i sold my 55 olds 4 door and picked up this project. its been alot of work and its not running yet... hopefully soon. i wanted a car that will travel long distances without a problem, so i decided to keep the olds engine and install a 700 r using bendstens adapters. I had to make a new trans mount and new side mounts. I am not trying to make a show car , but just nice enough to not be embarrased to open my hood. this is what i use for inspiration. i started out with this, everything is there, including new chrome bumpers. The fist thing i did was to pick up this set of wheels and tires for 200 bucks removed the front end, removed the engine and trans for inspection. removed the stock trans. after placing the engine on the stand, i opened it up to inspect the inside. Everything seemed to be ok as this was a strong running car before. i also checked the bottom side...good. after re-gasketing everything , i decided to get rid of the orange. sanded the existing paint to use it as a base, cleaned and sprayed with 2stage metallic green now the trans and engine was mated, and ready to put in for mockup mockup had to cut the trans tunnel for the 700 to fit, it will get covered later. since i had no more side mounts, i had to come up with new ones. so i got the idea from these pictures here on the hamb. and made these , they are not the best fabrication you have seen, but i think they will work, as they are not taking any weight, just stabilizing the engine. i kept my stock mount to take all the engine weight. back side and then i had to make the new trans mount.
then i decided to get rid of the ac and heater tuff on the firewall and weld the holes in. here it is in bare metal plastic filler done and in primer ceramic coated manifold...it was cheap and looks good enough painted the firewall(hotrod flats) had my friend pinstripe it and put in the engine for good and lastly this is where im at right now, hopefully it will fire up soon. my son has also helped.
Best thing about a 55 Olds is that it comes with an Olds Rocket!!! That's going to be a pretty rad car.
wow, i love those years of oldsmobiles and this is going to be a super nice one. I love the engine color!!!
Like the Oldsmobiles from that year. Nice detail on the engine, like the fab work on the mounts-plenty secure. Keep us posted on your progress.
Excellent car, but man but aren't you worried about all that paint inside the motor and on the gasket surfaces? Good luck with the project!
cisco 88 - that cowl drain...... shit, i went all crazy on the firewall and overlooked it. now i gotta think of something, thanks for bringing it up though. shifty shifterton- i was worried about all that paint on the gasket surfaces so i scraped it off. 56 olds darrin- please show them, i would like to know what other options i had, as i didnt see any other way
So what's going on? Keep us updated brother. How is that inspiration going? Did you work something out for the drain?
Heres a little update, i have been working on the throttle linkage, pedal, and other little things. My friend wired it temporarliy to start it up and this past saturday, since i didnt go to mooneyes i worked on my car, Fired it up for the first time!! sounded real nice. i also poured gas in the tank , and the efen thing leaked, so now i got another prob. cisco88 - i wanna make sure, but as far as i remember i didnt think the shaving of the firewall affects the cowl drain at all, i dont think i saw any vent holes when i was closing it up. ill keep updating as i go, im in the middle of purchasing a home, so excuse me if i take long.
Hey, Thanks for saving the Olds and not swapping it out. I have surprised more than one stop light racer. Maybe you got this on the street by now , hows the trans working out? Kurt
Just asking if you retained the center support engine/trans mounts or if you are only using front engine and rear trans mounts.
Heres a little update, sorry no pictures yet. i got the front end back on, the wiring is 98 percent complete, seats went to the upholstery shop and will be returned next week. Im busting my ass to try and get it to vlv. as soon as wiring is complete it will be time to test drive and work out the bugs. i still havent figured out the cowl drain situation yet, i guess i wont wash it, haha Rqketman - the trans seems like it will work good, i hope! rockabillyrodder - i removed the trans crossmember , and for mounts im using front stock mount, trans center mount, and 2 side monts at front of engine thanks for the comments ill post some pics once the seats are back
I have a 55 2 door sedan. How much (if you don't mind), was the adaptor for the trans? And I must have missed something-wht can't you use the original motor mounts? Hopefully, this will keep me from putting a Chevy 350 or 5.3 and AOD in my Rocket 88. Keep us updated on this. The 56s are my favorite.
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