Gascoop

Ok it's not an Oldsmobile car but it will have Olds power. Now if this offends the majority by putting this build here then Tom by all means delete it. I posted some pics when I first joined a month ago but I thought some of you real gerheads might be interested in something different as progress continues. So here goes, I grew up in So. Cal. and went to Lions drag strip just about every Saturday night, first time was 1958. I fell in love with the gas coupes, specially Stone, Woods and Cook 41 ******. So about 50 years and a bunch of hot rods later I discovered a company called "American Gasser" in Saginaw, Mich....... I was hooked!!

They will build you a complete car but I like doing it myself.....besides not having that kind of cash to lay out. A few very positive phone calls later and I had a bare frame on it's way. After a trip down to Flagstaff, Az. to pick it up from the shipper I had it home. I will say that I was impressed with the way the frame is built, all 3/16 2x4 USA made steel and the mig welding is xlnt. Instead of continuing a running narrative I'll just post some pics and if anyone needs info on the parts then feel free to ask. Also it will have a 461" Olds with a 4L80E trans. I picked up a virgin '72 short block with a big N crank for $100 ....good start. Pass no attention to the camera time stamp, had to reset it.

TripDeuces

I like it, keep the progress coming.

BangScreech4-4-2

What will it be?

oldcutlass

Rack and pinion on a gasser... interesting.

RandyS

That rear end is impressive! What type is it?

oldcutlass

Looks like a Ford 9"

Jon442

I like it. Dare to be different. Will it have a ****** body?

Weezer

I fell in love with the fat-fendered ****** from reading my Dad's Hot Rod mags in the 80's. I don't think I've ever seen one in person at a show, but still love the look.

I'll have to "accidentally" route past the shop sometime coming home from up north.

Gascoop

Ok, back from the store.....it will be a 1940 ****** coupe also called by it's model name ... Americar. Sharp eye Tom, it came with a Vega mount but I wanted something different so I purchased a Unisteer "half rack" as they call it. Pretty easy change over, just had to gauge how far down to install the rack so it clears the oil pan. The rear housing is a Performance Eng. Machine (PEM) fab'd 9". I chose it because of the inner structure that connects the tubes to the main housing . The welding on it was remarkable and the forged 31 spline axles looked like tree trunks ....... doubt I'll break one. It also has a 3.89, 4 pinion True Trac posi third member.

I'm not going for the extremely high, nose in the air gasser look as the front axle is a 4" dropped unit, it will have a little rear rake but bot too radical. This is going to be a real driver so I didn't want to get too nuts with it. Some of these gasser types are barely streetable .... not this one. Here's some pics ........ the last one is the gas tank mount/structure that I'm building, go's behind the rear end.....going to be very strong.

Gascoop

Hey Wheezer, I see you're in Michigan, how close are you to Saginaw? That's where American Gasser is located. Here's some more pics of the American Rebels wheels that I chose, They are about as close to the real deal Halibrands as you can get. Going to be 15x10 and 15x6, also detailing and painting the rear housing. I'm a rattle can guy, lots easier to touch up when things get a boo-boo. I use the Rustoleum Professional stuff and it's really pretty good. Final finish is the silver hammered look. YEA!!! It's the first of the month, just ordered my front tires, should have them Thursday then I can post some pics of a roller. Again don't mind the date stamp.......I think I fixed it last night.

BangScreech4-4-2

Good stuff. Way to go with the Olds power!

TripDeuces

Didn't Stone, Woods and Cooke run Olds power back in the day?

Gascoop

Yes Sir they sure did, they ran a bored and stroked 394 with the big heavy cast iron Hydra-matic trans. I think it came out to be "around" 440" or so but lots of compression with the 6-71 jimmy blower and 2 port Hilborn F.I. They eventually switched to Chrysler hemi power as the Olds just couldn't make the power to keep them competitive. Match racing all over the states is where they made their money so they had to win. They always ran Engle cams which made the gasser wars that much better as Big John Mazmanian ran Iskys. Great times at Lions with these cars and Drag News really made it a big deal with Engle vs. Isky. It was like the Yankees vs. the Red Sox. Here's some more pics........the light colored ****** was one of the first cars, Swindler A they called it. They had a number of them, I think it was totalled in a towing accident, speaking of which, back in the day they didn't trailer these cars, they flat towed them behing a station wagon or something large.

oldcutlass

Love the iconic 40-42's. probably one of the best body lines out there.

