JackJack56Olds

Hello, I wanted to document my engine rebuild in hopes someone else can use it someday as a reference. I spent much time searching for info on the internet but can't always find the pictures or text I need so I hope to just use this as place to log my project's pictures. Hopefully nobody minds and will enjoy the updates. Thanks.

-Jeff

JackJack56Olds

I brought the car home two Junes ago. I soon found that I had trouble keeping the car running if hit the accelerator. It would consistently stall. I rebuilt the original carb since there was a Holley on it and still had the same issue. Then one day there was a mechanical clanking and it wouldn't restart even with starting fluid.

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The car only has 33k on the clock so it made sense to do an engine rebuild. The car started off with an older lady buying it in Jan 1957 and had it until the mid-80's. My Grandpa bought it from a coworkers son in '87 who had owned it for a year and flipped it. I was born in '83 so technically I grew up with the car. Funny thing is I never saw it drive. It was always parked.

JackJack56Olds

As you can tell my Uncles have been in there before with some minor repairs and painting. Soon that will be fixed. Getting the hood off was the worst. I read about others jamming paint sticks in the springs to get the springs to expand but what a pain. I have no idea how to get them back on with making a special tool.

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JackJack56Olds

Here are just some close up shots of the rocket engine bay before I removed anything.
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Olds Dad

Holy crap - that's an A/C car - are you planning on saving the A/C?


Please document your build - this will be a great reference

JackJack56Olds

Yeah, true AC. Still has the compressor with the Olds stamp on the side. I plan on keeping all the components on the car but not sure what to do with getting it working. I would assume I have to get the condensor checked out but not sure how I would tell if the compressor works or if the lines will hold refrigerant. Then after that what refrigerant would I use and would I need to retrofit it which means, non-stock looking fittings. All kinds of thoughts are going into this but don't know which I will settle on.

JackJack56Olds

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Olds Dad

wow...love those early AC setups...any competent A/C shop would be able to get that working - a few seals - maybe a new hose (can be made up) - use 134A - you'll be fine - cold air from the dash of that car - boy oh boy

JackJack56Olds

Here is when I started disassembling everything around the motor. What a chore.

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sd_zpse9e94ca8.jpgDriver side connector
1956OldsmobileElectricalConnector_zpsc19a377c.jpgPassenger side connector

JackJack56Olds

And there she is, begging to come out. I couldn't figure any other way to get the motor out without pulling the trans with it. With the motor being a front engine mount and the cross member being somewhat in the way of supporting the trans it seemed just easy to pull it all. Of course that meant I needed to get some room around it as you seen in the pic.

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redoldsman

You are really doing some hard work. I thought I did a lot of work when I just pulled all the stuff on the engine in my 54 to detail it. That factory air is awesome. I am gradually piecing all the parts together to put underdash air in my 54. It now has the 4 groove harmonic balancer and water pump pulley. Those are hard to find items and not cheap. I look forward to watching your rebuild.

JackJack56Olds

yeah, its not easy. I wanted to redo the engine bay too but i found out after this week there is just too much going on in that engine bay! it would seriously take another year to get it looking like show quality. Its no wonder it takes some people 10 years to restore a car. I seriously felt lost the last two days staring at it just trying to figure out what to do with it all.

Good luck with the AC! I sent my water pump to Fusick and they told me some of the pumps were different for AC but it was typically just the ones that came from the factory with AC. Dealers sometimes installed AC but didn't change the water pumps so there probably isn't too much difference between the two. I can't imagine piecing it all together like you are doing. I would never know what went where, lol!

JackJack56Olds

Pulling it on out. The picker was straining that day.
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redoldsman

I installed an original AC water pump when I detailed the engine. The AC water pump has 8 blades on the impellor while the non AC car only has 6. I will probably have to re-core my radiator since it is only a 2 core. I have a fan shroud from a 52 which it looks like I will have to shorten about an inch. The cooling system will need all the help it can get when it is +100 degrees in Texas.

JackJack56Olds

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JackJack56Olds

Some shots before disassembly.

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JackJack56Olds

I got a few more things removed.


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JackJack56Olds

Here is ultimately what got me to tear the engine down. I heard some metal clanking at one point then the engine never started on its own again. Seems a little crooked. The machine shop also told me there were 3 bent intake valves. One was stuck in the head until I beat it through. The others were very sticky. The rocker arms where the shaft rides through them were scored a little so going with new shafts and rockers.

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JackJack56Olds

You can't really tell but the bent push rod broke the top of the lifter where the snap ring held the plunger in place. (Second lifter from the top left row)

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JackJack56Olds

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JackJack56Olds

After taking the pan off there was about a half inch thick of sludge in the bottom. After attempting to wipe it out it turned to a silver color almost like anti-seize. In fact it was almost as hard to wipe it off your finger like anit-seize. This was similar to what was on the pushrods, etc.

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JackJack56Olds

Here it is after coming back from the machine shop. All clean and purty. Accept one problem. The rear cam bearing is out of alignment. I called the owner of the shop and he quickly fixed it. Then the guy that did the work (the shop is reputable and been there for many many years) said he did it for better pressure. I don't get why I would want pressure over volume but either way its fixed.

I started cleaning the block and it was amazing at how much scale and crud was still left in the coolant jackets. I started to just blow it out but it was much more efficient to just attach the hose to some of the coolant ports and flood it out. It finally turned from mud to clear after awhile.

