[1965gp]

I have a few with original motors. The best is our 70 LeMans my parents bought in 75. Has 208k onthe original motor, Trans and rear end.

[77 TRASHCAN]

Originally Posted by Jay S

My all original stock 77 T/A 4speed had 93500 on it, still ran good, lost a rod bearing(my fault). I measured the bore taper, it was .0025. Lots of life left in the engine.

1966 Pontiac Star Chief 160,000 all original. Engine outlived the body. It measured .008-.009 cylinder bore taper. On the end of its life going off that, still ran pretty good. Probably less than faithful maintenance.

1970 Olds Delta 88, 350 olds. 270,000 miles. Outlived the body. Still ran like new, best running high milage carb engine I have seen, a FREAK.

1972 Dodge Charger, all original 318, 276,000 mile, ran good. Lost the timing chain 4 miles after purchasing from the original owner. Still did not use oil. Only thing he did was a water pump and a starter.


1971 Chevelle, 307, my first car. Engine shot at 120,000. We did drive it kinda of hard. But used oil and would barely pull it self anymore. Jay

Was the 70 Olds 350 a 2 Bbl engine. Growing up my folks had a 70 Delta 88, 350 2 Bbl. engine ran great the entire time we had the car. Our car was also corroding away dad traded it in on a 76 Delta 88, 4 Bbl engine. 76 engine was worthless compared to the 70.'shoulda kept the 70 and dropped engine and trans into the 76, woulda had a real car!

[Ducks Goat]

My '67 GTO has never had it's engine removed, I bought it from the original owner. Currently has around 121k miles on it. I did pull the timing cover off when I bought it to check the timing set, it had already been replaced and I put a new one on anyway.

[67GTONUT]

67 GTO HO - Original 115K miles.... Does not use oil.... does not smoke.... runs mid 14's without me trying to actually blow it up....lol

Motor was removed to repair oil leaks.... replaced Timing Chain, Oil Pump , Crank bearing looked great when we did Rear Main Seal

[Jay S]

70 delta had a 350 2bbl, t400, and a 12bolt. Built like a brick outhouse!

115k miles and able to turn out mid 14s is pretty awesome.

My completely stock 4 speed 77 t/a would run low 15s at 93k with the original restrictive original single exhuast feeding the transverse dual exh mufflers. Jay

[goatwgn]

Originally Posted by 77 TRASHCAN

Was the 70 Olds 350 a 2 Bbl engine. Growing up my folks had a 70 Delta 88, 350 2 Bbl. engine ran great the entire time we had the car. Our car was also corroding away dad traded it in on a 76 Delta 88, 4 Bbl engine. 76 engine was worthless compared to the 70.'shoulda kept the 70 and dropped engine and trans into the 76, woulda had a real car!

My '74 Cutlass Supreme still has the original engine in it. The Olds 350/ 4 bbl, with TH350/ 3.08 rear. And only 20,000 miles ago it was pulled so I could "freshen it up". It never smoked, or knocked, but got down on power. Only things wrong in the engine was the valve springs were very weak, and the rings had lost tension. Was still perfectly clean inside, with just a little carbon buildup under the crossovers on the intake. This car now has 520000 miles. it "only had 500000 when the engine was freshened up.

[goatwgn]

The original 326 out of my wagon is taken apart, in the attic with 293000 miles. It ran well other than a loose timing chain when I pulled it in 1987, for a 455. I am now too old to carry the stuff back down. so I guess it stays up there lol. If I didn't want to build the '66 Tempest into a hot rod, It would still have the original engine in it, I am sure.

[77 TRASHCAN]

Oldsmobile engines were pretty tough engines.

Now that I think about the 76 Delta 88 that my Dad bought after our 70...the 76 (it had a Quadrajet) likely had one of those goofy undesireae Q-Jet's that had the extra metering Rod...no wonder it never seemed to run right!

[PunchT37]

Originally Posted by 77 TRASHCAN

Oldsmobile engines were pretty tough engines.

Now that I think about the 76 Delta 88 that my Dad bought after our 70...the 76 (it had a Quadrajet) likely had one of those goofy undesireae Q-Jet's that had the extra metering Rod...no wonder it never seemed to run right!

