Hey all! I have been more of a lurker as of late, as I have been just out and about enjoying my '50, working and hanging with my club brothers, kulture, etc. However, I started to get the itch for something different to tinker with. As we all know too well, this whole hobby is a sickness. I threw up a post on Facebook, Craigslist, etc just to see what sort of trades/offers came in. A buddy who runs in the same circles as me up here in IL replied with this Olds Rocket 88. Yeah, maybe not HUGELY different from a green more-door 50 Chevy. However, I have a soft spot for Oldsmobiles. My dad worked for an Caddy/Olds dealership called TVCO (TerHaar-VanHuisen Cadillac/Olds) in Holland. MI when he was about my age, and his father-in-law (my gramps) was also a co-partner in the dealership. Ironically enough, my gramps started there in 1952. On top of it all, driving my buddy's dad's '55 Rocket 88 was the car that got me hooked and into this whole traditional "mess" anyways! On to the car! I feel definitely traded up in this deal. It is all original with 44k miles, and has already been converted over to 12v. The interior is almost completely there, albeit some rust areas in the sill plates and will need carpet. But the seats, headliner, door panels are all intact. Already lowered 3", and he started to go over the paint w/ 1000 grit and brought back the shine int he original paint. I just need to finish the driver's side. Initial plans are to go through it, rebuilt the wheel cylinders and possibly master, new bias WWWs, tune 'er up, and drive the crap out of it! Will be staying on the MILD side of kustom with this one. Stay posted! Pictures coming (all on my phone)...
Neat, I just bought the remains of a 52 Olds for the engine, they are cool cars. I'd love a hardtop to cruise
Working on the pics. At work, and having some issues pulling down from my phone...literally starting at it right now with impatience as I try to move them to my Dropbox...
Took 10 minutes to try out 1000 grit wet sand on the drivers side rear quarter. Then a quick wax. Not bad for 10 minutes. Hit it with some compound, polish and wax and we should be in business. You can see the difference where the door meets the quarter panel.
This thing runs UNBELIEVABLE. The idle is super high in this video. We discovered that the mech fuel pump was shot, and clearly someone before me was trying to chase down a fuel delivery issue. There was a electric fuel pump mounted to the frame, but was not even hooked up and varnished to high heaven. When we ran power to it, it was dead. So we bought a $50 O'Reilly's Mr. Gasket 4-7 PSI unit which is running perfect. Ran it off a gas can. At first we were floating the seat, and it was pouring gas into the carb. My dad, who was an Olds technician in the early 80s, but never got an opportunity to work on one of these magical, mystical GM 4 JET carbs, decided we should just pop the cover off to see what we could get to. My oh my, how these things are amazing to work on. Someone at some point did attempt to rebuild this thing as it is like brand new inside, BUT the spring that puts tension on the floats and allows the needle to seat when the bowl is full was on the opposite side of where it needed to be. So it was just hanging open. Reset the spring, put the top plate back on, and boom. She now idles at 500 RPM all day long. The funny thing is I asked the guy before me if he ever replaced the points, condenser, cap, rotor, plugs, etc...and no he has not. I can't BELIEVE how tight this motor is. It is simply gnarly sounding (was straight piped when I got it), and for the time being I will just leave the single exhaust as it is. No reason to change a good thing, even if it doesn't "look as kool".
Thank you! This one is going to remain simple, clean er up and get on the road. Hoping to start collecting/saving for a hot rod (long term build) next year.
So cool, love Oldsmobiles' of the 50's. Really anything from '48-'64 but they really got it right in the decade of the 50's I can't wait to see what you do with it. It's a car I'd love to own someday
Those Olds engines are one of the best ever built. Extremely high nickle content in the block. Rarely need to be line bored when being rebuilt. Quite possibly the first 100,000 mile engine built. Enjoy your project. Torchie
Woohoo! G78-15s, 3 1/4 whitewalls are on their way! Saved $66 thanks to the Alliance. Also learned that my master cylinder is completely toast. The piston is completely fused in the cylinder. So considering some custom fabrication and a standard GM Corvette style dual. Should only be a couple weeks now...
Also just ordered a dual chamber master. It is a Corvette style universal, and we will need to fab up a custom bracket for it...will share for all those interested!
Absolutely right. My dad was a traveling salesman in the '50's His territory was Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Dakotas. He bought a new Oldsmobile every two years (49, 51, 53, 55, 58, 62 - he slowed down towards the end) and put over 100,000 miles on all of them. Although there must have been a problem or two, I don't remember any, and he loved those cars. Because of the nature of his job, he never even had to put brakes or an exhaust system in any of them. The dealer would get them as a trade-in with anywhere from 5000 to 20,000 on the odometer and pass them off as actual miles.
Made some great progress this weekend! Back on her feet with her newly painted wheels and Coker WWW bias plys (thank you Alliance!) We got around the block one and a half times, then it started running funky - anytime I would put my foot into it, it would act like it was starving out, and would nearly stall out. Fuel pump, fuel filter, and all new fuel lines. We are wondering if it is possible that since it really hasn't run like this - or this long - in YEARS, that some carbon loosened up. It is certainly only running on 7 cylinders. I am going to start with checking the plugs, and then if needed, do points, condenser, cap, rotor, plugs. We also got the new master on (ended up with ordering a factory one, as the dual Corvette style was just going to take too much time given my show goals). Brakes are still a little squeamish, not getting much pressure at the back, but plenty at the front. Going to replace all the lines at the back, including the rubber line from the frame hard line to the rearend, and also rebuild all the wheel cylinders. All that being said, the goal was to get it on all fours this past weekend and drive it. Which we did! Maybe not as far as we would have liked, but as we all know, set goals, but don't expect things to always go as planned! If we always thought things would go perfect, we would have quit working on these things years ago!! More to come!
Great pictures and great car. I like it (but then, what's not to like). Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
So after much deliberation and conversation with my club buddies (and some help here as well), it was determined that I was getting TOO much fuel. A club brother had a nice Holley regulator laying around, so we put that on there, and set it to around 3.75 psi, and man what a difference! I was able to get it around the block without any MAJOR bogging down (still happens if you REALLY lay into the accelerator), but I am also still down on 7 cylinders. New plugs and an oil change this week (the oil was quite gassy from previous flood out) and maybe a couple of degrees of timing advance, and I think we will be onto something. Almost there!
cmarcus, Great car...will be one cool machine when you get it on the road full-time ! My '53 Buick Special is pretty much the same body as yours...except mine was a 2Dr. Lots of body parts exchange on these, as well as glass. Check out a couple of the pix I have in my Albums Section. I LOVE these models...and they ALWAYS look good either "clean", or in "custom" ! Jonnie www.legends.thewwbc.net
Got it sorted out!! Been really enjoying driving this thing. I cannot get the grin off my face!! Even with the bias-plys, this thing runs and drives better than my '50 Chevy ever did. With all new AC Delco 45S plugs, shes running about 4.5 PSI of fuel. Also did an oil change, (talk about a pain in the ass with the canister filter - the cheap paper gasket that came with the new filter didn't seat well, and when I fired it up...well...you can imagine. Had to hand cut a new one from rubber cork gasket material - all good. Going to buy a spin-on filter conversion). Topped of the trans with Dex-Mercon, all new rear lines in the back. Stopping great, shifts great, cruises great. The bogging issues is a non-issue now. Could NOT be happier. Already been out and about, local cruise nights, and out to Jalopyfest, local trad show. What a blast! Also scored some short number '52 plates, and got some pinstriping done.
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