This is a A body car right so what parts swap between the cars? how do i swap in a chevy motor? do i need different mounts? Anyone point me to a good forum for theses car so i can ask them a buch of newbie questions I would appreciate it. I am thinking of maybe putting a hot rod to hell truck arm on it anyone use this?
Yeah, it's an A body. Every suspension part will swap between the brands. Some are '64-'67 specific, while some are '64-'72, but the differences are minor and I believe will work either way. You can get a disk brake kit, with 2" dropped spindles on eBay for about $400. Other parts are cheap, thanks to the market for Chevelle parts. Let me know if you need to find something specific, I might know where to get it. As far as the Chevy motor....you're on your own. Unless ther car doesn't have an engine in it already, you need an ass kickin' for thinking about getting rid of the Olds motor! You sumbitch! Ah, what the hell...all the frames are the same, so just get motor mounts for the same year chevelle and it will work. I used to frequent www.realoldspower.com but havn't been hanging around there for a while. It's an ok forum. What's this truck arm you're talking about? And lets see some pictures...
would impala work too? the truck arm suspension is similar to the nascar setup on 63-72 chevy pickups
U been reading too much Hot Rod Magazine....the truck arm setup COULD be made to work, but there are WAY too many aftermarket pieces that can and will do the job, road race or drag...either, or. Listen to the post above..good advice and correct. You can do the usual...bolt in a crate 502 or some LSsomething or other...but like the above post recommends.....put a big Olds back in it. For the street, think ProCharger and a late Olds...or find a 394 and 3 deuces and start hacking on it... Either way...good luck Nice car to work with Mark
ha? I was just telling the fidgiter what the truck arm setup was like.........I dont think I said anything about the aftermarket setups not working. Hell, I think titus made a post about making his own setup (for stevieD?) of truck arms from rectangular tubing. Idk anything about the costs of the aftermarket ones, but I think id make my own (and steal a panhard bar from something) or get the 63-72 chev pu setup before getting an aftermarket setup (presuming that the aftermarket are the same general idea, nothing fancier). Either way, its supposed to be a good working mechanism.
The truck setup is very NASCAR...but the stock style rear setup and the aftermarket stuff for them is enormous and has been "scienced' out by many good suspension experts. Good luck with the thing...keep us posted Mark
Hey Fidget...U in Lewisville?....we are just across the lake ...off 423, about 6 miles out of The Colony...drop by some time... Mark 972.712.6558
Damn, when did they move Frisco over there? Haha. I thought that might be the truck arm kit he was talking about. But I can't imagine why you'd want to put that on an A-body. What are you wanting to do, airbag it? The stock suspension is fine for doing that. If it's performance, Hotchkis and Global West make boxed lower and adjustable upper control arms for the rear end. You can get tubular front control arms, upper and lower, shorter than stock. I believe they even make them to accept the Shock Wave kits. For the front, the anti-sway bar from '70's Camaro's is a perfect fit, and is MUCH thicker than stock. I don't know about Impala stuff...the control arms might be similar, but that would be all....I don't think they'd work. Year One and Original Parts group make a lot of parts for the car. Most of it is easy to come by.
If you keep the stock style suspension, one thing I would make sure to do is add the triangulating bar (from Year One !?!) that connects the lower rear control arms to the upper rear control arms. If you run any type of power or shift kit or beat on it, the rear crossmember that attaches the upper control arms (to the differential) to the frame rails seems to fail. I believe this was a waranty add-on from GM for the GTO due to crossmember breakage. I put a set on my 64 Cutlass convertible when I had it (after I broke the frame) and currently have them on my 66 Buick Skylark convertible ( and haven't broke the frame.... and the Buick is much more torque-y than the Olds). They weren't that expensive ~$40 10 years ago, or you could make your own out of angle iron. The bitch is you have to break the nuts on the control arms loose, which in Ohio is a fight of rust! FWIW... I always liked the Olds 330 V-8
It's just my opinion, but keeping it all Olds would be nice. I don't know how much Olds stuff is lying around in your neck of the woods, but around here, it isn't too difficult to come up with a 455 and short tail TH400 for a reasonable price. Even in stock form, big Olds engines are hard to beat for streetable torque.
