got the first piece of the puzzle

[rebelgtp]

Well I still do not have a Regal or GN yet however I have what I think is going to be the first piece to the project.

Last weekend I pulled home a 1980 Olds Cutlass (number 3). Under the hood of said Cutty is a DX block 350 diesel. For those that don't know this block can be converted to gas and is the basis of some of the biggest HP number Olds drag cars.

I have someone digging out an old SBO fuel injection manifold that I can update with newer injectors and throttle body then control it with a megasquirt computer. The engine will get a healthy dose of boost from twin turbos to help it reach some of those big numbers.

Anyway as the engine starts coming together I will post updates.

 

[John Wilde]

Well I still do not have a Regal or GN yet however I have what I think is going to be the first piece to the project.

Last weekend I pulled home a 1980 Olds Cutlass (number 3). Under the hood of said Cutty is a DX block 350 diesel. For those that don't know this block can be converted to gas and is the basis of some of the biggest HP number Olds drag cars.

I have someone digging out an old SBO fuel injection manifold that I can update with newer injectors and throttle body then control it with a megasquirt computer. The engine will get a healthy dose of boost from twin turbos to help it reach some of those big numbers.

Anyway as the engine starts coming together I will post updates.

Sounds really cool, I would like to hear more about the block when you get a chance.

 

[rebelgtp]

What would you like to know? Basically the engine has the same internal bores of a Olds 350 with all the same connecting points on the outside of the block. However that is the limit of the similarities. The block has much heavier bore walls and uses the 3 inch mains of a big block motor which allows you to put in place a modified 425 crank to build one heck of a stroker. The mains are also solid and not windowed like the later SBO motors. They used the same number and placement of holes for the heads as on the gas block which allows you to bolt SBO heads directly to the block. The extra meat in the block allows you to not only increase the bore size but still have plenty of strength to withstand good amounts of boost once you bring the compression down. Stock the motor is running about 22:1 compression while the head swap will bring you down to around 11 or 12:1. Stock internals are very heavy but also very strong.

The motor earned a bad rep as a diesel because it was rushed to market. Some blame it for the poor reception of diesel cars in the US. Stock it is a pig of a motor and many factory diesel cars were converted to various gas motors over the years. Once it was discovered the engine could be connverted to a bomb proof high power gas motor they started getting snaged by racers. That combination has made them rather rare these days to find in the cars they came in.

 

[Squid4life]

How much heavier is that block as compared to a regular gasser? I had a buddy with a big a$$ caddy 2 door had built one of these blocks up about 18 years ago. Was pretty cool setup.

 

[rebelgtp]

I do not know the exact weight difference in the two blocks I do know it is a substantial amount. Once I get the block stripped I will weigh it.