well let me start out by saying that i am a 23 year old college student at McPherson college (the restoration school). i walked into a machine shop in Galva kansas with a motor that i wanted to build for my deuce and ended up with a job. My boss is a long time dirt imca modified racer and machinist. i also have been involved in racing since i was about 6 years old starting out with quarter midgets, then legends, late models and then super late models out in california where i am from. So always having the urge to make things go as fast as possible and a 324 Oldsmobile is what i wanted At the time that i started working on this motor i still did not even have the car but my love for Oldsmobiles was kind so in my family. My aunts dad was Mr Bud Reis the old Porter and Reis front engine dragster team out of Ontario, Ca. I had always just looked at pictures of him in his car and never really knew anything about anything at the young age like most kids, but the motor always got my attention. I always knew i wanted to do something that was close to him so i got me an olds. it didnt take me long to find a good starter motor, my buddy had tons of these laying around his garage and he was always collected parts. We struck a deal i would trade him a set of sbc headers for his el camino and he would give me a motor. Haha Well a motor turned into 2 motors, 3 sets of rockers, 2 cams, 4 oil pumps, 3 sets of heads, 3 sets of valve covers and 4 timing chain covers and lots of lifters valves and springs. Couldnt ask for much more then that. With some i money saved up and parts collected this experimental motor was going to begin. After working on race motors for 2 years at work i learned what is good and not good for motors and sorted out all the good from the bad parts i picked the best looking block i had and bored her out .060 to make sure that everything was perfect in the cylinders. i ordered some high compression flat top pistons and some moly rings. we then took a loot at the crank i had and of course like all old worn stuff the crank needed to be turned down to clean up to spec. we ended up cutting the mains .020 and the rods .020. then ordered some clevite bearings. the rods were another story all together the bushing was worn so we pounded them out and put all 8 rods in out tumbler to make them look nice and perdddyyyy. With the rods nice and clean we started to do a full internal balances motor i grinded the small ends of the rods untill they weights 287 grams then did the over all weight of the rods at 841 grams. which got my rod rotating weight at 554 grams. weight the bearings at 28 grams, oil allowance at 3 grams, and the piston and pin weight in at 846 grams. the piston locks were 4 grams and the rings weight in at 53 grams. now with all this weight configured in our total bob weight was going to be 1178.5 grams now for those that dont know bob weights are weights that are placed on the rod ends of the crank to simulate the weight of the fully****embled rods. we then get all the weights on the bob height place them on the crank and begin to spin the crank to make it balanced. out first spin on our machine said the front of the the crank was off about 15.7 grams and the rear was odd 12.3 grams. we then began to drill the crank to make the crank more balanced. spun it again and we were within 2 grams on each side but since my boss has to make things as close to perfect we drilled a little more spun the crank and on the front of the crank we were at .26 grams and the rear as at .49 grams. which is well past perfect. for the people that dont know a normal race crank stops at 2 grams on each side a street crank is usually within 4 grams on each side. so needless to say we went overboard haha but in a good way. with the rotating part done we moved to the block. a normal used block cleans up its deck at anywhere between .003 and .007 but since we wanted power we decided to deck the block .040 to make the piston come closer to the heads which then adds compression. we then took #8 heads and decked them another .020 for some more compression . so the overall height of the banks were lowered .060 then stock. with the heads cleaned up we placed them into our 3 angle cutting machine and began to look at the valve seats. my had checked out prices for new olds valves and noticed that they were just a little smaller then small block chevy vortec valves so we grabbed some that were sitting on the shelf and measured them up and sure as***** they would work if we set the cuter to the size and slowly trim away at the seats. the intake