Olds engine in Chevy Caprice - should I be disappointed?

I've often been thought of as stuck in the 70's too. My unfamiliarity with my '87 is further evidence of this.

 

The 307 Olds is a good engine, but a little bit too small for the heavy Wagons. The best gas consumption of my car was 22mpg in flat terrain at 55mph.
There are much electronics and vacuum hoses, a marten under the hood creates many fun ...
One thing is important: the EGR valve and hoses has to be clean, otherwise there are problems with pinging, also with 95 octane (RON) fuel.

 

How often would you say such cleaning needs to be done and is this something a non-mechanically inclined person could do himself (me)?

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "cleaning". The EGR valve does need to function properly to avoid part-throttle pinging, as the ECU runs the carb lean assuming the EGR valve will be diluting the mixture under those conditions. This is why people who remove or disable the EGR valve on these motors also complain about pinging.

I have no idea what, exactly, you expect to "clean" out of the vacuum hoses. The exhaust only contacts the pintle end of the EGR valve. If you have exhaust residue in the vacuum hoses, you have a much bigger problem. More likely are cracks in those vacuum hoses. Simply replace them periodically. Also verify that the control solenoid valve is working properly, as this can also prevent the EGR valve from working. I run the cheapest regular grade gas I can find in my 307s with no pinging issues.

 

I think I may have a low/mid pinging developing...noticed it a few days ago. It's subtle, but I can hear it (if I don't turn on the radio) when in fourth gear (overdrive?) and not accelerating hard; it goes away when it downshifts.

 

I had some problems with pinging, only with 98 octane fuel it was acceptable, but expensive (fuel prices in Germany are ... uhm ... look: https://www.adac.de/infotestrat/tan...ftstoffpreise/kraftstoff-durchschnittspreise/).

The EGR cleaning procedure is the following: Remove the carburetor and the EGR valve. In the intake manifold, under the 1st stage of the carburetor you can see the EGR outlets. In my car these outlets were clogged with very hard coal. I cleaned it with a 7 or 8mm drill and a screwdriver with the same diameter.
The EGR passages in the intake manifold I cleaned with big welding wire. Blowing out with compressed air -ready.
After these procedure the pinging was fixed.

How often should it be done ... I don't know exactly, I think every 3rd year will be right.

 

Oh, yeah. 'Mining coal' is always fun. Chevy manifolds are, IMHO, the worst, but Chryslers take the cake with the carbon about evenly split between the intake and heads. Yanking the intake and cold-tanking it to clean it is about the best way to ensure it doesn't carbon up for more than 3 years.

 

Is this buildup of carbon a result of INfrequent driving or can this be just as bad with a daily driver?

 

I think it is normal during the use of the car.
If you look in car forums many modern cars have the same problems but the solution is much more expensive.

 

Carbureted cars have it worse because of the higher level of hydrocarbons (grams/mile) actually present. Fuel injected engines don't carbon up as badly because of the much more efficient use of less gasoline in the same conditions. And God forbid if the mixture control solenoid quit...full-on rich condition and all kinds of problems!

 

Olds engine run forever. The Olds 350 in my '74 Cutlass is at 510000 miles. A 307 is not as strong a block as the pre 1977 350s, but doesnt need to be with the lower output. A 305 Chevrolet only "feels" stronger to most people in the cars it is put in because the Chevys have a 700r4 transmission behind them, with the 3.06 to 1 first gear ratio, vs the 2.74 in the Olds 2004r combinations.

 

My 1955 Chevy wagon has had lots of differnet engines and transmissions in it. The last I removed from an old Chevy van. Off hand I forgot what year the 305 is but it had around 50,000 miles on it when I picked up the running van for $500. I updated the heads, intake, Edelbrock 600, exhaust headers, and a few other things. Using a 2004R tranny and a high geared Camaro rear it still runs decent and gets around 20 MPG.
I haven't driven it in years but my 1939 Ford coupe has a low mileage Malibu 307 still runnning the stock 2-barrel and a powerglide. Neither car will win a race but are fun to drive.
Everything else runs a 350/350 combo.

 

Here you can find some helpful information about the Olds 307:
http://www.442.com/oldsfaq/ofe307.htm

To my Post #66: I meant a 7 or 8mm drill bit.

 

For those of us who don't speak Metric, that's 9/32 and 5/16" respectively. I've had a couple rigs that it was just faster to chisel the coal out than drill it.

 

I had a '76 Delta 88, with an Olds 350 in it, the was a great engine but I've never been nearly so impressed with an Olds 307. However, a Chevy 305 probably wouldn't be that much different.