All the way from Australia - Oldsmobile 442
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Registered User
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 15
From: Australia
All the way from Australia - Oldsmobile 442
Hi everyone
I'm Jono, and My father is Vince. I have been EFI tuning for 13 years, and my dad was a farmer. He is semi retired now, enjoying life cruising around in his American muscle cars. (1970 oldsmobile 442 and 1969 Chevelle Convertible converted to right hand drive. The Olds is still left.)
My father imported a 1970 Oldsmobile 442 W30 from the USA a few years back. The car was in good condition. Unfortunately the engine was very tired and needed a rebuild. We had an Olds 455ci engine built in the USA by some guy that said he specialised in the Olds 455ci but the builder burned us and sold us a defective engine. (Crank was linished too much, low oil pressure, and the idiot left a nut in the intake piping.. destroyed the cylinder head and piston in number 2). There was nothing we could do unfortunately.
We had the motor rebuilt again locally, and used most of the parts on the rebuilt motor - The new edelbrock alloy heads (number 2 was welded and repaired), cam, block etc. Pistons and rods were replaced, and we used the crank from the original motor.
Anyway, the new motor runs great now. Heaps of torque. As us Aussies would say - It hauls ***!
It's got W30 written all over it, and I've since found out that there is some value in the intake manifold and heads. I'm going to try and verify it.
At present it's on the hoist getting a transmission overhaul because the T400 that came with the car was performing poorly. There is a shop here that specialises in the T400 and once apart there was a fair bit of damage. It should be like new again by the end of the week.
The final project will be the diff. It's only one wheel drive, and I think it should be a criminal offence to not be able to smoke both rear wheels. So we are in the process of finding out what fits in the back of these things. (I have made a post in the transmission section, and some very helpful people are already have given great advice.)
We are still experimenting with different carbies, but if anyone would like to give input on their preferred option, please go ahead.
Here are some pics.
d3srAkq.jpg
InHsxl7.jpg
1EGDrsP.jpg
I'm Jono, and My father is Vince. I have been EFI tuning for 13 years, and my dad was a farmer. He is semi retired now, enjoying life cruising around in his American muscle cars. (1970 oldsmobile 442 and 1969 Chevelle Convertible converted to right hand drive. The Olds is still left.)
My father imported a 1970 Oldsmobile 442 W30 from the USA a few years back. The car was in good condition. Unfortunately the engine was very tired and needed a rebuild. We had an Olds 455ci engine built in the USA by some guy that said he specialised in the Olds 455ci but the builder burned us and sold us a defective engine. (Crank was linished too much, low oil pressure, and the idiot left a nut in the intake piping.. destroyed the cylinder head and piston in number 2). There was nothing we could do unfortunately.
We had the motor rebuilt again locally, and used most of the parts on the rebuilt motor - The new edelbrock alloy heads (number 2 was welded and repaired), cam, block etc. Pistons and rods were replaced, and we used the crank from the original motor.
Anyway, the new motor runs great now. Heaps of torque. As us Aussies would say - It hauls ***!
It's got W30 written all over it, and I've since found out that there is some value in the intake manifold and heads. I'm going to try and verify it.
At present it's on the hoist getting a transmission overhaul because the T400 that came with the car was performing poorly. There is a shop here that specialises in the T400 and once apart there was a fair bit of damage. It should be like new again by the end of the week.
The final project will be the diff. It's only one wheel drive, and I think it should be a criminal offence to not be able to smoke both rear wheels. So we are in the process of finding out what fits in the back of these things. (I have made a post in the transmission section, and some very helpful people are already have given great advice.)
We are still experimenting with different carbies, but if anyone would like to give input on their preferred option, please go ahead.
Here are some pics.
d3srAkq.jpg
InHsxl7.jpg
1EGDrsP.jpg
Moderator
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 14,255
From: Medford, Oregon
If he's not rebuilding the original transmission be sure you get it back!!! That has a code unique to the W30 and the vin derivative from your car. That transmission can verify you have a real W30.
John
John
Moderator
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 14,255
From: Medford, Oregon
OK, when I saw the part about the transmission I stopped reading to post a reply. The carb, distributor, intake, alternator.... all of these items have numbers unique to the W30 option and are worth a lot of money. But also having all the parts together make your car worth way more than a regular 442. So even if you want to change parts out please keep all the original parts. Someday you or someone else may want to restore it back to original. The value of the car is as a true W30, in nice condition with matching numbers may put it in the $50,000 $75,000 range. A regular 442 all original in the same condition may only be $20,000 to $30,000 range.
