Ok As some may know I bought a 1984 Olds 88 Custom Cruiser wagon. It runs decent but has an exhaust leak. And it's way too quiet. So I went to the Exhaust shop expecting to get a custom full true dual exhaust. But they got it on the lift and much to my surprise they have the left bank exhaust run from the manifold under the engine and up into the right exhaust manifold. Then the exhaust exits of of that. Very weird if you ask me. And the engine is only a 307 so it's not that big. So I need to know if the bellhousing for that automatic is BOP or if it is standard GM. If it is I may do an engine swap. Which means one of two options. Either go tried and true, run of the mill 454 swap. Or the DARE TO BE DIFFERENT route and go with a 292 Chevy straight 6 with split headers, cam, and either a single 4bbl, dual quads, or 3 2bbls intake.The straight six may not make a ton of horsepower but it will make huge torque numbers. And You will never kill it. And it will be really different. Now if the bellhousing is a BOP then I may go to a Buick 455. And help is greatly appreciated.

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The BOP bellhousing is different from the Chevy, BUT, your car may have the "corporate" bellhousing pattern on the tranny. If it does, it will accept Chevy engines as well as Buick, Olds and Pontiac (not sure about Caddy). You can also get a turbo 350 tranny for Chevy pretty cheap. That one probably has the weak Turbo 200 or 200c The engine will go in with new motor mounts (junkyard run) and the tranny will fall right in. Just rob everything from a similar Malibu, Monte Carlo, El Camino or wagon and you're set.

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1986 SE 350 V8

quote Originally posted by tesmith66: The BOP bellhousing is different from the Chevy, BUT, your car may have the "corporate" bellhousing pattern on the tranny. If it does, it will accept Chevy engines as well as Buick, Olds and Pontiac (not sure about Caddy). You can also get a turbo 350 tranny for Chevy pretty cheap. That one probably has the weak Turbo 200 or 200c The engine will go in with new motor mounts (junkyard run) and the tranny will fall right in. Just rob everything from a similar Malibu, Monte Carlo, El Camino or wagon and you're set.

Not sure what tranny it has but it does have overdrive. Would the 200 or 200C have that?

quote Originally posted by The_Stickman2: Not sure what tranny it has but it does have overdrive. Would the 200 or 200C have that?

According to Wikipedia if it is a four speed it is a 200-4R. All 200-4R's were produced with both Chevy and BOP patterns.

[This message has been edited by FieroJimmy (edited 02-15-2008).]

I would put a turbo 350 trans in it. I got one with a Chevy and BOP bell housing on it for $500. Had the same engine in my 85 Cutlass and even that was enough to tear up my 200 trans with just minor mods to it. At least that way down the line you can go with whatever engine you can find that best suits you at the time.

-JOE

I would say that it has the Chevy bolt pattern. I do know that the RWD 3.8's al a Grand National had that bolt pattern.

If built properly the 200-4R is an incredibly durable trans. See http://www.gnttype.org

Also, there is a guy not too far from me with a 403 Olds motor for sale. Here's the link.

The 403 would bolt right in in place of the 307, and even reuse all of the brackets, etc.

[This message has been edited by FieroJimmy (edited 02-15-2008).]

quote Originally posted by FieroJimmy: If built properly the 200-4R is an incredibly durable trans. See http://www.gnttype.org Also, there is a guy not too far from me with a 403 Olds motor for sale. Here's the link. The 403 would bolt right in in place of the 307, and even reuse all of the brackets, etc.

Whoa that's tempting. Thanx, FieroJimmy and the rest of you. A 403 may just be the ticket. What type of horsepower did those engines put out?

quote Originally posted by The_Stickman2: Whoa that's tempting. Thanx, FieroJimmy and the rest of you. A 403 may just be the ticket. What type of horsepower did those engines put out?

Stock, somewhere in the very low 200's though torque numbers were significantly better.. But they are about 8:1 compression, with a bad head design. If you opened the head bolt holes in the 307 heads you've got from (5/16"?) to the "big block Olds" size of (1/2"?) you could bolt the 307 heads onto the 403 and bump compression into the mid-9's IIRC.

The only difference between SBO's and BBO's is the deck height and head bolt diameter. I may be wrong on the exact sizes on the bolts above, it's been a while since I looked into it. I looked at his motor a couple months ago to possibly put into my '80 98, but I don't know if I'll keep the car much longer, so I don't want to put that much money into hopping it up if I won't see some improvement in the sale price.

And believe me, I know just how slow that '88 is. My 98 is about 4200 lbs with a 307/TH400 and 2.41 rear gears. Not bad for highway cruising, but getting up to speed can take a while.

If you're looking for a decent Olds forum, try Olds Power.

Also 442 has a lot of info. Like the power ratings for the 403: 185hp@3600 RPM, 320ft/lbs torque @2200 RPM

[This message has been edited by FieroJimmy (edited 02-15-2008).]

You could always swap in a Chevy 350 and turbo 350 trans without major modifications, or you could use an early 700R4 built up so you still have the overdrive. My in-laws have a ' 84 Chevy Caprice Classic wagon with a 305 and the 700R4 and it's still on the road. You'll need to swap out a few other parts for teh Chevy swap but they are all available either in a salvage yard or any parts store. The frames of the cars should be the same.

Mark

quote Originally posted by Firefox: You could always swap in a Chevy 350 and turbo 350 trans without major modifications.

The TH350 (except the 6" tailshaft versions) is a different length than the 200-4R that's in there now, and the mount is over six inches away from where it is now. It would be FAR easier to simply rebuild/upgrade the existing trans and just bolt the 350 to it.

quote Originally posted by FieroJimmy: The TH350 (except the 6" tailshaft versions) is a different length than the 200-4R that's in there now, and the mount is over six inches away from where it is now. It would be FAR easier to simply rebuild/upgrade the existing trans and just bolt the 350 to it.

True, but I only suggested this if the overdrive is desired. I have a ' 86 Cutlass with a 307 that came with the THM200 ( non-overdrive ) and I swapped that out for the THM350. Easy swap, but I wasn't worried about adding overdrive. The other thing is if the Chevy engine is desired for performance, then an upgraded and rebuilt 700R4 wold be a decent addition for the fuel mileage. Yes, it's a lot more work, but you end up with a good performing station wagon with decent mileage.