If you just can't stand the idea of keeping an Oldsmobile an Oldsmobile and really think you can't live another day without adding an extra bellybutton to the one you already have, and therefore disguising yet one more ordinary Chevrolet as an Oldsmobile, have at it. I for one (with the availability of perfectly good 400 and 455 Oldsmobile engines), can see no good reason yet stated by anyone for this course of action (I.E. If you want a Chev, BUY! a Chev), and yet.... If bastardization is your forte' (as it is with so many of us on here, myself included, he he), then I propose the 500 inch Cadillac. 75lbs more than a small block Chev. Can usually can be found in good running condition for ridiculously low prices. Uses the same bellhousing and will fit in the same space as the Olds. It has a high nickel block for longevity, and is starting to have a large aftermarket following making the availabilty of motor mounts for this sort of thing a plug and play possibility instead of grow your own. It also has decent heads making 500HP/500ft lb torque not terribly hard to find with the addition of a few speed parts (the usual cam, headers, exhaust, intake and carb, etc.), and in a RPM range that is very street friendly (low, as in off idle to around 5000 max). Adding in the support of an almost extremist cult group of passionate like minded individuals online can't hurt, either.
I had a 64 Cutlass many moons ago and I still miss it. The stock 290 horse 330 engine would spank the stock 300 horse 327s and 295 horse 350s. I took a bad whupping from those 340s though. The 330 is a real tough engine with lots of nickel in the block alloy. Use the 68-69 350 heads without the smog bump in the exhaust ports and you will have heads that way outflow anything commonly found on chevys of that era. Keep the rpms under 5000 or put oil restrictors in the mains to keep the oil down there. If you do put in a chevy you will find the radiator inlet and outlet on the wrong sides, the battery and starter were on the drivers side and Olds tended to use their own version of the 10 bolt rear end and parts for them may be hard to find.
Olds rear ends use bolt in axles, like a Ford rear. None of that stupid ass c-clip stuff to worry about. Olds changed the water pump outlet and radiator in '65, but in '64 the radiator will not work with a chevy motor. If you keep the olds motor, you may want to go ahead and swap to a later water pump and have the radiator outlet/inlet swapped sides. Or get a different radiator...I got lucky and my water pump was like new so it stayed. '64 heads use shaft style rocker arms as well, something they did away with in '65. And, again, if you do get rid of the Olds motor....remove the crankshaft, and send it to me....I'll pay shipping. You really don't want it anyway, it's junk. So...let's see some pictures??
Well I was just thinking out loud with the chevy motor idea I dont know much about the olds motors the motor in it runs and everything works (to make it move and stop at least) I just know you can take a smallblock and throw some carb cam and vortecs and bee a 400hp motor easy. I would rather keep the motor in there because i mean it an olds not a chevy right? but everyone who says to use oldsmobile says to switch to 455 but i dont wanna. What can I do for this olds motor in there? i heard these are better than chevys??? the only parts i can find for this motor is edelbrock stuff like cam intake. How are the heads on these motors.? As far as the truck arm setup check Hot rods to hell http://www.hotrodstohell.net/ The truck arm kit is like $1300 My brother has two of these car one is his daily driver the one i am talking about is his spare i guess but he wants to sell it. I would like to buy it fix some stuff and turn around and sell it. What should I do to improve the value and what is a waste of time?
It seems to me the original 442 used that very same motor and those were VERY STRONG little cars!!! Matter of fact I believe the first widely accepted explanation of the 442 moniker was 4bbl carb, 4 on the floor, and dual exhausts, I think it might have been used in the first advertising campaigns. You could do a lot worse than rebuilding that 330 and putting a 4 or 5 speed stick or 200R4 automatic behind it, Actually, that sounds like the plan to follow if you've got the original motor and you wouldn't overtax the original 10 bolt unless you have a habbit of sidestepping the clutch with your RPM's up. Didn't some the 442's have an aluminum rearend housing or some such? Anyone?