was done and then we replaced the exh seats with new hardened seats and began cutting these out. it worked out perfect. we****embled the heads with some new stainless steel valves got new high pressure valve springs and****anium retainers my boss had laying around since they were now no longer legal in his race car. we were also going to cut the valve guided down to accept a good nylon valve seal we started to put the motor together just like any other one and put the crank in fill fit the rings, just to make sure, and put the oil pump on. now with my bosses experience we took the oil pump apart and he learned that in the by pass there was a spring and if you stretched that spring it would increase the oil pressure of the motor. so we stretched it about a 1/4 of an inch and installed it with some lube so the pump wouldnt cavitate. then we put in the cam, now the cam was givin to me with the warning that if i junk the cam i would be a dead man haha. this was a one of a kinds special grind cam from chet herberts apprentice. there was only one made and i was told that i can not revile the lift or angle of this cam, but lets just say it looked way way different from an other cam iv seen at work. we then moved to the lifters and with us decking the motor .060 we knew that we needed to figure out how to lower the height of the lifter and pushrod. so i measured the old olds lifter got my numbers and figured out that sbc lifters were the same size in roundness. i then took the height of them and saw that the sbc was at 2 inches and the olds was at 1.832. i then stuck the depth mic down to the puck and got .252 on the olds and .448 on the sbc. now by normal math you will see the olds were taller then the sbc by .028 which was good. now for the push rods with the sbc lifter you will then need a pushrod with an oiling hole i did some measuring of things and found that if you use a big block pontiac push rod you will lose .075 which is perfect for what we were doing, and gain more oil going to the top end of the heads then normal to keep the valves and springs lubed up. the rockers were then placed on the motor, but they were isky adjustable rockers and not the stock so the extra shortness of the push rod would work out perfectly. we got them lashed out perfectly and then began to prime the oil pump. the oil pressure took a second but then shot up to 55-60 psi. which was way better then the stock 35psi it had from the factory. the motor then was stabbed with a pertronix electric ignition and put the manifold on. the car at the point was done with and ready for the motor to go in which fit perfectly and i began to wire her up. Ross racing engines sold me a high torque mini starter and i love the hell out of how small and powerful it is, without changing over to a different bell housing adapter. and as of an hour and a half ago i started the motor up the thing shot to 60psi for oil pressure the ground was pounding and this thing got its full break in cycle. shes timed and ready to go now i figured that i should share this story on here since i really never did an into and never really say much on the hamb so here it is
Nice wright up,and sweet lookin' deuce. But im dieing to know the numbers. And more info on this crazy cam, how about a video so we can hear what that thing sounds like.
Here's a sneak shot of my 324. I love Oldsmobiles, and I have enjoyed your thread so far....keep it up!
Thanks for taking the time to write this up. Building a 324 right now too, and I gotta say you guys did an awesome job!
(Quote)now for the push rods with the sbc lifter you will then need a pushrod with an oiling hole i did some measuring of things and found that if you use a big block pontiac push rod you will lose .075 which is perfect for what we were doing, and gain more oil going to the top end of the heads then normal to keep the valves and springs lubed up.(Quote) Word of advise....you dont want to oil with all 16 pushrods,And just because the lifter has a hole doesnt mean you have to use an open pushrod.......4 max with holes 12 solid pusrods,The one in each end will back feed the rockershafts plenty.........I saw your video.....Remember your checking oil preasure right at the pump ...not at the end of the line..................By oiling with all pushrods you are taking oil away from the bottom end. Trust me on this.... Tony
My first 3 hot rods were 324 olds powered . 36 chevy coupe, 31 chrysler roadster , then a T bucket, It was a long time ago but it seems like the olds valve spring retainers and keepers were a weak part with a Hot Cam.
