DreWRoolZ

My name's Drew I just bought a 1960 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88 last week. Don't know a whole lot about it yet I believe it is the 371 engine but I havent even got that far yet lol this is the only picture I have of it at the moment I need to get batteries for my camera so I can take alot more pictures. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/17/dreamo.png MORE PICS!! http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/DreWRoolZ/

D. Yaros

If the engine still has its original paint and it is gold, it is a 371. If the color is green, the engine is a 394.

cutlassgal

Welcome to our site!

DreWRoolZ

it has been painted orange but the oil pan is painted gold i noticed that the other day when I changed the oil.. Pretty sure it's a 371 is there a location for a casting number? the only thing we could find was on the drivers side it said C733863 if that helps

Aron Nance

Welcome to CO, Drew! VERY NICE "Plain Jane" that will STAND OUT IN THE CROWD at a car show, wait and see! Really like it. Congratulations on the purchase, and welcome to our site!
Aron

citcapp

Cool, you don't see many four doors around anymore. Looks like a very basic car

Run to Rund

Nice! You may be able to find kindred spirits at the South Central (Texas) Zone show Oct 7-9 if you are nearby and can come.
It is too late to get the cheaper reserved rooms at the Marriott, but you will enjoy the show and can find other places to stay nearby.

Not as many cars as a National Meet, but the spirit is there, and you will find the attendees to be friendly and helpful. It would be an excellent start for you and your "new" car.

http://clubs.hemmings.com/frameset.cfm?club=ntexasoca

DreWRoolZ

'basic' makes it sound like a bad thing granted it doesnt have power windows, power steering, or a/c
also, i'm located in Richmond, Va.. a bit far from Texas i'm afraid..

citcapp

Did not mean it that way. In fact the basic Olds are hard to find. Some people in that time period ordered the oddest combination of options. For example a friend has a 60 Olds with radio delete, standard steering, standard brakes, but also has 6 way power seat option. Makes it an unusual car and he gets a lot of comments on it at car shows. So don't take what I say in the wrong way OK

DreWRoolZ

ha i knew you didn't no hard feelings. i like your '48 the guy I bought this from has a '49 Olds 76 split window & a '55 i think the '55 is an 88

rocketraider

C733863 is the engine serial number. C indicates a 371 cid engine with 8.75:1 compression ratio. A 9.75:1 371 will have an H suffix after this number. 733863 tells me the engine was produced about 3/4 way thru 1960 production.

D indicates a 394 which were all 9.75:1 engines.

Export low compression engines will have an E suffix.

Neither engine should be orange!

Looks like you have a pretty basic Dynamic 88, which is the way most of those came. Luxury stuff like power windows or seat, A/C etc were not common on Oldsmobiles in those years except on Ninety Eights. HydraMatic, power steering and power brakes were fairly common on D88's though. There were 76377 1960 D88 four-door sedans built, with a base price of $2900 which explains why they were the most plentiful.

Give us the first four characters in the VIN plate in the door jamb and we can tell you where the car was built. If it's always been a Richmond area car, probably in Linden NJ or Atlanta GA.

Looks like it's been painted and you're missing some side trim. Any chance it came with the car?

You need to grab a factory shop manual for your Sixty, preferably an original hardcopy. The CD versions lose a lot in scans. $20-40 ought to buy you a good one.

wildaboutcars.com may have parts of the 1960 book if you need quick reference, but if either you or someone else is gonna work on your beast, you need the proper procedures. I can about garontee you won't find a mechanic under 65 who knows jack about these cars, and they are "different" from modern cars in more ways than one. I'm guessing you already figured that out with the four-speed HydraMatic shift pattern, and the oil drain plug.

I'm down between Danville and South Boston and I grew up with a light green Sixty D88 four-door. Holler if you need help. Eastern Virginia Olds Club is based in Richmond but not sure if there's anyone in it with a car that old who could help. There were a couple of 64 big cars in it at one time.

oldcutlass

Welcome!

