I figured I'd make a thread so I can document the ongoing love affair I have with this car. Picked it up back in 2006, story I got was it was mildly-customized in California, super solid and very original car for the most part! You don't see too many 88 2dr Coupes, mostly Converts and Hardtops, and I instantly fell in love with the lines. Still rocking the original 324ci Rocket V8, with factory Power Steering and Power Brakes: Engine has some blowby, so once I fix that my plan is to clean and redo the engine bay with some period speed parts and bling. The Interior is comfy, but the green velour is soo dated. So likely going to see some period white/green Tuck & Roll in the very near future! For now, I got it in the shop and doing some inspections and prep for taking it to The Gathering at the Roc in October, so I'll post here as things progress! If anyone has any cool 324 Olds parts, shoot me a PM, I'd rather buy vintage vs new stuff.
Things escalated quickly today. I had forgotten about the damage to the radiator core that's been there since before I got it, my guess is something fell while it was running and got wedged between the fan and the core. Never leaked, but figure now is the time to get it resolved. So it's off to get a new core! Side bracket also had come undone over time: Of course, my temptation is to clean that engine bay while I'm here, but the weak piston rings are blowing oil out the fill tube and that's only fixed by pulling the rotating assembly... So that may have to wait.
Great car, plus it has the original Rocket engine. Never understood pulling them and replacing with a SBC.
Got the radiator back and installed. No issues there. But now I have an intermittent leak from the factory Treadlevac Power Brake system. I cleaned everything up, and topped it off, and now after driving and letting it sit, no leak at all. It was dropping a quarter-sized dot of brake fluid overnight before. Recently had the booster/master cylinder rebuilt by White Post Restorations, and not looking forward to having to teardown and do it again. So I'm looking into swapping a different booster/master style in. You know, old cars....
Interested in what you come up with for a brake modification, I have a '55(in my avatar) needs brakes I was thinking of the firewall "G-body" master cylinder conversion and mounting plate, but there are strong opinions both ways online about this. Mine is going back to light/med green 2 tone, my interior will be green...(I wonder if your upholsterer could get those old seat covers off without 100% destroying them? If so, I might be interested in buying them from you...better than what I have now! )
Oh this upholstery would definitely come apart without too much trouble. Still very soft and supple, just not the style I want for the car. So I'll definitely have him save them as much as possible. Yeah I've looked at the later GM Style brake kits and they seem to be what the majority do. I'm just not a fan of how they replace the smooth air box with a sheet metal box with visible welds. I'd have to spend a week just cleaning up and modifying the parts to make them look more period correct/original. Can't keep it in the factory location, because few modern master cylinders are designed to work at that angle unless I do remote reservoirs, but that's doable. So I'm still looking. ~Peter
I think if you look around you will find a lot of the 80's and 90's GM cars with the master cylinder that had the plastic reservoir mounted at an angle.
Problem is that it's like a 45° angle, so no way to remove the cover and top off fluid without dumping half on the floor... Hence why remote reservoirs might be a simple solution if I get the right bore and depth calculated.
Because that would tip it into the power steering sector. Here's a pic of the region: It's a tight area, and that's why the Driver's side exhaust has to go forward and cross under the oil pan to join with the passenger side piping. No way to run aftermarket headers on this that I can see. ~Peter
its possible to keep under the floor ... https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...55-olds-53873/ i did it to mine .
Had a 55 2 door sedan I loved. I put a 54 Pontiac grille in it. Never quite understood the C pillar on the Olds and Buicks, but I still love em. Best of luck with your boat.
I bought my folks 55 super 88 [Rochester 4 barrel] 4 door. Ran strong with the 4 speed "bang shift" hydro but I had to set it free because I was 18 and took a terrible ribbing for driving "my mom's" car. Was light yellow and white with green interior. It had standard brakes and steering....stopped just fine. Unless you're gonna go road racing with it, why not go to manual brakes?
They're a totally different pedal assembly and setup than the power. The manual operates like this: With the pedal mounted under the floor on a fulcrum and the master cylinder along the frame rail under the floor. The power operates like this: With the brake pedal pivoting off the dash assembly and pressing directly on the pushrod for the TreadleVac. Swapping to a manual brakes system would require sourcing the different pedal assembly from a donor car.
This "K Model" deluxe 88 2dr sedan was free. E-Z-Eye glass & the heater were the only options. Old feller running a Conoco station in Ucon, Idaho (Pop. 100 or so) told me it used too much oil to drive every day. The fuel pump diaphragm was ruptured, sucking oil thru the vacuum part, & the road draft tube was plugged. One weekend had it running & looking nice. The lady & I got into a disagreement causing her & the Olds to break up with me ...
Damn, it feels like life has it in for me. Finally got a free weekend to get the brakes fixed on the Olds. Started with removing the original driver's fresh air box, and the original pedal assembly: Then assembled and installed the new Battle-Born Brake Adapter plate and new GM style booster and master: This setup allows for a true dual zone brake system, with the front cylinder feeding the front brakes and the rear to the back of the car. Here you can see how the pedal arm and pivot extend through the original fresh air inlet opening. Zero drilling or cutting: I modified their new brake pedal so I could bolt on the factory Olds Rubber Pad: New carpet is in the near future so that slit doesn't bother me too much. Here's the old Bendix TreadleVac setup that was suspended under the toeboard at a 45° angle. Plugged the holes where that mounted to the floor and ran new wires down to an inline hydraulic brake light switch: After bleeding the brakes and checking for leaks, there it is: I debated going crazy trying to make it look factory, but this is a daily driver and the hood is never up at car shows anyway... Now to fix the gas tank sending unit, which involves removing/redoing the rear exhaust pipes that are currently preventing tank removal.
Well, figured y'all could use an update. Getting this thing ready for Lonestar this year includes replacing the fuel sending unit. And since the current exhaust runs under the tank with no separation points, it was needing to be cut to drop the tank. And then I got to looking at it and realized that whatever goober "welded" this decades ago must've been using a 120v flux-core machine, because the welds were so bad he went back with that exhaust paste to fill in all the holes... Couple that with the exhaust literally resting on several points on the framerails, and I knew this is time for a replacement. So, I'll be getting it down to my exhaust shop on Monday, probably going with a hidden single pipe to keep it simple and out of the way. I've loved how this Olds sounds, and the key to that has been this 2.5" Race Bullet style muffler in the midpipe: It then splits to a dual up and over the rear end. None of which is pretty or secured like I would prefer. So I'll post some updates over the coming days as I get this thing redone and I'll be planning on driving down to Austin in May!
Looks like it's time for a new pinion seal also. How about true dual exhaust pipes? If you love the sound now, wait until you hear real dual exhaust on a rocket motor. Keep posting, love 50's Oldsmobiles.
Full dual's are almost impossible on this era Olds due to the location of the steering box and brake assemblies. All 1954 Power Brake Oldsmobiles had the crossover pipe and single exhaust out the back. It's only a 185hp/300lb ft motor to begin with, so a 2.25-2.5" single is plenty of pipe.
The Jalopy Journal
