Thread: 1972 Olds Cutlass S

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First of all, i have an Olds 350, and soon to be accompanied by a 455. I am looking for ways, and ideas to improve performance to the edge of street legal. any help or advice would be greatly appreciated

What does that mean?
Legal? Most states have laws that make ANY mods illegal!
If you are not hampered by smog inspections, and don't care about the laws, then see summitracing.com or jegs.com and look through their catalogs.

street legal and streetable are two different things....if you expect to drive it daily, or in rush hour or cruise traffic you want to go one way, or at least not too far. You can make 1000 HP with the 455, but not for thousands of miles, and you make compromises in idle, vacuum, noise, heat, accessories, etc.

With the 455 you should be able to make a reasonable 500 HP and drive it on the street.

get a subscription or back issued of car craft or see twir website - i think they built up a 455 in the past year or 2

Making big power with an oldsmobile plant is kind of a lost art- Everyone seems to favor Big Block chev's or Ponchos- But Olds motors can be very potent- and there ARE sources out there, but you have to look for them. you will notice if you look through summit or jegs that there really aren't a lot of parts for them.... Or at least they don't list them...

you best resource for building an olds motor:
http://www.mondellotwister.com/
These guys KNOW olds. Get their catalog-

Probably the best Oldsmobile messageboard site i have found:
http://www.realoldspower.com
A lot of die hard drag racers on there who can tell you exactly what you need to do to that 455 to make her pull the front tires.

Now- Having laid all that out for you...
You really need to detail what your plans for the car will be. Do you:

A. plan to make it an all out race car for the 1/4 mile?
B. plan to drive it on the street, but want more power than stock?
C. You want to drive it on the street, but also be able to go fast at the track.

If you plan to drive it on the street an occasionally race it- I woulnd't go too crazy- Do a basic rebuild, get some good flowing heads(some of the stock heads were good) and slap in a W-31 (442 performance) cam in it and you will have a blast.

If you just want to race it- Go to the mondello's site- you will have to get some of their specialized stuff to pull off High HP and Torque #- keep in mind if you do that though, it probably won't be very streetable, if at all- and you will have to completly rebuild the rear suspension to handle it....

Good luck with it! 455's are fun!

Summit has a lot of stuff that is not in their catalog. Like the trans converter from TCI i picked up on sunday...if it had been in their book, i woulnd't have gotten the wrong one the first time.

In order to gain the kind of power your looking for out of an olds, you must first of all remember, Dont treat it like a chevy! If you try to, it will tell you otherwise by giving you a nice metallic show all over the road. Ask my first 455 . anyway, A slight overbore would help you out, I would reccomend about .020- .030 over. Pay the extra money for the file fit rings, it will matter if you plan to keep this around afor a while. Also, edelbrocks heads are of decent quality, but I personally reccomend the High compression 70 factory high compression heads. (anyone remember the casting number? ) also, you can go and search for the oldsmobile faq. Theres some good info there. The w-31 cam was good in the 70s, but you can do better. Contact Comp cams, or mondello, they can grind a much better cam. As for the intake, you can hollow your factory runners, or replace it with an edelbrock unit. I had the edelbrock. This combo in a 82 cutlass 4dr (squeeze!) could pull low 13s with little struggle. I think I was pushing almost 650HP, and it would idle and drive street. Finally, Make A Ram Air System. On oldsmobile engines with their notirously high timing, this makes a world of difference. Hopes this helps.

Just for future referance, I have personally wasted well over a hundered "Big Apple" ricegrinders over the last two years. For some reason, they seem to run when a 4dr car bearing the logos DRG84 (my personall ID) show up. Last time, only two would meet up against me. They looked good in the rearview mirror. Those stupid neon lights diddn't help them At All! Damn, I love the V8 powered sleepers. Dont you?

So when you set up a neon/focus/cavalier to look like a rice grinder (grape shooter tail pipe, decals, wheels, neon, etc), sicne these are 'amurrican' cars, are they ricegrinders, street rods or just perversions?

Granted I'm runnig a 260, but I'm still capable of running past any thing that says made in japan in japanese. I'm not gonna take on a 350 powered t-bucket though. If that car is as clean as it looks, you'd waste me. Anyway, a american car dressed as a japanese is a hard call. If your doing a riced setup, it is that. If you use good all american technology, its american. Or at least in my eyes.

Beware some rice rockets...teh Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7...under 30k, and stock will 0-60 in under 5.0 secs, will supposedly out slalom a Vette....have not seen a full test yet...and it be 4 cyl, 4WD, 4 door....turbo inter cooled 271 HP....and very much japanese

I once thought little of Fiero's, until one ran away from me like i was parked....

trucks, however, are s l o w. Haven't raced a Lightening F150 tho...