Forgot about my 77 Cutlass 350. Still stock. Still had the tabs bent over the exhaust bolts, with no manifold gaskets, origional distributor, starter and could still read the origional stamp on the driver's valve cover ,"timing ok stand c". Sold that car with 180,000 miles. Origional trans and rear. Cruise control worked and didn't "mark it's spot" like the Harleys in those days. I would drive that car anywhere. Good car.

[goatwgn]

Mine still has the original Quadrajet.. Fortunately, it is the older style with the flat top, and just the primary and secondary rods. No catalytic converter in '74 either. Only "modification" I have done was block off the EGR, and installed an HEI distributor (and recurved it).

[goatwgn]

Originally Posted by 77 TRASHCAN

Oldsmobile engines were pretty tough engines.

Now that I think about the 76 Delta 88 that my Dad bought after our 70...the 76 (it had a Quadrajet) likely had one of those goofy undesireae Q-Jet's that had the extra metering Rod...no wonder it never seemed to run right!

Mine still has the original Quadrajet. Fortunately, it is the older type, with a flat air horn, and just the primary and secondary rods. No catalytic converter in '74 either. Only modification I ever did (bought this car from an aunt who was the original owner in 1989), was block off the EGR, and install an HEI distributor.

[Toms bird]

69 Firebird pulled good running original engine (400) and rear at 50.000 to put in a 463 and 12 bolt. I want to have fun till I'm ready to put it back in.

[1965gp]

Interesting to see the olds motor mentioned above with no manifold gaskets. My 79 TATA has about 25kon it now andhad a bad exhaust leak. Looked like it had never been touched and did not have ex manifold gaskets on it.

[Will]

I wish... Spun three main bearings in my original 400 block so bad that the journals turned blue. There's a junkyard 455 in it now out of a Grandville that had about 90k miles on it. Runs smooth as silk.

[David Jones]

Mine has the original 73 bottom end. Heads, cam, intake carb all otherwise. Factory 455's are tough.

[GT Gerry]

I own a '71-1/2 GT-37 with the original 400 cu in engine with 121,XXX miles. The engine has never been rebuilt and it runs great. It also has the original 3 speed tranny and original 3.55 rear end.

[PunchT37]

Originally Posted by 1965gp

Interesting to see the olds motor mentioned above with no manifold gaskets. My 79 TATA has about 25kon it now andhad a bad exhaust leak. Looked like it had never been touched and did not have ex manifold gaskets on it.

A lot of SBC`s that I used to work on didn`t have manifold gaskets either. When new, the head and manifold were machined perfectly so they didn`t leak.

Later, when they rust, pit, or when the manifold warps from age and heat cycles, do they leak.

[77 TRASHCAN]

Those Olds exhaust manifolds, didn't look like any thought was put into air flow dynamics. Just a conduit to get the exhaust gases out. They had that crossover pipe that ran from one manifold to the other. They had a distinctive exhaust note. I'm sure the factory Olds hot rods had something better....

Makes me wonder IF, the odd ball factory exhaust I'm speaking of, may possibly of had an an in likely performance twist, at least on a stock engine?

[Heybuck]

My '66 Grand Prix was purchased with a chronically bad running engine. Speedo showed 97k which I later verified as correct. Pulled the engine and we found it had broken ring lands on two pistons but apart from that, absolutely no measurable wear on the crank and the bores only needed lightly honing.

I did not want to go oversize at all, wanted it back to factory original specs. My BIG problem was finding original spec pistons etc. Every source I tried only had upsize pistons, bearings etc. Couldn't believe I wanted to back to stock size. Eventually I got the parts, put it all back together and its now run another 40k without one hiccup (except the rear main is just now starting to leak). Runs super quiet and smooth.

I have always used 98RON fuel and I've only ever used diesel oil in it.

[64speed]

2001 Yukon Xl with 353000 miles on it with all original accessories and all born with parts. Runs like a brand new one, even shifts good. Now that I’ve bragged on it it will probably blow up but that’s ok because it doesn’t owe me anything. It has hauled my family all over hell and half of Georgia and never a hiccup. The power steering cooler is leaking but not enough to fix yet.