Projects 1963 Olds Jetfire- Turbo, fluid injection, 4 speed

These are a set of photos from 1985 just before I sold it!!!!
I am going to need parts!!!
Wanted: 1962/63 Olds Jetfire 215 Alum V8 parts:
Turbo, carb, intake & exhaust manifolds, Air cleaner, Turbo fluid tank, 4 speed parts: bell housing, flywheel, pedals, T-10 trans, mint or NOS Die cast trim for sale email me back..


Found!? (2009)

OK the deal is done. I have seen and purchased my old Jetfire back!! Should have it in the driveway next Sunday. The car is much worse than I thought. The garage roof had a 12" hole over the windshield. All the die cast trim needs to be replaced. Interior better than expected. All Jetfire parts under the hood in place. Engine turned over by hand. No keys or brakes!! I will attach a few photos.
Ken








1963 Jetfire
The windshield frame is installed & inner fender well repaired. I will keep you update on progress. Car starts and drives. Should get the winshield installed in the next few weeks.


We put some paint on the windshield area. Will start working on the right inner fender in the next few days.
Ken


We put some paint on the windshield area. Will start working on the right inner fender in the next few days.
Ken


Just a quick update. The turbo and carburetor are rebuilt. Still looking for any 63 trim parts.
Email is kid442w30@yahoo.com 732-870-6964
Thanks,
Ken

 

I went down to the dealer and drove one of those things in '62. Nice car. To bad i didn't have the balls to buy it on a PFCs pay.

 

Beautiful work. At this rate you'll have her back on the road in no time. I like the '63s best of all the F-85s, just a really neat little car.

I remember years back seeing a gorgeous original '63 at the Red Bank show, and I got the chance to eyeball the engine and turbo setup for the first time.
The wastegate seal was still intact on that one. I don't know how people do it.

 

What an advanced machine for its time, she's looking good.

 

Ken cool story your movin right along on the Olds

 

Where are you located? Long Branch, NJ?
Ken

 

That is such a rare beasty!
I'm really glad you are not jettisoning the little turbo engine, such are the things dreams are made of!
Years ago I worked with a guy that said he had a Jetfire and he was so happy that he could get rid of the "stupid little motor" and stick a big block in it...

 

I just thought I would post a photo of the Oldsmobile Turbo Rocket Fluid. You need this to make the whole thing work correctly.
I am still in need of any mint trim parts. Any leads will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Ken
kid442w30@yahoo.com
732-870-6964

 

i remember those little buggers,whats the fuel consist of iam sure there is some alky in there?

 

Yes there is.
Ken

 

Still looking for any NOS or mint trim parts.
Thanks,
Ken
732-870-6964
kid442w30@yahoo.com

 

cool thread, glad to see another oddball from the 60's out there still getting some love



batz

 

cool thread, glad to see another oddball from the 60's out there still getting some love



batz

 

Great engines, they only made about 5,000 of them. I had one in my MGB back in the 70's with a 2" SU carb, mild cam and a stronger spring in the wastegate for about 12 psi boost. I used some 2 barrel heads to get the compression down to 8.8:1. It screamed.

Good luck with your project.

 

I bought a nice low mileage '62 Jetfire in 1969. Depending who is writing/talking, your number or some number less than that were built. For reasons I have never understood some mystery surrounds the car and engine. Maybe it's because so few were built?

With no parts available for the turbo or the elaborate boost and fluid injection controls, odds are that at some point either the turbo set-up gets replaced with something else, or the engine ends up naturally aspirated. The guys at a Cadillac/Olds dealer I worked for in the late '60s to0ld me GM made a kit of parts to replace the turbo set-up with a carb. Paying dealer prices for a carb, manifold, and related stuff was probably expensive.

 

It's a shame GM did't but a senser in the fluid tank and block the waste gate open when they were out of fluid. So many died from lack of maintance.

 

More pics!!

 

So what's in the Turbo-Rocket fluid???

