Fabulous article. (The idea of Olds as the import-fighter brand obviously had its own problems.) However not practical to drive around pittsburgh, pa. To many hills for that single chamber master cylinder. The practice of keeping model names alive even though applied to a vehicle with little in common with the original seems to annoy no one but me, [example Impala], why not keep division names alive and apply them to selected models. Thank you so much for further refining my understanding of my 52 Super 88 Holiday Coupe.I love this car for its rich history, and the fact that I inherited it from a dear, tragically taken friend. Im not sure about the early Hydramatics but later ones, 54-56 you put in reverse to park. The idea of keeping the brand names on a model-specific basis is not illogical (although again its contrary to current brand management philosophy), but it would present all manner of practical problems, not least that it would invite the ire of people who had previously paid money for a sales franchise for that brand. The engine is also known for its reliability, smoothness and quietness. The 403 is fundamentally the exact same block as an Oldsmobile 350 V8, however it features a larger bore. Some auction action surrounding 1956 Oldsmobiles tells a similar story: By 1952, the 88 was growing inexorably bigger and although Oldsmobile engineers had little trouble getting more power out of the Rocket engine by 1955, it boasted 202 gross horsepower (151 kW) newer, lighter cars soon surpassed its performance. 50,000 cars were imported in 1952, US brands comprising some 90% of that total. Many of the other listed cookies are associated with the Google Analytics service, the Google AdSense advertising service, and/or other Google advertising and measurement products, which are subject to the Google Privacy Policy; see their "How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services" page, the "Information for Visitors of Sites and Apps Using Google Analytics" section of the Google Analytics "Safeguarding your data" help page, the "Technologies" section of their Google Privacy & Terms site, and the "Our advertising and measurement cookies" section of the Google Business Data Responsibility site (which includes a detailed list of cookies associated with Google advertising and measurement products) for more information. The 403 Oldsmobile was generally painted "Corporate GM Blue" on every model line it was equipped in. The Vimeo Cookie Policy also provides information about how Vimeo users can control the use of third-party analytics and/or advertising cookies in connection with embedded Vimeo video players. New brakes, wide Whitewall tires and classic stereo and speaker. Free shipping for many products! It was the only GM engine to meet US emission standards using a carburetor all the way up to 1990. From your research, do you have any information on Bouvy? The optional heater-defroster cost $85 that year, the optional base radio $96. Collectible Motor Car of Atlanta. The Buick version was rated at 200hp with an 11:1 compression ratio. Full instrumentation is standard Olds had not yet succumbed to the allure of warning lights. Full instrumentation is standard Olds had not yet succumbed to the allure of warning lights. A flathead engine, therefore, also has poor thermal efficiency. (Ten of the 13 88s that entered that race managed to finish, itself an impressive feat.) Features Power Transmission: 4 Automatic Hydra-Matic Production Figures Handling 1949 Averages Both of the practical options available in the 1930s and 1940s a train of gears or a metal chain drive were complex, expensive, and noisy. This cars turn signals may be an aftermarket addition turn signals were originally a $15 option on this car. A BRILLIANTLY written article! Prior to the advent of the 1949 Cadillac and Olds engines, many (though by no means all) U.S. engines were L-head, or side-valve, design. . [12] The Oldsmobile engine was very similar to the Buick engine, but not identical: it had larger wedge combustion chambers with flat-topped (rather than domed) pistons, six bolts rather than five per cylinder, and slightly larger intake valves; the valves were actuated by shaft-mounted rocker arms like the Buick and Pontiac versions, but the shafts and rockers were unique to Oldsmobile. Each of those engines had its own peculiarities, but they were all in the mold of the Oldsmobile Rocket engine. Some early 307s were painted GM Corporate blue, but most were painted satin black. This problem did not appear until the engine had over 50,000 miles (80,000km) on it. Email or call Mark at 217/390-8500 with questions, or to inspect or test drive. At the risk of shameless self promotion, you might also be interested in the recently revamped article on the early Hydra-Matic, which most Oldsmobiles of that vintage had. The heavily domed hood would continue through 1953. Awesome vehicle many great high school memorys. It uses a 3.8in (97mm) bore (in common with the