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

Thanks Joe, good info.

 

I may have an extra set if ya want. I will be coming over to Pomona for GNRS

 

Thanks Curbs, I need to look through my Olds pile. I should have at least one set if ‘52-‘58 are all 1.8.

 

Here's a pretty neat motor I bought off a hot rodder that's been holding onto it for 30 years. 303 bored to 3 7/8" running Egge 324 pistons, solid lifter cam, Isky rockers and #10 heads.

 

Nice find.

 

Those pistons are not Egge pistons, they are much better than that, they are TRW forged replacement pistons. Great score!

 

Thanks for the info, that's great news. I googled the number stamped in the top and it came up as an Egge part. How can you tell they're forged?

 

That originally was the TRW part number for Olds forged pistons. Egge has adopted a lot of those numbers for their part numbers, which can lead to confusion for old farts like me who can remember the old TRW numbers. It comes in handy when you run across some N.O.S. pistons at a swap meet.

 

Thanks!
Seeing as this motor has been in storage for so long I'm guessing they really are the TRW forged pistons.
Appreciate the information @HEATHEN and @saltracer219
This made my day.
Any idea if I can run stock replacement rings or do I need TRW rings?

 

Egge never stamped the arrow like TRW did and I have used Egge pistons and even though they use TRW numbers I don't recall them stamping their products at all. They may have been bought from Egge but they certainly appear to be TRW's. Egge sold a lot of N.O.S. parts. That number comes up in my TRW book as a 3.875 bore powerforged piston.

 

Great info. Thanks.

 

303 piston removal questions, first timer stuff. I have a very slight ridge at the top of the cylinder, just enough to catch with a finger nail, I removed a similar amount of carbon build up already. It looks to me that the piston really can only go out the top as the main webs seem to be in the way for removal from the bottom, correct? I tried to push one out but there is so little room for leverage with the crank in the way and it just would not slide out and obviously stopped at the ridge. I am trying to save the pistons and do a re-ring job so I don't want to smack anything too hard and if I just do need to bump it a bit harder what do I need to stick down in the underside of the piston that will clear the crank to hit on? Is removing the slight ridge the way to go?

 

Is the engine out of the car?

 

Yes, on the stand and down to the cam, crank, rods and pistons.

 

You need to use a ridge cutter on the cylinder to get the piston out from the top. Then use a piece of wood to tap the piston out. I usually put a couple pieces of rubber hose on the rod bolts so they don't knick the crank.

 

Thank you, I had a feeling that might be the case but I just wanted to make sure as I have never gone this far down the rabbit hole before. Watched a few videos after you posted and found this one really helpful on how to do the job. Several different style tools out there and some people in other videos had a real hard time with some styles. This guy made it look easy. This style looks to not be sold anymore but I found several on eBay that look lightly used.

 

I agree with the others that you could use a ridge cutter, but you could also pull that crank out and push the piston straight out the bottom of the engine. The hose on the rod bolt trick works well. Would be a good opportunity to just replace the rod and main bearings while you're in there.

 

You cannot remove the pistons and rods out the bottom due to the offset of the main webs in relationship to the bores.

 

I just did it the other day out out of a 324.

 

Interesting piece of trivia. It looks like the piston rings for both an Olds 324 and a Chevy 283 are the same part number from Hastings. This isn't too shocking with them both being GM products and sharing a 3 7/8" bore but I didn't see it mentioned in this thread.

 

A couple more pictures of parts that were on the punched out 303. There's a Hlidebrandt starter change over along with the matching oil filter re-locator.
It would be really cool to see an old catalog. I'm curious if these were sold together as a kit or separately.

 

Here are the valve covers I mentioned a couple weeks ago.

 

I am shopping for piston rings for my 303. Pistons to wall, pin and ring lands are within factory spec and bores are within taper spec so I'm going old school clean them up, re-ring and hone. Pretty much has come down to Hastings 568 cast rings or Sealed Power E240x which are listed as ductile iron, (there are a few molly and chrome options too but not being machined true I'm electing to stay away from them) any preference? Any good reason to look at NORS on eBay vs new on rockauto/summit? There are a bunch of old stock Hastings sets out there, are they like bearings, better to get the old stuff or are the new actually better with 50 years of technology advancements?

 

If you're looking at N.O.R.S. sets on eBay, or wherever, Chevy 265 rings are the same. There are probably more sets listed that way than for Olds.

 

Thank you, That did open up a bunch of options.

 

I have personally never had good luck with NOS engine parts. Materials degrade over time and there's so much opportunity for "shelf wear". I'd go new Hastings cast iron. Don't overthink it.

 

1951 303 with 1956 #10 heads question. Which push rods should I be using? The motor has the stock cam and lifters. I have the 56 1.8 rockers, stands and shafts. The 51 303 push rods are 1/4" and the 56 324 are 5/16".

Both seem to have the correct end curvature and will fit in the lifters and rockers equally well with the 5/16" fitting "better" filling up the receiving cups. The 324 push rods look to be a tiny bit shorter, like less than a 1/16". I do not have a good way to measure the difference. The other ends are squared up in the pic below.


If it matters, the 324 are much heavier at 89g

303 lighter at 57g

Thanks for any help, I am slowly putting this thing together and this is the next hurdle.

 

bigger is always better
I used new 5/16 custom length on my engine with #10's and 1.8 adj rockers.

 

Recently had my 37 Buick tranny apart to fix a few issues. As a result, I spent some time looking into what parts from a selector tranny in the Olds line from 51-64 are the same across the Pontiac/Buick line. This will broaden the search area when one is looking for one of these parts. In my particular case, I was able to locate a NOS synchro assembly, a NOS 2nd gear and a NOS 1st/ reverse gear for my repairs.
For those that wish to replace the input bearing, which is usually an unshielded New Departure piece, SKF offers the 6207-2ZNR which is shielded on both sides eliminating much of the excess tranny oil that comes forward onto the input shaft thru the older style unshielded bearing.