I'd imagine that there isn't much of that left after 50 years!!!

 

Ken, I'm curious, where does one obtain the turbo-rocket fluid? Or do owners brew their own these days?

 

There is a sensor in the fluid tank. The tank has a float in it just like a fuel take and when the fluid was low it would light up a warning light on the boost gage. <o></o>
<o></o>
Flamingokid,<o></o>
What would you like photos of? I will post more!!<o></o>
<o></o>
Been working on the doors, vent window gaskets, and the side glass channels. Any leads on parts or car would be appreciated!!<o></o>
Thanks to all!!
Ken<o></o>
kid442w30@yahoo.com<o></o>
732-870-6964

 

Jetfire Turbo Rocket Fluid
50% Methyl Alcohol
50% Water
.07% Alimite water pump lubricant.

Ken

 

That is the coolest early turbo setup I've seen! Anybody know what kinda numbers these things put down? I have a 61 buick special with a 215 and envy your turbo set up. good luck with the build keep the photos coming please

 

Very cool! Ive only read about these. Never actually seen one in person.

 

Great to see this setup!

 

Thanks for all the encouragement! I will try and post some more photos. I will get some of the vent window and side glass channel rebuild. May take a few days.
Ken

 

The cars were fun, but not super fast. Horsepower was a claimed(pre-SAE NET) 215 HP. The turbo broadens the torque quite a bit, so the performance increase is greater the the HP number implies. As I remember, boost was somewere around 6 or 7 pounds. To have the best possible part throttle/non-boost power and fuel economy the engine had fairly high compression for a turbo set-up. That is why fluid injection was needed. Unless you drive like I did a tank of fluid lasts quite a while. When the fluid tank gets low it prevents the engine from seeing boost, and as was mentioned, also turned on a warning light. The water jacketed compressor housing prevented icing and provided a little intercooling.


Kid442,
I assume you realize the paint on the turbine housing portion of the turbo will burn off?

 

Al,
Thank you for the reply! You are correct the paint will burn off but the exhaust side is porcelain so that side should be fine. This engine in this car was bought up state NY from a tractor pull tractor. He sold it because he did not have enough power to beat one guy. When I drove it in the 80's it was quick. One of the problems is the T10 4 speed. First gear is 2.54 and it would be nice to have 3.2 or more. Had a T-5 back in the 80's but for now I would like to get it back on the road. We have a few other projects we are working on.
How long did you own the Jetfire and do you have any old photos?
Keep an eye out for any Jetfire parts for us!
Be well,
Ken

 

They designed the thing for low end snap and not for high hp numbers. The engine had 10.25:1 compression and the boost was wastegate limited to 5 psi and was all in before 2,000 rpm. As mentioned above, they had a complex carburetor that injected a water/ alcohol solution to keep detonation in check. You could make better hp with this turbo by lowering the compression and raising the boost. I used the 2 barrel heads that gave 8.8:1 compression and replaced the wastegate spring with one that gave 12 psi. I replaced the Rube Goldburg carburetor with a 2" SU from a Jag XKE and ran a 2 1/2" exhaust with a Corvair turbo muffler. It ran really strong

 

The max turbo RPM was pretty close with the stock set-up. Increasing the boost is how I killed the turbo in my Jetfire.

I still have the upgraded Jetfire block, the heads, and a few odd pieces. Everything else is long gone. Later Rover blocks were better than the Jetfire blocks, so those aren't as cool to have as they once were.

 

I was able to talk with one of the original engineers at Air Research that worked on that program and he told me the same thing. He said I was lucky and that at 15 psi that I ran it at for a short time, the wheels were spinning north of 150,000 rpm, that's when I backed it down to 12 psi. He said that with the lower compression, better flowing carb and the free flowing exhaust that I should be OK at that boost so long as I didn't do any sustained running at that level. He was right because I drove it for about 8 years that way and I used the power quite a bit. I was really disappointed when I had to turn the boost down because it was really fast at 15 psi!