ok about 5 months ago i bought an olds 350 out of a guy back yard and rebuilt it redoing the seals and all but the heads were screwed so i got 78 heads i believe, and had to drill the head bolt holes but they fit, now the motor is started and in my 86 regal limited but it either runs terribly or my transmission is screwed my questions are is this a good engine what can i do to wake it up, is a chevy better and if anyone knows what kind of trans i have its either a TH350 or TH400 but i dont know it had a cable kickdown cable if that helps (wich btw broke and no one appears to know what i need or can find it so i can drive it....wich sucks) so please any help is greatly appreciated thx

The Olds 350 is a good reliable engine. You can get basic performance parts for it, like headers, manifolds, cams etc.
However, most people, when building an Olds engine go for a 455, so the 350 is not too popular.

Generally a Chevy 350 is far more popular and easier to build, because there are much more parts and more info on it. However, the Chevy is not necessarily a better engine for reliability, etc.

As for your engine.......... I wonder if there is a mismatch between the engine and the heads. Olds engines often use dished pistons. Later low compression heads may simply not be building sufficient compression to work efficiently.

The Olds 350 is a good reliable engine. You can get basic performance parts for it, like headers, manifolds, cams etc.
However, most people, when building an Olds engine go for a 455, so the 350 is not too popular.

Generally a Chevy 350 is far more popular and easier to build, because there are much more parts and more info on it. However, the Chevy is not necessarily a better engine for reliability, etc.

As for your engine.......... I wonder if there is a mismatch between the engine and the heads. Olds engines often use dished pistons. Later low compression heads may simply not be building sufficient compression to work efficiently.
I think you should prefer chevy....First i also own one and second reason is that it will be hard if any part of 350 gets damaged and also is not available.

chevy 350s are a dime a dozen and if you had to drill the bolt holes to make the head fit on your block you probally have a massive air leak causing the engine to run like crap.

Please loko at the dates before replying, this thread is too old, thanks.