Projects New Project: 1953 Oldsmobile

Man, I kinda hate myself for what I’ve done to the chrome on this car. It was flawless when I got it. The rear bumper got nicked a year ago, and the chrome has been peeling since. The front bumper is also getting plenty of little marks now that I’ve been driving it so long. It sucks, but nothing to be done about it now.


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always partial to them set up for the Mexican Road Race

 

That’s freaking cool!


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It’s been a good weekend/bad weekend. I’m focusing on the good for now, dealing with the bad ASAP.

Here’s the amazing stuff

Baloo passed inspection! Time to pay the man and get my registration renewed.

The even better stuff, a friend called me the other day and told me he was getting new white walls for his 50 Merc. He drives it long distances and just wanted a newer set on it. He gave me his old ones! They’re only 7 years old and have better tread than what I’ve got now!



I’ll get them on ASAP. Dealing with brake and axle issues.

Long story short, I need a new axle seal on the driver side. Not sure where to find a replacement. Here’s a picture of the one I’ve got now. I’d appreciate some help finding a new one. Problem is, I really don’t know what axle I’ve got.


I also need new drums and pads. Had a shop get the drums cleaned up mostly, but they still have a slight warp to them. Not sure how much more I can shave them. Where do I find new ones?

Last thing. This was very minor, but I was still excited. Baloo was shared by the Speedway Motors page. Not a big deal, but still cool.



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Try Olcar Bearing in SC. He has always been able to help me with seals and bearings..
(910) 693-3324

 

Seal should be easy, you have the part number right there on it, auto supply house can cross reference it.

 

You are lucky that it has those seals,mine had a seal that went around the bolts for the axle and I found a way to fix them since I could not find the correct seals at that time.

 

Ok, been doing some interwebbing. Seems as though I may have a 56-57 Olds axle. I think I’ve found the correct seals. These aren’t what I ordered from the local parts store, but the dimensions are he same.





Should be in today then I’ll tear it all back apart and throw in the seals. Picked up new brake shoes as well. I’ll also see about dropping the tires off as well to get them mounted and balanced.


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Okay! Nothing by good news this time!

Wheel seal was easy enough to find and replace.

New drum pads are on now and I’ve had the drums turned.

Also got the “new” white walls on! Couldn’t be happier with them.





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Nice! Drive the hell out of it now

 

Awesome. Love the car...havent been around much jjust checking in, good to see you still hard at it, sorry for the run of issues lately.

 

Still nothing wrong miraculously!

Just stopping in to say it’s been 3 years today since I bought Baloo. Knowing what I know now, I way the hell over paid for the car, but I still love it. I regret the price not the purchase.

I’ve gotten a little reckless lately. Since nothing has broken, I’ve been pushing my luck on the highway. I’ve been able to cruise 80mph no problem. It’s hard to believe. I definitely need overdrive at some point.

 

You know you have a beautiful car that you enjoy. Enjoy the hell out of it and don't worry about how much it cost.
Bob

 

Man welcome to the club, we all have paid to much for something so you are not alone in that regard. In the end you have a car you love and it is turning out good for you. It's only a little money and don't live your life thinking that is what matters, in the end it doesn't.

 

Drive it. Tell Randy Hi.

 

Stopped by a restored Gulf Station this morning. Just wanted to share the pictures.
Car is still running great!

 

In 1953, my old man bought a brand new '53 Oldsmobile Super 88 two door sedan, arguably, the fastest American made car that year (some will say a Cadillac, with it's 331 cid engine, but they were a lot heavier than the Olds). The fact that he bought a two door sedan, when he had a family of five, tells me he bought the car for it's performance potential. I would give my left nut to have that car today.

Because of this, I really like what you have been able to accomplish.

(In those days, we didn't know that you could get a "stick-shift" in these cars. Believe me, if me and my older brother would have known this, we would have been all over him to get one. I think my mother would have over-ruled us.)

 

nice pics! Brings back memories.

 

Well, it was too good to last.

A new/old issue has come up again. It’s an issue I knew about, but was never a problem till a week ago. Decided to take my kids along for their first “far away” car show (only an hour). And I chewed up 6 fan belts on the way there and back.

So here’s the problem, the pulleys don’t line up. No idea how I got away with it for 2 years, but nothing I do will keep them from jumping now.

Best I can figure, I’ve either got the wrong water pump, or the wrong Water Pump Pulley.

I’m pretty sure I’ve got a “no ac” water pump. I think that’s the shorter shaft. I really really REALLY don’t want to swap the pump, but not sure I’ve got much of a choice.

