86-88 Olds 307, electrical nightmare lol...wires going all over, the engine is bolted in but lots of stuff is not "hooked" up so it doesnt run...

Is there anyway to by-pass (basically delete) all the computer stuff, it's a mess and everything is going all over the engine bay, any tips on how to go about refurbishing this?

It would be nice if I could just yank all the random wires and get the engine to run like a pre-comp engine, but I would believe it wouldn't start/run right? correct?

I dont think the olds comp is even with the car...it's in a 87 bird

 

Sure. Yank every wire off that thing.

Then add an HEI vacuum advance distributor, and 4BBL carb with mechanical or divorced choke.

All you need wired to the distributor is a tach wire and ignition power source.

Then all you will need is a water temp sensor and oil pressure sensor.

As for the alternator, you can purchase a one wire version that goes straight to the battery and thats it.

That is all the wires you need to have a properly functioning motor.

 

coo...

I just want a simple motor setup lol...but didn't know about all the vacuum bs that went on in those days...

I don't mind buying a older or edelbrock carb or something, same for intake and distributor...

but for the distributor, could i use a pre-79 one? What is the difference in the HEI on there and a HEI Vacuum advance one?

 

Ok, just did some research and isn't the stock dist. vacuum advance?

 

well before 80 it woukd have been vacuu,m for sure

but what year is this 307 ?

most all 80 and up were non vacuum although a few EST were vacuum advance but uncommon i have seen a few though



you would want a non computer advance non EST one


all you need is solenoid wire and HEI BATT wire to start and run

theres a couple red wires at the starter you need them on the battery cable post

and run alt red wires all to battery source hot all the time

then after that the temp wire plugs on whereever the temp sensor is on the 307 motor, green wire

oil pressure should already be electric on the 307, if not then use the 305 one in which you should anyways

if you dont have one then find or buy one

its all pretty basic easy straightforward actually
the only vacuu you need is power brake, small HVAC system hose on pass side going into firewall over there, and pvc, and distributor vacuum advance


they all get full time intake manifold vacuum except the distributor advance

you should try and TEE the charcoal canister 3/8" hose into the pcv hose or another intake source, the hose for this on the canister will be labeled either vac or pvc at the hose ports right on the top of the canister
another may be labeled carb

it originally ran to the fuel bowl vent at the top center front of the carb

in whichi never connect anything to on my vehicles, i let the bowl vent into the air

but if the needle seat ever sticks open then fuel will spill out of it and all over the intake

things are reversed on the chevey engines vs other divisions, such as the starter,

so you will have to get creative, and swap the battery and charc canister locations

and so on



good luck

 

thanks for the info...

I'm getting the piece after work tomorrow...then the fun starts lol

what am i getting myself into

 

A VERY EXPENSIVE disappointment, and a lesson learned the hard way.

That "free" motor (if in fact it was free? I HOPE you didn't actually pay anything for it?) will end up costing you more to get to work than the RIGHT motor would have cost you in an arm's-length transaction on the open market.

Then when you get done, prepare to enjoy getting beat by LG4 and L03 cars.

The lesson incidentally, is how much a motor swap can cost; especially a "foreign" motor, i.e. one that never came stock in the chassis you're putting it into; because EVERY DETAIL of things like exhaust, accessories, mounts, and so forth, will have to be engineered AND PURCHASED from scratch, one piece at a time.

Now if this was a 455 out of a 70 Toronado or something like that, I could see going to this much effort and expense; but some 140 HP POS? Hmmmm.......

Do us all a favor. Write down every penny you spend, on every little part and piece. And, BE SURE to come back and report the final result when you're done. Track times or dyno #s would be awesome, but anything you have to say about it would be worthwhile. Even if it's too late to do you any good, maybe it'll save somebody else from accidentally making the same kind of mistake, by telling it like it REALLY is, instead of like the partisans of {insert favorite brand here} would always have beginners believe..