I wont argue against those who actually buy cars and make them right. I've raced a lancer, and outran him by somewhere around 1/10th of a second. That was before my 455 blew (watch the compression people) However, more and more cars today are just slapped togeter, and they think they can beat anything american. This is the reason i built the olds. Anyway, the PONTIAC fiero is not all that fast. I helped my friend greg nevinger build one up to decent. The lightning looks nice, but I personally want to hook up against a hemi powerered 1500. Light truck, hemi, potential. But reprogram that stupid emission obsessed computer and let the thing breathe!

Hey, man, I just took a 5 second look at it. What do you expect, miracles? Anyway, who is the lady in west sparta? Maybe I know her.

Comeon, i know most of west sparta. Drop me a Last name. I'll tell ya if I know anyone by that name, OK?

If ya want some good articles and ya want to see some cool Oldsmobiles, check out 442.com. There's lotsa good info there. When you talk about just the block, F casting blocks have a higher nickel content and are generally found on 72 or earlier Oldsmobiles but there's nothin' wrong with a later block, you just won't be able to bore it as much (which I would not recommend anyway).

Heads - If ya can find E or F casting heads, they're like gold. Off original 442's. C casting heads have the best flow of stock Olds heads (except 442 heads) and are generally found on 70 or earlier Olds'. If ya use these, ya need to make sure that you get leaded valve seats put in them for using unleaded gas. C heads have 2.070-30degree intake and 1.625-45degree exhaust valves if they are from a 4 bbl motor and only 2.000-45degree intakes from a 2 bbl motor. G or GA heads are good 2.000-45deg intake, 1.625-45deg exhaust (in most cases) and are already set up with unleaded valve seats.
I like the idea of going with a reproduction W-30 cam. Just remember, it's not a chevy so bigger isn't better. If you're running an automatic trans, you should know your differential gear ratio and get a cam for that combo. Oldsmobiles do not rev much above 6000 unless you have a lot of work in them (which means big $$$)
Get a deep oil pan and an oil pump pickup that matches your pan. You will also want a high volume oil pump. Olds motor are not good at getting oil to the top of the motor with stock oil pump.
I recommend a rochester quadrajet or edelbrock carb. Stay away from Holley carbs unless you really know how to tune them. My experience with Rochester and Edelbrock are that they don't need much tuning.
I would use a Edelbrock Performer 455 intake for normal street use, Torker is for much higher RPM's than you'll need on the street.
You're better off with an earlier block because it will probably also have a nodular steel crank. If you have a later block, you'll probably have a forged steel crank. If you're rebuilding you're motor and you have the bucks, replace the forged steel crank. If you don't have the bucks, a forged steel crank should work fine.
This will give you around 400-500 HP and will move a 3000 72 cutlass to about 12 or 13 second 1/4 times with a 350 turbo trans and a 373 POSI (roughly speaking).

Attn DUBYA30
Congrats! You have really impressed me! You built olds before? Anyway, there are a few things that bother me about your setup. 1st of all, the T350 is not a good tranny for the 455. 500ft-lbs and small intake ports are not a good combo. I would reccomend the t400 or a race kit t350. It does make a difference, but in this car, the t400 is more cost efficent. As for the oil pan, i would reccomend the marine 455 oil pan. It should not interfere with the steering gear, and it should give you a 2 quart advantage. Or, you could do as I did. I extended the pipe down, angled it sideways and took it across the pan. This may seem like a lot of ork, but it does work and will keep a good oil flow. Just be sure to change you oil regularly. Hope it helps.

I agree about the t400 but the cutlass probably came equipped with a t350 and I would leave it in and save up for a built t400 or if your looking for a fun street combo, have a reputable trans shop build you a 700r4. You get a tough trans and ... bonus... 1st and 2nd gear are steeper than a t400. You also get better streetable driving with the OD.
Oh, get a Mondello main straps & studs kit (about $100).

And if ya got the cash, kit 6040 from Mondello - they tell you how to prepare your block and they give you the rotating assembly.

If ya have lots of $$$ about $10,000, you can buy a complete engine from Mondello.

thx drg for the compliment. I worked on several 350's of my own. I have helped a few friends with big blocks. I'm working on mine right now. I didn't build the engine but I got a really great deal on it. $200 for a re-built BBOlds with 8 hours on it. It came out of a jet boat. Having problems with too large of a cam and only a stock converter.