rocketraider

Have you talked to a local Olds dealer about doing this job? Odds are they have someone who was there when the car was built or can recommend a retiree who might consider taking on the job. Even 30 years later, they still have a vested interest in keeping yer old Olds on the road. Sure to God somebody in the SoCal Chapter knows a good mechanic <img src="/ubbthreads/images/icons/shocked.gif" alt="" /> ! And hey- don't underestimate the riceboys. One of the most intelligent young mechanics I know right now is hardcore into those things. He set one up to drag race and road race and is competitive with it- but then he's one of the most driven kids I've ever known.

Some guy on ebay last week had a disclaimer on his expensive NOS diecast chrome for sale- "NOS means New Old Stock. It doesn't mean perfect!" I've been told, and seeing is believing, that sometimes service trim parts weren't as nice appearance-wise as what the assembly line used. I remember one guy several years ago kept trying to sell me a 64 Starfire front fender vent that both tips were broken off. "But that's NOS!" he bleated. NOS or no, it's still broken and you want too damn much for it... $150.00 indeed.

That site won't come up sometimes. I tried it last night too and couldn't get in. Haven't tried today. Do an ebay search for 1966 Oldsmobile, 66 Oldsmobile, 66 Olds and 1966 Olds. The do the same for 1964, 1965 and 1967 and see what comes up. The guy had them advertised as 64-67, but they were 1966 3-bar spinner caps.

The <span style="font-style: italic">Standard Catalog of Oldsmobile</span> lists overall 1952 Eighty-Eight length at 204 inches (5.2m). It doesn't give a body width but mentions tread width as 59 inches, so I'd guess overall body width at approximately 70-75 inches (2m). Here's hoping your garage will fit the car!

And dittos to Unregistered Anonymous, who or whatever he/she/it may be!

First off- gasoline is not what it was even a few years ago. Find out if reformulated gasoline is used in your area (and in SoCal I'd almost bet it is). The stuff uses ethanol blends, oxygenates, all kinds of rotten stuff to promote more complete combustion, but their side effect is that, as oxygenates, they force the air-fuel ratio WAY lean which makes engines run hot. You also end up burning more fuel to get any modicum of performance. Your sudden drop in gas mileage and rough running is what tipped me off to possibility of RFG. You might try playing with the base timing, and make sure the temp gage is accurate. For the temp to go way high and straight back down like that sounds like you may be getting steam pockets in the thermostat crossover or the gage's sensing bulb may be weak and making a direct ground contact against the sender body. If you have a thermometer that can read that high, put it in the radiator and see what the coolant is actually doing. What actually happened when it sprayed you is the water pump pressurised the system momentarily when it sped up. Remote possibility of wrong impeller on the water pump too. Have your coolant analysed for exhaust gas. That will be proof positive of a head gasket leak.

There were 2 sets of these running on e-bay about a month ago. They actually went fairly cheap- under $100 per set. Check 442.com parts for sale if you haven't already.

Well- ask yourself the question "Can I get my original center caps rechromed at comparable price and quality?" Then ask "Is NOS available at comparable P&Q?" I'd bet no. The guy's right, sometimes it's hard to get plating to do right in recessed areas or odd contours. A couple examples from my own experience are front bumpers and license surrounds for 1968-69 Toronado. I finally found an NOS license surround and the chrome on that was just as poor as the rechromed original.

A lot of us think the unregistered anonymous users should get lost too, but we don't try to run them off the board with flippant comments. That said- you mentioned K&N high rise intake. You sure you don't mean air filter element? Edelbrock makes a good Olds performance intake manifold and matched cam and carb for it. You want a cam with a powerband about 2200-6000 rpm to take advantage of the Oldsmobile engine's torque characteristics. Upgrade your ignition to factory HEI or Pertronix and install a Crane adjustable advance curve kit in the distributor. About 34-36 degrees total timing. Hope you didn't get one of them flex fans- if you did, ditch it and either use the factory clutch fan or an electric one. Both those save horsepower. A flex fan uses it and is noisy as hell to boot. Use a 160 degree thermostat. I can almost promise that Cutlass has 2.73 gearing. For more scoot, you need deeper gears, up in the 3.42 to 3.55 range for street driving. For more performance oriented Oldsmobile ??, you might want to cruise 442.com

