Bringing my Cutlass back to life

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Well, a few weeks ago, I smoked four lifters and the cam in my Cutlass.  Turns out that it was mostly my lack of knowledge on newer oils that got me, but long story short, I changed to synthetic oil and it doesn't have any additives to help wear with a flat tappet cam.  Now I know better and will stick with Valvoline VR-1 race oil that has ZDDP for flat tappet cams....

Anyways, here is how the worst lifter looked


Yeah, it was smoked...  I pulled the engine and took it to a shop in Auburn, Mueller's Auto Repair and they did an EXCELLENT job at the rebuild for me 

The heads that were on it were 462624 heads that from what I have found on various forums are basically the worst of the worst.  Mine had 2.02 / 1.60 valves in them and somebody actually put money into them to go with screw in studs and guide plates, but then ran only a .480 lift cam and stock rockers LOL



The engine is for sure a .030" over 350, so I can say for sure now that I have a 355, instead of just going off of what the previous owner said.


Whoever did the previous rebuild had a terrible set of honing stones


Now pulling the engine



Engine is a 3970010 block with four bolt mains
At this point, I took the engine up to Mueller's for the rebuild, here is the list of what I had them do..

Disassemble the engine, tank it and check for cracks
New soft plugs
Hone the cylinders
Completely balance the rotating assembly
Install ARP rod bolts
New cam, rod, and main bearings
Polish the crank
Deck the block, just enough to clean it up
New oil pump and pickup
Fully assemble the short block with Fel Pro gaskets

I went with a Comp Cams 280H cam, 231/231 duration @ .050"  (280 advertised) and .480"/.480" lift.  I went with this cam basically because I was already pushing it with the money and the valve springs on my heads are a max lift of .480" 

Picked it up from the shop a couple days ago


Looked at the old cam, it was destroyed.  Luckily I went with the cam I did instead of a smaller one as the engine already had a 280H cam in it.





All taped up, ready for paint


Paint is done






I pulled the Trick Flow heads off of my Blazer and threw them on this engine.  They should really wake it up compared to the JUNK stock heads that were on it before.


Last pic I took yesterday


It should be up and running today, not much more to do now.  The headers are bolted up as well as the alternator and PS pump.   Really only have to hook the radiator up, throw the carb on, prime the oil system, drop the distributor in and plug wires, get some header collector gaskets, and install my TransGO Performance shift recalibration kit.

The engine builder said I should easily see about 350 - 375 hp, and the numbers I ran with Comp Cams Camquest program said about 370 hp and 440 ft. lbs.   Not sure if it will be that high for sure, but we will see.  Last time at the track it ran a best of 14.33 1/4 mile.  I am hoping for mid - low 13s this time 

[Disturban]

Thats basically the same motor I got in my Trans Am, I am also running a 280h cam, 10.1 slugs in a 355 only difference is I have AFR heads, my motor dynoed at 425 at the crank...I think with the trick flows you should be real close to that number depending on your compression ratio. What Carb are you going to run? I started out with an edelbrock 1406 and it ran good but had no top end horse power, switched to a holley 750dp and it woke right up, then my friend reworked that to a 780 and dialed it in and she runs like a raped ape now. According to the carb calculator and what everyone was telling me a 600cfm should have been what I needed (Bull Crap) the guy who built my carb explained to me in words that I do not understand why it was too small but I cant remember what all he said but he builds race motors for a living so I took his word for it and he was right. here is a pretty good write up on the subject though http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/selecting_right_carb/index.html

[RIP_K52007]

ouch... yeah new oil is taking out alot of cams.. no zinc. project

[ballistics-10]

My 355 dynoed at 470 at the wheels.. And I am going bigger.. Lunati cam with .504/.525 lift..

[ballistics-10]

Good build let me know your next time to the track I would like to go..

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Good build let me know your next time to the track I would like to go..

I am hosting a meet on another forum and we are all going to the track ( Mid Michigan Motorplex ) on June 6th for the test and tune.

[ballistics-10]

What site and where is that track at?

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Thats basically the same motor I got in my Trans Am, I am also running a 280h cam, 10.1 slugs in a 355 only difference is I have AFR heads, my motor dynoed at 425 at the crank...I think with the trick flows you should be real close to that number depending on your compression ratio. What Carb are you going to run? I started out with an edelbrock 1406 and it ran good but had no top end horse power, switched to a holley 750dp and it woke right up, then my friend reworked that to a 780 and dialed it in and she runs like a raped ape now. According to the carb calculator and what everyone was telling me a 600cfm should have been what I needed (Bull Crap) the guy who built my carb explained to me in words that I do not understand why it was too small but I cant remember what all he said but he builds race motors for a living so I took his word for it and he was right. here is a pretty good write up on the subject though http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/selecting_right_carb/index.html

I assume you hit that number with the 750 / 780 carb right?  For now I am running with what was on it before, an Edelbrock 600, but I did swap out the intake.  The old one was a single plane divided Holley street dominator that looked to be about 25 years old and I was told I would get better power all around with the Edelbrock Performer.   I also should be right about 9.5:1 compression.

What site and where is that track at?

Here is a link to my meet thread with all the information http://pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=15904 
The drag strip is between Stanton and Edmore in a tiny town called McBride  http://www.midmichmotorplex.com/events.html
What site and where is that track at?

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It is alive again!

[TBigLug]

Lookin' good!

[ProGrade]

looks good, i like the paint scheme you went with too.  those cylinder walls look a hell of a lot better.

[Groundhawger]

sounds good. looks good also

[homewrecker john]

I like the way it sounds....Have you took it to the track? What does it run?

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I took it to the track a couple days ago and was a little dissapointed with how it ran.... I was only able to pull of a 14.049 1/4 mile time.  I should have been in the mid 13s easily, even the first half of my timeslips show that.  I think my old, crappy electric fuel pump is not able to keep up with the demand.  I plan on grabbing up a new pump (mechanical / electric don't matter) soon and going again to see what happens.

[Orangecrush]

sounds pretty nice!  like the color.

[BIG TODD]

sounds pretty nice!  like the color.

[big red]

sounds pretty nice!  like the color.