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Just curious, been with the Classic Olds forum for years concerning my 67 CS 442 convertible and the forum is great and helped me through a lot. So I am thinking on selling my 442 and the 61 Starfire convertible caught my eye and was wondering if there is anything I need to know about the car and any of its inherent problems that can not be fixed or no parts available. Are there other Olds models that their parts will interchange with the starfire. What should I run from when choosing a project. Money is a problem. Cant throw good after bad. I would like to get back what I put into it not counting my labor. Any suggestions? Thanks Mike.
Be aware that the 61 Starfire has a Slim Jim Rotohydramatic transmission. You can get rebuild kits from Fatsco, but I don't know if there are any shops left that would be willing to; or know how to, repair that transmission.
The 61 Starfire is a half year production car. The bucket seats should have the steel backs on them.
The problem area on this car is the torque box corners at the front on each side, being a closed frame the inside steel rots on the inner side of the frame where it meets the torque box and flexes when you drive causing a pinch point along the front door edge and windshield post.
The Roto 10 transmission was designed to last around 80-90 thousand miles, if you are close to that it might require rebuilding and Fatsco in NJ sell the rebuild kits along with the damper plate and transmission filters. Depending on the condition of the body sheet metal is shared with other models and doner cars are the only option for floor pans, trunk pans, quarter panels and bolt on parts like hood, doors and trunk lid.
There are some aftermarket support for this car, Fusick, Hydro-E-Lectric, SMS in Oregon for interior materials and me JASWEST for side panels, rocker clips and the plastic clips for mounting the side panels.
Steve
thanks to "olds 64", "olds fan", and "keeper" for clearing that up for me. At least I know what to look for. I dont mind a small to medium project ( I enjoy the chase ) but not one that possibly cant be fixed, i.e. transmission, frame, etc. If I see one that interests me I will be aware! Thanks to all and as always this forum is the best!
Just my 2c worth- I love the Starfire but it's just a bit outside what I could spend, so I bought a '64 Dynamic 88 convertible. It's basically the same drivetrain as the Starfire, only with a 4 bbl carb, dual exhausts and a high compression engine that might not do so well on pump gas in 2024- the Starfire of course. I've heard all the doomsayers trashing the Roto-hydramatic 10 transmission, and they might be right. I've only had my Dynamic a few months and I've barely driven it, but I pulled the engine and trans and did a basic trans service. I got the filter, pan gasket and input shaft seal from Fusick for about $150- and I thought that was overpriced, but I guess the filter is expensive. When I opened up the Slim Jim, everything looked great. I didn't pull the front pump or get into the guts of it, but the fluid looked clean and there was no metal in the pan. I'm optimistic it will perform as expected, and it's got almost 100K miles on it. I'd say people hate on the roto-hydramatic for performance reasons, but I wouldn't shy away from the Starfire of your dreams because some people talk **** about the transmission. There's a Starfire at Gateway Classic Cars for $31K. It's not going to break your bank... Me? I traded a motorcycle for a '64 Dynamic 88, but if I had $30k, I'd be looking at this Starfire... https://classiccars.com/listings/vie...illinois-62269
that info was worth more than the 2 cents, thanks. I am still considering but first need to find a home for my '67 442. What is "slim Jim" ? Is that a nickname for the trans?
Slim Jim is slang for the Roto-10 hypromatic transmission, I don't know why it is referred to as that other than it's slimmer then a turbo style trans.
Davek1661, while you have the engine and transmission out check the damper plate for wear and replace if necessary as this part can cause alot of problems. Fatsco in NJ sell them new along with every part to rebuild these ttransmissions and a core exchange price on your plate.
The roto-10 is a good transmission and when set correctly will last a very long time. These cars when built were expected to last from 80 to 100K miles before requiring a rebuild. Myself I have several of them here and I've only had issues with one and once it was dialed in it runs as required.
Olds64 had a 64 98 with a bad transmission so he has a bad taste left in his mouth about them, just doom and gloom.
Like anything 60 years old who knows the full history of a driver car and if some body drove the crap out of it and sold it the trans might be bad. In my years with cars since high school I've replaced many a transmission but I don't blame the car as it's usually how it's been driven.
Just my 2 cents worth and here in Canada we no longer have pennies in our currency so lets make it a plugged nickel instead.
Steve
When you reinstall that Slim Jim in your Oldsmobile make sure you do some research and adjust the manual throttle valve correctly.
When you say "manual throttle valve", I assume you mean the "kick down linkage" as it is commonly called- or is there another manual throttle valve I need to adjust?
My understanding is that the linkage on the side of the carburetor is a throttle valve. This adjustment is CRITICAL!
Here's the art work I did with my PC (generally I post using my Droid).
The TH 400 in my 71 98 leaks quite a bit but continues to shift like a champ. Almost at 100k miles. I have a rebuilt spare on the floor of my shop, I thought I was going to sell my Oldsmobile. 🤔
The 10R80 (a joint GM/Ford transmission) in my daily driver 20 Ford F150 has just barely 60k miles on it. It has already been reprogrammed, rebuilt, replaced and reprogrammed again by the dealer. You want to talk about a POS transmission. 🤬
The Slim Jim Rotohydramatic that was in my 64 98 never shifted right. Had I known then what I know now I never would have bought that car. Even after rebuilding the transmission myself the car continued to drive (sloppy shifts and all). I owned it before I got married and the entire time I was in the Army. I finally sold it about 8 or 10 years after rebuilding it.
all points taken with the proverbial grain of salt. thanks to all. My main thing will be to drive the car a few miles before deciding then roll the dice. thanks to all.
i always drove my 64 starfire like it had a manual trans.take off briskly and back off the gas let it shift and back on the gas.if i babied it it would shift into second too quick and then chug along.it was just the 1-2 shift,2-3 was good.
Not knowing anything about the 61 Starfire model I am interested in but just like the styling of that year and now reading about tranny issues but seeing last entry by cherokeepeople begs the ? are the 64 trans and 61 trans the same as mentioned in the earlier posts or not?
February 23rd, 2024, 02:20 PM
