jensenracing77

Today I decided to start some minor work on our 62 Jetfire 4 speed car. Most of you know about this car but here are a couple details for those that don't. This car was parked in 1974 with 44,027 miles on it. To the best I can tell it is all original other than the tires, battery, and some hose clamps. I have a receipt that shows the cap, rotor and spark plugs were changed in 1970 but it still has the original 2Q-62 plug wires on it.

I turned the engine an inch before I bought it to be sure it was not locked up. I stopped there till today. I changed the oil and filter then pulled the distributor. I circulated new oil through the system for about 5 minutes with an air drill. Used a chisel with a 1/2 inch hex handle and a 1/2 in socket with an adapter to a drill. I let it sit for a couple hours and did it again. I decided to not pull the valve covers so I slowly turned it over about a half turn and circulated oil through it again. Now it turns all the way around without trouble so I am hoping none of the valves are stuck.

I found that the antifreeze is mostly crystallized so that is going to be fun to clean out.

I took the top off the carburetor and it is amazingly clean inside. I went ahead and blew through all the orifices and all were clear.

My goal at this time is to get it to start and run. I won't likely try to start it till spring. I want to see what problems come up before I start taking the car apart. I would love to get it to the point of running and driving before I take it all apart but I am not getting my hopes up.

oldsfromyell

I would bet you can get that old girl running. Maybe not drivable with out some in depth brake work. Keep us posted those are unusual and cool cars. Subscribing

jensenracing77

Working on the car again this morning. I took off the manifold to turbo pipe and all the nuts came off like it was new. I couldn’t believe they were not rusted together. I also pulled loose the down pipe from the turbo to have a look inside. This turbo it not frozen up. It spins free and from an external view looks to be in good condition, should make a good core for rebuild. To start off I am not going to rebuild the turbo system. That will be a project for later after I get it running.

oldspackrat

My bet is that you will have it running sooner than you think.

jensenracing77

I think you are right, lol. I was just out there thinking after I drain the gas and flush the coolant it will be about ready. The brakes are not going to be near as easy as getting it running. Maybe I can take this one to the nationals instead of the automatic car.... I guess I had better not get my hopes up.

jensenracing77

I had a bad idea today that I just couldn't resist trying. I have the turbo inlet pipe off and started wondering in the shop vac on the blow side would be enough flow to spin the turbo. After alot of debating the idea I decided to try it. I had my girls in the car watching to see if the boost gauge moved and then I was spinning the oil pump with a drill and pushed the shop vac to the turbo inlet. They said it moved about 4 needle widths (maybe 1 to 2 PSI). I didn't really learn anything from it but I did figure out that it whistles real loud when your head is under the hood.

young olds

I've stuck vacuum to turbos before, except I blew into the exhaust side as if exhaust was going in

jensenracing77

That is what I did but didn't explain it very well. I had the hose in the blow side of the shop vac and blew into the turbo where the exhaust would blow. You can't suck from the turbo outlet side on these cars. The vacuum will suck oil through the seal, There was a service bulletin about shops hooking up exhaust vents to these cars because the vent fan was enough to suck the oil out the seal. It used the exhaust pressure to help make the seal.

young olds

They must leak oil when in vacuum then too, may not be much though. By vacuum I mean engine vacuum when not in boost

jensenracing77

The exhaust side don't have a seal like the intake side does. The intake side don't leak under a vacuum, just the exhaust side.

jensenracing77

First time to crank it over since 1974. I was testing to see if it had spark.

http://s654.photobucket.com/user/jen...wedqx.mp4.html



After I found it had spark I decided to unhook the fuel line going to the fuel pump and add a little to the carburetor through the vent. Put a temporary exhaust pipe on it to direct the rust from the crossover pipe away from under the hood. Hit the key and it almost started.

http://s654.photobucket.com/user/jen...0eeju.mp4.html


The manual transmission Jetfire cars had a manual choke and i think I flooded it. I will wait till later and see if I can get it started a little better. The noise is the temporary exhaust.

jensenracing77

A couple more tries and I have it running. Not well but it is running. I am going to have to at least pull the heads. I can not get the spark plugs out of the aluminum heads. I cracked the porcelain on one of the plugs and it will not come out. I think I am just going to drop the engine, transmission and front suspension out of it and check it all out better. I was sure hoping to get it driveable without going that far.

http://s654.photobucket.com/user/jen...ino6q.mp4.html

http://s654.photobucket.com/user/jen...g9lm6.mp4.html

Hairy Olds

You're ahead of schedule on that beast. Must be cold in the garage.

oldspackrat

I told ya'

jensenracing77

I had the heat on at 60 but had to open the doors for a while to let the exhaust out. I never ran it more than about 10 seconds 3 times but it was enough to make it stink and smoky.

jensenracing77

lol, I didn't put much thought into starting it up till this morning when I was installing the distributor. I figured a carb bowl full of gas was not going to run long enough to hurt it without the radiator in it. Just glad to know it wasn't parked due to a major engine failure.

tru-blue 442

Nice. I also enjoyed the vid of you hand cranking that old tractor.

jensenracing77

Not as easy as the cartoons make it look....

jensenracing77

I have decided to back off this project for a while. Now that I know where I stand with it I will just pull it all out this spring or summer and start fresh. My early list is, the spark plugs being stuck in the heads, The turbo leaking oil, and the antifreeze that hardened inside the engine. My early idea is to pull it all out and regasket the engine, clean the heads and lap the valves, check a couple bearings to be sure they are ok, and change the turbo out.

