i have bought a 1972 cutlass s recently and i am looking to gain some power it now sits bone stock with an olds 350 and a 2 barrel carb pushing a weak 180 hp. that runs great. my question is what combination of parts would be needed to create a cheap yet respectable amount of power. keep in mind that i am soon to be 21 and still a college student with a budget.
i do however have access to an olds 455. but that would need a complete rebuild, any idea what that might cost  

If you don't want the 455 I'll take it. Yeah I'm trying to build my Olds 350 from my '70 Cutlass as well. I'd love to see CC do a buildup...hint hint...wink wink...  

good pickup...I've got a 68 cutlass supreme...love it.  Mine has a 350, as well, but is probably built up a bit more than you are talking about...and I'm the same age as you...still in college too.  

For starters, you'll want to get rid of that 2bbl carb and intake...thats a major choke point.  I have a huge chiltons manual that gives specs for just about every motor built back from 64-71, but I don't have that with me, and I cant find what kind of compression you are going to be running.  I'm pretty sure you will have really bad compression with it being a 72 (the beginning of the smog era...or end of the musclecar era...whichever you please) and a 2 bbl motor.  The problem is that I do not know if it was the heads, or the pistons that gave the low compression number.  Anyway...this will be a weak point, but it is possible to wake up the car even with the low compression.

For the intake, I'd suggest just trying to find a stock 4 bbl intake for cheap.  If you find that, you will need a quadrajet carb (not necessarily a bad thing...depends on who you ask, but I kinda prefer them for the street).  If you'd like to run a squarebore carb, such as a holley or demon, an edelbrock performer intake will allow you to do that (or if you'd like an aluminum intake and the quadrajet these will work).

For a cam, I would not go too crazy...probably a dual pattern cam with around 204 degrees duration @.050 on the intake, and 216 degrees duration @ .050 on the exhaust (doesn't have to be exact...just somewhere in that range).  Crane makes one with those specs (as thats the cam I have) and edelbrock makes one with around the same specs in their performer package.  Comp cams also sells them.  You don't want to go crazy on lift, as that will require you to either get custom pushrods, or have to convert over to an adjustable valvetrain.  

Next step would be headers.  You'll want to stay with smaller primaries, as this thing won't be breathing that heavy, and you'll need the backpressure.  If you aren't picky like me, you can find a set for a little over $100.  

That will wake it up, but probably wont make it a screamer.  If it turns out that its the pistons causing the low compression, you'll probably have to do a complete rebuild to find a ton more power (or build a blower setup).  If it is the heads, then you can switch to a set of #5 heads (best flowing...plus came on good compression motors).  If you want to dive into the heads, I really wouldn't suggest dropping a ton of money into them by way of porting.  Save the money.  Then use that money to build the short block with a lot more compression, and bolt on a set of big block heads, a performer rpm intake, and have some real fun.  A good multi-angle valvejob, and maybe milling a little bit off the heads would be about as far as I would go...also replacing the valve seats to accept unleaded gas if that has not already been done (it should have been with the motor being out of a 72).

If you'd like a bit more information, check out 442.com.  They have a ton of info on olds motors.  Also make sure to post on my other thread asking about interest in a CC buildup of an Olds 350...I really want to see a story on this motor, cuz its really a great motor.

Good luck

I would agree with just about everything that CIS just told you.  I do know that the compression change was made to about 8:1, and the way they did it was with the heads.  I am pretty sure that the low compression heads have valve rotaters on them which is good in one sence but not really in the other.  Valve rotaters were used in this case to address the no lead gas issue, but it basically didn't work.  My kids 72 went through the heads in about 15,000 miles as we figured it didn't need a lead substitute, but we figured wrong.  He sucked a couple of exhaust valves and it was running on 6 cylinders when he finally shut it off.

I bought a set of heads off of a 1967 330 with smaller combustion chambers.  With modern head sets, the compression should settle out at around 9.25 or 9.5:1.  They have all the hard seats and are ready to bolt on there.  With that, his engine should wake up pretty well.  He is running a Performer Intake, a Holly 650, Thorley headers with Flow masters, and he has a 342 posi that we installed in the rear.  The gears can come later for you, but even with the smog blog he had to begin with, the gears made the car fast.  It was a $1200 item though.

As for the engine build up - you got my vote.  I am into Oldsmobiles and know alot of stuff about them, but there is always something new to learn.  I would like to see CC come out with a "recipe" for making the Olds 350 into an engine of interest.  Many times they are overlooked which is too bad.  There are a bunch of them floating around out there too, so building stock is plentiful.  When done properly, they are excellent mills.

That's my two bits.   Good luck - Bowser