Well after five months of fiddling around and trying to figure out all the loose ends under the hood ( Thanks Phil for so many answers ) and driving out to take a look and much needed advise .
We found the original 350 was pulled at some point and replaced with a olds 74 350 .( we still may find the original in the sellers garage )hopeful but not a huge deal as I am Planing to enjoy the car not sell it for profit.The car came home with many many new parts replaced from top to bottom including all the interior.The final part that needed to be installed was the starter . The seller never attached the fuse-able link to the solenoid so out comes the starter install the fuse-able link in correct place and crack the cap....damm damm damm .. wait a week buy new solenoid and try again. Second time went without a hitch and after cleaning up and putting all the tools way I decided tomorrow I will throw gas down it's throat . It's TIME.

 

Good luck. Just don't look down the carb while cranking and take a chance of singeing your eyebrows off.

 

I've always enjoyed the excitement of bringing one back from the dead.

 

Started out pouring about a cup of gas in the carb . cough cough puff guess it needs more gas ok cough fire cough cough. poured large amount of gas into it
turn the key And she starts right up . rev it rev it ok it's gunna idle. Out the car now IT's Running and there's abit of a rap that cleared after a few minutes so I let her run.
After about 10 minutes I noticed I was not getting any heat and turned her off. The car overheated for about 20 minutes kind of a boil in the overflow holder.

Rolled her back in the garage smiling and will be pulling the thermostat very soon.

To be continued~

 

Next time try pouring the gas into the float bowl vent pipe. That will fill the bowl so the fuel flows through the jets as the engine runs and also lets the accelerator pump squirt gas when needed. Also reduces the chance of singeing your eyebrows off as warned about earlier.

A small funner works well, as does a large syringe:

 

Fantastic ! How happy are you, and how great was that feeling when it started idling...

Even better news, a 1974 Oldsmobile 350 is a better 350 across the board. 180 HP vs 170 HP, better heads, better block. Dual exhaust bumps the 74 to 200 HP. Some gears in that lightweight Cutlass and it will be fun.


If so no big deal, there is nothing special about that Hurst/Olds 350 except that it was born in the car. In this case I would think its only a concern to a numbers matching junkie.

P.S. now that you "broke the ice" with gas down the carbs throat I would try starter fluid the next time around, much safer. But you still want to stand clear. If not, Fun71s suggestion sounds good. I would go easy with the amount of gas at this point, unless you wait a long period of time between restarts...

Who knows maybe if you start her soon enough you wont need any additional assistance besides the gas pedal.

 

The car starts every time now no problem and backs out of the barn a little rrrufff but up and down the drive on it’s own. I need new hoses on everything. I need to find an exhaust leak up front. I have an overheating engine. System seems full, pulled the thermostat , no heat I know could be just be the heater door or clogged. But felt good to wrench on it outside for the first time happy over all.


still got Sunday

 

Thanks, Dave, for the kind words. I'm glad I was able to help you and answer some of your questions. I'm hoping to see your car up and running on the streets almost as badly as you are. I'm sure you'll enjoy cruising around in it especially with the t-tops off. Don't hesitate to call if you need some more assistance. I'm happy to help.
I still have that torque converter inspection cover for you. We'll work something out to get it to you.
Phil

 

Running

 

By any chance would you know when the last time the radiator was re-cored? Could possibly be clogged from sitting (?) I had this problem once a long time ago with my blue Calais (260 motor) and a new radiator fixed it. If you happen to have what may be the original radiator it's worth an attempt to re-core it, the new ones these days are junk with their dang plastic tanks. There is a good source by me in Avon, CT, he's old school and does a great job with re-cores.

 

Hey Phil, wouldn't this one look great on a side by side at one of your club shows with my white/gold 79? Now all I have to do is get it back from its winter home in SC...….

 

On the list today heading to the parts store
plugs , wires , PVC , and new vacuum hoses

the distributor cap hmmm. 74 or 79
what you say Dr. Phil. I’ll wait to hear from you before buying.

 

Gene,
I'd love to see as many 1979 Hurst/Olds together as I possibly can at one of our shows. I think it would be a great photo op. Our dust-off show is slated for Sunday May 17th but I doubt we'll have it. I haven't talked to the other officers yet but it seems unlikely it will be held on that day. Not sure if it'll be cancelled or re-scheduled for a later date.
Dave,
As long as the motor has an HEI distributor, the cap should be the same for either year. I have an Advanced Auto parts store a 1/4 mile from my house and they carry an AC Delco cap (part number D336X) for $21. I'm sure Auto Zone, NAPA, or whatever parts store near you would carry it or an equivalent for about the same price. You would still need the rotor to go with it, sold separately of course. The plugs should be gapped to 0.060 according to the tune-up specs in the assembly manual. Change the vacuum lines one at a time to avoid confusion. Looks a little like black spaghetti under there. Hopefully the pictures and diagrams I sent you will be helpful. Keep me posted.
Phil

 

Out of the driveway and down the road

first test run went very well I had planned on a quick ride but it ran well enough to drive drive drive. Put about 50 miles on. Handled well, breaks quite and strong, no temp problems , put my foot into it and choke choke. Back home in the garage safe.

After letting it cool down I pulled the cap
( had not touched yet) how did this run at all 🤣 cap router wires next on the list

 

Depending on whether you like listening to your radio or not, I have a few genuine Jacobs Cap/Rotor setups NOS. They are higher performance but fuggedabout it if you want to listen to your radio without noise. Jacobs was a great company out of Texas for performance parts. But, I like no static in my radio so I went back to factory stuff. Problem solved.

 

Pfft, that's nothing an HEI can't handle, and not nearly as bad as when I went to tune up an '84 Nissan pickup I used to own and discovered that not only was the distributor cap loose, but it was held on by only one screw (Nissan used screws to attach the cap instead of the cool 1/4-turn doo-hickeys GM's been using for eons). And I had been driving the truck like that for nearly a year! I still can't believe that truck never left me stranded, although the back-firing stopped completely after I completed the tune-up and properly mounted the dist-cap.

Glad to hear you got her on the road, gotta be a great feeling.

 

Bringing one back from 'the dead' can be fun. My H/O sat for 10 years in 'the barn'. A few issues, but after finding them, I have been driving it for about 4 years without any hiccups.
I had a overheating problem also. Guessing the bottom of rad was full of fine rust. Flushed 3-4 times with hot water and a final with vinager and all is good now. It is nice to see more of these around. I have yet to lay eyes on one except for the one I lusted after in high school and one in a close-by junkyard. They do drive nice and kinda scoot if you 'super tune' them.
Good luck.