rocketraider

If they didn't do the job right the first time, what are the odds they'll do it right this time? I'd be inclined to take it up 85 to Spartanburg and let someone who apparently knows something about Dynaflows and what they are doing with them have the job.

Dave, it's a "drill plug" used to plug a hole where the factory drilled a passage in the carb body. It's a common leak on a QuadraJet. The plug should be made of steel with the cover you describe. Even though it looks like hell, you'll have to mix up some epoxy to remedy this leak. In this location, epoxy may not stop it as it's on the pressure side of the float needle/seat. I think I'd try to fix it on the car, that way you don't disturb the fuel inlet fitting which is also a notorious QJet leak point because the threads strip out of the potmetal casting. Clean the area with some carb cleaner or brake cleaner to get all the oily residue off, then apply the epoxy liberally over the whole plug. Worst comes to worst, you may have to replace the carb. Holley rebuilds QuadraJets and does a quality job www.holley.com and look under reman line, and you can get these thru AutoZone. Edelbrock now owns the original QJet tooling and can supply a brand new QuadraJet for 66-67 Olds www.edelbrock.com .

There is a world of aftermarket reproduction parts for the 68-9 car. Quality interior, sheetmetal, trim, mechanical is all available. Year One, Fusick, The Parts Place and Supercar Specialties are just a few vendors that come to mind, and there are many more. NOS parts may be a little more difficult to find. It's still out there but has gotten expensive- supply and demand, though Cutlass pieces are more reasonably priced than 442 parts. Many people part out these cars and can supply good used parts if needed. The cars are modern enough that they can be driven anywhere with confidence, and mechanical spare parts are readily available thru NAPA, CarQuest, and the discount chains. There's also good online support thru this board, 442.com, oldspower.com and realoldspower.com. First step is to join the Oldsmobile Club of America www.oldsclub.com .Their monthly <span style="font-style: italic">Journey With Olds</span> magazine has an ALL Olds classified section and most of the big vendors advertise in it. There are three OCA Chapters that cover Kentucky- Derby City (Louisville area), Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (Cincy area and just hosted a great National meet) and Music City Rockets of Nashville TN which covers southern KY. Details on each are on the OCA website.

Oldsman, that's where the licensing fee comes in. Way back when, the factories had promo models made that the dealers either gave to long-time or prospective customers, or sold to anyone who wanted one. The Alero model would come under the same guidelines, the manufacturer would just have to make sure GM got its cut. What they're worried about is making enough money off the model to pay for the tooling and the GM license. Plus with a marque that is on its way into history, I doubt GM really wants to do anything for the Olds enthusiast. They blew that market years ago, due in whole to their own shortsightedness and corporate stupidity. Yes, they made some damned stupid decisions about their product.

Great big hawnkin' 66 Olds at that! <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> Henry, can you tell me anything about 66 heads, specifically whether ALL were drilled/tapped for AIR plumbing, with the holes plugged on non-AIR applications? A buddy just bought a 66 Starfire, Southgate built car, that has threaded plugs in the AIR bosses. It shows evidence of originally being a K19 car (compressor bracket), but the CSM shows the heads both drilled/tapped AND plugged, and I've never paid very close attention to them at Nats unless I saw the smog pump in place. The car is probably 95% unrestored original and he wants to find out if it had the smog pump. I've already told him that finding a correct K19 setup is going to be futile and expensive, since most got trashed as soon as the car left California. This one came to NC via Texas and Illinois.

Figure this... gas in this city is 10-12 cents higher at the pump than at the same brand stations 10-20 miles out in any direction. All stations here get their gas from the same suppliers as those in outlying areas. I don't think there's any local gasoline tax (though if there were a way they could tax it I'm sure they would- they tax everything else. Does anyone else have to pay "entertainment tax" on movie tickets and video rentals? <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />) so that doesn't account for it.

The hubcaps are 60s Buick. The skirt appears to be early 50s Cadillac.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The engineer and workers tell the state patrol officer that they had one side of the signal working, but no one was stopping for it, so they disconnected it. Witnesses said that the train was traveling at a high rate of speed and that they heard no horn. </div></div> Pretty much says it all. Their own people have admitted they bypassed a safety feature. They are liable for damages. It would be different if the grade crossing had had no signals. Those guys probably won't have a job after it goes to court. Hal, if you haven't already, have your lawyer draft a letter of intent to sue and see if they don't come around. My bet is they'll settle out of court for repair cost rather than risk it going to court and a jury awarding a larger sum.

try www.oldspower.com . The guys on there are heavy into G-body Olds and may have some pics. 88CuttyClassic would probably have some.

Blownolds, have you seen one of those conversion transmissions? and can tell us what is involved in mating it to the Rocket block? I've heard they cut down the case in the torque converter area. If I do anything with the blue Starfire, it's gonna need something like this. I've always said if I could get rid of the 4GC and the SlimJim, I could enjoy that car.

www.442.com and go to the tech pages/engine. There's a port at right rear of the intake manifold that is where hot coolant from engine goes to the heater core. It returns to the water pump via the nipple you mentioned. The bypass hose helps warmup and allows some coolant circulation if the thermostat fails closed. Starting around 1975, some cars returned coolant from the heater core to the RH radiator tank.

