Part 2 – Donor Vehicle

The Donor Vehicle

The next step is to find a suitable donor vehicle.  Quickly enough, a 1978 Oldsmobile Cutless presents it’s self, complete with a 350cid V8, and Turbo 350.  This too was some proir owners ‘project’ which never saw completion.  Perfect for the purposes of this build.  Carefull evaluation of the front end frame and suspension will be given to determine the appropriateness for use as a front end for the Chevy.

Using goggle I was able to determine that this was not the original motor. The original would of been a 305 cu. in. whereas the motor in the car, using the serial number, was from a 1974 Cutlass and was a 350 Olds. cu. in. When this swap was done, I have no idea. No matter what size the engine, it had to come out.

With the help of a friend I was able to pull the engine and get it placed on a work bench.

Donor Engine?

I broke the engine open to see what kind of condition it was in. On examination, it was very dirty inside (presume it was burning oil) but found that the cylinder walls were in good shape, the bottom end appeared to be sound and the heads were good. It was viewed by a couple of friends and it appears it can be rebuilt. I could possibly get by with having the crank polished, new bearings installed, having the cylinders honed , new rings and have the heads redone.

I’m not sure if I will proceed with this engine or look for a Chevy motor.  As I’m in no hurry for an engine at this stage, I have decided to put this phase on hold for now and see what might come up. The motor has been bolted back together and placed in a corner of the garage.

Now that the motor is out and I have satisfied my curiosity regarding it’s condition I can concentrate on the front end frame swap.

Initial measurements look promising.

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