What's the story on those rocker arm covers? I love the ones like that for rocker clearance. I have a set of 53(?) covers that are chrome and have the wire holders. I will be relplacing the 324 in my 55 Olds soon (with another 324). Also, whatever Tony tells you, believe it.
im running a 33 ford top loader transmission in her. i just got done rebuilding about a month ago but i have about $147.84 in her so if she blows she blows i have more sitting ready to go. i have been told that if im easy on them and take off easy i should be fine. the rear end is a early 32 rear end which those had the model a axles so im more worried about breakin that then the trans. thank you tony i will take that into consideration with the push rods, but the oil pressure the first time i started it was exactly on the oil filter fitting using one of my race oil gauges that is %100 accurate and between the 2 gauges there is a 10 pressure difference. that video was after about the 3rd time running it and me changing the gauges over. the other one was running about 55 pounds. my boss and i really didnt know what the final compression ratio was in the end but after all that decking and machine work it has to be way better the valve covers were something a buddy of mine had laying around his shop for a while and i told him i needed them for my motor so the rockers would clear he said thats fine and sold them to me for about $100 haha thats what his dad bought them for back in the day. i polished them up a little but then just bolted it on the other thing with this motor is that intake and carb is going in the trash(not really) as soon as i save up some money to but a multi carb set up. i already have a edmunds 2x2 but the damn thing has a crack in it and id rather use a 3x2 then crack that one more
Thanks for the transmission info. Well then here is a similar car I saw 4 years ago. I know it has 371 heads and not sure if it is a 324 or 371 block. Edmunds as you can see. Anyways, he said he built it in 1980, and it does have the old Ford top shift and some sort of year banjo rear. I did see him jump on it a little bit on the way to the show, after he pulled over to open the headers ...so I quess it can take a little thrashing.
Ooops, I forgot to add info on what Tony @ Ross is talking about with "too much oil to the valves". Another thread was on here about doing modifications to get more oil to some of the Olds engines that seemed too dry. Many people added what they had done to change things, and Tony said something like "you don't want to flood the valve boxes" I think. I did do many experiments to a tired old 303 in 40 Ford that was bone dry, and at one point, I had way too much oil. I could no longer run at idle with the valve cover off, because the oil running down the trough to the rear drain hole was overflowing. So, being that my motor is in a closed drive car, the angle of the motor makes the rear drain hole do most of the draining. And I'd bet that if I ran at 65 mph, the oil would be backed up a lot before it was forced to the front drain. That means the valve guides on the rear cylinders would be "under oil" completely? I guess the only way to know is cut a window in an old valve cover to see how bad it gets at sustained high rpms? At any rate, keep the build thread going as lots of Olds guys here like to see what's going on out there Nice work
I think your misunderstanding me...... Checking oil pressure from the stock location on an Olds ...... Is directly out of the pump.... That does not mean you have the same amount at the mains....... And by over oiling the rocker boxes....... Your taking it away from other areas. I take oil pressure measurements from the last spot In the engine to get oil...... You'd be surprised at the difference........ It's just friendly advise, Tony
Tony is totally correct! The further down stream you go the less pressure you get because oil is finding the path of least resistance. It could become a serious issue at operating temp after running her for awhile. Because of the rocker shaft****embly you can get away with limited push rods with holes Please please take heed.
so what would you guys do change the push rods and then pull the pan off the motor to check oil pressure, also where would the last place to be oiled on this motor be?
I modify the block to read the oil pressure at the furthest point from the pump......that's what the pic is showing you. If it where me..... I'd put the proper pushrods in it,leave the pan on it,go enjoy my hotrod........and just listen to the guy in Ohio who builds a ton of these things......he's already done the R&D for you. Of course .... That's just me
If you have any concerns/questions....feel free to ph me.......Everything is easier for me to explain in a couple min call....than it is.... pounding on this keyboard Tony
I dont believe Ross Racing still exists, right. Website looks pretty outdated Anynody knows about Tony ?
Tony is pretty active still on one of the olds Facebook groups. I've had limited dealings with him. Some guys swear by him and some at him. Still seems to definitely be in the Olds business though from what I see on Facebook.
He is still in business. Gets busy during racing season, and it can be hard to connect with him. Tried to order parts last year and it never went through, but it's sort of on both of us so I'm not too bent about it.
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