O.k., time for another update.... Still haven't got my Rochester BB back from the rebuilder, yet. He's had it for over a month now but I have decided not to use it anyway because I ran across a smokin' deal, at least I think it is, on a slightly used nos '53 Oldsmobile WCFB 4 bbl carb with the intake manifold and original batwing oil bath air filter for $350.00 shipped from a guy that owns a shop in north Texas a couple of weeks ago. I swapped out the intake's and got the 4 bbl hooked up, over the last couple of days, and fired her up this afternoon, wow! It's really nice to see it running again and not having it belch out gob's of black smoke and flood out. Although it's idling a little fast and has a bit of a stumble, it runs pretty smooth. Hope to have it buttoned up tomorrow. Got a couple other items to complete but I expect to be taking it to Dewey this coming weekend for the "Lead Ain't Dead" shindig! Not ready to drive it any distance yet so I will trailer it to the Hotel in Bartlesville and just drive it locally. These are the pictures that the guy selling it had sent me. I was going to take a couple pictures of them all cleaned up and painted on my motor but the battery was dead on the camera! I'll get some pic's tomorrow...
Fantastic Jim!! Glad to hear it's on the uphill swing! Looking forward to seeing you driving it around town next weekend!
Well, here it is the Monday after the "Lead Ain't Dead" shindig in Dewey and the old girl did great! As previously stated, I trailered it to Bartlesville and just drove it locally with no problems whatsoever! Makes me feel much better about it. Clearly it was out classed by all the beautiful kustoms in attendance but at least I wasn't asked to leave! lol I'll have to get after the appearance of it now that it looks like all the mechanical problems are behind us. Not doing anything radical to it, just make it a very mild kustom...
Was glad to see it this weekend Jim! We can all appreciate the nerves one has when things have been a mess and maybe they are fixed now and maybe they aren’t. Glad she did well! Now it’s time to cut it up. Haha!!! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Got her purring pretty good, now! Got the high idle figured out and now it idles like it is supposed too, also got the linkage adjusted so I'm getting full throttle as well. I went ahead and bought a repop batwing with paper filter for it, I know that I could of cut up the original but it was in pretty good shape and I figured someone would want the oil bath. I was right, too! Sold it a day or two after listing it to a guy in Connecticut. I probably priced it to cheap but what the hell, bought it for a $100.00, the repop cost me $100.00 and sold it for $150.00. $50.00 profit for a couple hours work works for me, just waiting for the check to clear before I ship it! lol
Now that the weather is starting to get warmer and drier, I have finally felt like getting out in the shop and doing something! Decided to tackle the rear suspension, I have been wanting to get the rear end a little lower. Got her up on jack stands and pulled the rear wheels, found a leaking axle seal on the drivers side and of course the brake lining was oil soaked. Right side looked pretty good other than the brake shoes were pretty thin. Both of the rear knee action shocks have been leaking so they'll need rebuilding, cheapest that I have found were $185.00 ea. plus $100.00 deposit if mine weren't rebuildable not to mention the shipping costs! Both of the rear shock links snapped in half while trying to remove them so there's another $65.00 plus the shipping charges! Differential pinon seal has a slight leak so I might as well replace that while I'm at it. Seals, brake shoes, shocks, shock links and springs, this is starting to add up. I did manage to get a deal on the rear springs, during my research on how to lower the rear I discovered that the 1960 - '72 Chevy C10 pick up springs would bolt up and give a decent drop. I found a pair of 6" drop springs on eBay for $90.00 shipped, they're giving me about a 3 1/2" drop. It has always amazed me what some people are willing to do to their automobiles, this is what I found when I started taking the springs out... ... heating the springs is the "old school" way of lowering a car but we didn't heat the coils in the middle like these, we would heat the lower portion of the spring until we received the desired amount of drop. I threw the rear wheels back on so I could see what kind of stance I would end up with, I like it! Now to take it back apart and finish making the repairs. I'll post more pictures when I'm finished.
Looking good!!! Glad you are able to make good use of this crazy down time! Hope you guys are all doing well and staying safe!
Time for a little update... After getting the rear coil springs bolted down, I went to pull the wheels back off and couldn't get tires past the body and the drum, shit! After much thought, I decided to go the "old school route"! Back in the day, before custom lowering springs came along, we had two methods of lowering a car on the cheap. We either heated the springs or cut a coil or two off, cutting the coil's presented a problem for car's with rear coil's if they had pigtail springs. What did we do? We unbolted the top of the spring but that presented another problem. If you had a flat, you had to have two jacks to change it. One to jack up the body and one to jack up the axle. But what if you wanted to put the car on a lift? You had to chain up the axle! Now, I'm too old and too damn lazy to do that everytime I need to get the rear wheels off the ground. So, I did what any red blooded American guy would do, I made up two short sections of chain and looped one end around the axle housing and bolted the other end to the frame crossmember. Now, onto the broken rear shock links. With the ass end quite a bit lower than it used to be I started looking into shorter links, the earlier Olds used a shorter link but that would only gain me a little over one inch and that still would present the problem of the shock arms bottoming out. And then I had another ah ha moment! I can take my two broken original links, cut them down and re-thread them. And that's exactly what I did, hope they work... The rear brake lining, after cleaning all the dirt and crud off of them, looked pretty good after all. Not much difference, in thickness, between the old shoe's and new ones. I'll use the old ones and save me another $25.00. I have to finish putting the brakes back on, install the new pinion seal and fill the differential with gear oil. Oh, and I have to fill the shocks with oil! Can't forget that...
Seeing your Olds brings back memories of the one I bought in 79 off the original owner for 100 or 150 dollars,never seen a garage but ran so nice but my dumb ass had to trade it for a 72 AMX that did not run since it was a 4 door and I wanted a 2 door. Mine had the clock in the steering wheel and a compass on the dash.
We are doing well. Been splitting the time between house projects and the shop. Chevy needs a new engine so I have pulled the old one and been working on cleaning up the engine compartment. Also been chipping away at redoing the seats in the A. Might have those done before I go back to work
I can relate to that, I traded off a 1954 Oldsmobile 98 Holiday Coupe.....Oh how I miss that car! Sent from my XP8800 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
She's finally back on all fours and cleaned up! I'm happy with the new stance and the better suspension makes for a much better ride. Shit! Now you see why I was a truck driver and not a photographer!! Over the weekend I ran across a pretty good deal on a custom steering wheel. Con2R had this wheel listed for $150.00, that's $85.00 off regular price. It should look good with the green interior...
Your car looks great and sits just right. My old man bought a new '51 Olds 88 and I remember it looking quite different from yours, which closely resembles a '50 to me. I did a little research, and it seems that he had a Super 88, which was new for 1951 and had a completely different grille, rear quarters and taillights. I did not know that and was quite confused by this thread for a while.
Thank you tubman. Apparently they had quite a few parts left over from 1950 that wouldn't work on the Super 88's so they made the Deluxe 88A's in a 2dr and 4dr model. The Super 88's also had a completely different rear suspension, it was twin leaf springs instead of the coil springs. Don't feel alone about the confusion, it happens a lot!
Looking good Jim! Missed getting to see you at the SK this year. Putting in another 6. @FLAT-TOP BOB hooked me up with a 261....but it's quarantined in Wellington, so it's not in my possession yet. Have the old one out and the engine compartment all cleaned back up with some fresh paint. Also been working on redoing the seats in the A. Nothing finished of course though. LOL
The new steering wheel' that I bought last week, showed up yesterday evening. It was dinner time so I put it on this morning! I'm happy with how it looks and especially how it fits, now I can get in and out much easier.
The Jalopy Journal
