I own a 1963 Oldsmobile F-85 station wagon, which slowly is becoming a traditional custom. My dad bought the car in the late 1990s, and drove home from Georgia with me in the passenger seat as a toddler. The car sat for a few years, and in 2011 we were trying to get the car running well enough for me to take it to school for the winter. Sadly the oil pump went and the engine seized up. At that point my dad was gonna scrap the car, and build a rat rod, so I offered to trade a weeks worth of work I had done earlier in the year for the car. The next day the car was mine. That was a year ago, when I was a senior in high school and 17 years old. The front end when I got the car when i hadn't touched the engine bay there was a wing on the roof, but i wont pain you all with a picture of that. So I got a buick 215 off of ebay, drove 1000 miles total to pick it up and bring it back with my dad. We carried it back in our marauders trunk. Besides getting a new motor I disk brake converted it, and cleaned up the engine bay a bit. drivers side after cleaning/painting Probably the biggest mod I did to the motor in its early stages. I am really really happy with the results. I did the prep, my dad and I painted them, and we had them pinstriped the way I had envisioned. The power steering assembly after I finished it (i have to retouch the pump itself though). As for the base in the background, it has been nicknamed the starship entercleaner (starwars buick aircleaner). Everything back together besides the valve covers. I have to still wait a few more weeks before I can clear them due to the one shot. The car is running now, but this is the last good shot of it I got. I plan to keep updating as the car continues to get completed. I am panning the rear bumper, modifying the front end a bit more (cleaning it up), doing some interior work, a special exhaust treatment, and a few other things to say the least. The color scheme is house of color pagan gold for the body, and the roof is going to be pearl white. I hope to have it in paint by late next year. I am currently studying transportation design at the college for creative studies, so I don't know how fast the car will progress, but I do hope to have it driving around before winter hits. fast forwarding a year, the car now runs, but I have yet to drive it. Currently I am having cooling issues, and I have yet to get a hard brake peddle. I could really use ideas on the temperature situation. I saw the gauge on 240 degrees when we were setting the timing, so we let the car sit for a day. Weirdly enough the radiator and pipes to it were not hot. Later my dad took out the thermostat, and some heat transfer has finally started to happen, but its still overheating, and the radiator and tubes are not getting that hot. I think that the cooling system needs to be burped, but I am not sure. The wagon circa 1999 this is from around 2001, I remember the day. We pulled into the parking lot where a group of about 30 honda civic owners were meeting. Watching their reactions to the car, and the fact that it sounded better then all of theirs combined was priceless.
I know the traditionalists around here don't care for these types of cars, but I like it! Keep it up and try not go get discouraged. Don't fall into mindset traps. It's a hobby you're supposed to enjoy, so enjoy what ever it is you want to do.
Dang it, a Mallory dist. for a buick and that rare as hell 67 only starwars air cleaner. To cool. keep up the good work.
The mallory has been working for us, it was actually quite easy to setup (its been with the car for about 10 years now), but I might swap away from points in the nearish future. Yeah the aircleaner is rare, I know purists are gonna be mad that i smoothed over the letters! Thats the main plan for the top of it. Its a ton of work though because to be honest, its in bad shape, I'm having to do a ton of sanding and bondo work to make the top half look good (not to mention i gotta add in some of the tiny fins at places on it again). Glad ya like it
So, I'm pretty much done on the car for the year. I have to swap over to 4 barrel heads (which I have), and fix a few other things before I can drive it on the street. Now for the interesting news. I finally got to tear into the 215 that blew up in the car, and it was a total shock. This is the view I was greeted with when I pulled the valley pan off. When the oil pump went it caused a push rod to jump out of place, and to get wedged by a crank counterweight. This is the only damage done to the motor. It is honestly one of the luckiest things to have ever happened to me. We were quickly able to rotate the crank just enough to get the push rod out after taking the oil pan off, and the push rod just fell straight out (its actually an aftermarket arp rod, since this motor was rebuilt in the late 90s with a decently agressive cam, aftermarket lifters, push rods, and a lot of head work, and a bottom end rebuild). Everything amazingly on the bottom end is perfect.
Very cool build! Keep it going! Now some info on your cooling problem. In 1963 they made a F85 that was call a Jetfire. Same motor but turbo charged. The radiator they used in the Jetfire was a cross flow. This will help cool that 215 down. Go to my post (http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=539506&highlight=jetfire). If you need some info or photos email me back. Good luck and keep in touch. Ken
So I finally have been able to make some major progress on the car. Its been a long stretch, but I was able to swap over to my high po heads. Right now my goal is to get the car running, have it running without overheating, and to make it to the midnight mass show next month which its registered for.
Sorry on the long reply. I know a bit about the Jetfire, even considered hunting down all the parts to have the Jetfire setup on the car in the past. Do you know where I could potentially find the Jetfire radiator?
Did you know there is a whole thread of info about your Air cleaner?: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=652437
I actually did not, thats quite interesting. I know my star wars air cleaner will make people made judging by how its in the process of the base being modified so it will clear my heater core.
Keep the project going! You may want to join the 616263skylark group on Yahoo. Link: http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=skylark616263 They have a few guys that have used alum radiators. I am having mine jetfire unit done and the cost is $700. Goog luck, Ken
Thanks for the advice, if I do continue to have overheating problems, I'm going to look into that. I think though that I have it all sorted out now, due to getting rid of the heads that were on the motor which seemed to have had a problem with the water passages. I got a set of high compression heads on it now which have been ported, and have dual valve springs on them. Besides that I also went to a custom grind isky cam, with isky lifters. Besides that I have made a fair amount of progress on the visuals, even though some stuff has to be redone due to mistakes.
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