377ciTT

i was looking at this block in the junkyard and i was wondering if it was one of those rocket blocks i heard of um i unno i also looked it up and it said it had solid widowed webs?

thank you in advance
is it any good for build up to take some power?

Gumby

and olds rocket is easy to spot by the intake that looks to be about 4 feet wide. If not its probably one of them 280-304 something V8s old used in the 80s.

My self if I was gonna [I wouldn't] build an Olds it would be a 455, if you wanted to go smaller, I would build a Buick 350.

Both can be torque monsters but you wont find catalogs full of parts. Only a few places make performance parts for them.

http://taperformance.com/

is the place for good Buick parts if you want to build a monster.

I have seen many stock spec Buick 350 yank both wheels off the ground easy. I have seen a few wagons do it too.

One fellow I chatted with for a while over at V8Buick.com
[good place to ask your question]
has a 68 sports wagon that did tow duty for 7 years before it ever got ran at the track and it got air under the front treads.

Matt

RB83L69

"Rocket" = an ancient Olds trademark for all of their V8 engines; all Olds V8s are "Rocket" motors, including all of the 70s and 80s pigs. Drop the word from your vocabulary to avoid identifying yourself as someone who is easily deceived. There is only one application where the word has any special meaning, and it doesn't apply to any motor that came in a car; it's a block produced by GM for racing where a "stock" block is required, so it's made by Olds for use in an Olds body; but it uses Chevrolet internal parts, for simplicity and compatibility and parts availability. Again, it never came in a car, so it's a non-issue here if you're seeing it in a junkyard. The Olds 307 from the late 70s and 80s is a "Rocket" motor, in spite of being slower than a LG4 Chevy; and has the usual wide Olds V8 intake like its bigger cousins.

"Torque monster" = the usual uninformed slang for any large CID engine. Again, banish the term from your vocabulary, unless you wish to be considered easily impressed by what's thoroughly ordinary to some (experienced) people. Torque is a direct function of the number of gasoline molecules burned per engine revolution, which in turn is a direct function of CID; the gasoline molecules do not look around themselves as they burn and inspect the brand of cast-iron they're enclosed in, and feel the cast-iron's owner's fondness for that particular brand of cast iron, and somehow release more energy than they would in some other brand of cast iron. That idea is laughable, and its use identifies one as inexperienced and uninformed. In the example of the Buick motor, we've all seen plenty of Chevrolet 350-equipped cars pull their wheels too, and F*rd 351-equipped ones as well; Buick (or Olds or Pontiac for that matter) are no better torque producers, inch for inch, than any other motor. But they cost considerably more to build than a Chevrolet.

An Olds motor is a perfectly good motor, as far as that goes; but about twice as expensive to build as the right motor for one of these cars, has far fewer parts available, and is a hassle to install. Most likely it's not worth the trouble, no matter what it is.

dans82bird

Well I saw the block too (I was with him at the yard), its a 350, so says the emissions sticker...... so its pretty much not worth it?

RB83L69

Unless you have a car that already has an Olds motor in it and needs another one, I'd recommend leaving it at the yard. It's certainly not "worth" making it into a foreign transplant, such as into one of these cars.

Gumby

I just assumed he already ruled out building a Chevy, which is much much cheaper.

Sometimed people like be be unique so I just commented on that.

I had a 76 gutless with a 350 rocket and it hauled butt. I could just stomp it to the floor and smoke the tire for miles. But so could me 80 camaro.

Matt

dans82bird

ahh well ok

just out of curiosity are these motors any stronger than a small block chevy?

Gumby

You might as well be asking about a Ford. There isn't much love between the different GM brands. Each has their own opinions.

Even if you said you have the time, money and desire to drop a big old HEMI in their, you would still get an ear full.

I would just ask around the different sites and decide for your self.

Matt

With a little time and money, just about any motor can go into any car with just about any trans and any style of design. It all depends on how much work you wanna do.

Greasemonkey

The 5558 Olds 350 is pretty much the only worthwhile Olds 350 block. Solid main webs, thicker cylinder walls, probably a higher nickel content than the 77 up windowed main blocks. If the engine had 5, 6, or 7 heads they might be worth something to an Olds guy.

SSC

I always get a chuckle when RB goes off on POS components.

Ive never seen a fast BOP engine SB or BB. IMO anything other then a BBC isnt worth the fabrication time and if you want somthing that will drop right in and make power anything less then a 400 SBC isnt worth the hassle. Kinda cool to see that wagon get the wheels off the ground, all the junkers Ive drove mostly the pontiac versions had less power then a 3 banger metro, all the low end tq was needed just to budge the beasts from a dead stop.

Gumby

You should read the Buick VS HEMI shot out. All 3 time the Buick smoked the HEMI like kiddie in traing pants but the reason it took 3 shoot out, is cause the HEMI guys kept packing up and leaving the events half way through after they lots a round or two.

Problem is almost every brand of GM at one time had their own engines.

Matt

Air_Adam

Olds engines are not bad performance engines. And, actually, the Olds 350 has a bigger bore and shorter stroke than the Chevy 350.

IMO, that makes the Olds the only non-Chevy 350 thats worth rebuilding.

In stock trim, the Olds motors generally made an absurd amount of torque. Look at a stock '60s 455... 390hp, 550ft-lbs of torque. I dont know of any Chevy 454 or Indian 455 that made that much torque.

But RB is right... not worth all the work and money.. It will cost prolly 3X more to get a 350 Olds in that car than a similar performing 350 Chevy.

99Hawk120

Agreed, nothing wrong with a 350 olds. Slightly bigger bore, slightly shorter stroke. I just don't know why you'd put it in a thirdgen. It'll make a nice upgrade for my '85 442 though. Hell, check the head #s on that one you found, I might have some use for 'em

As far as the "other 350s are crap" comment, certainly true about the pontiac, as it doesn't gain you a DAMN thing (since the 400 pontiacs are externally identical). The Buick 350 has an extremely small bore and long stroke, so while it is good for moving heavy buicks around, not something I'd wanna use for performance.

The Buicks you say in the Buick vs Hemi shootup were undoubtedly all 455s. The Big Block buick isn't even in the same class as the SBB. It's a pretty good motor whose weakest point is the block (and the crap oiling system). In fact, IIRC, the Buick 455 won the car craft big block shootout.

As far as love between the GM divisions, let's just say pretty much that Buick, Olds and Caddy guys don't seem to have too much trouble with each other, but whatever you do don't ask on one of their boards how to swap an SBC into a Regal/Cutlass/Fleetwood...

Drakar

If it is the solid main web block, if it is cheap enough it would be a good purchase because someone who IS interested in build a HIPO Olds for whatever reason would love that block .... but it all depends if there is a market in you area for it.

Greasemonkey

According to the numbers he gave, that is the solid main web block. If it had 5,6, or 7 heads on it I'd pick it up, but then I've got a couple Olds's floating around. They shouldn't cost too much, I picked up two of those blocks and a 403 this summer for like $50. One of the 350's even had a decent set of 7's on it.

Captmark

I have 1 with same # with 72000 miles 5 heads for sale