Well, I start my new 1963 Jetfire adventure Saturday. There is more to the story than I will share at this time but it will be revealed over time as I get the car done. This is not going to be a major restoration, just a "make it road worthy and reliable" build. I will also detail lots of the car. It has original paint and 54K miles. Has sit for the past 30 to 40 years so it will need brakes, gaskets, rubber replaced, and all the usual things. We will be driving 1400 miles there and back to pick it up. The owner is a great car guy and in our conversations I mentioned that I could have it fired up and running in less than 2 hours provided it is capable of running. He was excited about that and ask if I would fire it up for him before I leave. I told him I would be more than happy to fire it up for him. I will pull the distributor and prime it first though. I will fill you all in more soon.

 

Another jet fire project! Looks pretty original.

 

Another one found with its turbo intact! ¡Lo me gusta!😎

Still think you need to find them Jetfires some Starfire big brothers. I mean, look at their side trim! The bloodline is there!😏

 

i have a few grillees,and a ton of side trim and w/h trim for 63 cutlass

 

Those cars must be addictive.
How many do you have now?
Are those 15 inch wheels?

 

Yes, 15 inch. I can no longer find the correct size tire in a correct whitewall. I am going to have to go blackwall. This is only short term and I will resell it. This will be my 3rd one that is a good one. I have 4 others that are parts cars. I have also had 2 other 63 Jetfires that were good cars. Yes, when I see one of these cars I think I have to own it.

 

Eric, I believe you have an addiction. Although it is a good addiction. Congrats on finding the car.

 

Call Diamondback in Conway, S.C. to see if he can make what you need. He applies decorations to existing tires.

 

Looks like it will polish up nicely! Could be nice all original type car.

 

Here is a video I made of the car. Very poor quality. I fire it up on the last half. I started it up so he could hear it again. Had a great time with him. The car needs a large amount of work to make it road worthy again. Hard to believe just how hard it is on a car to just sit. Even when it is inside dry storage, it is still really hard on things.

 

Just got home a couple hours ago from the 1300 mile trip. I bought this car with no keys. I was hoping that there were numbers on the lock cylinders to get some made. Well, On the way home we were at a gas station and I was looking around the car. I noticed something in the fuel door. I pull it out and what do you know!!!!! My lucky day.

 

Amazing project

 

This is great and awesome how you found those keys

 

Whereabouts in NC did you find this little beast?

Listening to it thru straight pipe- always wondered if these have to have some exhaust back pressure for the turbo to function properly? Or could you engineer some type of really low restriction exhaust and wake it up, like Chevrolet did with the Corvair "Turbo" mufflers?

 

Well, sort of but no, lol.... The turbo operates on a pressure difference between the engine side and exhaust side of the turbo. On the outlet side of a turbo you want as little back pressure as you can possibly get. A turbo creates more backpressure on the engine side naturally but that is a good thing on the engine side of a turbo engine. The "turbo muffler" term, as I understood it, originated by the Corvair model. The Corvair used exhaust back pressure to control the boost and not allow it to overboost. People would get a low restrictive muffler to allow the car to boost more than stock creating the "turbo muffler." On the Jetfire, Olds used a waist gate to control the boost so the freest flowing exhaust the better. I am not even close to a turbo expert and don't pretend to be so don't be surprised if I have some of that information off from how a turbo expert would explain it.

 

A little east of Asheboro North Carolina. It has been on Marketplace for a long time but was always to much money for the amount of work needed done. We agreed on a price eventually but I had to agree that he gets first chance at buying it back when I am done. He is a really cool guy and would love to see it go back to him.

 

Its alive! Good stuff and great find with the keys.

 

Nice find on the keys! That leather key ring should clean up nicely with some leather cleaner. Does it have the dealer name on it?

 

Unbelievable! Great find.

Wayne

 

Pulled all the interior and trunk mats out today and cleaned the floors. The seat covers are shot and the covers are backordered for several months. Sadly, I was not planning to be working on it that long. I will get them ordered anyway but I will just clean these up and use it as is till they come in. The carpet I cleaned up and will just recolor it. It is worn in some areas but the replacements are so bad I would rather just use this. I will put floor mats in it to cover the worn areas. Like I said before, This is going to be a driver and old later.