Buick 231 V6 and 350 V8) with a 3.385in (86.0mm) stroke. Millionaires would drive the few Cadillacs. Were Oldsmobiles ever sold in Brazil in any significant numbers? Thanks for the great write up on the history of one of the most influential engines in the automobile industry! Monday - Saturday: 9-5. It was rated at 215hp (160kW) at 4600rpm and 300lbft (410Nm) at 3200rpm. The payment button in the "Support Ate Up With Motor" box (and similar payment or donation buttons that may appear on portions of the administrative dashboard, which is not normally accessible except to logged-in administrative users) contains embedded content served by PayPal services. The early Repco engines produced up to 300bhp (220kW), and featured new SOHC cylinder heads and iron cylinder liners. The effective dates of the current versions are: Paid advertisements and/or sponsored links on Ate Up With Motor will be identified with words such as "Sponsor," "Sponsors," "Sponsored Link(s)," "Sponsored Content," "Ad," "Advertisement," "Advertisement(s)," or "Paid Promotion" (and/or by images or icons containing such words). The immediate prewar Compound Carburetion cars were legitimately quick for 1941 you might get that kind of performance out of a flathead Ford, but not without a lot of non-factory help. C. G. I dont know what its survival rate is, though. The Oldsmobile 88 (marketed from 1989 on as the Eighty Eight) is a full-size car that was sold and produced by Oldsmobile from 1949 until 1999. Get a Oldsmobile crate engine for cars like the cutlass, 88, 98, or the 442.GTO. Cookies whose names begin with "optimizely" are associated with the Optimizely digital experience platform (which is subject to the Optimizely Privacy Policy; the "Privacy" section of the Optimizely Trust Center provides additional information about Optimizely privacy practices, including a link to the Data Processing Agreement that applies to personal data the Optimizely services process on customers' behalf that may be subject to certain regional privacy and/or data protection laws, while their "Cookies and localStorage in the Optimizely snippet" help page provides additional technical information about the cookies and/or similar technologies used by that platform). Comes in plastic display showcase. Some Oldsmobile employees detested that name, but it remained strongly associated with Oldsmobile well into the 1960s. These were wedge-head engines with a unique combustion chamber that resulted from a valve angle of only 6. We'll start with Olds and return to Caddy in another article. OHV engines can also support much higher compression ratios. The final 1990 configuration was rated at 140hp (100kW) at 3200 rpm and 255lbft (346Nm) of torque at 2000 rpm. The Super Eighty-Eight wasnt particularly rare when it was new Olds sold about 150,000 of them in 1951. The shape of a flatheads combustion chambers also limits its maximum compression ratio (the amount the fuel mixture is compressed before burning). Output was 185hp (138kW) and 320lbft (430Nm). In the mid-1950s, American automakers were engaged in a ferocious horsepower race. Even in markets where fuel is substantially more expensive than in the U.S., fuel efficiency is widely regarded in purely economic terms. Nonetheless, both Oldsmobile and Cadillac deemed it a good compromise. Other American manufacturers would reach the same conclusion. For the Rocket 88, Oldsmobile came up with a 303 cubic inch V8 capable of a maximum 135 hp and 283 lb-ft of torque. [citation needed] Compared to the V6, the 260 was also smoother-running, and far more durable. The short stroke allowed the engine to rev more freely while the wider bore provides more room for larger valves, which further improves breathing. The FirePower, Buick Nailhead, and Chevrolet V-8s didnt exist yet. An Ultra High Compression Toronado Rocket version of the 425cuin (7.0L) V8 was made for the 1966 Toronado. Bore was up to 4.125in (104.8mm) for the largest first-generation Rocket, the 394cuin (6.5L). With a 4-barrel carburetor and 10.75:1 compression, the Olds 215 made 195hp (145kW) at 4800rpm and 235lbft (319Nm) at 3200rpm with an automatic. I can see it now. It was released one year earlier than the tall deck 425, and debuted the standard 3.385in (86.0mm) stroke; bore was 3.938in (100.0mm). All the chrome is perfect interior all original all the glass is good.all the gauges work. Each PayPal payment or donation button may also incorporate a tracking pixel called "pixel.gif" (which loads from paypalobjects.com). They were criticized at the time as being unsafe in city traffic because they picked up their air too close to the tail pipes of cars ahead. Performance modifications included a "hot" camshaft (in reality, just a camshaft used in various applications during the '70s with .440"/.440" lift and 196/208 duration at .050"), stiffer valve springs, a larger vibration damper (same as all '73-'79 350s, 403s, and 455s), a Y-pipe dual-outlet exhaust system, and richer secondary metering rods in the carburetor. [5], This engine was used in GMC heavy trucks as the "370" of 232 gross HP at 4200 RPM and torque 355 gross lbs-ft at 2600 RPM from 1957 to 1959.It had hardened valve seats and other features for heavy duty usage. If you delete or disable these cookies, your existing preferences will be lost and you may not be able to save your privacy settings for this website. While the 260s were not very powerful compared to the larger 350 and 403 V8s, fuel economy was almost as good as the base V6. The 1976-1979 Cadillac Seville was equipped with a version of this engine featuring an analog Bendix/Bosch electronic port fuel injection system, making this the first American mass-produced car with EFI as standard equipment.