THE oldsmobile rocket 303 324 371 394 post to end all other posts, (lasalle related )

It came on an engine I picked up a while ago, don't know who made it

 

I don't have any finished stuff to post.. but here is what was a 1959/60 build from Boston area. It is a 30 Chevy roadster pickup, chop/channeled, 49/50 Olds trailing arm/coil rear, was originally a 303 (the recessed pocket area for the front mount in the crossmember only fits the smaller 303 mount), but no idea on what type trans.

The youngest son of the builder gave me two 35mm color slides from during the build back then, but does not show what radiator/ shell was on it. Maybe 32-ish Ford

I do have a 303 from my former 40 Ford, but this motor is a old full race 1957 std shift with pop-ups, big solid cam, adj rockers. I had the motor from a prior Olds estate, but don't know what intake it ran, so I placed a J2 on for now.

Bought the Chevy off ebay 1.5 years ago; seller had no clue it was once Olds powered, as the kids don't speak with the Dad now?? I sure did not want another car. I always said I'd never get another rod unless it was: " 1-an old build, 2-Olds powered, 3-spring ahead front end, 4-chop/channeled. Well, shit, dam, and F'me, that one popped up ...and I even got one with hairpins, and a side mount antenna, dropped/drilled axle, belly burner pickup bed exhaust,.... that were not on the "must" list.

What a shame it sat all apart on a dirt floor. Was all chromed; entire front end, dash, column, roll bar, exhaust incl mufflers at the top of bed rails. It was white with copper color frame and firewall

 

Man how cool is that?!
Love it, 'be awesome to see it put back like it was

 

hopefully I can get back to working on my stuff . I don't think I can justify the mega cost of all the replating on a semi fixed retirement income..and age . Maybe I can at least replace the cab wood then repaint the car and chassis. Get running/driving.

It almost looks like a modern Kulture build.. the rear frame kick goes all the way up to where the bed top "flares" start to angle out. .... oh, and it has a 56 Ford non-deluxe steering wheel and two 54 Buick single bullet tail lights...was 55/57 Chev pedal or at least the master was. Also Ford cross-steer..


The present 45 year-old headers were donated from a local guy that once had a chop/channel 32 Ford 5w w/built 324. ..They fit this car perfect.

I know I talk too much, but I got to share a story from the Mom. She told her son that her husband, and she, and their first infant child in her lap, drove this car up north on vacation. Her words: "You know your Dad was not good at quite finishing anything".... "there were gaps in the floorboards, and his motor was leaking oil, and by the time we got there, my best dress had oil spots on it" ... priceless

 

F n J, that pick-up is very cool. Great score!! It found you...you didn't find it.

Too excited not to chime into this thread. Finished painting engine tonight. Only problem, is some of the paint lifted, when I pulled the stripe tape off valve covers. Stopped halfway through and used an Exact-o knife to trace around the ridges and cut through the hardened paint.
Trans is my Ross Racing modified TH400.
Color is Ford Torch Red, engine paint(thanks Tony), trans is Argent Silver, GM rallye wheel paint. PM me for the PPG color codes.
JT

 

I'm pretty confident I've seen that style header for sale on eBay...

 

'58 371 J2 done and ready for fluids and fire-up

 

Paul, you are a one man GM production line!! That looks awesome, great job.

 

thanks,
I think I'll put another 303 together next.
you know, a basic hot rod motor,
solid roller cam, aluminum flywheel, Horne 4x2, magneto, typical stuff...
probably start with a '52, got lots of those laying around..
that would give me a complete set, already have the 324 and 394 and now this 371..

think I'll go out and do a little mock-up today

 

You are a madman! I was at the local A&W cruise night on thursday, its pretty small, maybe 30 cars, but one of the cars there was a '57 wagon with a J-2.

 

this look like the thread to be on. I'm starting to build a 49, 303. Got it torn down, cleaned and checking sizes but before sending for machining I want to do some deburring and precleaning of the oil passages. Is there any diagrams of the oiling system? I would also like to know any tricks to help the oiling, and the overall performance of the motor. I'm looking to do a cleanup of the head ports along with smoothing the combustion and lifter surfaces. What improvements have worked for you?

 

If you are not replacing any major parts; one old improvement on the early 303 was to use rocker shaft assemblies with rockers and stands, from a 52? to 56 Olds. Your motor will have 1.5 ratio, and I think the 1.8 started in 1952. You get more valve lift, for better flow

Those motors have pretty small ports, though.

If you want more flow, find a cheap/stuck 324 four barrel motor, to get the big port heads and intake manifold as well as bigger port exhaust manifolds. Then get your 1.8 rockers from this donor, too


on the oiling, I think Motors manual should show the oil paths. The rockers don't seem to get much oil. Olds kept changing rocker design as far as passages/orifices throughout the 50's. They knew there was a problem IMO.

