So I'm getting a 4bbl 394 olds with hydramatic outta a 61' Oldsmobile this weekend with a car I'm trading. It's in a 56' 88 sedan right now, but I'm thinkin of saving it for a hotrod project. Is there any love for this motor out there? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=149650 tons of love for it... that could be a torque monster
I had a 59 Olds Super 88 flattop. LOVED THAT CAR. And the 394 used to pick that heavy ass car up and throw it!!!!!!
I had one in a 61 Olds, liked the motor fine, never got around to doing anything more then drive it stock. If the tranny you got was from a 61 as well that's a downside, it would be a "slim-jim" and that's a crap tranny imho. Thought mine was broken when I got it, it skipped 2nd gear under normal driving, found out it was designed that way. Kinda like driving a powerglide with a wide apart ratio. Other down side is the extended bell on the moter makes swapping to a better auto trans (or a stick for that matter) hard to do.
I actually like the 59 /60 371 better,revs quicker and plenty of power but would never pass up a 394 if one were to come my way.
Not true.... These bolt directly in using the factory side mounts...,.Easily installed with basic hand tools.... This is our 400 turbo .... But there are 350 turbo as well as 3 different overdrives 700r4/4L60e and a 200r4 Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
The old style 4 speed hydromatic , (if that is what you are refering to, )will bolt right up to a 394 engine, you'll just have to bore a hole in the back of the crank to install a bushing for the end of the input shaft to slip into.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=17423&pictureid=184144 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=17423&pictureid=184143 There's no reason I bought parts for a car I don't even own except they are so cool! Just have 'em as shop art. PM me if they are something you need. Sorry the pix didn't show, but it's a pair of chrome valve covers and chrome air cleaner
Nice looking adapter, the only ones I found when I had my Olds (been a few years ago) was a plate & 4" crank spacer, didn't look like a good idea + the floorboard issues.
I love the engine! I swapped a 394 engine, tranny, and rearend into a 1953 Mercury 1/2 ton (Canadian ), and it was one of the easiest swaps I have ever done. Bob
Showing the love! There should be more at least chipping in the positive remarks, but there are a lot of 'closeted' 350 chebbie luver'z.
as a teaser here is some stuff I've been gathering for some future project myself a 23 head long block found at a local swap meet, an NOS Crane full race cam on the 'bay, adjustable rockers from Blownolds here on the HAMB all freshened up by Delta Camshaft, solid lifters from Tony AKA Goatroper02, and an adapter and transmission left over from some long forgotten project maybe when I get tired of playing with the little Olds motors I will find something to do with this stuff too yes I must admit I like them too
The 59 371 I had in a 53 88 2 door sedan would eat 350 should let lays all day long,it was stock with a 394 4 bbl carb and intake.
Highly regarded in the sixties as race motors and in boats. About the only thing that was competitive with a blown Chrysler Hemi in dragsters, was a blown Olds. Extremely tough, long living engine. Could be bored and stroked to 480 cu in. A few were used in hot rods for the kind of guy who thought if more is better, too much is just right.
Until my recent retirement, I taught auto mechanics at a prison here in California. I had a student that gave an endorsement of the 394 Olds engine. We had a boat in the shop and it had a '58 J-2 371 engine in it and I was remarking that Olds made very stout engines. He piped up about a bank robbery he had done many years before and used a '62 Olds 88 with a 394 in it. He and his partner in crime escaped with the loot and were going down a divided street when they saw a CHP coming from the opposite direction when they spotted each other. There weren't too many red Olds coupes headed down that road with a Gringo and Mexican in the car just happening to be driving AWAY from the bank.When their eyes locked on each other, the CHP flipped on his light and proceeded to get to an opening as fast as possible. My student and his buddy stood on the gas and hit a freeway on ramp long before the CHP got turned around. He told me this story in his proudest John Dillinger endorsement style! I always enjoyed that story, though I don't recommend the Olds or any other car for that purpose! By the way, he was doing 20+ years for other bank robberies then.
I'm using a 1964 (red) 394 in my rpu project with a Bendtsens adapted TH350 behind it. I am leaving this motor basically stock, but I rebuilt it, because this will replace my 27 as my long distance cruiser. I want this one to be on the mild side with 3.00 highway friendly gears. ( As much as I like my 27 around town, on the highway the deep gears and fairly radical 331 are not exactly perfect. ) I figure the Olds will loaf along, give me good gas mileage, and still have plenty of torque to make it fun to drive. Don
Don, I think you may have posted it before, but could you post a picture of your front motor mount again?
Sure Paul, took me a little while to find these. This is where we started with it. We wanted a Hurst like mount, but the 64 Olds has a weird aluminum timing cover that we didn't trust to support the whole motor, so we used the bottom of the timing cover, just like Olds did with the original single front mount. And this is a picture of it when it was done and installed on early Ford bisquit mounts on the ends. Hope this helps. Found one more picture: Don
thanks Don, I like it do I see in the second picture mounts at the bell also? and then with the later transmission I assume you are using the stock type- for that transmission, mount there too. making five points?
Well kick me square in the a**! Forty years ago I bought a roached out A sedan with a 394 with six deuces between the rails. I took the intake off, kept the A and junked the 394. After tripping over the 6 x 2 intake for several years I got invited to a party in which we needed to bring a "gag gift" to exchange. Yup, I took the 6 x 2s, traded it for a five-gallon can of potato chips. That was one of the STOOPIDEST moves I made in my long and storied career of stupid moves. I'll never scrap an old car part again. (The A also got sold to buy a Falcon Sprint.)
I had a few of them and they were truly stout torque monsters. If you had a good slim-jim behind it, they shifted very nicely. If you had a bad one, that's another tale. I like the fact that today there are other transmission options available for them. Bob
Yeah, Paul, I originally thought that just the front mount on the engine and the tailshaft mount on the TH350 would be enough, but it was a really long run between the two mounting spots, so it would have put a strain on the bellhousing area. (some members of another forum got on me about not using a mid mount and they were right). So we fabbed up two bellhousing mounts that bolt to the Bendtsens adapter and use early Ford mounts. Now the engine lays on 5 mounts altogether. Don
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