[18]. Not a lot of people collect or preserve those cars anymore, and many succumbed to rust or the crusher a long time ago. I received some information from Harvey Crane. Oldsmobiles engineering staff already knew what the Rocket could do in the B-body cars and there was no question that it fit, so Harold Metzel, then Oldsmobiles chief transmission engineer, asked Sherry Skinner if Oldsmobile could offer that combination in production. (If you need to review or change these settings after you accept, you can do so from the Privacy Tools page.) Power was 81 hp at 3000 rpm. 1959 and 1960 371s used green painted valve covers. The V8 was standard in the new 1949 Oldsmobile 98, replacing the old 257 cu. This setting is stored in your browser (or other user agent) in the gdpr[consent_types] cookie described in "Privacy and Cookie Preferences" above, so if you delete that cookie or access the Ate Up With Motor website from a different device, browser, or user agent, you will need to adjust this setting again if you still wish to hide the box. "Kelly", Jr. Baechtel, John. All Oldsmobile V8s were manufactured at plants in Lansing, Michigan while the engine block and cylinder heads were cast at Saginaw Metal Casting Operations. $200.00. Many customers did not keep the reservoir filled, or had mechanical problems with the turbocharger system which resulted in many of the turbo-charger installations being removed and a conventional 4 barrel carburetor and manifold installed in its place. But it DID have a fairly illustrious season on the track and in road racing. As mentioned earlier, the Rocket V8 was initially offered only in Oldsmobiles flagship 98, a big luxury car that gave away little to Cadillac in size or appointments. It had the same 0.921in (23.4mm)-diameter lifters of the first-generation Oldsmobile engines, rather than the standard 0.842in (21.4mm), which let engineers increase the camshaft's ramp speed for more power, 385hp (287kW), without sacrificing idle or reliability. Note the quadrant for the Hydra-Matic atop the steering column. The turbocharger fitted to the V8 engine was a small-diameter Garrett T5 model with integral wastegate, manufactured by Garrett AiResearch, and produced a maximum of 5psi (34kPa) boost at 2200rpm. Unfortunately, it also creates more friction and means that the average piston speeds are very high, particularly at high RPM, which is detrimental to engine longevity. [13] It could also be fitted with high-compression cylinder heads from the Morgan +8. 88. ), Diagram of a typical pushrod/rocker-arm layout of an overhead-valve engine. Produced from 19681980, the Rocket 350 was entirely different from the other GM divisions' 350s. So this sedan was delivering big torque with a healthy dose of Streetside Classics - Atlanta (877) 828-8754 Lithia Springs, GA 30122 (406 miles away) 6 Man! The means exist to do the same work while burning less fuel; the question is whether a meaningful number of American consumers will accept those means while theres still fuel left to burn. California residents also have the Right to Opt-Out of the sale of their personal information see the Do Not Sell My Personal Information page. They normally expire after about one year. [19] The 403 was never featured with a manual transmission and the crank was never manufactured for a pilot bearing. Talk to the experts. Its true Oldsmobile didnt really maintain that position for long and didnt try again to go for the performance market until the 60s, but having a short season isnt the same as being overhyped. As far as I know, the transmission was not harmed. Apart from the Oldsmobile Aurora, the Aurora V8 was also used in the Shelby Series 1. 26-31; Roger Huntington, 1965 Engines, Motor Trend Vol. If the fluid reservoir was empty, a complex double-float and valve assembly in the Turbo-Rocket Fluid path would set a second butterfly (positioned between the throttle butterfly and the turbocharger) into the closed position, limiting the amount of boost pressure. Im wondering how many weeks of informative evening reading I can enjoy from your articles. The L34 used a 4-barrel carburetor and produced 160170hp (120130kW) and 275ftlbf (373Nm). Im not a mechanic, so Im afraid I cannot provide any kind of repair advice.