 

You can run a hyd cam with Chevy lifters and use four hollow push rods on the outside rockers to assist with oiling to the top end. Seems to work well. You have to measure for custom pushrods, but that is not too much of a big deal. Running #10 heads and a 4 bbl was often touted as a 60 hp gain. Of course the #10's would already be 1.8 ratio on the rockers. Be sure to use the #10 head gasket.
Glad to see yet another Olds coming back.

 

I'm keeping my eyes open for other heads I will make mine work for now.Looking for a manual found some dvds onine but not sure if they have the info I want, anyone use them? I will need a cam for sure, don't know if mine can be reground. What is a good grind for the 303, with a 3x2 setup ? Also with the heads I cleaned the valves and seats and everything look real good I need to lap a few to see how much wear. I hope I can get away with a good valve job and save replacing valves and seats for a better set of heads. Will a set of #10 change the hight for my eldbrock OL 396 mainfold? What I see of the lower end looks good. The mains and rod brgs cleaned up with no noticable wear. I'm going to plastic guage them to check clearance. Can anyone give me info on the main brgs, GMMA 757, also on the brg was 62L9. Thanks everyone for the help these older motors are new to me.

 

There will be no change in manifold fitting on the heads, but I would think your Eldelbrock has much bigger intake ports where they meet your present 303 small port heads. Take an intake manifold gasket and lay it on the head ports and also intake manifold ports to see the mismatch.

So, if it does have a huge port mismatch with the 303 heads, you should die-grind the entrances of each head port to get rid of the huge "step". It will run OK without port match at most driving RPMs, but not good for higher RPMs

As far as only wanting 1956 number 10 heads, the 54-55 324 heads still have big ports, and I doubt you'd see much difference on a street motor. But a 324 head will need 324 (bigger port) exhaust manifolds made from 54 to 56.

IMO, use the valves and seats you have. Valve seat recession usually comes in when the engine is pulling heavy loads.

on a cam regrind, you really need to determine ahead of time, what rocker ratio you will be using. A maximum lift cam lobe made for 1.5, can't be used with a later swap to 1.8 rockers, because your valves will hit the pistons

 

Just can't stop drooling over these nice engines...better start feeding the piggy bank while driving the stock 303

 

Plastic guaged the mains and they look to be at .0035, and did a quick check of the bores with .005 over stock being the worst with minimal taper and egg shape. The top 1/2" looks to be bellmouthed at .007. I'm giong to run a ball hone thru the cylinders for a clean up to get a more accurate measurment. I'll get some pics out later.

 

I love Olds powerplants!

 

Just thought I'd mention it here again, still hunting for a set of 1.8 adjustable rockers. Got a want ad up as well. Chased down a few leads, but no joy so far...
Gotta get this thing into the machine shop, and get going on it.

 

Did you check with Ross racing engines? Tony makes a roller rocker that is a 1.8 ratio

 

No interest whatsoever in roller rockers on this deal,Im aiming at 100% circa 1961 period-correct, down to an Isky E-3 solid cam. But I scored a set of magnesium Thomas's on the weekend...WOOHOO!!!

gotta mention here, F&J has DONATED a 1/2 set as well. Thanks a bunch Frank, much appreciated.

Ill just add this here, when I got my motor home from Paul, I couldn't resist hanging the parts on for a quick photo op. Now that I have rockers dealt with, I can haul this into the machine shop and get going on this.

 

You are getting there George! I remember dong the same thing with mine. Going to look perfect.

 

Dave50 and I have been talking about Wittek hose clamps off forum, I have them for the rad hoses, but am hunting for 8 #12's for the fuel lines, but the small ones are TOUGH to find...Heres the big ones.

I also have vintage cast aluminum Eelco throttle linkage arms, and a late fifties molded Mallory coil. It should look and sound the part when its all together

 

Oh man... This thread makes me itchy to get beyond my transmission rebuild and back on getting my 324 to be a runner...

 

Well, hell I'm a long ways from a runner yet.

 

great thread!

 

371 J2 with 37 Caddy trans in my roadster.

 

Hey Fellas, just curious...have a friend/customer with a 1956 Olds Super 88. The 324 is stuck like Chuck. (his aunt bought the car brand new!!) He just buried his father and is strapped for cash. Found a 1963 394 with Slim Jim, on Naples C.L.. Came out of a running driving car. Asking $500 clams.
How much of a hassle would it be to transplant that motor, in an older chassis??
JT

 

Putting it in an older chassis will be easier than getting the engine unstuck!

 

Here is your answer. (Google is your friend)
http://webpages.charter.net/dhomstad/394 SwapFrame1Source1.htm