rocketraider

I would be real wary of juicing a hi-compression 425 with today's available fuels. You'd need a real rich fuel shot to keep from burning holes thru the pistons. Not worth it IMO. Leave the NAWSSS for the ricer crowd.

Awfully familiar looking piece! When I bought mine in 2002, I had never seen a Fern Mist 64. This is the fourth one that's surfaced since then. Same with Ninety Eight Custom Sports Coupes- you used to never see one, and in the past year about 7 have come up for sale in various parts of the country. Handsome automobile, and good luck selling!

There are no direct bolt-ons, but it's not difficult to modify a TH350 or 400 case to bolt to the Northstar. Seems like it involves relocating one bolt ear. The green custom '23 roadster that the factory has (had? DK since Olds is no more) had Northstar power mated to a RWD trans. You could probably adapt your baby DynaFlow to it, but the Northstar might kill it pretty quick.

It would be a very complicated repair. A guy in Canada reproduced the 62 and 63 trim for a while but I don't know how much if any of it is still available. PM me and I'll put you in touch with a couple of 62 Starfire guys who may know where to find some decent trim. Also remember there are early and late versions of this trim- late has a bead moulding, early does not. The bead moulding was added a couple months into production in response to complaints about door dings. What's galling is there's a guy in NY who is hoarding seven complete NOS sets of 62 side trim, just waiting for the kill. I hate to imagine the money he'll ask when he finally decides to sell.

Earl, I think it's entirely appropriate. I have two young car buddies over there and a co-worker's Marine son is scheduled to deploy for his 2nd tour at the end of July- a seasoned combat veteran at age 19. Anytime I see anyone in uniform I make an effort to tell them I appreciate what they are doing. A young sailor having Chinese dinner with his family last night almost cried when I told him. "Not many people tell us that" was his reply. He was scheduled to return to Norfolk Sunday and expected his orders to be Persian Gulf. I really wish we had not allowed ourselves to be suckered into this Middle Eastern mess, but since we are supposed to leave politics alone here, that's my final word.

Bill Sawrey in TN sells a lot of old GM specialty tools but the email address I have for him is not working. I wish it did as there's a few tools I need to grab myself.

Link to the Oldsmobile Club of America website (look in "Participating Clubs" column to your left) and go to Local Chapters. Select New York and it will take you to the Atlantic Northeast Zone section. You'll find an address for the LI/NYC Olds Club. Someone in there should be able to help you with your Luxury Sedan. Good bunch of folks in that club.

Understand that these are not enthusiasts driving these cars. These are ragged out vehicles that people are using antique plates on to get the inspection and licensing breaks. I don't consider a beat-to-hell Chevette with a push bar on the front being used as a shop vehicle to be an antique or even enthusiast's car. Or a 72 Ford 3/4 ton pickup used in a lawn care business, or a 69 Dodge wagon used by a painting crew. Or am I in the minority here in thinking that such vehicles should not wear antique plates?

That's the one. A MityVac hand vacuum pump can check it for operation. Also check for vacuum at the hose itself- wet finger method works fine for that. It won't be much. 7" or so is all it takes to operate those vacuum motors. It's possible the vacuum switching valve on the control head is leaking by enough to cause this, but if those go bad usually more than one diapragm is affected.

The purple wire is the solenoid trigger wire from ignition switch. Goes to "S" terminal. The others are fusible links feeding the rest of the car's electrics and go on the starter post. I had one of those break in half from corrosion and oil damage on my 83 wagon.

My guess is that you have either a bad solenoid or some wires are crossed or touching at the starter post. The starter wires often get oil soaked and insulation breaks down. I'd check all those out first.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">the last thing we want to do is bring down more scrutiny on our old car hobby by state government bureaucrats--NOTHING good can come from it. </div></div> The Commonwealth is actually pretty lenient as far as use of our cars goes. We are not limited to the usual "parades, car shows, or testing" as many states are, and are allowed to drive the car up to 250 miles from home for pleasure driving. Antique/vintage registered cars are exempted from state safety and emissions inspections, as well as personal property tax and local licensing fees. Those plates also cost a one-time fee- $11 vs a minimum of $31.50/year for basic licensing. So you see the financial incentive of the antique plate is attractive. Increased scrutiny is exactly what will happen once the police start yelping about rattletrap, poorly maintained cars registered as antiques, therefore exempting them from state safety inspections- which most of the cars on that list would not pass anyway. The intent of the law assumed that persons owning an antique car tend to maintain them better than the general public. This is one case where it would pay to be proactive and make sure the plates are registered only to cars that are used and maintained as collectible. Not every POS 25 years or older whose owner is looking to beat the system while using the car as daily transportation. Those are the type people who will eventually get the privileges bona fide hobbyists have worked for yanked out from under them. If that means turning in a questionable plate, yes, I'll do it- as you should if you value your antique licensing privileges.