 

If you are interested I have an Edelbrock Performer RPM for a small block Olds. #7111 non EGR It has been sitting for a few years needs to be cleaned up, Has heater control valve , and a few vacuum fittings with it. Check to see if you have 5A heads on your 307. I would suggest a better cam with this intake though.

 

Car is dirt cheap...it's "cheaper" to buy the car than the interior i need

I'm getting it primarily to do an interior swap, then I'm going to "attempt" to get it running and hopefully become my DD or winter beater

and no, I do not expect this to be fast by any means, I have owned a 307 and know them for what they are...

I do find it hilarious that someone probably swapped a V6 for a V8 and didn't do any research about the engines power

unless it's a 307 HO...which I highly doubt

I'm going to get it on sat, my buddy had to work 2nite, but I may be interested in intake manifold...how much were you looking to get for it?

and yes, I will keep a log of how much i spend...but I live in michigan, olds parts are a dime a dozen where i'm at...and ebay is a good friend of mine

 

125 shipped.

 

I bought the car today, however need to wait until monday to pick it up (trailer is not available right now)

but I was thinking...

It actually may be easier to find a pre-computer olds V8 to exchange with the 307...

Or even a big block olds, which should bolt right in place of the 307 although hood clearance would need to be accomodated I would believe...

either way I'll keep all those interested updated...anyone know a good oldsmobile forum?

gonna hold off for now, but that sounds like a good price

 

Not really an olds forum... But when i was looking at buying that car i looked into layitlow.com. There a lowrider sight. But think of how many people take 80's cutlasses and make them lowriders... what engine is in a cutlass well some... 307.. so quite a few people knew about that engine and its a good place to post for questions... They know quite a bit. But i had the same idea as you... the car was dirt cheap and was jsut going to buy it for the parts. I needed the floor, wheels, steering wheel, wanted a few int panels, seats, and a few other parts... all of which would have cost e close to the price tag so i said screw it id but the whole car... But then got a set of wheels for free, got the int panels i needed all for $25.. and then im going to order a new steerign wheel and make my own floor.. So i decided no go on the 87... Are you from michigan?. If so were are you located at?

 

yea, i'm in holt, MI

I need seats, panels, dash pad, door panels, rear seats and carpet...so that alone is worth it and i can always part some **** out

 

yeha for sure. Sell the motor to a guy with a cutlass. From what i was told is its pretty much rust free... has some dents but no cancer. Not sure if thats true or not. And the price... you could get the price and more by parting it i bet.

 

I'm glad your here to enlighten us "beginners" Afterall without the help of the pessimistic one sighted seinor memebers we wouldn't have the "white trash, one trick, there all the same" image about us,

so go ahead and do what sofakingdom says, cause you know its not his car and he doesn't really understand what your going for.

Better yet put a 383" in there with anything but #187, #193, or aftermarket heads, used overpriced vortech's are the absoloute best choice. ok im done

now if you want some help with that 307 PM me. I'm not by any means and oldsmobile expert, but I'm trying to be a more positive open minded individual. And I could help you eliminate most of that wiring and still keep your gauges and altenator working.

Sofakingdom do us a favor and grow up, oh and keep tabs of how it goes along the way, so you can let the others know how to do it

 

I prefer the word "realistic".

I got that way, from being in JUST EXACTLY such a situation: bought a car (for $75), thought I was getting A DEAL!!!! because it had a motor that "came with it". About $1200 later (this was in the late 70s) I had a $400 car that actually worked. Although, nowhere near as good as if I had just gone out and bought the same car for $400 with THE RIGHT motor already in it. That was BY FAR the stupidest thing I had ever done to a car, up to that point. The most expensive mistake and bad decision I'd ever made. Man, I was so faking dom, it hurts to even think about it. That was back before Al Gore invented the Internet though, so there was no one to warn me. That's my excuse for today.

