Hello, I recently purchased a 56 olds super 88 that I would like to build as a 60's style car. I have a 394 out of a 63 olds that I'm going to swap in and keep the stock trans for now. I'm thinking about going with chrome reverse wheels with wide whitewalls and lower the car a couple of inches. Should I reverse and chrome the stock wheels or can I buy them aftermarket? I see speedway has new ones available. I'm not sure what to do with the interior, I think I am going to paint the car rootbeer and cream 2 tone so those will be the colors for the interior. I need to go through the brakes and fuel system where is the best place to source replacements parts? Does anyone know what size tire I should be looking at also? Thanks for any tips.
I must impress upon you the importance of pictures. We need pictures! Seriously, post a couple pictures of your Oldsmobile, so we can dream about it too. Can't dream modify a car until you see it first LOL. Sent from my VS835 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Fusicks is a great source for parts. Be aware you will struggle to get a rim wider than 7" under the back guards. I think I ran 235/75/15 on mine.
So, is this an 88, super 88, 98? Is it a tudor sedan, hardtop? C'mon, help us out here. If it's an 88, does the trans have a "park" position or does reverse gear act as park after the engine is shut off? If no park on the quadrant, it may be tricky putting a '63, 394 against that trans. If it's got the Jetaway, things get easier. If it's an 88 tudor hardtop, it's a beautiful car IMHO and will take the tutone paint scheme really well.
Car in the photo above is a 98. I drove a 56 Olds 98 convertible in high school...hated it! Car was way too heavy for a 16 year old kid and yeah, I blew the trans. My parent's 88 was smaller, more nimble and had a proper dual coupling hydro so I bought it! Les Schwab tire centers use to have original Olds/Pontiac chrome reversed wheels with the hubcap clip holes. That's what I had on my folk's old 4 door in the photo...good luck finding a set now.
Hello, Those cars were around, but were more for family cruising than hot rodding. There were a few Olds fanatics and those that wanted to see the family car go ripping down the dragstrip. The rules allowed teens to just pop the hubcaps and you make the full throttle run. check out :45 For the money spent back then, the Olds sedans provided the good basics for more hop up stuff. Only if you had the time and money, which most teens did not have. My brother purchased his first car that was a 1951 Olds sedan. his friend already had a "big" Olds motor in his 34 ford 5 window coupe, so it was the competition that was building up to a match race. (It never happened, then and through a succession of hot rods) Screwing around with daddy/mommy's Olds or even big Buick sedans was not going to work. But the Olds motors were the basis for plenty of fast drag race cars in different chassis/body styles. Just look at all of the old drag racing films shown here on the HAMB. Those Olds powered roadsters, coupes and FED race cars kept the Olds name in the winner's circle for a long time. Jnaki By the time this film was made, those Olds sedans were becoming scarce, while the later model, more powerful big sedans took over the stock car racing classes. There were so many classes and competitors, that Lions made a name for itself in presenting 4 across racing during the eliminations. Now, that was like racing on a crowded street. But, it was fun and exciting, during the last part of the 50s, leading into faster cars during the early 60s.
When I first got my driver license I had a 56 Holiday 88 4 door hardtop. It was a real nice car, but I wanted a hot rod and not a nice car. I traded for a 59 Ford ex state police car.
I've got 2 mid 50's Olds, but done in late 50's style. And a 61 Dodge, done 60's style. To pull off a 60's vibe, Astro's or chrome reverses seem to be the popular wheels. No wide whites, by 1961 pin whites were becoming the "in thing". Especially with mag or chrome wheels! Even lowering, or slightly higher in the rear, loud dual exhaust, and "modern" paint. By the early 60's, wild paint seemed to dominate. Flake, Pearls and Candies became more available to the public. A Watson style paint job (fade, wild tu-tone colors, panel paint, lace, veiling, etc) would be the icing on the cake. Do a little research to see what the cars Watson painted, were looking like, to see the real 60's California look.
the plan is for the car to be a reliable cruiser. I plan on driving most of rt 66 in this car as well as power tour type stuff. I have the Cutlass for the drag strip when I get the urge to go fast. I plan on getting the car running and driving over the winter and paint in the next couple of years.
Good luck with the project. I never adapted a 394 to the 4 spd hydramatic, but it would be a reliable combination. This is a thread that may answer a lot of your questions Everything Oldsmobile https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...-lasalle-related.149650/page-31#post-13184601 Bob
Get a four barrel manifold and put an Edelbrock AFB type carb on it. That will improve drivability, a lot. Join the Olds Club. They have advisors for every year Olds. Fat Man makes dropped uprights, the best way to drop the front. The tin worms are Hell on the hood front corners, on '56s, so stay ahead of any rust you see. Buick glass interchanges. Your 324 should have the #10 heads, which are the desirable ones. I miss my '56 Olds, they're great cars.
Since I "grew-up" in the 60's(teenager) I can tell you there are NO hot-rodd-ed 56/super88's I ever saw, and I was consuming car mags and saw everthing that "looked" like it might be a hot rod. No 56/super88's. Now....if you lower it all around and put the trick rims on 'big-phat-tarz'....two tone paint....maybe a lopey cammed engine..... glass packs or blowmasterz...a sweet interior then you will have something!! At least its a two door (which has to be kinda rare!) 6sally6
There is lots of other Olds stuff in addition to what is in that thread. Just do an internal search with the text Olds Bob
Here ya go. www.oldsmobileclub.org/ I don't know where you're from, but there is a state or regional Olds club, and you should join that, too. Don't let your local trans shop mess with that hydromatic, unless they have a real old trans guy. They're descended from WWII tank transmissions and nearly impossible to kill. To learn more about that, search for threads with comments by Yorgatron or Don_Wow. I miss those guys... After you look at stuff from those two, you'll know a lot more.
As far as the fuel system is concerned, rebuild and detail the original Rochester in your picture. Anything else you put on it easily will be a downgrade, unless you are a very experienced carb guru, and don't object to many hours of tuning, and additional parts. If you wish a bit more difficulty (and an intake is available - DON'T USE AN ADAPTER); a later Rochester Q-Jet from a 1969~1972 Olds would be better. Jon.
I plan on using the stock carb from the 324 that way I don't have any issues with the trans linkage. I have a book on quadrajets, is there a good book I can get for the 4gc carb to help with the rebuild? Also I assume I can set it up with the specs from the 63 394 to get the metering right?
I think your right on about 60s customs, but I have a different memory of when narrow whites became popular. Remember the first ones I saw was on the new 62 Grand Prix. If you as were to pull up car adds from 61, you would see almost all of them with wide whites.
It doesn't work that way. The carburetors are different sizes, so the calibrations for the 394 carb would be incorrect in the 324 carb. In my earlier post, I suggested rebuilding the original carb in the picture, not thinking this was the smaller 1956 carb. Please disregard that advice. Suggestion: Use the 63 394 carb, and transfer the linkage from the 324 carb to allow the transmission to work. There are some factory Rochester service booklets on servicing the 4-G series carburetors. As far as aftermarket books - no; although Doug Roe did slightly touch on the G series in his book Rochester Carburetors. Acquiring a factory shop manual for a 1963 would have a decent section on the 4-G, and is probably the best single source of literature available for the 1963 4-G. Unless you are going radical on modifying the engine, build the 1963 carburetor bone-stock. Jon.
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