 350 Olds and DONE

 

olds 350s are hard to come by in my part of arkansas. most of them end up in these stupidly made up cars with huge rims. by the time i can get ahold of one, the motor is beat soo badly your only hope would be to bore it to the max and hope for the best.

 

It's probably worth your while to look in a different part of Arkansas.

- Eric

 

I currently am running a 307 on my 72 as a means to get around while I built my 350. It was plesantly surprised. Stone stock with the o.e. Aluminum intake, a holley 650 double pumper a carb spacer, proform hei, full length headers, x pipe, with a 2300 stall and 3.73 gears. I was plenty peppy. Could lay down some rubber and sounded good for a 307. Plus all those parts can be used on a 350 when you find one down the road. Since they are not internal.

 

I have no clue where you are at but...


http://fayar.craigslist.org/pts/3451232642.html

http://fayar.craigslist.org/pts/3427341451.html

http://fayar.craigslist.org/pts/3339428752.html

 

Actually, you want to feel more power out of that motor? Change the rear end gear to something like a 3:23 or 3:41. Top speed will drop, but you will get a nice kick off the line.

John

 

I agree with Rob. If you remove the smog pump the O2 sensor will read incorrectly. If you remove the smog pump replace your distributor and carburetor.

As far as the headers are concerned if you put them on your 307 then you can always use them on a 350 in the future.

 

I agree. What kind of car is it? If it's not a 442, it could have 2.14s if it's a 3-speed. The gears will make a huge difference.

 

No it 100% will NOT! The smog pump does NOT work that way. The only time the smog pump blows air ahead of the O2 sensor is when the engine is running in open loop and the computer isn't controlling anything ( the O2 sensor is too cold to give any readings ). Once the engine's warmed up and operating in closed loop, the smog pump doesn't blow any air ahead of the O2 sensor ( it blows into the cat ).

So you can see that removing the smog pump simply cannot effect what the O2 sensor is reading. I and many others have removed the smog pump and ran perfectly fine on the CCC system because of this. Removing the smog pump and saying it will affect the O2 sensor readings is as big of a myth as headers not fitting Supreme model's and SMW 403's!

 

i picked up a holley 4bbl today. i gotta clean it and put a o ring kit on then the carb is goin on my car. the cat and o2 sensor is already gone so i dont have to worry about that. i still have the stock distrubtor for now. its just a big waiting game now. gotta redo the carb and wait for my stearing column to get here. after ive heard the car run and have drivin it then comes the performance upgrade parts.headers, distubtor, flowmaster single in dual out and some different rear gears if i dont like the way its set up now.

 

I think you'll have to make getting a new vacuum advance distributor your top priority for sure. Why? Because the stock distributor provides timing advance via the computer and since you're not using the computer you'll get no timing advance at all so your performance/milage will be terrible.

 

whats a good distrubtor to go with?

 

A good used pre 1981 stock HEI (non computerized) unit is fine, but upgrade the ignition module. You can get a new Chinesium one from any autoparts chain if you wanted to go that route.

John