 

I pressure washed the engine bay after taking the interior out. I hit it really hard top to bottom. I will pull the front suspension, engine, and transmission later. Plan to rewrap the wire harness and really make under the hood look great. The engine will get new gaskets at the very least. I do plan to get it to full operating temp a few times before taking it apart.

 

In 1992 it was approved for daylight use only. I assume the lights do not work?

 

in 1991 it has 56724 miles on it when the oil was changed. Today it has 56725 miles on it. In mile in 32 years.

 

More pictures of the car itself.

 

Maybe around Siler City, NC.? The only other places along highway 64 before Siler City are Ramsuer and Franklinville. Mostly farm land except for the old Ramsuer Mill. Richard Petty’s old race shops are very close.

 

Ramseur is where it was but the guy lived is Asheboro

 

Ramsuer is known for its perpetual speed trap. They do love to give out tickets to drivers who do not slow down from the 55 limit to the towns lower limit.

 

Car has really "good bones" I'm sure you will rejuvenate that Olds to look new. Really a niche that you dont see and you are a master of these Jetfires

 

Someone else will get to restore it cosmetically. I am only making it road worthy and reliable.

 

All I've ever seen those on were farm vehicles that it was assumed would not be operated on state roads after dark.

Just texted a friend who held a NC State Inspection license in those years. And I garondamntee R.T. will know exactly what a Jetfire is!

 

R.T. says all inspection stickers had that on them but it had to do with farm use vehicle restrictions. Such a vehicle would have had a hole punched in the sticker to the right of that phrase. Zoom the picture and you'll see an arrow where that hole would go.

He also says even as loose as NC inspections were back then, they wouldn't pass a regular vehicle if it weren't safe to drive at night. Your Jetfire was apparently good to go. I imagine it had an oil change and state inspection done at the same time just before it went off the road, and looks like it got Valvoline oil.

He also asked how the hell I could let that Jetfire leave NC. Simple- I didn't know about it! I assured him it's in the best hands possible!😃

 

I have really enjoyed this thread and the video you provided. I didn't connect the dots from this thread and the Leno video until I started watching the video and recognized you, when I did I thought "it makes sense". So cool and look forward to following the thread.

 

That makes a lot of since. I did not think about the arrow and a punch. That is good to know because the brakes likely also passed at the time. I will have to rebuild the wheel cylinders and master cylinder but I suspect the shoes are all good. If they are riveted I would reuse them if they are even and good. If they are bonded I will just replace them. I have had problems with the old bonded ones.

This car was actually for sale for a long time on FB Marketplace but it was always to high priced for what it was going to take to make it road worthy. I got it for the correct price for both parties but I did have to agree to give him first shot at buying it back when I have it done and ready to sell.

 

Thanks, I am just making it roadworthy and would like to be done with it by May. Not sure if it will be that quick or not but don't want it to drag out through the summer.

 

This turbo I picked up a couple years ago. it was rebuilt by a place in Canada in 1984. I have found some really poor turbo rebuilds on these things before but I pulled this one apart and looks fantastic inside. I am repainting it and putting it back together and will try it out on this car. Forget to get pictures of the center section apart.

 

Well, Either someone put these back on or the back brakes have never been apart. Has 57K miles so who knows what I will find. Not taking them apart till later, just had the wheels off for the new tires.

 

I have now had my first setback... All the spark plugs are stuck in the heads. Not as bad as the ones in my 62 but bad enough that it will take time to get them out without hurting the threads. I had 2 years in my 62 getting them out. Every heat cycle for two year I would spray them and try to turn them a little. After two years there was a little movement. I don't have two years for this one. I am pulling the engine this weekend and will see what I can do with it on the stand. Most of these will slightly move but very tight and stop. No leak down test this weekend like I had hoped.

 

That's great how you found the keys like that! Looking forward to following your progress on this.

 

It’s never easy. What is your process for getting the plugs out?

 

Maybe call a Ford service tech? They seem to have gotten good at getting plugs out of aluminum head 5.4 engines!😄 Hey, they had to...

Grateful my 5.4 has the updated spark plugs. Even so, when they have to be serviced, it's Ford's **** design so the Ford dealer is going to deal with it.

Plenty of good penetrating oil and work them a little every day. You might try the old candle wax trick but IDK how good that works with dissimilar metals.