There are headers made that supposedly fit 1971-74 big Olds, but I think your overall best bet will be to find a pair of factory dual exhaust manifolds. The 71-74 455 dual exhaust big cars came with the same manifolds as the 442, and they are reproduced so you don't have to beat the bushes for a decent set. Not quite as much performance as headers, but a whole lot easier to live with. Bear in mind that the big wagons never had dual exhaust, so it's gonna be a custom bend job. I always called my 76 Cruiser "Beastwagon". A wag at work used to call it the Beasta-Cruiser. My current 83 is Beastwagon Jr. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/icons/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Good Lord. We're talking about a 5500 lb car here <img src="/ubbthreads/images/icons/tongue.gif" alt="" /> . What kind of performance do you want, because I'm thinking you can't expect but so much out of such a pavement crusher. I had a 76 that was a decent enough car once it got up to speed, but it took a while to get there, and don't even think about a quick passing maneuver.

A 68 Delta Custom Holiday Coupe with police package showed up at the ASE Zone Show last weekend in Charlotte. It had the wheels Scott mentions, among other things like bucket seats/no console. Beautiful car, owned and shown by original owner grandmother and 19 year old grandson. And uninformed people kept asking why it had Toronado center caps?

Wayal... when I first saw the post I thought the Cougar II showcars Ford built in the early 60s, since I seem to remember hearing they unloaded a bunch of their styling exercises and experimentals recently. Anyway- honest mistake. I figure our young friend here is between 15 and 17, meaning he wasn't around in 1965. Even his parents may not have been

Think a couple of the other GM Divisions were calling Radiant Green by "Spring Green Metallic". Olds liked to call their metallic colors "whatever Mist" from about late 50s thru 1970.

Look at the tie rod ends. Saginaw units will have a flat bottom cap (where grease fitting goes) with an S stamped in it. Thompson (TRW) the bottom caps protrude a bit. Never understood why Olds did that. All it did was make servicing the car more difficult than necessary, and both versions work exactly the same. And then you get into 1st and 2nd type oil pans on the 394 cars <img src="/ubbthreads/images/icons/confused.gif" alt="" /> , each of which uses its own specific center link.

Not sure on the wh/wm, unless it might be a date or assembly plant code. Olds big-block heads are identified by a letter cast into the bottom left corner near the spark plug hole. B are 1966-67 400-425 heads, C are 1967-69 400-425-455 and came in small (2.00") and large (2.07") intake valve versions. D are special heads for 1966-69 W30 and Hurst/Olds and are rare. C are generally acknowledged as the best overall head for any 400-425-455 cid Olds engine. A (1965 400-425), B, E (1970 455), and G/Ga (1971-72 455) are also good choices. J (1973-76 455) are decent enough for a street or stock engine but don't flow as well as the others and are prone to exhaust valve seat cracks. H, K and Ka (1972-74 manual trans 442 and marine 455) are other variants but not common. D and F (both W30-only) are cost prohibitive and in my opinion suitable only for a 1000-point restoration.

What's sad is that it didn't even get a bid... now it will probably end up in the shop dumpster thanks to an idiot trying to satisfy his own ego . Must be a monstrous one too.

Don't have a source for you just yet, but here's the GM part number. 587777- engine timing cover 1963-64 394 engine. Good luck.

Tahi, you should be able to find a factory issued service manual thru some of the big US automobile literature vendors. It will be Oldsmobile-specific and will be invaluable as you service and restore your car. Hemmings Motor News lists the vendors. You may also find one on eBay online auction. GM sold the F85 in Canada so you may even find a French language edition. I've seen owner's manuals in French, so it would appear the service books would also be printed in French.

People very knowledgeable on the Rallye have told me the decklid spoiler was optional, but I've never seen one without it. I think the package also included F41 suspension. Interestingly, it carried the same option code as the 68-9 Hurst/Olds- W45.

