rocketraider

I know what you're talking about but for my life I cannot remember what Buick called these cars. Had a bird- an eagle or a hawk, and seems like there was a reference to "Spirit" of something. It may have been part of the 1976 Pace Car replica package. <P>A few years back, a 76 Pace Car showed up in a local junkyard that was notorious for crushing. The car was complete except QuadraJet- the roof trim, spoiler, it was ALL there. I told the guy give me a day or two to call some Buick friends, and one of them drove two hours the next morning to get there when the place opened, and the sob had already crushed it. I've seen the guy crush- gets a wild gleam in his eye when he's doing it. His wife (the brains behind the bizness) would set aside pre 1975 cars in a special area, knowing she could sell to hounds like ourselves. She and the kids took off to the beach for a weekend, came back and this ass had gone in the pre-75 area and crushed over half of them the three days she was gone.<P>He also takes the crusher on the road. Several years back a garage about an hour from here called him to come pick up some cars, he put the crusher on the road and went to crush cars. Put a 1974 Plymouth in it and about time it was half flattened, the car's owner came out and asked him just what the hell was he doing. Turns out it had just been tuned up and was parked outside waiting to be picked up!

None that I know of. Yer best bet will be one of the southwestern US junkyards. Which pieces are smashed up? Be aware that each series has different fender trim and you might have to drill or fill mounting holes.

The W31 cars had aluminum intakes, and I think a few 1980 350s had them too. They were common on mid-80s 307s but these had EGR and small ports, and were used strictly as a weight saving. But then the W-350 intake was also identical to the cast iron intake of the same year, just lighter.<P>A true Oldsmobile performance aluminum intake will have OLDSMOBILE W-350 cast into it between the thermostat and carb.

Should be the same across the board for GM B&C body cars unless car has tilt-telescope steering wheel or cornering lamps. The difference in cornering lamp equipped cars is that they have three extra terminals in the "harmonica" wire harness connector at the base of the steering column. A cornering lamp t/s switch can be used in a non-cornering lamp car, but not the other way around.<P>There were also two manufacturers those years, Delco and Boyne, and don't think they interchange.

In this city blocking a driveway or street front garage entrance, even if it's yours, is grounds for a parking ticket with attached $100 fine. If you have a written lease, that is considered to be legal use of the property and gives you certain rights to use of it. I think the cop was blowing smoke up your ass. Check with city attorney's office and file a complaint against the cop if what he told you doesn't jive with the CA's office. Believe me when I tell you a city cop doesn't always know the laws he's sworn to enforce.<p>[ 03-20-2002: Message edited by: rocketraider ]

Dave- whatever works. If we have to be vigilante to keep the feds away from our toys, we do what we must when vigilant doesn't work.

I hate to hear about another Toronado getting parted out for the engine, especially if it's a nice running original car. And especially if its a W34 (70 will have GT badging on hood and a notched dual exhaust rear bumper). Those are just too rare to chop up, and will deliver performance comparable to any 442 except the W30. I know- I have a 69 W-Toro that regularly spanks ass on the 442s in Mid Atlantic Olds Club, and on the occasional errant Mustang that is stupid enough to tangle with something he knows nothing about.<P>Do the Toronado and Oldsmobile worlds a favor- sell the car complete to someone who'll appreciate it, and get yer 455 out of a junker.

The intake and chrome valve covers are probably aftermarket, if it were a W31 350 it would have OLDS W-350 cast in the intake.<P>Could have come out of any number of cars and 350 were made 1968-80. Gold tells me its a 68-74 block. Look on the lower left corner of the heads facing them, there'll be a number cast into them. 1,2,3,4 indicate a 330 cid engine; 5,6,7,8 are a 350. If a 350, look on left front side of block behind the alternator mount and there is a machined pad that will have the VIN of the car it was originally installed in, but all that can really tell you is the year of the engine and the assembly plant. 330 has this same info stamped into the front of the block just below the right head.

You might be surprised how beautiful those early 50s metallic greens can be when they're fresh, glossy and polished so slick it looks like you can dip yer hands in it. I'm thinking you've got either a late built car with a Springtime color code (they did that frequently those years) that your paint chips didn't update, or you have a special ordered Caddy or Olds color. I don't have paint references that far back so I can't help as far as naming the code 42.