Weezer

I used to be much closer before marriage and kids, but I'm about 45min away now. I'd have to drive thru the east side of Saginaw to get there, which isn't exactly in the plans (not a safe area).

Gascoop

Too bad, might be a nice road trip with a buddy or two. They have a nice car show from what it looks like on their website, most likely in the summer. Didn't see anyone packing iron ........actually they are west of Saginaw on Gratiot Rd.

Weezer

The AG location is ok, just meant I'd have to traverse thru east side to get there. Suppose I could find an alternate route....

Gascoop

It's finally a roller !! ....... got my front tires off the big brown truck today and headed for the tire shop. It's really hard to find "kind of" skinnys for the front unless you pay a bunch for race tire Hoosiers and they don't appear to be very highway friendly. So I found these on Tire Rack which I had never heard of before, "Vredestein" 185/70HR15 radials. Big time kudo's from the older sports car guys with Austin Healey's, MG's, Porches etc. They seem to be plenty beefy, 1280 lbs each @35 psi. Should work out ok since the 455 will have alum. heads, intake man. and water pump.

Speaking of the 455, I put the grungy block in my wheel barrow and covered it in Easy Off oven cleaner, stuff really works, good enough to mock up my engine placement in the chassis anyway. Again speaking of placement, on the side of the block there are three 7/16's bolt holes. This block didn't have any motor mounts on it but pics I've seen on the web show the back 2 holes used for stock mounts. Can you use the front and middle hole as a mounting location? The front two holes would be better for my application....... thanks, Dave

TripDeuces

Sure you can, what ever works

Kennybill

I saw Stone, Woods, Cook,(Doug "Cookie" Cook) run twice at Quaker City Dragstrip in the early 1960s. Gassers were hot and Stone Woods Cook was everybody's favorite. I remember Tony Nancy (raced blown fuel Oldsmobile dragsters) said when Oldsmobile came out with the "new" 425 engine they tried running them but the block was "too soft" so he switched to Chryslers. A new Rocket Racing $$block would work well for you.

Gascoop

Kennybill, 2 things, no 3 things, I loved watching Tony Nancy run his 22 JR. roadster and his other cars, that guy was quite the upholsterer also. Lots of the big names had one of his diamond tuck leather seats in their dragsters......... I would love to have a Rocket Block, IF you're willing to purchase it for me Actually, I'm really not going to go anywhere near max on this engine. I will use forged pistons and rods from Mark Remmel along with a streetable cam and Bernard Mondello alum. heads but this is being built for reliabilty and semi- street freindly manners. Hate the hard to start, over heat/ puke the coolant types......... Lastly, your ....."a man has to know his limitations" is a phrase I used to tell crooks that I arrested during my 33 yr. career as a street cop in So. Cal. Just seemed to fit at the moment. Thanks for taking me down memory lane...........Dave

edzolz

These ****** coupes look great but once you drive one you might have a different opinion. The are great for gassers but are really hard to see out of when driving one. Unless you are short enough to put the seat really far forward.

Gascoop

Yes I've noticed that many times but I'm 5'7" so the ****** might just be made for me.........

Luke Allen

What size are those rear tires?

TripDeuces

Just noticed the message at the top of the door. "New roller cams". Interesting to now know when this basically started with roller cams. Love that it was bored and stroked too.

Gascoop

Luke Allen, the rears are 31-12.50-15, the actual size inflated is 30-11.5-15. I was looking at the B.F. Goodrich Silvertown radial 285-75-15 that is made only by Coker. Just wasn't wide enough for the rear end @ 10". A lot of the die hard ****** guys that really don't drive their cars a lot on the street use the 18" Hoosiers. Way too wide and will stick out if the rear end is not narrowed enough. I'll be traveling with a tire patch kit,a small compressor ...... and fingers crossed.

OLDSter Ralph

Very nice project !!!! I will be following the project with envy. "Olds power" was in the forefront many years ago. Its nice to see Olds power being used again.