Parm, the SlimJim was used 1961-64 and can be troublesome, but if one is set up right it usually works fine. I've got two- one works great, the other does all kinds of hateful stuff but that car has other issues too- as in it won't run. The big trouble is finding someone who understands them to service them. Modern tranny shops are afraid of them because of their reputation for being difficult to repair and adjust, and they don't want to deal with the warranty work because they didn't know what they were doing. The TV (throttle valve) rod adjustment is critical to this transmission's operation and is usually the cause of the heartburn. If it's off, the thing is just not going to work right. That said, the TV rod is no harder to adjust than a modern 700R4 or 200-4R TV cable, though it helps to own the special tools for adjusting it. The fact that many early 60s gassers ran 394 Olds engines mated to B&M Hydro automatics ought to say somethng about what a properly set up one can handle. Drive the car and see how the SJ functions. Most have a hard RPM drop between 1st and 2nd speeds, but that is a characteristic of these things.

68, 69, 72, 73, 75 and 79 all had Dual/Gates as part of the package. 74 455 cars had Dual/Gates; 350 cars came with standard Olds floorshift, D/G optional. 83 and 84 had the three stick Lightning Rods. Dual/Gate was optional in 70-77 Cutlass. Pontiac offered the Dual/Gate "His-n-Hers" shifter in GTOs starting 1966. It was originally introduced in late 1963 as aftermarket for Oldsmobile Starfires and Pontiac Grand Prixs with SlimJim HydraMatic floorshift, and advertised as "Wife Pleaser". I have an original D/G, waiting to someday install it in one of my Starfires. It actually has a keyed lock that has to be unlocked to use the ratchet-shift gate. There were also versions for automatic floorshift equipped Mopars, and most Mopar performance cars in the 70s had "Slap-Stik" shifters which are also ratchet shifters. The last model-specific D/G I know of were made for 1970-81 Camaro and Firebird. Everything else would have used a generic console. Certain years, Pontiac and Chevrolet floorshift cars had a factory version of the ratchet shifter. If you find a 69-74 Pontiac GP or intermediate that has 3-2-1 engraved on the right side of the shift gate, it has this shifter. Camaros and Firebirds didn't have the 3-2-1 but you can tell these shifters because you can push them to the right in all forward ranges. To ratchet shift- push lever hard right and forward and it will latch in the next highest range detent. Prolly more than ya ever wanted to know, huh? <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Saw a '19 Cadillac a few weeks back that had mechanical linkage from a rod under the dash to headlight buckets, for dimming lights. I think they even had grease fittings or tiny oil cups at all the pivot points. I was told once that Southside Virginians and especially Coastal North Carolinians speak English closer to the Elizabethan and Scots tongue than any other group in the world. Oi reckon they mought be roight. Come oht ta the hohse when ye can. Oi need sae help catchin a mohse. (I think they may be right. Come out to the house when you can, I need some help catching a mouse.) And people really do sound like that here.

Interesting that Lucas, the Prince of Darkness himself, has been invoked on All Hallow's Eve... <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> (cue up "Tubular Bells" and John Carpenter's "Hallowe'en Theme")

If all he wants is proof that the car is yours and title is clear, make a photocopy, mark it "copy only, not for DMV or registration use" and have it notarized. One other angle to this is that the shipper may want a valid VIN and proof of seller's ownership before they will accept the shipment. That way they don't get hammered with a stolen car problem.

Have you had the battery checked? Sounds like a possible dead cell. Have you tested the alternator output voltage with it in the car and running? If it's 13-15 volts, the alternator is not at fault.

I agree with the dealer. Couldn't have been many 5-speeds built, and the International is high-line enough that it will someday be collectible. My advice is if you plan to do any restoration, start getting parts now before GM discontinues them.

Sky, there are two different GM-built 307 cid engines- a Chevrolet version built from 1968 to around 1974-5, and an Olds version built from 1981-90. These engines are very different and components do not interchange.

Those used to be pretty common. Try J.C.Whitney, or a dealer may even have some old stock left.

Dave, contact Chip Woyner at Power Steering Services Inc, www.powersteering.com . You might also try Lares Manufacturing as they are a high-volume rebuilder of steering components.

I'd like to have one here at the house too, but setbacks get me anywhere I could try to put it on this narrow city lot. The concrete driveway/patio beside the house needs some work, but it is riding right on the property line and if I bust it up to repour, then it is no longer grandfathered (1959) and the damn setbacks get me again <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />. So I watch the cracks grow and dab some more sealer in them... I'd have had to jump thru hoops even to put up a metal carport on the existing driveway. Zoning is not always a good thing...

As late as 1974 Oldsmobile still listed "Control Pkg., Dual Hydraulic Brake" for 1962-66 Oldsmobiles (except 1962 Starfires for whatever unknown reason) in the parts books. Grp 4.650, pn 381466. List price was $72.25. It included a dual master cylinder, metering block and brake line tubing to install it on cars originally equipped with single braking. Based on that kit's availability, I have never deducted points for a dual master cylinder setup on cars not originally equipped with it in OCA National Judging. AACA would do well to heed it on pre-1967 cars also.

Power relay and dimmer switch, and all associated wiring from the eye to those components. It has to be levelled and aimed properly too. Shame you're on the other side of the country. I have a Guidematic/Autronic Eye tester that's set up for the small photocell head.

A contact on an Olds board put it this way about life in Southern California. "If we ain't shakin' we're burnin'." The fire was only a couple miles from his home this morning. Don't know if he's had to leave yet, it was going away from him, but the Santa Ana winds can change everything. As good as life is, I sometimes wonder if there's anywhere on Earth to live without Nature trying to destroy what you've worked for. Here we have to deal with hurricanes and ice storms, but those don't compare to fire. Fire takes everything. Keep the folks in Cali in your thoughts and prayers. They need them.