DreWRoolZ

I didn't notice anything different about the drain plug unless i'm missing something but yes, it is the first car I have ever seen with Reverse at the bottom of the shift indicator that definitely threw me off when I went to test drive it! As for the trim, I have the piece missing from the passenger side but all of the trim on the driver's side is MIA. '607A' would be the first 4 of the VIN I tried to find a VIN decoding site but couldn't come up with any good websites for that thanks for your help on the engine! Now I need to figure out which trans I have so I can find a price on a rebuild because it will not shift even if I manually move the shift lever through the gears. Also heard these cars had a funky speedometer but mine doesn't work either so I have yet to see that in action

car_designer

Welcome to CO, Drew.

Nice car. I have always liked the 1960 Oldsmobiles.

DreWRoolZ

Thanks for all the warm welcomes! Just got my valve cover gaskets today bout time to go out there and start toying with my new baby Once i get those on & figure out why the trans wont shift I can start driving her is there any way to tell if the engine in my car is numbers matching or if it has been replaced at some point? I'm not expecting it to be matching but you never know it would be cool to find out for sure tho! Any idea where I could find a new mechanical fuel pump? They replaced mine with an electric one & didnt wire it up properly so it kept dumping fuel into the engine even without the ignition on so for now I have to plug/unplug the wire for it every time i start/stop the vehicle. I am also hoping that there was still a little bit of gas in the oil even tho i changed the oil after that happened because I'm hoping this oil leak was what caused the engine to catch fire a few days after I bought the car! luckily it was a small fire & nothing got damaged like my '66 Galaxy I used to have that went up in flames but I love this car way more anyways

rocketraider

607A is: 60= 1960, 7= Dynamic 88, A= Atlanta GA BOP assembly plant.

"Numbers matching" didn't really start at Olds until 1968. Before then, you have to get into casting dates and such to determine if it is original to the car. I wouldn't worry about it too much since we've already pretty much established it's a 1960 low-comp 371, which is what most of these cars came with.

You have a Jetaway HydraMatic which is also known as Controlled Coupling (Cadillac) or Super (Pontiac) HydraMatic. Olds used it from 1956-60, the others stuck with it thru 1964.

There is also a 2-speed Jetaway used in 1964-69 Oldsmobiles but it is a completely different transmission. If it has to be rebuilt, make sure the shop orders parts for the 1956-60 version and not the 64-69 version. www.fatsco.com is a good source for parts for these transmissions. Just make sure your rebuilder is in tune with older transmissions.

Check to see that all the carb linkage is hooked up. These cars have a linkage rod going from the carb linkage down to the transmission and if it's not adjusted right your HydraMatic will do strange and hateful things.

I normally don't believe in "mechanic in a can" chemicals, but try putting a pint can of Trans-X or SeaFoam transmission additive in your transmission. One cause of no upshift is sticking governor and valve body, and the Trans-X may clean them up enough to where the transmission will function. If car has sat for a long time this could be the case. If it starts functioning, change the fluid and put fresh Dexron in it.

The factory mechanical fuel pumps are designed to be rebuilt. If you can find a rebuild kit you can probably do it yourself with ordinary hand tools AND THE SHOP MANUAL. If not, you can get it rebuilt. It may not be cheap though. Get a kit made for modern gasoline. This crap gas now will eat up those old diaphrams in a hurry. I had one fail within 150 miles on my 64 Starfire. www.fusick.com offers rebuild service or just google it, there's several guys who do it. If you can figure out a way to wire your electric pump so it starts and stops with the ignition switch, there's no reason you can't keep it.

Speedometer? You'll love it when it starts to work. You notice it has no needle. The dark horizontal band under the numbers changes color as speed increases. Green up to about 40 mph, then orange up to about 70, then red. Past 120 it goes black again...

I'm guessing you're under 30?