I am going to move to the automatic car. It needs the rear end rebuilt, change the turbo out for the red one I had built for it, change the radiator hoses, and change the front wheel bearings. After that car is back to where i want it to be I will move back to this one.

Till then...

Cincinnati Rick

What a tease

jensenracing77

I know I have posted these pictures on another thread but had some requests for some pics of the car to be posted here.

jensenracing77

I picked these up for this car also. These are unheard of NOS. I even talked to long time Jetfire owners that never seen a set before. I was not going to buy them till my wife got involved. She seen them and said I was going to buy them. Same thing happened with the car. I was not going to buy this car till she said I was not going home without it. I LOVE MY WIFE!!!!!!

I won't be using them any time soon. It will be several years till I restore this car.

Hairy Olds

I was going to make an offer on them.
Would have looked good in my display case.

jensenracing77

I figured the guy had some offers on them so I just hit the buy it now when Melissa said to get them. I later talked to him and he said they were on there about 6 hours and he had many offers in that short amount of time. I knew they were so rare I was not even going to try to get them for a lower price. I think it was a proper price for both parties. But you could offer me twice that and I would't sell them, lol

jensenracing77

I have our automatic car back on the road and running great so now I will be back on this project. I am working alot right now and likely for the next two months but I hope to fit some time in to get this running on its own. It has ran a couple times for about 10 seconds as the videos above show but I hope to have the tank cleaned out and flush the antifreeze out and get it running longer. Maybe in the next couple weeks. The automatic car is running so good it has me excited to work on this one. I hope to have a couple more videos and pictures soon.

jensenracing77

I drained the tank and added two gallon of gas. I took it on a 5 mile drive on the trailer to slosh the fuel around and drained it again. I added 10 gallon of premium gas, added a little to the carburetor through the vent hole and it is running on its own now. I was using a garden hose to run water into the block because the water pump is off of it. Now to attempt to get the remaining crystallized antifreeze out. I think I will have to pull the intake and maybe the heads to get that out.

70-442-W30

That was great! Nice to see the engine is a little bouncy just like it is in the F-85. What's your goal for it?

jensenracing77

I think this one is bouncy because of it missing. I would like to get it to drive before taking the car apart. I believe the engine is going to have to be rebuilt before I can drive it more than down the driveway. Not sure it is even going to go down the driveway. It is packed with so much crystallized antifreeze that I know it is going to have to come apart.

jensenracing77

I can not afford to rebuilt it now. When that happens it will need the transmission, radiator, brakes, heater core, and many other things done. The spark plugs will have to be cut out of it. The steal threads on the aluminum threads have ceased to each other. I am hopping to run it through a dozen heat cycles or so and try to get the plugs out but I don't have my hopes up for that. For now it would be nice to just be able to fire it up and pull it in and out of the garage. It has no brakes though..... Lots of work to go.....

lshlsh2

Look on the bright side. You won't have to do a frame off restoration on it.

I am looking forward to the progress.

jensenracing77

Very true, lol

70-442-W30

There is something to be said about just having a car that you aren't afraid to take out and let the gravel kick up on a bit. You love these cars and there is no more awesome feeling than just driving them, especially for someone who probably has an Oldsmobile toilet seat, an Oldsmobile ceiling fan, and an Oldsmobile bicycle. Oh no, I gave you some ideas...

toomanyhobbies

This project is so cool. What a car. Best of luck to you.

jensenracing77

I pulled the turbo system and intake manifold tonight. I will try to get all the bad antifreeze out of the heads and intake. I will also have to replace all the rubber hoses. I have 5 lifters that will not pump up and making lots of noise. I am planning to pull the lifters and rebuild them tomorrow and put them back in. I am only doing enough to this car to get it running as good as I can for what is there. I don't plan on spending any more money on it than I have to at this time. I hope to get it to the point of "lot driving" and back in one piece. I don't want this to be apart long term if i can help it. This way if something happens and I have to sell it I can. I don't see that happening but don't want to be stuck with it left apart either.

jensenracing77

I was looking for a carb to turbo gasket in my extra parts and found this. Thought I would post it. It is the turbine and compressor wheels and shaft. These were precision balanced because they spin to over 100,000 RPM . The Jetfire turbo is a 45 mm turbo. I took this out of a turbo to use as a display for shows.

70-442-W30

That's really interesting. What does that stamp say in the center?

jensenracing77

Something to do with the balance. It is "10 BAL"

jensenracing77

The bad antifreeze ate up the aluminum intake very bad. From what I can tell the T code Jetfire only heads are ok, thank goodness. The water level was at the bottom of the intake and it looks like the only areas ate up are above the water level. A little of the water pump, most of the thermostat housing, and much of the back manifold port are eat up also. I think I can save the intake manifold but I will be changing it when I do a full rebuild on the engine. I have an extra thermostat housing and back water port I can use. I have the complete Jetfire engine I got from Ken but I don't want to rob parts from it.

jensenracing77

Bad news. The intake manifold and water outlet are junk. I found an area that the pitting was real bad inside the water port of the intake. I could not see light coming through to the intake runner but knew that area had to be thin with as deep as the pitting was on the water side. I took a pick and reached inside the intake port and it poked right through to the water port. I have an extra one that has a casting defect that leaks externally but very minor, (a small drip on a rare occasion). I am going to seal the leak area with some kind of epoxy and use it till I get another one and rebuild the engine.

70-442-W30

How hard is it to locate these parts? Is it something that will take a month or 6 months? Years? Sorry to hear about this.