The blower's working per design. It runs only in A/C, Heat and Defrost as the heater case is bypassed totally during Vent operation. If everything else switches over normally, the sluggish heat-to-defrost changeover is probably a leaking vacuum motor or a binding defrost door. The defrost motor is at the driver's side end of the heater case and should be easy to get at to check with an outside vacuum source. If it has to be replaced or the door freed up or adjusted, the heater case has to come out of the car for disassembly. Chrome engine dressup is a question of debate. I've been messing with Starfires for 23 years and all 61-63 Starfires I've seen had chrome valve covers and aircleaner. All 64s were painted silver. There's some claim that 64 converts had chrome, and I know two guys with 63s that the stuff is painted. Safest thing to say is that it was available for 63 and 64 cars, though I've never seen any documentation of it being an option.

You're real close. The "9" is actually "8". The timing tab points are every 4 degrees apart: 0, 4, 8, 12; and the vees are every 2 degrees, 2, 6, 10, 14. 1972 350-4v AT, factory spec is 12d BTDC @ 1100 rpm, with vacuum advance disabled and canister "carb" port plugged. I like to set timing with a vacuum gage in addition to the light (plus it's a good way to plug the vacuum advance line). Go for highest vac at normal curb idle speed and if it doesn't ping, diesel on shutdown or grunt starting, timing is pretty much where it needs to be.

I've always been wary of trying to import a car for that very reason. It was bad enough trying to register the YOM plates on my 64 Starfire back in 1989, when that option first became available for antique cars in VA. The flipside is that now the local DMV knows about the antique plates etc, they allow almost ANYTHING to wear them. I've got a list of vehicles wearing antique plates here that are obviously not driven and maintained as antique/collectible that I'm about ready to turn into DMV headquarters, with pictures. I see no reason why a beat-all-to-hell 1978 Chevette used as a garage shop vehicle should be allowed to wear antique plates- it has a push bar on front! Re: Dilbert. We have often thought that Scott Adams has a mole in our company, because some of the absolutely inane shat corporate comes up with often appears in Dilbert about the same time. Then we are reminded that all of Corporate America goes thru the same stuff, thanks to the myriad consultants and MBA's who are really running things and making out like bandits while their nonsensical ideas are costing contracts and jobs right and left. One of my favorite Dilberts is Catbert Consulting trying to sell the pointy haired boss on a Six Sigma program (a real consultant program BTW). Catbert: "You have to implement a Six Sigma program else you're doomed." PHB: "Aren't you the same consultant who sold us that worthless TQ program a few years ago?" Catbert: "I assure you it has a totally different name!" PHB (with glassy eyes): "When can we start?!"

Well- the issue is out, and is typically CA. Well-written with high quality cars and photos, and some commentary from folks who were there. I especially like this quote from Len Casillo, who was Oldsmobile styling head at the time. "We always had the grille and taillights tagged. You knew you were approaching an Oldsmobile from the front or rear. I think that was the key to our success. We touched a nerve in the American people. We had a clear idea of Oldsmobile's brand character long before it became a corporate idea. We intuitively knew what was Olds." (Len Casillo, quoted in <span style="font-style: italic">Collectible Automobile, August 2005</span> ) <span style="font-weight: bold">[color:"red"]"We intuitively knew what was Olds."</span>. Lord, if General Motors had only had a clue, we might not be without Oldsmobile now. It was painfully obvious that GM Corporate didn't know what was Olds.

The saw-tooth points are 4 degrees apart. Best ballpark I can give you is that TDC on the tab is about 45 degrees off vertical, and that is probably not accurate enough to set timing properly. I'd get that tab readable. Degreaser and a wire brush will do wonders. Once you get it clean, a dab of white paint on the preferred degree mark will help you see it in future.

