Here she is. It’s going to be a lot of work, but we are both excited. And no these are not staged pictures. My wife literally does more work that I do on projects





Our little guy is excited too!

 

Very cool pictures! I must say, that is a great idea regarding the roofing overhang you build above the workbench - I love it.

 

Thank you. This car is in amazing shape considering. Check out the bezel and horn cap

 

They don't make hood ornaments like that any longer!

 

I know! and it's there all there in great shape!

 

Most of what I see from the pictures appears to be nothing more than surface rust.

 

It is. It does have a little cancer on the front rear quarter panel and on front floor boards, but other than that it's solid. Which leads me to believe it was sitting under a tree for years. Which would explain why only the front floor boards are rusted out and the rear deck has sun damage, but the dash has little.

 

Your wife is a keeper... Looks to be a solid start for a project.

 

[QUOTE=oldcutlass;1278164]Your wife is a keeper... Looks to be a solid start for a project.[/QUOTE
Thank you. She is!

 

Welcome Very nice car. It's got the hydramatic (not Jetaway) transmission= no Park position. Lots of sources for needed parts here. As mentioned in your other tread, check out the Vintage forum Just ask us.

 

Unusual but not unheard of that a holiday has a slant pan transmission,most non post cars got the Jetaway but not all. If I had to choose I would go for the slant pan, tougher more durable but shifts a little harder.... Lost in the fifties.... Tedd

 

My wife looked like that 40 years ago!

 

Frank correct me if I am wrong. I believe I read somewhere that the regular 88 (not Super 88) got the slantpan hydra-matic. I see this one has a 2 barrel carb so I am guessing it is a regular 88. I wondered if the 88 came in a 4 door hardtop and went to my Standard Catalog of Oldsmobile and it confirmed the 4 door Holiday hardtop was available. I thought it might be rare but they built 52,239 of them compared to 57,092 4 door sedans. That is just for the regular 88. They built 61,192 and 59,725 respectively of the Super 88's. We are all glad to help. Some of here know a little bit and then we have guys like Tedd and Frank who know a lot. I would call Frank our 56 expert.

 

Glenn, you got it right. In 1956, the Jetaway transmission was standard on the 98's. You could get the Jetaway on the Super 88's, but only the slantpan hydramatic on the 88's. The 88's had the 2 barrel (2GC) carb and the Super 88's and 98's had the 4GC.

Tedd, I agree that the slantpan was a better transmission than the early (56) Jetaways. They didn't correct the sprag problems completely until around 59.

 

But after 60 years most of the Jetaways have been rebuilt or at least had the sprag replaced. The parts were not heat treated and failed miserably quite often before the warranty had expired..... Tedd

 

Thanks for all of the info guys! This is EXACTLY the reason I'm glad this forum is up. Gina and I are going to try and pull it tomorrow. I'll post some pics so you guys (Frank and Ted) can direct me on what I have and which way to go. Fingers crossed, we can rebuild this engine.

 

Welcome fellow 56-Er !! On the previous restore (64 Belair ) had the wife involved she was in charge of engine, accessorie and interior trim painting, did a great job and the help was appreciated ! She was much easier on the eyes smelled much better and drank way less beer than my male helpers !! Good luck on your project you will find all the help you may need here. These guys are a wealth of knowledge. Keep the old Olds Rolling !!!

 

Spark plugs out and fill the cylinders with magic potions. 50/50 mix of acetone and trans fluid, PB Blaster, or plain old diesel fuel can all seep past frozen pistons. All depends what your nose can tolerate!

Or once you get the engine and trans split, pull the heads, oil pan and crank and soak the piston bores with the juice, and then start tapping pistons with a soft mallet or piece of 2x4. Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll come out.

 

Thanks guys. I feel very welcome already being here. I pulled the spark plugs a while back and soaked the cylinders with 50-50 mix of F type tranny fluid and Marvel mystery oil. Pulled the harmonic balance or to expose the front engine mounts and the sheer pin on the crank is still intact. So hopefully the motor didn’t seize while it was running. Hopefully it’s just seized because of water getting into the intake manifold. I’ll keep you guys posted on what we find when we pull the heads

 

That is not a shear pin, its just a square keyway. I moved your thread to the major projects forum.

 

@oldcutlass - thank you. Getting used to this whole forum thing again.

 

We finally got the engine out. Taking it to my buddy Luis‘s shop this weekend to see what’s inside.

 

Looks like a great starting point. I'll be following along!

 

So it's been a couple months since we have been on here. So the engine news is bad. Blown head gasket. The block need extensive machine work, probably to the point of sleeving. Also a complete head reworking. Would anyone happen to have an engine on here for sale that would fit? Running or not. I can just see trying to rebuild this one adding up $$$$