Brad, let's compare apples to apples. What you're doing comes under the guise of upgrading since almost everything you've mentioned is correct-for-the-era GM. We're talking about guys who gut the drivetrain in favor of a crate engine/Turbo 350, toss the original suspension in favor of a late model clip or aftermarket IFS, chrome and polish and billet everything, toss out the original interior ifo custom made door panels and seats- in other words you wouldn't be able to tell what the car was originally, which is what's happening to the Buick that started this thread. I don't care what people do with their own car and money. Being an historian (and an opinionated one at that) I do care when a reference item gets altered. Somebody, somewhere, is looking for that information to make their car like THEY want it. As far as restorer vs rodder mindsets, they're different. A restorer wants things like they were originally made, and if that means commenting on someone's half-hearted effort to duplicate that standard, it's a fact of life. Rodders don't have to worry about that restoration standard as they make their own standards during construction. If you set your car out to be judged by people knowledgeable about the marque, don't [censored] and moan when they point out the car's shortcomings. If you're serious about putting the car back to its original as-built state, you'll swallow it, make the upgrade, and come back next year. If you want to rod the car, it doesn't need to be put on a showfield full of restored-to-original cars. Take it to a cruise night or rod run where it will be appreciated. And yes, believe it or not, I like rods and customs. I've had altered cars in the past and may have one again. I like original cars- I must, I have 5. I even like old tractors and farm machinery and aircraft. I'm a gearhead. Ya wanna know a little secret? That 1976 Ninety Eight I have, has big-azz chrome tailpipes sticking out under its bumper.

The 1976 Ninety Eight went to Fall Charlotte and back in the rain and sat on a muddy showfield in between. It cruised at 70+ mph with its Tempmatic cranking to keep the windows clear. The 69 Toronado was driven from here to Springfield IL in rain. They get dirty, I wash them. They break, I fix them. I have time, I drive them. Sometimes not even once a week. But when I do, I drive them, and hard. I enjoy every minute of it. And haven't had to modify anything to keep up with modern traffic, except my attitude when some idiot in a Honda or Volvo cuts me off. Besides, what do you want? A Buick or a bastard? You stick a Chevy drivetrain in it, you sure don't have a Buick anymore. Why not <span style="font-weight: bold">dare to be different</span> and use a Buick drivetrain? 455s and Nailheads are reasonably plentiful and can be tricked out as neat as any Chevy crate engine extant, with a WAY bigger wow factor. You ever seen a Hilborn-injected Nailhead? You want thoroughly modern power? Use a supercharged 3800 SFI for crying out loud. Anything but a boring 350 Chevy crate engine. But it's your car, do what you want.

There's a place for rods, and a place for originality. A 40k unrestored original car in this condition is NOT the place for a rod. Even most hard-core rodders I know will admit that. If it had 100k on it, been painted a couple times but still reasonably straight, and needed drivetrain and interior work anyway then yeah, have your way with it, I could not care less. But don't bugger a car that could be used as a restoration reference. And if you do bugger it, don't make so damn many mods that it can't be returned to as-manufactured condition. It goes back to "my car, I'll do what I want with it". Plus I know for a fact some rodders will modify a car like this just to [censored] someone off. Some of you seem to be more concerned with the financial return end of it than anything else. Why do the rodded cars bring more than an original? Simple- someone's finally made it and has a wad of cash burning a hole in his pocket, and wants the car he couldn't have when he was a snot-nosed kid. He can't build it himself, so he pays out the butt for someone else to do it. A lot of it is "you need to realise I can afford to have this". Conspicuous consumption, folks- outdoing the Joneses. And in the quest to have an individualised car, you end up with no individuality at all- Chevy 350/350, components from all the same aftermarket manufacturers, and painted Porsche Guards Red. Nah- the originals weren't perfect, but they're a damn sight more interesting than a cookie-cutter, billet-drenched red rod. Now, if you're willing to dare to be different, and use something else besides the aforementioned components, you might get my attention and even a compliment.

Could also be an ignition switch problem since you mentioned turning it off and back on started the car. After thirty-seven years, it's possible. Wouldn't hurt to replace the battery-to-starter cable if insulation is missing. It usually rots off from oil soaking. It could ground out and make a mell of a hess.

It can be done, though a 350-403 would have been easier since it would have dropped right in on the 260 mounts. You may have to experiment some with mount locations. Alt, A/C and PS will bolt right to the 455 and I think you'll have enough fan-to-radiator clearance; if not, ditch the fan and use electrics. The stainless roof trim was part of the Y76 Marketing Group Car option. I don't see many G-cars with it. This covers both sail panels and goes over the top, right? Y76 cars were called by many names the years it was offered.