PepOlds

Hello,
recently i purchused a '66 Olds F85-DELUXE located in Barcelona (Spain) the car it's here since new in 1966 odometer in Km/h, with a 330 engine on It, has a 2 v carb, and in the rigth head (passanger side) there are this numbers stamped 29 665195 2 , can anyone tell me what kind of engine is? Low or higth compresion or export? Here is a pic of the number:

Thanks

joe_padavano

That isn't the format of a factory engine unit number. If the heads have ever been removed for a valve job they might have been swapped side-for-side. Check the same location on the back of the driver's side head. Export motors were supposed to be low compression, but if that car was originally delivered in the US, it could have a high compression motor. Also post a photo of the cowl tag.

66SportCoupe

1966 2bbl F85 cars only had low compression. It should also have a black air cleaner.

Sugar Bear

Any chance of getting a picture of a piston top with a borescope? Also try to provide a picture of the edge of the head gasket between the head and the block.

Good luck!!!

joe_padavano

That's true for the F85 line, but not for the Jetstar 88, where the base 330 2bbl motor was 10.25:1 and got an extra 10 HP as a result. The RPO L65 domestic regular fuel 2bbl motor had 9.0:1 CR. Export low compression motors were RPO L90 and were 8.3:1 CR. In any case, the engine unit number will have no suffix for a domestic low compression motor and the letter "E" suffix for an export motor. The high compression 330 motors came with a "G" suffix.

66SportCoupe

Correct sir!

69CSHC

Regarding the compression, is there an additional reason for asking. Besides curiosity and confirmation ?

Pepolds I had a 1967 Cutlass 330 low compression as my first car. She had the black air cleaner housing. And was tuned to factory spec. She still required 91 octane and above to not have run on ...

PepOlds

thanks for your answer, i checked un the Back of the head of the driver side, and no numbers stamped. Sure are the numbers on the pic I posted 2 data ago. There are the only ones....

PepOlds

Yes, has a black aircleaner

PepOlds

Thanks for your answer! Yes, here there are 2 types of fuel in the gas station's, one are 95octane and the Other are 98 octane, with the 95, the not runs fine, with the 98 octane the car runs very well... For this reason i think has a higth comp engine

joe_padavano

It's a 2bbl motor, so it isn't the high compression motor. European octane ratings are different than for the US. Get a borescope and look in the spark plug hole at the size of the dish in the piston.

PepOlds

You are rigth, here the octane ratings are diferent from US. EU 95 octane = US 91 octane and EU 98 octane = US 93 octane aprox. I need to get a Borescope for checking the pistons, thanks

69CSHC

My pleasure.

I've been dealing with Oldsmobiles and gas quality issues since the mid 1980s.

Modern gas is lousy. And I am putting that politely.

I literally tested octane levels ranging from 87- 94. ( Yes, Sunoco carried Ultra 94 back then.)

87 and 89 she ran horrendously to badly. She could get by on 91, was happy with 92 and 93 and absolutely loved 94. The latter of which was her steady diet as often as possible. 1.70 a gallon circa the Gulf War in 1991. ( The most I ever paid for a gallon of gas to that point. 😊 Boy those were good days...)

I understand gas in Barcelona works out to around $7 a gallon USA conversion. Sorry about that. Both my daily driver and 69 Cutlass require premium gas. Around $5 a gallon here in NYC. The 69 is high compression and is not happy with 93 octane. I must ad a booster on every fill-up.

PepOlds

thanks for your answer yes, here the prices of gas are higth, un the last to months, increased about 40% more 🤦

PepOlds

Anyone can decode this head tag? No info on this