Erinyes

I picked up a '53 Olds 88 recently. Someone had started some kind of project on it - they subframed the front with something, all I know so far is it's drum brakes, swapped in a '65 425 (A motor, A heads) and TH400, and hooked up only enough electrical to run the engine.

The driver side quarter panel got crunched at some point, above the bumper and straight in a few inches. Looks like a tall truck hit it. Trunk lid almost entirely untouched, just a tiny bend at the corner.

One small rust spot, passenger side front fender, just in front of the door. Otherwise very solid and clean.

Interior complete, but fabric is disintegrating.

All chrome and glass is there. Finish is basically gone, but not rusty.

After cleaning and lining the gas tank and replacing the fuel pump and the carb, it runs great. I ran a compression test early on, then realized the Schrader valve in Snap-On compressors are a special type, causing low readings due to me having popped in a standard valve. Even then, all cylinders were similar, and reading about 90 psi. With the proper valve, that should jump up 30psi or more. I'll check it again this weekend with the proper valve.

My two major quandaries at the moment are:

How to identify the front end? I would like to swap in disks in the front, as this beast is Very Heavy, especially with the 425/400 combo. The previous owner had no idea what was in there, he basically bought it and resold it.

Any thoughts on finding headers? They apparently left on stock manifolds, then welded to what appears to be the original style single-exhaust pipe. Since there's no possibility of restoring as original, I'd prefer to lean toward improving efficiency/performance wherever possible, while keeping the visible parts of the car as original as possible.

Thanks for any input.

citcapp

Take some pictures of the A-arms and the steering set up and post them might give us some clues. There are a number of popular front end conversions mustang II, Fatman, Plymouth volare, etc.

Jamesbo

Welcome aboard

Citcapp is your man with the plan.

I'm stuck in another era and can't help ya.

Oldsguy

Welcome to CO, hope we can help you out on this one.

Olds64

Welcome. We look forward to seeing pics.

Erinyes

Went out and pulled a wheel after work, and took some shots of the front end. Hopefully this will help someone figure out what I've got!

Added a few general shots, as well.

Erinyes

If there's anything else I can do, let me know!

Thanks.

citcapp

Doesn't look familar, I look around in some on my books and see if I can find a match

64Rocket

I'm going to say it is a full size Olds or a GM brand of some kind. I think it is the front clip from the car the engine came from. With the steering box behind the front axle, and the look of the control arms, leads me to the full size Olds. My bet is on the '65 front clip that the engine came from.

Gene

Bluevista

I don't have a CSM or parts catalog that old so I looked in my Chitlons and it does look sort of like the "1965-70 front suspension - except F-85" they have pictured.

wel110.jpg

Erinyes

I figured, if I were going to do a big block engine swap and front clip, would I deliberately choose an A block 425 with the oddball 3-piece rocker assembly A heads? And a two barrel engine, at that? Would I deliberately set out to weld in a front clip with drum brakes?

Hell, no.

I'd choose a 455, or at least a 425 with the more common heads, to avoid having to struggle to find parts, and I'd certainly want disk brakes.

So why did they do all that work? Because that's what they had, a full-size 65 Olds. They just swapped everything in that they could. All the pieces they were swapping in would fit together with a minimum of fuss, they just had to jam it into the '53.

And why would they do that to a car that had a crunched quarter panel? My guess is, they didn't. That happened after they finished the front clip, but before they got started on paint and interior. Someone rammed into them, they lost interest, and sold it.

But, it's just a theory. Not something I wanted to start buying parts for till I could verify something.

64Rocket

Still not a bad deal. granted I would have done something different. There are outfits out there to convert to disc. Scarebird make conversion kits.
The "A" heads make for better conversion to adjustable rockers. Pistons for the 425 is the hardest to find. Cast pistons are available from "Kanter" or "Egge". Overall not a bad conversion, with the gear box behind the axle the steer column hook up was very easy. with the "A" body frame you have to double joint the steer shaft. I'm going to cut the shaft at the firewall and U-joint it and a short shaft to the box with a u-joint on my '50 coupe when I put the "A" body frame under it the winter..

Gene

In looking at there web site they also make a bracket for the rear to convert to disc. They give you all the info you need.

citcapp

scarebird makes a great product, a reasonable install for the novice with good instructions. I have it on the front and rear of my 57 Olds