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Tedd Thompson

I'm following this thread with interest, looks like you are coming right along. Looking good.

If possible you might want to paint that firewall before it gets berried again. You will never again have it that open and easy to work on . I know it looks complicated but a little piece at a time and it will forever look nice. ,Much of the wiring and hoses, pipes don't have to be removed but can be masked or wrapped in aluminum foil then paint, it would save you hours later on... Just a thought....Tedd

bigin1978

looking good. Mine had a bent push rod too. I found a flat cam allowed the lifter to "fall" in to the lifter bore allowing the pushrod to jam. I replaced the cam and lifters and timing set. mine runs great now. good luck with your rebuild.

WHIPOLDS

Thanks for posting ! It might help me one day!


Rick

JackJack56Olds

Thanks guys for the responses. It keeps me motivated. Phase one was engine rebuild/resto. Phase 2 I decided to just resto the engine bay. Its going to take longer but well worth it in the end. I've started on that already first with blasting some of the AC components with soda since I don't plan on taking them out. I just got my heater core back from the radiator shop so I plan on reinstalling that soon but still in the process of restoring the heater box. https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...e-removal.html


I looked at the original cam I had and didn't notice any significant lobe wear but I guess all it takes is a little bit. I've got a new cam and lifters from Camcraft. I was hoping for a little more lope but nothing crazy. I just want the sound but still make it a cruiser.


Hopefully this does it.


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67442nut

Sounds like you're doing it right.

Two things you should consider while she's down, especially on a 33,000 actual mile car:

I'd get close-up pics, maybe even make templates, of all the chalk numbering from the factory,
like on your firewall, so you can duplicate them after you resto the engine compartment.

Also, while you're having the heater core done, you should also have the A/C evaporator checked.
A 58 year old evaporator could easily have a leak.
It'd be a shame to have it all detailed and reassembled, then have to tear back into it over the evaporator.

Very anxious to see your finished product.

therobski

That's a very nice example of a 56. If I ever do another its a 56....

NAS Backyard

Looks good, I got the same spec cam from Charles for my 394. Sorry to report there won't be any lope because of the 1.8 rocker ratio. I had my rocker assemblies rebuilt by www.rockerarms.com they added extra grooves to the bushings to get better oil. I have a youtube video at the end of my thread of my engine running with that same cam. I used Brad Penn assembly lube and oil. Good Luck with your build.

Eddie Hansen

Looks very good, I can not get over the size of that bumper lol... man thats a lot of realestate good luck with your build

JackJack56Olds

That's a good idea about taking a template of the chalk lines. I was actually considering just blending the paint for the rest of the firewall up to the chalk lines and leave those there even though the black behind it isn't the best. I know it wouldn't be a perfect engine bay if I did that but I have a soft spot for the original chalk.


Good point on the evap. I was considering that the other day on whether I should take it out or not. I really didn't want to but I know it would be best. I already plan on taking the condenser in so I suppose its only best. thanks for the advice.

JackJack56Olds

Bummer. I was hoping for some lope. Regardless I needed a new cam anyway so as long as this one makes the engine run I'm ok.

JackJack56Olds

got some pics of the painted parts. I went with the Bill Hirsch paint because I could buy a quart of it and spray it out of a gun. I felt it would be better than the rattle can. Also, the correct Olds green in a rattle can was more expensive. I only found those two places that had the green. It actually laid out really good on the smooth parts like the valve covers and dipstick tube, etc. It sure took quite some time to prep the engine block and parts though. Hopefully I did it right so the paint sticks. The main thing I worried about was the exhaust exits on the heads. You can kind of see how the heads form an exhaust port to the manifold. It isn't flush like a lot of heads. Most of the ones out there start to loose the paint there and rust. I went with KBS's XTC Silicone Zinc Primer http://www.kbs-coatings.com/XTC-Primer.html to hopefully help with this but only time will tell. I sprayed the primer on those parts of the heads and manifolds. it was the only primer I could find that specifically said anything about preventing corrosion.
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Added some vinyl from Fusick.


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JackJack56Olds

I didn't want the trans to be red with a green engine and since I had some extra green I decided to paint that. I called fusick and they said it was originally engine color anyway so it worked out. I wire wheeled the trans then brake cleaned it. After that I used a grease and wax remover before paint.


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bigin1978

Wow you are really doing a fantastic job! its looking great!

JackJack56Olds

Thank you!

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Eddie Hansen

Looks great, not sure if your interested but there is a j2 tripower manifold in central jersey craigslist no carbs or anything just saying

JackJack56Olds

Sounds pretty cool but I think I'm going to stick with the stock look. Plus I've spent way more money than the wife gave me last year for Christmas so I better be good to keep the budget coming, haha.

JackJack56Olds

I was reading someone else's thread somewhere on the internet about a homemade soda blaster so I decided to try mine out on the oil filter adapter and fuel pump. It worked pretty good. The fuel bowl was all kinds of foggy and the soda got it perfect again. I should have taken some before and after photos.



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oh and also the carb.


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I sand blasted the manifolds and then used the XTC primer on them followed up with their high temp coating. It turned out nice but so does every fresh paint job.
http://www.kbs-coatings.com/XTC.html


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Eddie Hansen

Ok just passing it on , its not mine LOL....



https://cnj.craigslist.org/pts/4796368960.html