HEY GUYS GOT A 79 OLDSMOBILE DELTA 88 WITH A BEAT UP 350 WONDERING IF IT WOULD BE WORTH REBUILD IT OR TRASH IT FOR A FRESH SB 350 AND IF SO WHAT KIND OF PERFORMANCE CAN I EXPECT TO GET OUT OF IT IF I GO WITH THE EDELBROCK PERFORMER SERIES PARTS. OHH WHERE WOULD I GO FOR PARTS DO I USE THE SAME AS FOR A REGULAR 350 CHEVY OR NOT.

WELL N-E-WAYS ANY INFORMATION IS APPRECIATED THANKS

Yeah, rebuild it or get a fresher rebuild from a reputable builder. I don't think that they had switched to the corporate chevy motor yet but maybe. Someone will know.

I've got Chev 350 that came out of a 77 Olds Delta 88. That was the year GM took the heat for putting Chev engines in Oldsmobiles. However the majority were Olds engines, and I think the majority were 307 Olds until they finished building them.

If it has 4 bolt valve covers, its a Chev.

If you have an Olds motor, you will have to swap your transmission  in order to go with a SB Chevy.  It will have the BOP (Buick, Olds, Pontiac) bellhousing pattern and won't work with the Chevy motor.  If you are planning on hopping this car up on a budget, then it will be a toss up going either way with the Chevy or Olds.  The chevy motor is much cheaper to build and easier to make lots of power with, but you'll have to buy a tranny, too.  The Olds isn't a bad motor, but it doesn't have the parts availability of the Chevy, and it also doesn't have an adjustable valvetrain like the Chevy, which makes tuning and adjusting the valves a bit of a pain.  The four bolts on the valve covers is a good way to tell the difference.  The Oldsmobile is also a lot wider than the Chevy motor, and I believe it has a metal pan-type gasket under the intake manifold, as opposed to the Chevy's solid iron or aluminum manifold.  Oh yeah, this is a pretty heavy car, so you will want to add more torque than horsepower to get that thing moving.  Edelbrock Performer cam, carb, and intake will work pretty well on a sb Chevy, but if you are going to go for the gusto and spend money on the aluminum heads, go for the Performer RPM setup.  It will give you quite a bit more power.  You can go through Jegs or Summit for the Edelbrock parts, but for internal engine parts like bearings and pistons, I find going through a local parts supplier may be best, because if you get the wrong part, you don't have to go through the hassle of sending it back and paying for the shipping.  I've had problems with both companies sending me the wrong bearing sizes, and sending it back was a pain, not to mention the time factor. 

Some of the BOP's had trannys with both chevy and Bop bolt patterns you might get lucky and not have to change anything.