picked up a couple '62 Olds 394 engines the other day. one complete front to back and top to bottom with transmission attached and the other missing most of the bolt on stuff and no transmission. I drained the oil out of the complete one, black but no sign of water or sludge. pulled a valve cover to find a very clean rocker ***embly. screwed on a new oil filter and using the priming tool I made from an old distributor let it spin while I turned the engine over by hand. did that until I had good flow of fresh oil to the top end. 'pulled some good used stuff off the last "will it run" engine, a '63 394, distributor, intake manifold, carburetor, starter, distributor, plugs, wires etc. and bolted it all to this one, stuck it on the run stand and it fired right up. it wasn't running exactly right, slight miss but no bad noises, leaks or smoke. I suspected the used plugs, points etc. sorry no video of the initial run.
yesterday I pulled the stock distributor and put a magneto in it, that smoothed it right out (yes I need to connect the kill switch and get a tach converter for the magneto) edit: you have to play this video on your computer with real speakers to hear it, watching on your phone does not capture the depth of tone.
a single two barrel isn't much to look at so that gets pulled and a "Say Why And" dual four intake goes on.. the mismatched Carter AFB carbs on it now are just place holders, gotta scrounge up a pair of something..
thanks Cob, the guy I bought them from had a '62 Starfire twenty some years ago and was given these two engines by a buddy. the guy didn't know the history of them, never did anything with them and they sat in his garage for those twenty years. I was thinking they were potential core engines and with the low price I had to get them. this one runs well enough it may just stay together, why fix it if it 'aint broke?. at the same time I can't spend any real money on it, I'll try to make it into something using mostly what I have on hand.
If you are going to put the engine in a car, at least change the timing chain and cam gear. Most GM V8 engines in that period had nylon teeth on the cam gear, and when old they fall off the engine jumps time.
Okay @Paul There has got to be a very interesting back story about this heavy piece of shafting with the small gear teeth on it! Its cool, and its heavy no doubt, but what is its function there in your shop?
a neighbor was cleaning up her back yard and offered it to me, she didn't and I don't know what it is. but there it is
One of my favorite things to do is to get an unknown used engine, put it on my test stand and see if it runs. In addition to new builds, I've used my stand to bring back a '51 Merc and a '56 Chrysler hemi.. Both turned out to be gems after a tune-up, ran cool and smooth with factory spec oil pressure. No wonder I like doing it. Next I have a fresh '51 Olds that I bought from a guy who bought it as a "pig in a poke" small block Chevy. When it turned out to be a Rocket, he lost interest. I've torn it down enough to believe it's never been fired and see that it has an Iskenderian cam and Gotha adjustable rocker arms. I'm waiting until I have time to tear it down completely to make sure there's no real problems because it's been sitting over 30 years. Looking forward to it, as it also came with an Offenhauser dual quad manifold.
I had three decent four barrel carburetors none matching, one Rochester 4 Jet one Carter AFB one Edelbrock 1405 needed one of any to make a pair. easiest to locate was the Edelbrock found two, one good rebuilder and one for parts to complete the one I have. gave them a bath in the ultrasonic cleaner and a basic rebuild, put stock jets and rods back in for a baseline, a fresh set of gaskets and bolted them on. 'made a link to tie the two together and bent up a fuel line. ran it long enough to get the carbs roughly tuned. still a bit of refining due at idle, smooths out decent as rpm increases.
generator is not hooked up so I ran the battery down running the fan and fuel pump. I'll post a video when it's charged back up
Hi Paul, I noticed you added a PCV valve. Can you post what brand and part# you installed? Thanks Ron
sorry Ron, there are no markings on it and I don't remember the original application. I just looked for one that fit.
'figured everything found it's place internally, so I finally took a compression test. 25 pounds between highest and lowest but not too bad for an old boat anchor
It will probably improve with more run time too. The 389 Pontiac in my Stude pickup had sat for over 50 years in a warehouse and when it first fired up it ran terrible. First compression check was all over the map 65-100, but it got progressively better and now they all read 165-175. Makes it hard for me to pull it and install the fresh 389 that I built for it. Except for a tendency to drop one hole occasionally at idle, it runs damn good. Even the Stratoflight came back to life and works fine.
ok, one last update for now. I think it's proven itself and I don't want to bore you with the minutiae. 'replaced the two 600 cfm carbs with two 500s from the blower project motor. seems to like these better.
I got a 324, same sort of deal, seemed like a runner. I got it fired up, good compression, idled nice but when I revved it up to 1500-2000 there was a distinct tapping sound. It went away at idle but returned whenever you held it above idle. My machinist/old engine expert said to bring it up to the rpm and pull each plug wire for a second or two and see if I could decide which cylinder it was. Never did test it. It got sold in the latest downsizing purge. I’m holding out for a 394, lol.
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