THE oldsmobile rocket 303 324 371 394 post to end all other posts, (lasalle related )

Trying to thin out some parts- I have a '64 Olds 394 that will hopefully be raced someday, but also have a spare pair of '59 Olds 394 "18" heads (casting 373305 and 305 painted on the end of the heads). A couple of the valves are stuck.

Are the 18 heads worth holding on to/selling/scrapping?

 

Eye candy

 

I think I saw that too so now we can amend this to "they're not hard to find, just very expensive". Lol

I've had great luck dealing with the Offenhauser guys though. It's fantastic they have as much nos stuff on hand as they do and that they are making new runs of these old items!

 

I think that the new Offys are selling for far less than the old used crossovers.

 

This is an incredibly insightful thread! Thanks for all the info gents.

I'm wondering if someone could let me know what the proper fuel pressure should be on a '58 J2?
I've read through this whole thread in the past but couldn't remember seeing it and it's a lot of pages to sort through.

Thanks,
Jerry

 

5 to 6 pounds steady at 1800 rpm

 

Thanks Paul, I appreciate that

 

@Paul and @jebbesen great info from you both on the distributors.

Can you run any year distributor in any 303/324/371/394, as long as it has the appropriate cam gear?

I have a good '61 394 distributor with a Pertronix in it, and would like to run it in a '56 324. Is swapping the cam gear from the 324 distributor to the 394 distributor all that's involved? How involved of a process is it to get that rivet out of the gear? Or would it be easier to just buy another Pertronix and put it in the 324 distributor?

Thanks again for your contributions to this great thread

 

yes '49-'64 distributor bases share the same configuration
the difference is the oil pump drive shaft
swap gear to fit shaft

can't advise on Pertronix as I have never used it.

 

NOS Fenton Olds 303 headers

 

Wow, that's a great score.

 

I passed on a set about 7 years back because I thought the $500 price tag for NOS was too steep. Still kick myself on that one. Great score!

Let me know if they're for sale...

 

@Speedy Canuck looks like they sold already or did you get them???

 

Been a crazy busy couple of days. I missed out on them C'est la vie.

 

Paul, what year is the generator bracket on that engine? I have a '57 J2 that I want to move the generator to the drivers side. Any help is appreciated

 

'forget which engine it came off of originally. '55 2 bbl? I modified it slightly by welding up the stock mount holes and adding ears to offset it some.
The adjuster arm did come off a '57 2 bbl but they were probably used on others as well.

 

Many thanks for the detailed pics Paul!

 

Great to see a wealth of information on the Rockets. I have a 55 Rocket 88. Hard to find any information on them as far as customization and fabrication. Thanks for all the work.

 

Does anyone know how many c.c. combustion chamber does #23 heads have?

 

A couple weeks ago I picked up two 56 324s with Jetaways still attached. I tore down the worse of the two and it had a thrown rod, ripped in half and pieces thrown through the side of the pan. It got me thinking...

We know you can easily bore a 324 from 3.875 .125 over to 4.00 like a 371. I've seen that Pontiac rod bearings could be used on the Olds, as they share a 2.25" rod journal size. The Pontiac also uses the same 6.625" length rod. Would it be possible to use the entire Pontiac piston and rod combination on the Olds crank, perhaps with a modification of rod width or compression height of the piston. Pontiac .060 over pistons for the 350 are 3.935", just a bit short of the 4" bore for the 371 but well within the safe bore size for the Olds block.

Anyone try this?

 

I don't post much at all. This is one of the most informational threads I have followed. Thought you guys would appreciate this. This was on my 55. I unfortunately had to sell it, but I kept the running gear though!! New owner wanted an LS. Hated to see the swap, but glad I got the engine. This thread is awesome. Thanks for all of the info.

 

Great car. New owner doesn't know what he's missing. I have a 324 with no home too.

 

Great looking motor, new owner of car sure wasn't thinking

 

The new owner can't have known very much about these wonderful Olds engines. I hope you have a project in mind.
Bob

 

I know man. I would take this 5 mile per gallon jewel any day over a 30 mile per gallon clone. Would be awesome in a chop sled or a slammed old truck.

 

You got it. This is his first classic. He wasn't ready for the the full responsibility of analog. lol.

 

Thanks, really stoked I still have it. Big challenge to tune, (I'm not very good at it) but worth it.

 

Olds Rocket makes 500 HP????
OK, I know the HAMB has a few "Engine Masters". So what do they/you say about the performance of these Olds Rocket "Big Blocks" vs small??.....303 to 394 even! Anyone see any dyno pull results, from either? Quite knowledgeable about it's performance roots.
The guys over on Motor Trend's "Engine Master" program just did a small block vs BIG BLOCK episode. No BS dyno test and conversation about the advantage's of one over the other. Both made close to 500HP
So it got me thinking about my own "Big Block. The 394 in my '64 98 was a High Compression 4BBL from the factory, but at some point, it was rebuilt and bored .030" over using low compression pistons. I've recently had it all apart, giving the heads a full modern rebuild and attention to detail freshening...but otherwise it was ok.
Bottom line, she purrs like a kitten and pulls like a freight train(Pertronix Ignition upgrade) timing at 32 total and runs on 90 octane ethanol free fuel. Wonder what it would dyno test at???
https://www.motortrendondemand.com/...ig-block-how-do-you-want-your-500-hp/1127313/

 

Probably not as much as you'd think. I surmise one of the major limiting factors of the Olds V8 are poor head flow, which is less of a problem because these engines don't rev for shit. The 394 has a few things on it's side, specifically cubes and compression. But it's a heavy SOB and is slinging that giant 7" rod back and forth, it's not going to rev to 6500 like a BBC or Mopar. I could only imagine the way to wake these engines up is with extensive headwork with both bigger valves and serious port work, or a set of aftermarket heads. At that point, you'd be able to take advantage of better flow with a more aggressive cam profile.