Yes, thats what 442 means. Though it was only 100% true for the first year. in '65 or '66 it meant 4 barrel, 400 ci motor and dual exhaust, with the tranmission of choice. Then it stopped meaning at all really, and then they bastardized it in the late '80's/'90's with those FWD Cutlasses. I wouldn't waste my time rebuilding the 330. Nothing wrong with it, but "theres no replacement for displacement" and it should be pretty damn easy to find a 350 Olds block. The heads are worthless (previously mentioned shaft rocker arms). I don't recall what year exactly, but I think they say 7A (maybe '72?) heads flow the best from the factory. The 330 crankshaft is forged, so don't throw it away. 403 blocks are ok, save for the windowed main webs...but if you dont use it for racing, it should be ok. 403's also came stock with forged connecting rods. If the motor is running fine, I say leave it alone. Just make sure you keep oil in it. They aren't cheap, so don't expect to build it for the same $$ as a Chevy, but it's worth it. I don't really beat the living shit out of my rear end, but it's taken plenty of abuse and is still holding up great. Concerning the aluminum thing, I think you're talking about the aluminum W-27 rear end covers. I dont remember what was special about the rear ends they came on though. My dad and I rebuilt a 350 and dropped it in my Cutlass about 3 years ago. Used those 7A heads and an edelbrock intake. 268H cam. Runs great, has a good bit of torque, and plenty of power for me. Has a th400 in it also, the stock transmission didn't last a day after I originally got the car back on the road in highschool. The rear of the car responds well to cutting coils. Up front, cut the coils and the tires lean in. Dropped spindles are your best bet. There are a lot of different options for brakes. And they look absolutey bad ass with astro supremes Why bother? Fix what needs to be fixed and sell it. You wont get back whatever money you put in...
Max bang for the buck is probably the aformentioned 500" Cadillac with aluminum intake (the stock Q-jet is more than up to the task) with headers and a slightly fortified, rebuilt turbo 350 (a turbo 400 requires driveline and crossmember changes and not really worth it IMHO) or 200R4. Just don't count on the 10 bolt to be hanging in there because you're going to want to lean on it and 500ft lb's of torque is 500ft lb's of torque. If the 330 is a decent runner (with a good tuneup), one of the above 3 or 4 speed automatics (or an original type BW or Muncie 4 speed, if it came with a stick) is the way to go for minimum dollar. Outside of rebuilding the suspension with urethane, upgrading the shocks to gas, and finding bigger stabilizer bars for it, and maybe stock type later disc brakes, suspension work is horrendously expensive and pie in the sky dreaming on a limited buget. Quite frankly, if you're interested in resale, I wouldn't recomend buying it at all, because you've NOT going to want to give it up.
Stop right there... keep the Olds motor. The other HAMBers on here know what they're talkin' about. I personally wouldn't put anything less than an Olds in an Olds. I'm not anti-Chevy at all, but ya need to do what's right.
I've worked on a car and the guy bought every damn W option he could find. The car started life a 72 sport coupe (think that is what they are called). He had the w-whatever rear end girdle. It is an aluminum cover with extra bracing for the caps on the center section. I drove the car quite a few times and it was quick. I assumed it had a 455 in it after al l the other money the dude spent, but no.. it was a 350 olds, I was impressed. later on he switched to a 455.. more power, but not as much as an improvement as I would have expected from 100cu.in.
I blew my rear end out with my lil' old 330 Hi Comp engine a while back. They aren't that bulletproof unfortunately. A question about my '64 330. I plan on rebuilding it in the near future and was wondering if I can lose the old school shaft style rocker arms and adapt the conventional '65 parts. Can that be done? Advice? I like the 330, as it pulls good enough for me, and I really don't want the expense and time of building and installing a 455 in the Cutlass, at least not for a while. Thanks in advance for any advice. -Paul
The biggest problem with the 330s is the cam. They had a different lifter angle than the later 350-455 Olds. All 330s came with a forged crank and all small block Olds (330,350,403) had the same stroke and main journal size, this is the only forged small block crank Olds made. All small block rods have the same dimensions, but the 403 rods were the best factory units. The engine I built for The Fidgiters car has these rods. They can be used without rebalancing.
Cool info! People think I'm crazy, but I love my little 330, and I plan on building it up a bit performance wise. Yea, the forged small block crank is a keeper. I will definitely look into a different cam and 403 rods when the time comes and I might want to pick your brain a bit more as I get closer to yanking the engine.
Whoa I cant believe this thread was drug up! I ended up buying the car. I started this thread two years ago....time flies. Currently finishing up the floor pan replacement. It has a 350 Olds in it. Just trying to fix the rust and just made some rear window channel patches for it. Shrinker/Stretchers are so freaking useful! I just want to drive this thing! After Two moves and more delays I havent been able to work on it I am getting really tired of thinking about it I just want to drive the hooptie. Here is a recent photo for those who still care about this.
The Jalopy Journal