I agree with having a radiator shop do it. Prior to that you can use a radiator flush chemical, Prestone and SolderSeal Gunk come to mind, that will clean the crap out of the block and heater core.<P>Is it just this town, or do others run into shops who don't want to touch old stuff? Took the 64 Olds radiator in to repair a seam leak and the guy says, I'm not responsible if it leaks worse or the core comes apart, and I can't get a replacement. This from supposedly the best shop in town?! Man, I brought the thing to you to be repaired!<P>But since his dad died, this guy has gotten notorious for wanting to sell a new one instead of repairing stuff.<P>Also be aware that in those days GM was prone to overkill on holding stuff in. The aforementioned Olds has a bolt tab at the bottom of the fan shroud that necessitated dropping the sway bar to get at it. When it went back together, the bolt hole is now slotted to allow pulling the shroud up and off without pulling half the car apart.<P>

The best I can offer is that all the 1968 GM B-body sedans use the same inner door structure. So ventshades for one marque will fit the other three. 1968 B cars are Chevy Impala/Caprice/BelAir/Biscayne, Pontiac Catalina/Executive/Bonneville, Olds Delmont/Delta 88, Buick LeSabre/Wildcat.<P>I assume you've checked parts stores to see if their warehouses or suppliers can get them from obsolete stock? The VentShade Company itself might still have some laying around.<P>It's possible that 1965-70 upper door frames might be the same on these cars. Anyone have a Hollander handy to see if window glass is identical?

Limited, I thought Christine was a Plymouth! <P>Dennis, if you have delay wipers the problem will be in the pulse timer or park relay, which are both inside the wiper motor. Your best bet may be to get a junkyard wiper motor and see if the problem goes away.<P>My 83 Custom Cruiser quirks like this sometimes in cold weather, say 30 or below. The wipers won't start but you can hear the motor buzzing. Turn 'em off and back on using the wash paddle, and then they'll work.<P>Had to replace the column mounted wiper switch a couple years back. The thing locked up tight and couldn't move it. Replacing it was an adventure too.

Another long-term dealer: Wyatt Buick Sales Company (now Wyatt Buick-Pontiac) here in Danville. Opened in 1924 and still has Virginia automobile dealer license #5.

Coker Tire should have something suitable. <BR>These cars came with bias-belted double-pinstripe whitewalls, usually F orG78-14. You can also put a repro wide-oval raised white letter tire on an SX and still be correct. Goodyear, Firestone and Uniroyal were OEM tire suppliers to GM in the early 70s.<P>Expect to pay in the neighborhood of $800 for five tires and shipping.

Even in a code 9 307 HO as used in 442 and Hurst/Olds of those years, overbore won't affect the cam used. It still won't be a powerful engine, but I have to say they're among the most reliable and trouble-free engines I know of. It's not unheard of for one to go 300,000 miles with no major repairs or oil consumption if reasonably maintained.<P>The Oldsmobile 307 has nothing in common with a Chevrolet engine except it was built by General Motors. The 305 used in Monte Carlo et al was a miserable little engine. No power, soft cams, prone to detonation, and notorious oil leakers. But they were cheap to build and Chevy had plenty of engine building capacity, so they went into millions of GM cars. Their one saving grace is that the heads have small combustion chambers and can be used to up compression on SBC- like they need anything else to promote detonation.

I got the ones for my 74 Hurst/Olds Pace Car from Auto Decals Unlimited. Ain't cheap though. 602-220-0800 was the number 2 years ago.<P>To answer yer question on why the Pace Car decals are more readily available for Camaro pace cars than the Olds Pace Cars (yes, the capitalisation on Olds and not Camaro is intentional)- Camaros are common as dirt, is why. More market share means more stuff available, and I can almost promise you half the Camaro pace car replicas out there are bogus.<P>It's generally accepted that only the two Indy 500 Pace Cars had the W30. Y74 should be on data plate. If it's Y74 and W30, unless it has the paperwork to back up actual Pace Car duty, it's been fiddled with. Must also have a Lansing VIN, which you have.<P>442.com and the Oldsmobile Club of America will be your best source for info on any of the Oldsmobile Pace Cars. The REOlds chapter of OCA is also a good source, and they've made several Pace Car t-shirts for their annual Homecoming show in Lansing.<P>Glenn Williamson<BR>the Rocketraider<p>[ 03-15-2002: Message edited by: rocketraider ]

The Olds History Center in Lansing can furnish some information on your car, but I can never remember the address. HydraMatic wasn't that rare on an Oldsmobile, most had it since the Rocket people pushed their invention hard on the sales floor. It's a four speed unit and if working properly will snap your head back when it shifts, even with the 6 cylinder engine. No mushy Dynaflow or Powerglide here.<P>You have an interesting car. Is this the dark grey one that shows up at the Thursday night High Point cruise-ins ever so often?<P>Keep in touch- would like to have you as a Mid Atlantic Olds Club member. Pre-1955 Olds aren't at all common in our group.<p>[ 03-14-2002: Message edited by: rocketraider ]

