cobalt

has any one had.... or know how much i could expect to pay on average to have a engine and the also a transmission rebult for a 1956 oldsmobile...thanks

cobalt

heres the engine and trans

ignachuck

I had my 56 Jetaway transmission rebuilt last year by Steve Pelosi at Lee Myers in West Roxbury Ma. Steve was highly recommended by others in this site, and he did an outstanding job. Cost was not cheap- $2500. but Jetaways have always been a problem, and now the transmission works better than the rest of the car.....

Frank

Tedd Thompson

Some years ago I had a slant pan out of my 55 rebuilt and it was about $1300.00, that was delivered and picked up nothing installed.

Had a machine shop quote me $600 a hole= $4800 to do the work on a 324, that was top and lower end. Check around prices vary a bunch.

PS. try and find a shop that knows Oldsmobiles first or problems will occur....Tedd

kirkwoodken

First of all, the Jet-A-Way IS NOT my favorite transmission. If it were mine, I replace it with an "R" Series slant pan. They are strong and dependable if put together right. And it makes an Olds sound like an Olds should.

I bought my first 55 in 1966 when I was 19. I bought 10 slant pans from a junk yard for $50 so I'd have repair parts if I ever needed them. I didn't; but I did build a nice transmission for my friends 56 Olds, replacing his Jet-A-Way. It was the only one I had ever done, and I was about 22 at the time. My high school shop teacher lent me his Motor's Manual that contained the rebuild info. When installed, the transmission worked perfect.
However, they both use different flywheels, and the 56 Olds engine was externally balanced. We did not know the amount of imbalance contained in the flywheel, but the guy who did the balancing got the imbalanced wheel to run true on the balancer with modeling clay and then weighed that and put that amount imbalance on the slant pan flywheel. It didn't shake when we got done. Simple!

The throttle valve linkage and carb linkage was similar on both cars, and adjustments were made. I wish I had not gotten rid of all those slant pans, but that's life. I just bought a spare engine and Xmission for my new 55 for $500.

The transmission in my new Olds was rebuilt about 7 years ago in Tucson for about $550 labor. (I don't have the bill in front of me.) I consider that to be a fair price for something I could do myself, but no longer care to do unless absolutely necessary. I'll try to find the bill so I can tell you where it was done.

The 56 heads are desirable. I think the 56 block can be bored 1/8" over for almost 350 inches. (It's been a while since I looked inside of one. I'm restarting my Olds learning curve.) Some minor pocket porting and a good valve job can wake up your 56 heads.

Back in the stoneage 50's, my cousin bored his 303 to 324" and it ran quite well. Twin two barrels, I believe an Isky E-2 (?) cam, larger valves, solid lifters, adjustable rockers, all in a 50 Olds convertible. It ran well until he put stick shift in it. It ran 7000 RPM and stayed together. I can't remember any other particulars. I was 13 then. The transmission was something that hooked easily to the torque tube drive; don't remember what. (Maybe Cadillac.)

Dave Sharp, Sharp's Transmission in Tucson, still works on slant pans and does good work. He checked mine over before I got it, but didn't fix the dribbling out of the speedo cable. I can fix that.

I can't see spending more than $2000 on a short block. I don't have that much in my recent 406 SBC. Scat rods and balanced crank, Keith Black hypers, Total Seal rings, "P" bearings.

$600 a hole is ridiculous. Just googled this: Block work: Dip block $60.00 Sluice oil galleys $60.00 Ream oil galleys $150.00 Mill block true (up to 0.010") $80.00 (more than .010"- $120.00) Bore & hone cyl to fit pistons $50.00 ea (Specify desired piston/cyl clearance) Hone cyl only $15.00 ea Bore & hone removable cylinders $70.00 ea Install & hone cam bearings $140.00 (Must have cam also - does not include cost of cam bearings) Line-bore main saddles $320.00 (Must have main caps and main cap bolts) Line-bore cam saddles (block) $320.00 (Must have cam bearings and camshaft) Sleeve cylinder $240.00 (includes cost of sleeve) Install block protector plate $650.00 (for 4-cyl open deck engines such as Honda, Subaru, Nissan, etc. --- includes cost of protector plate
This is the first place I found on the web. The guy I use is nowhere near $600 a hole.

Tedd Thompson

Are you sure it wasn't a 57 motor. All 56's that I have fooled around with were internally balanced and had the same flywheel as a 55, the big change came in 57 with the flex plate(Flywheel) being weighted to compensate for the balance.. Or that has been my experience....Tedd

My442

I would budget $6,000 for both.

kirkwoodken

The 1956 I worked on came with a Jetaway. It used a flex plate. The "R" series I replaced it with used the flywheel as part of the fluid clutch. This was the only 56 I ever worked on. We needed to add weight to the slant pan wheel so it had the same amount of unbalance as the Jetaway flex plate. ( I think it was 20 grams at the outside of the flywheel. A considerable amount of weight but I wouldn't swear to that number. It was about 45 years ago.)

I have read that external balance did not start until 57, but that doesn't change the fact that the 56 4 door sedan I worked on was external balance, at least at the flywheel end of the engine, like some 350 Chevys. Yes, it came as a surprise to me at the time. There were a number of changes from 55 to 56 engines. I just assumed external balance was one of them. With the same bore and stroke, I cannot see a reason to change balance, but what do I know. The thought of questioning the engine size did not occur to me at that time.

I was a Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic for the U.S. Army. All the 2 1/2 ton trucks with GMC six cylinder engines used the slant pan hydros. I learned how to repair "R" series hydros before I owned one. FWIW, those trucks would pull the front tires off the ground with a full throttle 1-2 shift. They were basically the same transmissions used in some trucks and, I think, Pontiacs, that had the slightly lower first gearset. (It was 4.08 in the trucks, I believe?)

Also, the boring stand doesn't know the name of the engine mounted on it. All engines should be close to the same boring cost.

I have to add: it was about 1967 when I worked on the 56 Olds. Although it was a 4 door sedan with AC, and the engine looked as though it had never been touched, it is possible it could have had a 371 replacement in 11 years. Also, could have been that the original engine had problems and the dealer replaced the engine with a 371. Things like that were done. We did remove the valve covers and did something involving removing the push rods, but I don't remember what. I do remember there was a rubber plug in the AC evaporator housing, that when removed, allowed the rear most push rod to be removed from the engine by sliding it up into that hole. That impressed me as a really nice touch for the service man. Those days are gone forever!!!!

The transmission in my 55 Olds was rebuilt by Bob's Transmission in Tucson for $550 in December of 07 with another charge of $250 by Desert Refrigeration for remove and replace. Total of $800. Entire job was $830 with fluid. I think this is more in line of what to expect for a transmission rebuild. Where are you located? Don't let people rip you off just because you have an old car.

kirkwoodken

To the OP: Did you ever get some reasonable estimates on your rebuilds?