394 Olds FACTORY performance optins?

It is well know and documented that Lee Petty won the 59 Daytona 500 in a 59 Olds, but the only specs I can find list the top of the li8ne 345 HP single 4 394 for 1959 and later, my understandind is the tri power J2 was discontinued after 1958, or was there some else from the factory fo 1959 and up that I am jus not aware of?
Any 394 Olds specialists out there?
I know that there were tons of aftermarket stuff available for 394's because it was a very poular engine of choice for drag racing and hot rodding back in it's day. But aftermarket stuff was not allowed in NAScar or NHRA stock back then. My older brother pu tri power on his 59 Olds convert,but it was aftermarket, Iremember goig with him to Warshawsky's to get it all (that's J.C. Whitney to all you non Chicago types)
thanks fo any info

 

I have a friend that was a street racer back then. He told me that there were NASCAR parts for the 394. Not listed in the parts catalog but if you knew someone with the secret numbers they could be ordered over the counter just like the Pontiac super duty stuff. Cam and heads IIRC. I've never been able to confirm that but the guy is not a bull shitter.


This is his 34 Chevy sedan with a 394 and a hydro. His daily driver was a hopped up with the NASCAR parts 61 Holiday coupe with 3 on the tree that kicked ass on the street. until the 327 came out and he retired from street racing and this was completed. I was surrounded with 394s in the early 60s. Our club garage had a 33 Chevy coach, a 34 Chevy sedan, a 33 Plymouth convertible and a 50 Olds 2r...all with 394 Olds engines. I'm kinda partial to them even though I never owned one

 

Thanks, but just what was in the SECRET NASCAR package? I've seen plenty of hot rodded 394'n my time as well but most if not all had aftermarket/aka California speed parts on them nothinG exotic from factory as I recall.

 

I have tried looking through my 57 and 58 olds parts books for anything related to the J2 Nascar parts, and I can't find a thing.

I think I have an aluminum cam tag for a J2 Nascar, but tracing the number, I can only see that it was deleted in July 62. The tag mentions 57 and 58. I suppose it could be just a replacement stock cam, but you would think they would have not stopped making them that soon?

Mine are Olds factory/dealer books, but I think they are the ones sold to car owners and shops. I suppose the special parts must have been on a dealers-only parts list somewhere, or they would have not been Nascar legal.

So, if there were 394 Nascar parts, same problem of finding any books that list them.

 

Read Smokies book and that will give you an idea of what stock was back then.

 

Olds bought solid lifter cams and adjustable rockers from Iskenderian and assigned factory part numbers to them, making them legal for stock car racing. That's for the '57-'58 J-2 engines; I don't know what, if anything, they did with the '59-'64 engines. It surprised me when I was looking in a 1960 Buick factory parts catalog to see "export" solid lifter cams, lifters, and adjustable rocker arms listed for 401s.

 

Do you know anyone who has the factory 57/58-or newer "dealer parts counter-only" parts catalog that is not the generic Olds parts book for owners?

I have the owner types for 57 and also 58, but i can't find the number on my aluminum cam tag. That number only googles to GM Wiki site and only shows this number deleted in July 62.

 

Check this out:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=273277

And pay special attention to comments from Owen Thomas!

 

There were no "secret NASCAR parts" or not supposed to be. To qualify as stock, all parts were supposed to be factory stock, or optional equipment, or dealer installed accessories. All cataloged and available from any authorized dealer.

Some parts may have been hard to get unless you were on the factory approved list, but all were documented and authorized in dealer bulletins and parts catalogs.

Any parts that were not documented and not available from authorized dealers, were not allowed to be used and the user could be protested and disqualified.

This means that even now, any such parts should be documented and known to the experts on that make of car.

 

I've been into the '59-64 394's for years and have never known of any super-special factory race parts. That's not to say there couldn't have been.