If plugs and airfilter are good, the first thing I would do is find out if your gas dealer has reformulated gasoline in his tanks. Milage will drop about 30% on this stuff and it's a good place to start looking if the milage dropped all of a sudden. You might try different brand gas to see if it does it on all of them. I had a 307/OD wagon once that the gas milage dropped from 24 to 17 mpg one winter, and I pulled my hair out trying to figure it out. Finally ran a tank of Shell gas from a different supplier thru it and it got 24 on that tankful, then back on home-bought Amoco it went right back to 17. About the middle of February, the milage went back to 24 on all brands, so I knew then that rotten RF gas was the culprit. Never understood how the EPA could claim that burning 30% more fuel reduced emissions, even if the fuel itself was supposed to be cleaner-burning. Next suspect would be a sticking carb power piston, but you say the exhaust doesn't smell rich. You can check it by sticking a thin screwdriver into the carb vent hole with engine shut off and pushing the piston up and down. If stuck open, milage and power will suffer, stuck closed will result in low power. It's also possible the timing chain has stretched enough to alter the timing and it's running retarded, even though the timing at the crank appears correct. Look at the exhaust too. A plugged converter or collapsed exhaust pipe will affect milage and power too. The OE exhaust pipes on these cars were double-walled and it's not unheard of for the inner pipe to collapse causing exhaust restriction. If it's still on the computer, check the thermostat. If it's stuck open and is keeping the coolant temp below design, that fools the computer into thinking the engine hasn't warmed up and will keep it in cold-start full-rich mode.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">but,sad story-the 55 olds will be a gasser.straight axel,57 olds rearend w/micky t center sections,stroker 394w/4speed.early 60's style. don't hate!! </div></div> No haters here for 60s style. Post pics when you have them. Steve M is right, sometimes we're not quite so active here, but it's a good group for most part. Also try realoldspower.com, they're the racers and are more into 64-later engines, but there's guys on there who dig oldschool.

The owner's manuals used to recommend wiping them down with a 50/50 mixture of kerosene and motor oil. I don't see why that wouldn't work today. A good coat of pure wax would work too. Wrap them in some bubble wrap topped by heavy kraft paper and that should protect them against scratches while in storage.

The green Starfire made a 130 mile round trip to Lynchburg VA Saturday night. Great cruise night there at River Ridge Mall every 3rd Saturday night. Took my bud's 66 Starfire too, it lost the water pump about halfway back home so now we have to find and fix that. Put another 30 or so miles on it Sunday before putting it away, including a couple of 90 mph blasts on the new 58/29 bypass. Car was truly in its element... the kind of travel it was made for, back when 75 mph speed limits were the norm on limited access roads.

Your wish is the moderator's command! <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Thanks, but OCA already sells these thru their Club merchandise program. I'll leave this post up for a few days in case some of the Chapters want to contact you about having them made. I think one of these with the National Meet artwork would make a great National Meet souvenir, for any Nationals Host Chapter folks that are listening.

I was really hoping to get to Roanoke for a while today, but ended up spending most of the day under the bathroom sink. Amazing how plumbing will let go at the most inopportune time. But at least it did it while I was here. I would have really hated coming home to a flooded house. Still wondering about the reaction to an Amphicar on SML!

You have to reach up behind the bumper to get to the tail lamp sockets. There's probably a rubber dust seal hanging down between the bumper and body that you may have to move out the way. The sockets mount into the bottom of the taillight pod and are notorious for losing their ground. The pod has to come out of the bumper to change the lens- it's attached to the pod by screws that are hidden when the pod is in the bumper. You can loosen the bumper and wedge it out and down a bit to get working room, but if you have an extra hand it's about as easy to drop it off the car where you can get to all the pod mounting screws. Front sidemarker should have a quarter-turn socket accessible from behind the fender. Possibly a water deflector in the way there too. Look at the LEFT FRONT SIDE of the engine block, just below the head and behind the alternator mounting bracket. There's a machined pad that has the engine # stamped into it. It may be obscured by the alternator bracket. Should read "3M0XXXXXX" Last six digits should match the car VIN if original engine. The best ID for a W34/GT car is the transmission code. Look for "OM" on the transmission ID plate.