TheGageinator

This is going to be a street cruiser keeping the original patina. I will not be "restoring" this car at all.


A friend of mine started getting into cars after he helped me build and race a gambler 500 car recently. He got a little ambitious, and bought this car from a gentleman who gave him a little info, and showed that it ran with starting fluid in the carb.

My friend installed a holly 600CFM carb, new battery, and a few other things to get it running, but the car's wiring was fried in the process. I bought the car from him for $500 to get it out of his way.


I got the car running again with a days work on the wiring, and noticed it had a lot of leaks in the oil / coolant systems. I also noticed someone installed a later model electronic advance distributor (not working), a 4 barrel intake, and maybe these #5 heads that are currently on it.

here are some photos of the car when I brought it home.

TheGageinator

I think this is the TH400 transmission? I made one short test drive, and the car would not shift out of first gear. There was zero vacuum going to the modulator

Vistabrat72

Nice seeing another large Oldsmobile fan out there, welcome to the group! Glad you found the source of the Turbo-400 not shifting.

TheGageinator

Unfortunately, It looks like someone ran tap water in this engine for a long time. There was a rubber universal expansion plug in the block where a freeze plug rusted out. It was leaking, so I removed it and saw something really bad. The inside of the engine is SUPER rusty, and there was a very large amount of sediment in the block. I decided that the engine HAD to come out.

joe_padavano

It appears that this was originally a 2bbl motor and someone used a later 4bbl intake with EGR to convert it. I'd suggest either getting a correct Qjet or a square bore intake - that adapter isn't helping flow at all. I don't know if you plan to add dual exhaust, but if so you'll have trouble. The 1965-1970 Olds full size cars have an unusual steering box and gear location, which severely limits the ability to run the exhaust pipe on the driver side. The big block versions used a unique exhaust manifold on that side that routes the pipe up and over the steering box, but Olds never offered dual exhaust on the small block motors in this body. I think people have managed to fit the BBO manfold to an SBO, but it can require some mods.

Olds64

Cool project! Thanks for sharing.

tru-blue 442

Following along. What are the block #'s under the thermostat housing on the timing chain housing? I bet your neighbors hate you, lol.

TheGageinator

Thanks for the info Joe! The driver side exhaust situation is terribly cramped. Shift and steering linkage are awful. I got the engine / bay cleaned , and got the 350 fully stripped and ready for the machine shop.

My neighbors are used to it now, I don't know how many cars ive built in this driveway haha. I fix all their things, so they are totally ok with it.

TheGageinator

Sugar Bear

In case you are wondering they are low compression pistons. Does the cam gear have nylon teeth? Looks like an all metal/replacement gear.

Looks clean inside from an oil perspective. What are the plans for the machine shop?

Before sending it out, I'd remove the oil galley plugs for the cam gear/timing chain and the distributor, tag and bag them and reinstall myself. They have orifice holes for oiling, shops have been known to put solid plugs in and it starves either the chain or the distributor gear for oil.

Good luck!!!

TheGageinator

Thanks for the info and advice!

metal cam gear, the timing chain has been replaced for sure, but has a lot of slop.

I'll try to locate and remove all the plugs, this is my first Olds engine rebuild. The plans for this motor are to go as high on power as I can reasonably afford. 400hp as a minimum. not sure where I would like to be on the compression, I am open to all suggestions concerning the rebuild and power.

Thanks guys!