Motor swaps tend to be like that. YOU THINK you've got it all figured out, then all of a sudden some detail up and bites you in the shorts, that it hadn't even occurred to you was there. Stupid stuff sometimes that can be real hard to engineer around. Expensive stuff like exhaust. Hard stuff like, put the motor in, discover it interferes with something, take the motor out, fix that, put the motor back in, discover your exhaust doesn't work quite right, take the motor back out, fix that, put the motor back in, discover the clutch linkage won't go through the header, pull the motor back out, re-engineer the clutch linkage, put the motor back in, discover the only brackets you can find for the power steering pump make the pump hit the frame, ....... more fun than the law allows.

Which is why this type of thing is best left to people who KNOW the foreign motor in question, have a stash of parts for it, are familiar with all of its varieties so they can tell what parts to go get to solve problems, know where to find the good ones (not just piles of smogger dung or whatever), and so forth. Or, have a REALLY GOOD, REALLY COOL motor that's worth the trouble; not the weeniest, smallest, weakest example of its kind whose only virtue is that it's just .... "free".

Your typical "beginner" swapper, like I was back then and like the ORIGINAL POSTER is now for whom the common-sense advice was posted, has NOT THE VAGUEST CLUE how many different opportunities there are for a project like this to go off into the weeds. Much less, how much time and trouble and money fixing each and every one of those will cost, before the thing ever moves under its own power if it ever even does. That right there is the worst possible outcome: spend however much money and time on some project, only to give up and get rid of it because you get sick of it or the neighbors complain.

The Olds 307 isn't going to cause any problem with gauges or wiring, beyond the fact that all the parts are in a different place. The right oil pressure sending unit, water temp SU, etc. can all be installed, with at most a brass adapter or 2. Same with the computer; that's not going to be the tough part even if he wanted to keep it. Exhaust, clearance, a transmission, torque arm mounting, accessories, and similar stuff, is where the alligators will come out of the swamp.

So thanks jonmark, glad to hear all of that constructive advice from you. Obviously you've never done anhything of this kind before either, and because of that, don't have any idea what you're talking about. But I do appreciate your concern for me and my maturity, and for how graunching an Olds motor in one of these cars is going to somehow improve the "white trash" image around them (incidentally, you don't know what color or race I am... I could be deeply offended by that). Sounds though, like you might be young enough to be my grandson, and like you have more than your own share of living, learning, and growing up to do. Clearly you've got some catching up to do with those of us that already have some BTDT with motor swaps.

 

thanks to those that helped me...and jon you will get a PM in the future lol

but just to set the record straight, I have owned a 84 307 and a 74 455 olds, i pretty much rebuilt the 455 so I'm not a beginner when it comes to working on cars, not anywhere near advanced but i have some experience and knowledge. I just wanted to see what peoples opinions were and see if anyone had some useful advice on the actual work, not the risks, my dad gives me enough bullshit for that lol

but thanks for the help/concerns and let's keep the argueing on aim or PM's...not on my thread thanks!
----------
Interior is very good, body has two small spots of surface rust although the underside is pretty damn clean. Then the hood and drivers fender are dented...

from a distance the car looks pretty good...def needs work tho

 

Nah your right, I've only put a 200" six cylinder in a 79 ford fiesta, a 300" 72 f250 with parts ranging from 95 -65, swapped the motor in my 89, my 85 mustang, swapped a couple motors with my brother into his 85 camaro, and two or three other ford trucks, oh and countless transmissions (probably in the 20s),

Oh and when i get into trouble generally i'll ask my old man for help, Back in 79' he converted a 2wd international pickup to 4wd using the entire running gear, motor and transfer case from a ford high boy,

in 80' he built a 289 twin turbo mini rod, welded up his own headers and intake

and when things get worse yet, i ask the local chevy mechanic for help, he builds 32 fords and t-buckets professionally to, does ALL his own machine work, simply said "local legend", ask someone from central illinois about tony and they will let you know

I know im young and i don't know much, thats not important, i learn a hella lot doing weird stuff, and im not afraid to ask to get help.

now im glad you insulted my intelligence,thats the grown up thing to do

if your ever in central illinois look me up maybe we could talk cars, maybe you would learn to lay off.