I’ve had a kidney virus a couple months now (it’s getting better!) but I’ve been pretty much put on garage probation, and I don’t have the money to pay someone else to do it. Is there a different pulley I could swap over to? Mine is sitting about a quarter to a half inch too far forward.

 

Looks like you could remove pump, support the center of the impeller and slowly press the fan flange down on the shaft 1/4" or however much you need.

 

64-90 Olds had several different pulley and bracket layouts.
There were two if not three different water pump heights, HD and Standard. For some reason I think the 330/425s had their own pump design.
5-1/8" for non AC
5-5/8" for AC

Possibly, always check the shaft height between old and new.

One other thing to note is that Olds didn't always use all the pulleys together, sometimes the WP or crank was bypassed when used with the PS, ALT or A/C. Or the grooves don't line up like you think they would, 2nd groove on a WP pulley does not always go to the 2nd groove on the crank and so on.
From the looks of it it currently looks like the belts are all off one groove on the crank and need to be moved forward.
PS pump looks a little crooked as well. The later Saginaw SPAM pumps used a two piece bracket, front plate and a rear triangular piece. They sandwhich the pump and then a spacer is used on the side of the block. 70's era accessory brackets really suck.

 

So what if I just space the WP pulley forward? I’ve been playing with washers, and I need to go forward about 0.35”. Then I could use the second and third groove on the crank, then move the alternator forward. Is it safe to space that far out with shims? The shim kits I’ve found combine for a total of 0.25” usually.


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Yeah, the pump is definitely crooked. I need to clean everything up and see where I can add a rear bracket.




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I *think* the bigger problem is that the casting of the WP housing is different from AC to non-AC cars.
It's not just a snout issue there may be a difference in the height of the bolt bosses that the brackets bolt too. Might want to verify that before changing things too much.

Also looking at some earlier engine pics the belt placement is in different positions.
Original engine pic shows the front WP pulley groove not being used, a few posts down the middle groove is not being used. Might want to take a look at some of your pics and determine why the belts are moved around.

Check out this link
http://www.2040-parts.com/original-...-455-425-v8-power-steering-brackets--i234070/

Note the triangular T shaped piece. That bolts to the front bracekt, back of pump and with a spacer and a similar bolt for the engine mounts to the side of the engine.
Adjustment of the PS is not smooth.
You will need to verify what bracket you have as there are differences between AC/non-AC and BBO/SBO as the deck height changes head location, which is used to attach a stabilizer bracket between the front exhaust manifold bolt and the top corner of the front PS bracket.

Confused yet?
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forum...-steering-brackets-1972-cutlass-350-a-124005/

Check out the above link to get an idea how the brackets go together. The following thread has a pic of the PS pump brackets mounted on the PS pump while free of the engine. You are going to need to locate and replace a few fasteners. Smaller bolts are usually flange headed.
Normally the front bracket mounts to the WP via stud-bolts. It looks like in one pic the WP is mounted using just bolts. This will screw up the alignment by 1/4" on the WP side.

With the correct brackets the pump WILL line up. It's a mess trying to figure them out at first but they do work... as long as the brackets are from the same engine/model.

One other note.
More fun.
'80-'90 307 Olds brackets look similar, but the bolts that attach the pieces together are often metric. Don't try to force a bolt. If it looks like 1/4" and a 1/4" bolt doesn't fit, it is most likely a 6mm threaded hole.

 

Man, if I knew even half of what you know... Thank God for the HAMB!


I decided to try spacing the water pump out. It took a couple of failed attempts and new belts, but I seem to have it right now. Going to baby the car for a bit (mostly because I need a car), but I’ll hop on it at some point and see how it does.

Here are some pictures of how it aligns now. I’m sure it’s not perfect, but as long as the belt doesn’t jump, I’m cool with it.

 

Way to muscle through another issue Hawk! Great job. I was going to suggest shimming out the other pullies to line up with the furthest out one ...but looks like you fixed it...

 

Did you need to shim it out 1/2"?
In future if you need a new pump GMB AL WP is a nice piece, takes a few pounds off the front of the engine. ~$30 from Rockauto.

 

Thanks! Hopefully it’ll last. Been driving it a little harder every day and the belt has been staying on fine. Taking it to a small show tonight about 30 minutes away, so we’ll see how it goes!


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Ended up with a 5/16” shim. Couldn’t have gone any farther out if I had wanted to though. Bottom of the fan would have scraped the trans cooler line on the radiator. I’ll keep the pump in mind. Thanks again for the help!


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While I’m here, anyone know how these go back on? I don’t see a clip or anything for them. I’ve had two come off the cranks for the windows.