1977 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale from North America - Comments

Starter motor regularly until headers moved exhaust heat away.

Carpet in front wearing at edges for entry/egress.

Master cylinder just before I bought the car.

Minor rusting.

Has a 2.41 rear end, goes like stink on the open road, won't quite take a Z28 6 speed light to light.

Did extremely well at burnout contest recently.

Big room for serious tunes.

2 door luxury land yacht.

So you've been abusing the car.. Well don't complain when it dies on you.

I've got a 1977 LTD II. Its got a 2.50 rear end stuffed inside a 9inch fed by a 351W V8 channeled through a FMX (AKA Heavy as hell tranny).

The 351W hits torque peak at a Diesel like 1600RPM, so it does good redlight to redlight, but you open it up on a wide open road and it'll do 85 in second gear and still have third.

On a regular 1\4 mile its running about 15.5@88MPH. Not bad for a 4100LB Barndoor.

Later,

Dustin.

Hi. I am the proud owner of a 1977 Oldsmobile Delta-88. It has the 403 V-8 4bbl. It is a red 4door. I purchased this car in early summer of 2000. It was sitting on a cement slab in front of the owners garage where it had been sitting with a flat tire for about a year. I paid $50. for it. It needed a new starter, battery, radiator and fuel lines. I spent a couple hundred bucks and got it running. It has been 4 years now and no major problems yet. I just recently replaced the exhaust system. It has been an awesome car. It is dependable and a lot of fun to drive, but it`s starting to rust out. I am afraid the car is going to rust away before it stops running. It has been the best car I have ever owned. When this car becomes too rusty to be safe, I am definitely going to buy another 77-79 full size Oldsmobile. There are quite a lot of these cars on the road today. And for a good reason. They are well built dependable, comfortable, attractive automobiles.

I think next time I want a green one. Or maybe blue?

They are all wonderful cars. It is nice to see that there are still some people that feel the same way I do about these big old lovable cars. I sure am going to be sad to see my car go, but somewhere there is another unwanted olds just waiting to belong to me. Hopefully I can get a couple more years of dependable driving out of this one. It sure does run good even with 118000 miles on it.

Great website!

Happy Driving

Oldsmobile fans!

That 403 (6.6L) was one heck of a V-8 Olds made! In fact it was so good Pontiac offered it as the top engine option on the "77-"79 Firebird (remember the Trans Am in the first "Smokey And The Bandit" movie!?) It's a little known fact that it was Olds (and not Pontiac) that made that motor

A real shame.

I own 77 Delta 88 with pace car options. 403 replaced with a factory 73 455 from dealer's floor free due to knock which was a rod cap installed incorrect from fact. Cross drilled crank, 10 under, forged pistons 9.3:1 comp. modello cam 210 @.050. cast iron intake with q-jet from 1980 z-28 again a dealer gift in box. true duel ex. using 442 manifolds with split center ports. 2 door of course, red int. fact cb radio rear end posi with 2.41. 350 trans with lockup. enable by switch. silver black clear coat original strips. car rides great on open road smooth. factory rear sway bar. aluminum hood and rear aluminum drums steel inserts of course. made for bullit runs on track. 1/4 mile 15.0 at 93mph. my family's 1st car was 77 4 door silver red int. with 350 chev. engine due to 350 olds could not keep up with production. 60k bearing spun on crank and then 305 was installed. my 77 would walk all over the ltd above. ltd's were old uncle leroy's ride. over 80 the ride is like steering a boat at sea.

Beep.

If you add over-load coil-over shocks all around and better sway bars, you will notice better handling and should still ride in reasonable comfort.

4th Mar 2005, 20:42: That's not the complete truth. Pontiac used their own 6.6 Liter (400 CID) in most of these cars, with the Olds 6.6 Liter (403 CID) used to meet emission standards where the Pontiac motor couldn't, or where the Pontiac 400 was in short supply. Thus with either engine the Trans Am could still wear its "T/A 6.6" sticker on the shaker scoop.

Both were good motors, powerful for that era considering CAFE was trying to choke cars to death back then with ridiculous emission standards. Most V8's of this vintage had tiny intake ports and low compression. It isn't hard to rip off the emission equipment (on pre computer controlled cars), add a better intake and performance heads and a decent exhaust to make these motors do what they were meant to.

I see your original point, there would be quite a few disappointed, shocked, and ashamed Trans Am owners if any of them knew they had an Oldsmobile motor under the hood.

I have a 1977 Olds Delta 88 Royale. It was my first car and I'm never letting it go. It's a very strong car and I was very fortunate to get it. I'm wanting to kinda muscle it up, so if anybody has ideas, send them my way. And if anybody knows, it has the factory 350 in it, but I don't know if it's 4 bolt main or 2 bolt main. If anyone knows, please let me know.

I've had 403 Oldsmobiles since buying a '79 98 in 1989. That engine and TH400 out lasted the car at 275K miles. I put the drive train into a '83 Delta Brougham in '94. Car was stolen in '97. Picked up a '78 Custom Cruiser with a 403/TH350. Car had a rusted and broken frame. Put that drive train in a '84 Delta 88 coupe converted to a Holiday 88 using a '80 donor. Had that car from '98-'06. In '99 I picked up a '77 Delta 88 coupe with a 403/TH350. Badly rusted, but great mechanical. A couple months later I got a '81 Delta 88 coupe with V6 from the original owner for free. Drove both cars off and on until '02. My '81 is now 403/TH350/3.08 8.5 posi, bigger brakes, sway bars, and a few other upgrades. Been on the road since '03. The '77-'84 Oldsmobiles are the best IMO. The 403 is indestructible.

I have a 78 Olds Delta 88, and I just put a performer rpm intake and a 600cfm carter, and 3.23 richmond gears with a posi, and I bought headers for a 79 Trans Am because I heard they may work, but I'm not sure. Does anyone know what headers definitely work for this car?