 

Well I'm glad you didn't insult MY intelligence, since you got yourself off onto the subject of insults somehow (after all, I haven't insulted anybody or anything, unless you consider the truth and recounting of ACTUAL EXPERIENCE to be an "insult" ); since after all I have no intelligence to insult. Only experience.

All of those "swaps" sound pretty easy to me; putting a Frod motor into a Frod truck? Especially considering things like, the 300 was a STOCK motor for a 72 truck (unlike an Olds motor into a F chassis) and hasn't changed in decades, meaning you can go to the junkyard and get whatever you need off of millions of junk trucks, UNLIKE putting an Olds motor into a 3rd gen Camaro or Firebird? I'm impressed. That's a good reason that this other guy should spend all of HIS money on a disappointment.

And, whatever your DAD has done, and whoever you have gone to for help when you need to learn about stuff you don't know, has WHAT to do with how sensible it is for THIS OTHER GUY to swap a "foreign" motor into his car?

I stand by my advice. So far I haven't seen anything that tells me why badinfluence should spend HIS hard-earned (I assume...) money putting a weak, weenie, gutless, gas-mileage smogger sedan turd into his car. Even if the motor itself is "free". That "free" motor will cost more, and give less results, than a "right" motor that has to be paid for. How is that a wise thing?

You know, the reward of a project in the FINISHED PRODUCT; it only is found in overcoming hassles along the way, to the extent that the FINISHED PRODUCT is satisfactory. This proposed swap fails that test.

I laugh every time I recall the Olds 307 that was in my wife's 84 LeSabre, and how hopelessly lame that land barge was; I somehow just can't feature in my wildest imagination that badinfluence would look back after he was done doing this and think how grateful he was that he took that route. Instead, I suspect he will end up about like me looking at my MAYBE $400 car that it took me $1300 to build, and wish he hadn't done something that stupid, the way I did before I had to learn it the hard way.

Help us all understand how the issue at hand is a good idea.

 

because its what he wants to do

its his car man

 

123

 

Man... if you ask my opinion you guys should fight in PM's. or something...But If you want i can look into getting a 305 or a 350 around here... then you should just pull the 307 and put the 305 in. I mean i haven't looked in the engine bay but it just seems more straight forward in my head.... or unless you really want a winter beater i wouldn't bother id set up a post in the for sale section and start parting it out.

 

Okay, here goes...

If you have the old non roller cam 307, then you can run a set of pre-1971 small block olds heads (330 or 350) along with a 70 spec 315 hp cam and you will do well. You may have trouble fitting an RPM intake under the hood. I was using a Caddy FI factory intake and it fit okay. The stock 70's 4 barrel intakes fit well, too. You can use 1976 only 260 heads as well. They still have the big ports and can be fitted with 307 size valves. After 1976 they use the weird small 307 ports that choke the engine.

You can use a distributor for a 76-80 Olds Cutlass with an "R" code 350 to get your vacuum advance. 81 and up olds engines all used the 7 wire HEI module base for use with EST

You can use a factory 350 Buick or Pontiac quadrajet as a direct non computer bolt on and they are pretty close to the settings you need. The olds 350 engines and chevy quadrajets are set too rich. Since the engine is already in the car, what tranny is it (2004r or something else?) and how is the torque arm mounted. I think it is actually worth it to buy a spohn setup after the headache I had making one for my 2004r...

Please post pictures of where the valve covers get near the heater box and the brake booster. Mine just fit in a '90. A 455 being a touch wider through the middle would most likely break into one or both places.

A 403 would drop right in on the same mounts, though!

 

thanks for the advice to those that helped me with the actual problem...

I know what the olds 307 is...i asked how to fix it, not a ****ing speech on why i shouldn't fix it...

please keep the bitching to PM's

 

Amen... Does she have the stock wheels?. The pictures he sent me didnt show the wheels. Got a pic?.

 

Thanks for the info, I will get pics asap once it gets home, although it was a little cramped width wise...

I might be able to find a running cheap olds engine, I really dont care hp numbers but a 455/403/350 would be sweet...

cant really do much until i get the car home