How to beef up 76 olds 350

[Guest]

I have a 76 olds delta 88 with 350 v-8 i want this car to scream and was woundering what parts i could install that give best preformance increase for the money? it has a quadra-jet 4brl carb that has been rebuilt new plugs and wires and a tune up

[Guest]

This one is easy, 150 HP nitrous shot. Big fuel pump. If you want it to last get some forged pistons. Can't beat it for bang for the buck although those blower kits like the B@M or Paxton is a close second.<P>Seriously it all depends on what you want and how fast you want it and how long you want it to last. Personally I like the blower kits because of the simplicity and ease of installation and also the fact that the power is always there when you need it. Simple modifications like changing the drive wheel diameter make it completely adjustable also. Looks darn cool too, wish I could afford one.<P>I've always been a heads/cam/headers/intake/carb kind of guy but I went for a ride in a friends Mustang that we just installed a Paxton on, very impressive. Installed it in afternoon and everthing fit, for the price and resale value it was worth every penny. Most of the power was centered in the low to mid range right where you need it and it sure woke up the car. They should come factory equipped like this not just special models.

[Guest]

What normaly comes in a blower kit and how much modification would i have to make to the car when installing it?

[Guest]

Your vehicle is not the typical recipient of a blower kit so finding a bolt on kit made just for your vehicle is not likely. But the paxton can be adapted to any engine with a little modification, it would be best fpor you to contact Paxton and ask them about your options. The B@M blower needs a special intake manifold and I'm not sure of the availability of one that fits your 350 Olds, plus they don't exactly fit under the hood (might though). Paxton has universal kits to put their blower on any engine so some fabrication will be necessary, the hardest part is finding a place to mount it. Hope your not too attached to A/C, you might need to remove the compressor to get the room.<P>Here's the link to Paxton blower products, the site is industrial in nature but the e-mail address is the one you want. Any high performance retailer can get proprietary kits. <A HREF="http://www.paxtonproducts.com/blowers.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.paxtonproducts.com/blowers.htm</A> <P>Here's a link to Powerdyne blowers, their drive system is silent and the blowers are equivalent in capacity to the Paxton stuff. I haven't installed one though. <A HREF="http://www.powerdyne.com/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.powerdyne.com/</A> <P>That should get you started.

[Peter J.Heizmann]

Chuck:<P>Is this the AACA website, or, the NHRA's.<P>Regards, Peter J.

[Guest]

Ooops, sorry Peter. I guess old habits die hard. It's that old adrenaline addiction makin my eye twitch again, somebody says "how do I make my Yugo go faster?" and I can't help myself.<P>I better phone my SAA sponsor (speed addicts anonymous) and tell him I've had a relapse.

[Steve Moskowitz]

Actually, a great answer. I am thinking about adding a blower to my 1908 !! Peter, I hope you were tongue-in-cheek about your reply because at least the question and reply had to do with cars and not donuts!!! <P>I guess the important thing is that someone is driving a 25+ year old car and enjoying it.

[Guest stude8]

Well a long time ago in one of the Hot Rod magazines there was the axiom that "The only way to go faster is burn more fuel." A bigger carburetor, bigger cube engine or better yet yes, Supercharge it.<BR>I used to rebuild Paxton blowers for Studebaker owners in Chicago area. Through this avenue I met a neat guy who had never owned anything but supercharged cars! From the mid 30's he had Auburn, Cord, Hupp, after WWII he had Kaiser, Willy's and then Studebaker's ending with a 1963 Avanti. He wasn't technically inclined, just knew what was fun to drive.<BR>Stude8

[86 2dr.ltd]

I've been wondering the same thing. Can I get the HP up on the detuned 350 and still afford to drive it? Camshafts change the power-RPM range but the factory cam is probably the best unless you have your foot to the floor all the time and that just dont work well. The authorities seem to frown on it and make one pay and pay and pay.<P>It seems that the best performance increases are gained by either more compression or forced induction. Both of which only work if you increase the Octane and volumn of fuel delivered.<P>I've only had one built engine and I couldnt buy gas at the pump that would allow me to set the timing where it should be and even after one CFM upgrade of the carbs. still could have delivered more fuel to get what the pistons were capable of burning. Still had lots of fun but it was disappointing to have to ease the pedal to keep the pinging down. 12.5 pistons are not good for the street.<P>But surely there must be someway of economically getting more than 165 HP out of 350 cubic inches and run pump gas.<P>How much would duals and better intake manifold make? Really!<P>What about 9.0 or 9.5 pistons? Would they run on pump gas? <P>Then theres the lower rear axel ratio and the newer overdrive 4 speed overdrive transmissions. What is it the 200R4?<P>A 455 would be great but then you'd be down to 12 mpg.<P>I know aluminum body panels! Streamlined header panel like the 76 442!

[another old car]

james<BR>if you want a ez hp jump go with a big block<BR>455 - and the age old question is do you want to use this car as a everyday driver -and whats gas mileage - sure some of the newer cars have the best of both worlds - but have a computer running everything - now if you make this a weekend only car you can do all you want for that old iron hp

[Guest]

300HP is very reasonable to expect from that 350 using a small carb and dual plane intake along with a "torquer" type camshaft with most of that available below 5000 rpm. The headers and duals all add to the package and will let her breathe a lot better. I like the Performer series from Edelbrock as the package is very streetable and comes complete ready to install.<P>Just don't go crazy with any one component like the carb size or exhaust diameter, you want to speed the flow up through the engine and big tubes will only slow things down and move your power up the rpm range. Remember the entire engine is a system and you want to complement that.<P>Limit compression to 9.0 to 1, much higher and you might have to lower your initial timing and that kills the bottom end torque. Although US fuel is of a higher octane than what is available here in Canada I still wouldn't go any higher than 9.5 to 1.<P>Have fun.