Gascoop

I took the block and crank down to Snow Performance in Saint George, Ut. bout 35 miles south of me. Earl Snow and his son Glenn are super stock drag racers and did the machine work on my 507" Cadillac that I built for a '32 Ford. Really good down to earth guys, Earl loves the big Olds and said he can't wait to dyno the thing. Anywho, he measured the cyl. and said they would be good with a .030 overbore. As luck would have it I found a new set of Wiseco Pro Tru Street .030 forged pistons, pins and rings for $400. I have to go kind of slow on this project as money allows, so when the bore/hone and honing of the crank mains are done I'm bring it home for a while. I also located an '06 4l80e core trans for $200 so now after I buy the Trans-Dapt adapter I can marry the two and set into the chassis to build the motor mounts and set the trans. mount........Dave

OLDSter Ralph

Gascoop

Yea man, isn't that car beautiful in a gnarly kind of way, kind of too bad it's in a museum and not out being driven. I remember K.S. but mostly in his '33 ****** along with all those guys. Another one was Junior Thompson's '41 Studebaker which ran in B/gas supercharged.....still a screamer. Thanks for the pic........... Dave

Gascoop

Just a few pictures on the chassis, pushed her out into the sunlight for the first time. The rear end is all set with the proper 3 deg. up and the panard bar is done , just need finish welding on the chassis bracket I made......didn't like the one that came stock. As said before, next up is setting engine/trans in chassis and make motor mounts.

Gascoop

Well finally got the block back from the machine shop, Glenn Snow called prior to me picking it up and said one of the cylinders had a little issue, right at the top of the bore. He sent me a picture and said the the block obviously had been sitting outside with water in that cyl. He had already bored it .030 and had 1 thou. left for final hone finish. I did a little figuring, my Wiseco pistons top ring land is .246 below the piston crown and this "issue" extends .259 down in the bore. He took as little off the deck as possible for everything to be flat and keep the compression as close to 10.2:1 with the 77 cc alum. heads but the deck also had a few spots of corrosion. I could keep the heads at 80 cc's, and take a little more off the deck, will just have to wait and see how it all stacks up. Honing the mains went without a hitch.

The next day I went down and we took a good close look at he that cylinder, actually it's more cosmetic than anything, you really can't even feel it with your finger nail. The deck corrosion in just one spot is noticeable with the finger nail test. I asked Glenn what he really thought about all of it, he said once you mock it up with the rings and bearings you'll see how far down in the hole you're going to be. He said yes, that top ring will probably get into the corrosion a little but it's so smooth and shallow there I really don't think you'll have any problems for a street machine.

Today I married the block and 4L80E together with that Trans-Dapt adapter.....really a nice piece and hoisted it up into the chassis. I've got it approximately where I want.....I think. I took some pics and will send them to Brian at American Gasser to see if he has any recommendations or thoughts on how things are going. Anyway, I'm not worried about the block, I've seen guys build some great running engines with a lot worse issues than this block has. Now to build motor mounts and get the engine/trans in the correct spot. Then next month when my "welfare" check comes I'll get the rotating assembly balanced. It's been sitting kind of stagnant waiting on the machine work, nice to get back on it......... Dave

.

Gascoop

8 days later, 136 looks and not 1 reply??? Ok fair enough, I won't waste my time with any more updates......

Fun71

Don't stop the updates, I enjoy seeing progress on folks projects. You didn't ask any questions or solicit opinions, so folks are just looking and not responding.

Weezer

GC, an old buddy of mine and I joke about this regularly. He will put jokes on FB, and gets cranky if nobody likes or comments.

"It puts the comments on the page, or it gets the cyber rage!"

A different spin on the "Put the lotion in the basket" scene from Silence of the Lambs.

Anyway, don't let lack of comments prevent you from doing a build thread. If you go thru some of the other build threads, you'll see that often times it's just the OP providing updates. You can see that people are reading your thread, we're just waiting for updates from you, as the previous reply stated.

Tedd Thompson

X2... I'm following..... Tedd

oldcutlass

I merged your threads so the people who had been following the original can see your progress.

Gascoop

I wasn't butt hurt, just thought no comments from a bunch of gear heads was just a little wierd. I'll keep it up then

OLDSter Ralph

Oldcutlass, Thank you.

young olds