72 350 Rocket

[Yankee Transplant]

I have a chance to get a 350 rocket .. its possibly locked up. been sitting for around 18 years .. It ran strong before the trans went out .. What I want to know , is it worth the price to get it bored out and rebuilt for a rat rod project ? I know the woman that had and drove it .. its the original engine nothing done to it ..

 

[26Troadster]

i love olds motors and you may not have to bore it either. they have a high nickle content in the cast iron and don't seem to wear out the bores like the chevrolets and others do. get it home and pour some marvels mystery oil in the cylinders, give it a couple days and start rocking it back and forth till it breaks loose. good luck.

 

[Yankee Transplant]

I may just go and put some down the holes this week end if the hood is not frozen down ... It may be a few weeks before I can do anything with it ,I got alot of projects building up .. maybe by the time I get a chance to go get it ,,, it will be loos-end up

 

[junker39]

The '72 is the last of the non-smog 350s. It's got smaller combustion chambers and slightly bigger intake valves than the '73-up. They stuck cat converters on in '73. And it's possible it may have hardened valve seats already in it. Something to do with the casting numbers. My remember isn't working right now. I think around '76 they went to all lighter castings, crank, etc. That '72 ought to work good. Good luck.

 

[rustybeercan]

Hopefully Don will chip in, he's "Mr. Olds"!

Beercan

 

[Yankee Transplant]

when she bought it , she ran it for years and it was a hoss thats for sure ... then trans went out and she got another car then married and its been sitting for around 18 years windshield leaked then it got moved outside then down hill from there did have little surface rust now has a lot .. but that was just a thought as would it be worth taking down and rebuilding ..thanks for the imfo . I knew they had 4 different 350s in the 72 olds this was the cutlass supreme it had the rocket in it .

 

[junker39]

I'm thinking it was painted gold in '72. (there I go thinking again)[S

 

[Yankee Transplant]

i dont know .. seems like I remember it being gold. may be rust colored by now .havnt seen under the hood for years . she has a YUGO sitting beside it I think it has 4500 miles on it .

 

[Hollow65]

Worst case you got a decent start at a 383.

 

[junker39]

A Yugo? I haven't seen one in a while. Kind of like the Diatsu. There used to be a lot around. I guess they all made their 4500 miles and went away.

 

[26Troadster]

all olds motors are rockets. like was said the 72 was the best smog motor. they have a .057 larger bore then a chevy 350 and with a mild setup like headers, intake and carb they run real well. there are really 3 versions of the 350's a two barrel, a 4 barrel and a rallye version, seems like it came with a w30 cam like the big blocks which do have a lot of interchangeable parts.

 

[Yankee Transplant]

I bought a 72 2 door post just for the motor and trans to put in a 72 convertable .. it had a 350 but it was like 265 hp or somthin like that ,,, thats when I found out there were different 350s not all had the same hp.

 

[26Troadster]

yes chevrolet, buick, pontiac, and olds all had 350's and they all had different versions with different hp ratings as well as the same motor in different years with different hp ratings.

 

[rusty46]

Get the Olds motor. Way cooler than the Chevy engines and really stout power producers. A couple of mods and you have a really sweet engine.
A buddy had one in a '69 Cutlass and it was a very reliable engine.

I laughed at the Yugo comment. If I had a Yugo, I'd trade it for a 5th of Jack Daniels

 

[Yankee Transplant]

the 72 is still sitting she is still holding on to it ,, she said she cant do anything with it but Ill be the first to get it .. she still loves that car .. The car itself is way to far gone to fix it ,, I hope by the time I get it the engine wont be toast .

 

[sgtpontiac]

Toast......???

Nope this is TOAST.....LOL

 

[Yankee Transplant]

srgt you are correct

 

[sgtpontiac]

Too many Jimmy Dean commercials

like those as much as the Geico ones.....lol...

 

[bruno]

I laughed at the Yugo comment. If I had a Yugo, I'd trade it for a 5th of Jack Daniels [/QUOTE]

Sorry, but I don't think anyone would trade a fifth of Jack for a Yugo!
A salvage yard would probably make you pay them to take it

 

[Yankee Transplant]

I drove that Yugo a few times ,,, when you gassed it real hard it would pull to the left or right ,, I dont remember now .. I guess all that RAWWW horse power under the hood