I just joined the site while looking for parts for my new project car. So far I really like it. There seem to be a lot of people here with a great deal of passion and knowledge. I have to say I am really excited to have the opportunity to restore my 442. It is a car I have dreamed about owning since I was a kid. The body is in great shape and has no rust. It is painted incorrectly but it looks good enough to drive until the rest of it is finished. The engine has a cracked head which is what brought me to the site in the first place. The block is numbers matching and looks good. I pulled the whole thing out with the trans and am going through it all. I am a mechanic by trade so that part comes easy. While the engine is out I am going to restore the engine compartment. I am also planning on rebuilding the front suspension while I am at it. The interior is original and the seats are torn. I plan on replacing the whole interior and changing the color from blue to black. I am planning to buy a stage 3 kit from original parts group.

I do have a few questions for the experts on the site. First, my engine is painted the same orange/ red as the air cleaner. Most of the pictures I see the engines have all been gold. Could the orange/ red be correct or were all the engines gold?

My carb has been disassembled and turns out is not salvagable. I am looking for a quadrajet carb core I can rebuild that is year/ engine correct. Anybody have one or know where to find one?

Also in my quest for parts I came across another 1968 442 project car for 4500 in the pheonix craigslist if anybody is interested. It is a better price than I paid and the car looks pretty decent.

 

Welcome to the site.

 

Welcome.

All of the 1965-1969 400 cu in motors were bronze, not gold. All 1965-1969 425 and 455 motors were red (except Toronado motors), but obviously paint is easy to apply. Post the block casting number from above the water pump (next to the oil fill tube) and we'll be able to tell you exactly what motor you have.

 

Welcome to the site and have fun with your restoration. You'll save a few bucks by being your own mechanic! There are several sources of supply for parts you need, like the cracked head and carburetor. This site has parts for sale; also check Hemmings Motor News, the Oldsmobile Club of America's "Journey With Olds" monthly publication, and other sites like www.wildaboutcars.com and www.realoldspower.com. I got a lot of my replacement parts on ebay but a lot of that happened 5-8 years ago and it seems I'm not seeing nearly the quantity of parts I needed then (distributor, water pump, carburetor) now that I saw then. You might want to get another opinion on your original carburetor just to make sure it isn't salvagable, and if it's not, save it anyway - there are some parts that could be reused elsewhere.

San Diego is a nice place to live - was stationed there '92-'94 and was just down there last week checking up on some property and going to an event at 32nd Street. Enjoy your sunshine - we don't see a lot of it up here until June!

Randy C.

 

Welcome to CO, Getawaycar! Hope there's no real significance to your name on the site!! LOL!

 

Thanks guys for the warm welcome. I will post the block numbers and I appreciate the information. The carb it turns out is not original anyway and has been previously butchered with many of the threads stripped and important internal parts missing. My good friend is a master carb builder and if he says it is trash it surely is. He says if he hadn't seen the car run (also the guy who trailered it for me) he wouldn't have believed it could by the state of the carb.

Getaway Cars is the name I am planning to use for a restoration company I am trying to start. It is something I have wanted to do for a long time and this is my pilot vehicle. It kind of has a duel meaning implying fast cars but also cars to escape the everyday life. Something fun and unique.

San Diego is definitely a nice place to live!

 

I found a quadrajet carb 7028251 that the owner said came from a 1968 hurst/ olds and has been rebuilt. He said he ran it for about 500 miles on a 425 hp chevy engine he has in a hot rod he built. He replaced it with a Holly double pumper but it ran good and strong with no hesitation or flat spots in acceleration.

I am a diesel mechanic so carburators are sort of forign to me. He gave me some specs from the 1968 olds service manual but I don't know what that means. He says that "ON a 7028251 (W-46 and others) have .071 Primary Jets, .049 (49B) Primary Rods, and AU (.053 tip) Secondary Rods. Set it up according to the 1968 Oldsmobile shop manual." Can anybody tell me if this would be a good match for a mostly stock 400 in my 442? I will post the block casting numbers as Joe suggested when it stops raining and I can pull the cover off my shortblock. I know what your thinking, rain in San Diego?!? Seriously.

Oh, by the way, the guy is asking $110 for the carb including shipping. Seems like a pretty good price.

 

The price sounds fair, good luck and welcome to CO.

 

My block casting number is 396026 with a great big G after it.

 

That is the correct 400 engine for a 68.

 

Welcome, that it the correct casting # for your block, 1968-1969 400 c.i. Was your car Nocture Blue originally? Auto or 4spd?

 

Can you tell me anything about cyl head casting numbers? I have C heads and one is cracked. I have all the numbers posted under "C heads for sale." Another member is selling some heads but the numbers are different. I am wondering if they are comparable anyway. Or truthfully even correct for my engine at all.

 

Yes, blue and auto. How did you know? Looking at the inside of the engine compartment?

 

If his heads have the large letter "C" cast into them you should be fine. The C castings were used from 1967-69. There were a few minor differences between the years, but they will all fit your 400 engine and function just fine. The numbers are probably the same, but due to casting imperfections may look like different numbers. John

P.S. there were two different sizes for the intake valve but even if his have the smaller valves (1.99 vs 2.07) when you having the valves done the machine shop can cut out the heads to the large size. There was only one casting then the factory cut out the seat to fit the valve sized based on what the head was going to be used on.

 

Thank you for all the great information. I have one more question. Are the heads specific to one side or the other, or are they interchangable? Although the castings I have show different casting numbers they look physically the same.

Thanks, Chris

 

Heads are interchangeable and all C heads have the same 394548 casting number. Sometimes the digits aren't fully formed (an 8 may look like a 9 or a 3, for example) or are obscured by crud, but look carefully and they will be the same. C heads were used for the 1967-1969 model years and could come in small valve (2.000" intake ) or big valve (2.070" intake) versions. All 442s got the big valve versions. You can machine small valve heads to accept the big valves, since Olds used the same castings for both.