The "Other" 350s....If you have to "Run what you brung."

We all know the small-block Chevy is the most successfull production engine in racing history, and  it's still number 1 today in the minds of many racers and hot rodders. However, from 1968-77 GM produced millions of Firebirds, LeMans, Ventura, Cutlass, Omega, and Skylark, Regal, and Century models with Buick, Olds, or Pontiac 350 V8s. If you have or want to buy one of these cars and want blistering acceleration the easy solution is to swap in one of the 400 or 455 inch larger brothers and build that. However-there are 2 downsides to this solution-the first being that the larger engines are getting scarcer by the minute-back in the craziness how many junk Bonnevilles or Catalinas gave up their 400s or 455s to being stuffed into base model Firebirds and Tempests to make GTO and Trans-Am clones? Ditto for the Olds 88s and 98s and Buick Electras and Park Avenues having their 455s swiped to make 442 and GS and GSX clones. The second being that since their getting scarcer-their also getting more expensive. Used to you could go buy a decent running, or at least rebuildable engine for $200 from any junkyard in the continental United States. Now people want $1,000 or more for junk, simply because they know it's a desirable musclecar replacement engine. Finding a usable core and then rebuilding it can be both frustrating and expensive. Yeah, T/A Performance, or Butler Performance or Mondello can build you a Thumpin' 455 Buick, Olds or Pontiac, and supply the core, but a lot of people don't have 8 or 10 grand to spend on the engine alone. So, if you can't find or afford one of the BOP Big Dogs-( I'm not just talking 455s, I'm also including the 400 inch BOP engines here, as well as the 425 Olds,the 428 Pontiac, and the 430 inch Buick from the late '60's as well ). Your choice is to run or rebuild the engine that's already in the car. Here's some tips on how to get the most "bang for the buck" from each one.  # 1. 350 Olds V8. Of the "Other" 350s-i.e.-non-Chevrolet-the Olds is the best one. They have a big bore / short stroke design, their bottom ends are tough, and there was a factory high-performance version-the "W31". There is a fair amount of speed equipment available-Edelbrock intakes,Crane,or Lunati cams, Hooker headers, etc-. So you can build a decent amount of horspeower and torque into them. By decent I mean about 325 hp and about 400 lbs ft of torque-about what the factory "W31" 's were rated at .  That's enough to push the average Cutlass to very low 14 or very high 13 second 1/4s depending on car weight and traction. You can put aluminum Edelbrock 455 heads on a 350 if you use a special port-matched Performer RPM manifold, but you'll need special pistons to have any kind of compression because of the 455 heads' larger combustion chambers. However-this begs the question-If you have that much money and need to go THAT fast-Why aren't you building a 455?   # 2. 350 Pontiac. Rodney Dangerfield here is dissed by even hardcore Pontiac fans becuase they don't even have a big enough bore to use the big valve heads without hitting the block. That aside, there are some modifications that can make people think you've swapped in a 400. # 1. Almost all of these engines have 2bbl carburation. Since Pontiacs are externally identical from a 326 to a 455 it's easy to find a facotry 4bbl carb and intake, or you could get an Edelbrock Performer. Either way, this mod really "wakes up" the 350 Poncho. Ditto for headers and dual exhausts. A Good cam to use in the 350 include the Melling "HO" grind with 212 @.050 lift, intake,224 Ehxaust and .442 / .465 lift. or something with similar lift and duration-. The Edelbrock Performer # 2157 cam is a good one for a 350 as well. Use small-tube-1 1/2 inch or 1 5/8 headers. Pontiac heads can be milled as much as .060 which will net a full one point boost in compression from 8.0:1 to 9.0:1 perfect for an iron-head, pump gas, street motor. You'll have to shave the intake side of ther heads too so the intake manifold will fit properly. If you don't try to run it over 5,500 rpm you'll have no problem. Your only accentuating what the factory did-make big torque at low rpm. These mods should give you between 300 and 340 hp, and around 400lbs of torque. More than enough to make any Firebird,Ventura or LeMans a really fun driver. The small-bore, long-stroke design-while building the gobs of low-end torque that Pontiac owners are used to-really hamstrings these engines as far as making any real power over about 350 hp.  I have heard of guys notching the cylinder bores to clear the big-valve heads and make more than 400 hp, but again-If you have that much money- then it would be better spent building a 400 or 455.  # 3. The Buicks rank last, not because I have anything against them but the rap on them is they have a weak oiling system, and either stock or modified, the Olds and Pontiac versions both make substanially more power and torque. However all is not lost. Since a lot of these engines had 2bbl carburation, the first thing to do to gain power is a 4bbl carb and intake. Strange, but Edelbrock doesn't make a Performer 4bbl intake for the 350 Buick-they do for the 231 V6, and for the 400-430-455 big-blocks. You can search junkyards and swap meets for a factory iron 4 bbl intake, and Jet and other companies sell rebuilt performance Quadrajets. I think T/A performance makes aluminun-high-rise intakes for the 350 Buick, as well as cams. Also, Isky cams and Cal Cams will custom-grind you a performance cam off your old core. To de-bunk the big raps against them- When people say they have a weak oiling system-their comparing it to a small-block Chevy-which can go 8,000 rpm for 500 miles at Daytona with a basically stock oiling system.  Not many production engines can do that. There's a lot of Buick 350s that go 150,000 or 200,000 miles on the street without a rebuild. As long as you don't run it over about 5,200-5,500 rpm, you'll be fine. Yes-the Olds and Pontiac models DID have more power in stock trim-But-and it's a BIG BUT-99% of the Buicks had 2bbl carburation and single-exhaust systems. A lot of the Olds and Pontiac Models had 4bbls and dual exhaust from the factory. You can have a nice, powerful driver-quality street machine with a 350 Buick under the hood. But if you want 450-500 hp or more-then step up for a 455 or swap in a big-block Chevy. Mastermind