When you have time tell us more about your car. Post pictures of the original parts and their numbers. I would strongly encourage you to not cut or modify something that cannot easily be returned to original. If you had access to a plane jane Cutlass I'd build one of those instead and restore this car to original. Sorry if this sounds like a rant, over the years so many of these cars lost the original engine, transmission, etc. at the race track that one with original numbers is really rare. John
When you have time tell us more about your car. Post pictures of the original parts and their numbers. I would strongly encourage you to not cut or modify something that cannot easily be returned to original. If you had access to a plane jane Cutlass I'd build one of those instead and restore this car to original. Sorry if this sounds like a rant, over the years so many of these cars lost the original engine, transmission, etc. at the race track that one with original numbers is really rare. John
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 15
From: Australia
Hi John
I will most certainly have a look at all of the part numbers. I have a feeling that it could have been picked clean or be a replica before delivered to Australia.
But I can only look and let you know what I find.
Thank you so much for the information.
Jono
I will most certainly have a look at all of the part numbers. I have a feeling that it could have been picked clean or be a replica before delivered to Australia.
But I can only look and let you know what I find.
Thank you so much for the information.
Jono
Moderator
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 14,255
From: Medford, Oregon
When you start looking for numbers check these threads. They can help you see where to look, and the second one can help you key out original vs. re-stamped parts. John
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...w-30-carb.html
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...d-w-parts.html
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...w-30-carb.html
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...d-w-parts.html
Acceleratii maxim rapidus
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 369
From: Great Southern Taxland...
Wow welcome to the site Jono.
Nice ride mate! If its a real W30 you could count the ones in Oz on one hand. Thats a rare beast down under, keep everything dont throw anything away!!
Keep us posted and we love stories and pics, lots of pics
Start a new thread on the car perhaps and give us a pic of the identification plate under the hood so we can see the option codes and vin number. Colour looks very similar to my Delta 88.
Nice ride mate! If its a real W30 you could count the ones in Oz on one hand. Thats a rare beast down under, keep everything dont throw anything away!!
Keep us posted and we love stories and pics, lots of pics
Start a new thread on the car perhaps and give us a pic of the identification plate under the hood so we can see the option codes and vin number. Colour looks very similar to my Delta 88.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 15
From: Australia
Hey! Good to see another Aussie here.
Once the car is back from the shop (Hopefully today / tomorrow) getting the transmission finished, I will get some shots of plates.
I've spoken to dad, he said the owner in the US said when he got the car, it had no engine or transmission unfortunately. The old engine has C heads on it. He's not sure about the manifold but he thinks that's just a standard one.
He did say there is a possibility that the body is a proper W30 but as noted by a few we need to confirm with the numbers. I will get them ASAP
Would be great if the body is at least a W30, that means we can actually call it partially a W30
Looking forward to getting the diff sorted. Smoking up one side just doesn't feel right haha.
Once the car is back from the shop (Hopefully today / tomorrow) getting the transmission finished, I will get some shots of plates.
I've spoken to dad, he said the owner in the US said when he got the car, it had no engine or transmission unfortunately. The old engine has C heads on it. He's not sure about the manifold but he thinks that's just a standard one.
He did say there is a possibility that the body is a proper W30 but as noted by a few we need to confirm with the numbers. I will get them ASAP
Would be great if the body is at least a W30, that means we can actually call it partially a W30
Looking forward to getting the diff sorted. Smoking up one side just doesn't feel right haha.
Sammy70 455 Supreme
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 3,069
From: Port Perry, Ontario
Welcome to CO Jono!
I asked you in the tranny thread....what color is the car? Does it match the paint code(s) on the cowl tag?
Documenting a W30 . Lots of fun.....I decided not to put the big money mine, so I have what John is referring to. A nice 442 that began life as a w30.
Good luck, and nice looking ride
I asked you in the tranny thread....what color is the car? Does it match the paint code(s) on the cowl tag?
Documenting a W30 . Lots of fun.....I decided not to put the big money mine, so I have what John is referring to. A nice 442 that began life as a w30.
Good luck, and nice looking ride
Old(s) Fart
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 50,627
From: Northern VA
If you do have the original OW code trans and it has a matching VIN derivative, that would also be proof. Of course, there is nothing unique about a W-30 body shell - it's exactly the same as every other 442 body shell that year (and every other Cutlass for that matter).
Registered User
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 15,333
From: Phoenix, AZ
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