DreWRoolZ

Yes, I am 22 this is not my first classic car but it is my first classic Oldsmobile I love antique cars! My first classic was a 1966 Ford Custom 500 (basically a Galaxy under a different name for some reason) but it sprung a fuel leak & went up in flames I am definitely going to keep an extinguisher handy in this one just incase! I appreciate all your help & yes if I can even find a transmission pan gasket & filter that was what I was going to try first it has been sitting at a dealership for quite a few months if not longer I am finding it hard to locate some parts the valve cover gaskets just came in today I ordered them last week because nobody in the entire state had a set handy I mean, come on it's only 51 years old! :P

rocketraider

Look something like this one?

http://photos.aaca.org/showimage.php...searchid=22269

Custom 500 was the mid-level big Ford in those years. One step above the Custom, one below the Galaxie 500/XL. 7-Litre and LTD were trim levels on Galaxie 500.

Get used to having to dig around and order parts. NAPA is usually real good about having or getting mechanical/electrical stuff for cars like this, and as you stick with us you'll find other parts sources. My own preference is old stock parts that were produced when the cars were contemporary because I've found they usually fit and work better than later production.

Next ?? do you like to keep them stock or modified? If you're a restoration/stock kinda guy, Richmond Region AACA has a lot of good people in it and can help you find the right people locally to fix what you can't fix yourself. If you're a modified kinda guy, look around on the HAMB www.jalopyjournal.com and they also have folks who can help you sort out your Sixty. They speak fluent HydraMatic on there, BTW.

Dang. A 22 year old in a space age Oldsmobile. It don't get any better.

DreWRoolZ

actually, yes. mine was a 4 door but it was the same color white with red interior! I would prefer to keep it as stock as possible except for the color I know it isn't the factory color but I think it looks great on this car and really makes it stand out I believe he said it was 'petty blue'

D. Yaros

The 60 Olds, Super 88 Holiday SceniCoupe, I had in high school was ordered new from the factory by my brother. It came equipped with std. steer, std. brakes and a 3-speed manual tranny.

I am also able to vouch for the the statement made in this thread that beyond 120 MPH the color of the rolling ribbon speedometer fades to black!

DreWRoolZ

i'll take your word for it! dunno if I wanna risk taking her up to that high a speed not even sure if the low compression 371 could even make it there lol Oh, & maybe one of yall could clear something up for me? I read somewhere they made it lower compression so it could use regular (87) gas but then somewhere else I read that they don't run well on 87.. any of yall know which is better for my car?

rocketraider

Drew, back then regular gas was leaded, around 96-98 octane and no ethanol. If it will run on 87 you can do it, but I'd go 89 just to be safe. An 8.75 engine should not need premium.

With almost all gasoline being ethanol-laced now, you should look into replacing ALL rubber fuel system components. It's not a question of if, but when the ethanol fuel will eat thru the rubber lines and leak.

Far as I'm concerned there is no modern gasoline that is really suitable for an older, non-fuel-injected car, but we play the hand we're dealt.

DreWRoolZ

http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e315/DreWRoolZ/ I finally got some pictures of it if anyone is interested! In some of them you can see where they painted right over the rust lol! Overall she seems to be pretty solid tho and the frame seems to be in really good shape! I hope yall like her as much as i do!

spiderjason

Welcome!!!! Nice car!!!!

buckwheat

I know I`m kinda late, but. I have one as well, I will try to post pics.

San Fernando Olds

I have a 60 98 2dr. sceni hardtop restored, I couldn't see in the pictures, but it looked like the side trim is missing. If you need any I probably have 90% of the trim, being I scrapped one out a few years ago. Great cars, I have had a 371 and a 394 and really didn't notice any difference in power.

90customcruiser

My fondest 1960 Olds memories are as follows. We moved down here in November '61. Probably not long after we were registered in schools, my brother met the upper middle class family in a big house around the corner. They had a creamy yellow with steel grey top Ninety Eight Celebrity Sedan. They would swap cars every five years. Within the past 30 or so years I found a $400 98 Holiday Sedan that was rough but complete. Much later, near here was the yellow Dynamic 88 Holiday Sedan in exceptional condition. '60s are among my favorites of all. They had a sort of ocean liner look about them. I'd love to see the progress on the Richmond, VA car.