I have a 55 olds with 35000 miles , pulling the 324 and 3 speed manual trans, the motor had a valve problem from what im told but it is locked up, are they worth anything other than scrap?

 

You bet!
You probably have close to 1,000 pounds of iron there. And at 10 cents a pound thats maybe $100.

On the other hand , you could Craig's list it , E-Bay it , and also list it in the parts for sale section of this forum.
You might do a search on E-Bay for " 55 Olds engine " and " Olds Manual transmission" to get an idea on the pricing.
Olds stick shift transmissions are extremely rare in cars of the 50's and 60's . Usually less than 5% of production.

Please don't scrap it. Someone somewhere needs these parts. And once they are gone that's it.

 

Thanks This car is 3 speed manual 55 Olds 2 door sedan 35000 miles, supposedly only like 300 made, im on the fence what to do, leave it stock and rebuild it or just pull the motor and trans and update it

 

To me, This is a no brainer!
To me, an original stick 55 Olds is worth a lot more than one with a generic Chevy drivetrain.

 

I guess I better bite the bullet and leave it stock, its all really straight, everything there, right down to the hubcaps, other than bumpers need re chromed the other chrome is great, I'm not sure the category survivor is , but this seems to be one

 

Why don't you look for a good Olds "Rocket" motor?
1949 to 56 engines will bolt right up to your original bell and tranny.
57-64 371's and 394's will also bolt up but must use the later flywheel because of balance issues. You will also have to drill out the end of the crankshaft to accept the pilot bearing on 57-64 engines.

 

Mine is a Rocket motor, but I will check that out, going to pull the heads first, soak the cylinders down and see if it will turn, then I can check the valves and make sure it didn't just have a broken cam shaft, they were weak as weak as the valves

 

What I meant was that possibly you could find a good running engine. Or at least one that was easier to rebuild because it wasn't all rusted together inside.

 

Ahhh yes good call, I agree, that would make me a lot happier, im into less work lol

 

would it be an advantage tho to have the numbers matching motor in car as its a virgin as it is, this car has never been wrecked

 

Numbers matching may be important on a '70 W-30 Cutlass 442.
On a 55 four door not so much. As long as the motor looks like it's original, nobody is gonna care.
Keep the original motor for the next owner .

 

If you are going the survivor route, I'd make a run at fixing the original motor. You might find only one cylinder that is stuck, or it might be junk. I'd pull the heads & see. I doubt you will find a broken cam. If it's truly original, you still have a 35k motor to work with. Just hope there were no mice living in the engine. They will ruin it.

 

My olds is a 55 2 door , it is truly original, motor , trans, right down to the hub caps

 

Sorry, I missed that .
It would be nice if you could post some pictures on this thread so we all can see it better. From what I can see in your avitar, the car really looks to be pretty solid.

 

I didnt know how to post them here, hope this works
http://s273.photobucket.com/user/gre...show/My%20cars

 

I have the rest radiator , manifoild , tail lamps ect

 

If you need inspiration for your project, go to www.topnotchvehicles.com and check out the '55 Olds 88 two door sedan with a three speed manual column shift. You have a great car that begs to be restored with its original drive train if at all possible.

 

Yes thats a beauty, I am finding that this car is pretty rare and yes should be kept stock and restored, I am just more into hot rods, maybe I should just hot rod the 55 hardtop I found and sell this one to someone to restore

 

There is no such thing as a numbers matching 55 Olds. There are no numbers that match or can match. Oldsmobile didn't start that till the late 60's and as far as the cam anything is possible but traditionally 55 didn't have issues with cams, 56 year that is a different story they were soft. My vote is (if I ever had one ) is to keep it stock but what the hay I tend to be a purist anyway, its your car do what makes you happy....Tedd