Wonder what transmission was used in Thad's 61 Olds? I'm bound to think the 4-speed Chevy used wouldn't have lasted long behind Olds torque and weight. <P>It's interesting to note that Olds never offered four-speeds in their full-size cars until 1965. Rumour is that if you knew how to pull strings, you could get it in a 1964 Jetstar 88 (330 cid car) but not the 394 equipped Jetstar I. The 64 J-I had a heavy duty 3-speed transmission with floor shift standard, but if one was ever built, I do not know of it. I've seen several 4-speed 65 Jetstar I. <P>And we go back to another thread about 63 LeSabre with 4-speed. Never saw one, but I have seen a 4-speed 63 Wildcat that totally blew my mind when I saw it, with that shifter angled back toward the front of the car.

No offense taken by the Olds camp concerning "ugly 60s". Most of us think a 58 Buick is garish (Limited and Roadmaster 75 excepted), but we know people own and love them. I'm iffy on the 60 myself, sometimes I love it, sometimes I can't stand it, but I grew up with a white over Citron Dynamic 88 so there will always be a soft spot in my heart and wallet for one.

One important thing to consider- the handling and roadholding characteristics of radial tires are very different than bias ply or even bias-belted. Simply put, they grip the road harder and stress wheels more than non-radials. I'm wary of putting radial tires on a wheel not designed for them. There are cases of wheel failure with catastrophic results. I believe most wheels made from mid 60s on are designed for use with radial tires, GM used to stamp an R in the rim near the valve stem hole.<P>That said, I have radials on everything, but the oldest is a 1964 Oldsmobile. And two things I said would never happen, happened when I put the radials on it. One, that it would never have radial tires. Two, it would never have japanese tires. And the day they went on (had to buy 'em because a hard-headed state inspection mechanic who also worked on tire sales commission wouldn't pass my perfectly serviceable bias-plys because one wear bar was showing on one tire) the only tire to be found in this city that would fit (225-75R<B>14</B>) were Yokohamas. I bought 'em to get the car out of there legally, and went right straight to DMV and put antique plates on the car to get out of the annual state inspection bs.<p>[ 03-14-2002: Message edited by: rocketraider ]

Hemmings Motor News for a start, then join one of the Chevrolet marque clubs, probably the Vintage Chevrolet Club of America will be your best bet for parts support and tech info.<P>Often mechanical parts can be found at NAPA. Several companies make reproduction interiors. Body parts? junkyard time my friend. Southwestern sheetmetal is the only cure for rust and again, there's several reputable yards in the southwest that specialise in old tin and will ship to your door. May not be cheap though- they know the dreaded tinworm inhabits the East!

Had forgot about the cycling clutch feature on the Old Air STV. It works off a temp sensor? figured it would work off pressure like later cycle-clutch systems. I had thought about it for my 64 Starfire, but the A/C is very low on the list right now. Getting the thing to start, run and drive is the current priority! damn 4GC carbs...

On a 307 RWD Cutlass-<P>A/C belt goes around crank pulley, water pump, A/C compressor and smog pump, in back groove of crank pulley.<P>Vacuum pump belt (if equipped) goes around smog pump pulley and vacuum pump pulley and goes in front of A/C belt.<P>PS belt goes around crank pulley, water pump and PS pump.<P>Alternator belt goes around water pump pulley and alt pulley only UNLESS- some cars with HD cooling and factory installed trailer package, it goes around w/p, crank, p/s and alt pulleys.<p>[ 03-10-2002: Message edited by: rocketraider ]

My Olds parts book shows this fits 1963 all except F85. 1964 p/n is 5910493 all exc F85. I'll say it will work on a 1963 Buick B or C since GM a/c systems were pretty much identical across the board for each year except some carlines have more mufflers in the freon lines than others, and the control head vacuum valves are all different. This is a vacuum operated STV, right? I think you can adjust these things to tailor their performance.<P>Old Air Products in TX has an updated design STV that is more reliable, less prone to leaks and is compatible with R134a.

If you don't have any computer codes set, you may be on the right track with the coil packs. A good friend had a 90 D88 that did the exact same thing and he was getting ready to put in a transmission. The trans shop found the bad coil pack.<P>Other causes could be a faulty idle speed sensor or motor. Get the car on a scanner, it'll find stuff that sometimes isn't so obvious.