Lichtmann

Hi*
I'm Thomas from Frankfurt in germany.

Last year i made a dream come true and bought my first classic american car. A 71 Buick Riviera. I love the size and the styling of the early 70s and especially everything that is uncommon. So a boattail was preset.
But i also love the late 50s cars with their overdosed chrome trim and tailfins. So i had to fall in love with the '58 olds.

Now i have found a nice 58 super 88 4-door holiday sedan for a (maybe too) good price.*
I'll take a look at the car on saturday and i want to make shure that the drivetrain is original.

I've downloaded the shopmanual to have a look at the numbercoding.
But this is where my questions start.

I have the vin and all the numbers from the bodstyle plate.
VIN: 588C06944

Bodyplate:
- style# 58-363958
- body# BC2201
- trim# 376
- paint# 95
- top * 90

So i know that it is a south gate build super 88 4-door holiday sedan.
Is it the 5944th (? Beause it starts with 1001) or the 6944 that was build in california or is this relating to the whole production of this bodystyle?
Paint is tropical mist and top victorian white.
The trim# defines the interior style and color?
If so what would 376 be?

I dont have the engine unit number right now, but i know that it has to look like
"B001001"
The manual says that it is stamped on a pad located on top of the center exhaust port on the left cylinder head.
Am i right that this pad is part of the head? What if the pad is missing because the heads where changed?
How can i find out if they are matching? Is there no stamp on the block itself? Or would that information be worthless because the engine as a whole has to match the car.

Do the last 5 or 6 digits of the vin have to be the same as the ones of the engine?
The same on the transmission#. The example shows that it has to look like "058-1001" is it only 4 digits??
And why are they starting at 1001 anyway?

Many questions.

I'm looking forward to your answers.
Hope you can help me out.

best regards
Thomas

dancutlass

Welcome Thomas from a fellow German
I'm afraid I can't answer any of your questions, but I'm sure an expert on Oldsmobiles of the fifties will chime in, soon.
There is a lot of good information and great people here to help you with anything you want to know!
Viel Glück

Chuck_66

Thomas welcome to Classic Oldsmobile (CO) I have a 66 442 and to the best of my knowledge the serial number of the engine was not part of the car vehicle identification number (VIN) until around 1970 or so. You have a great car with a color combination that was very popular in-fact my 66 has the same color combination.

Tedd Thompson

Litchtmann welcome to Co.

The engine number is stamped on a machined pad located on the top left hand side cylinder bank of THE BLOCK, not the head and it will not match the vin as has been mentioned above. Sorry I don't have a shop manual for a 58 but I'm sure someone will have all the information you will need, lots of sharp knowledgeable people here......Tedd

Lichtmann

Hey guys
Thank you for your answers and excuse me for not replying until now. Things were pretty turbulent and messed up the last few days.


I can now proudly proclaim:
I´m the owner of a 58 Super 88 holiday sedan!!



with a broken head gasket
hope to get it back on the street quite soon.


@Dan
Danke for the good wishes! Seems they helped me well.
I was in munich about three weeks ago. When they "defused" the bomb in Schwabing. Next time when i´m around we should meet for a beer. ok?

@chuck
thank you for the information about the numbers. I would have been very confused and for sure insinuated the owner that the engine is not the original one.
Luckily the original owner guide was in the car. The VIN and the engine unit number are listed inside the booklet and they match the hardware!
And yes. The color combination is great. Unfortunately they gave the car a mexican paintjob before shipping. But that was 1999 or so and therefore out of my influence.

@Tedd
also thanks for confirming the "numbers will not match" theory.
Strange that I found the "engine unit number" on a machined pad on a head on the driver side. I´m always confused about the lh and rh side description. Always thought right are the odd numberd cylinders and left are the even ones. Like you as a mechanic standing in front of the car the driver side is right and the passenger is left.
Anyway i had not the time to take a very close look to all of the hidden stamps and numbers.


Do you know who in this forum is an expert for the late 50s?
I have many many more questions to ask.
such as

- can i reuse the head bolts
- was the transmission original painted green?
- was the "golden rocket" lettering on the valve covers missing in 58
- is there any way to repair the cracked steering wheel.
- who can help me with rare parts (i need the passenger side "super 88" lettering and an original car jack)

and much more problems to come..
looking forward to it

thomas

D. Yaros

I am no expert, but do have a little familiarity with your car. I will try and answer a few of the questions:

Here in the U.S. of A. Driver Side = LEFT, Passenger Side = RIGHT

It would not be uncommon for the transmission oil pan to have been painted green (actually it is a turquoise color), the same color as the engine. I would not expect the case of the tranny to have been painted.

There are a bunch of steering wheel restoration services, usually quite pricey in cost. One may also "do it yourself." It requires open the cracks to accept epoxy resin, sanding and painting.

You may find the needed "Super 88" lettering at Fusick's -
http://www.fusick.com

Now you know what I know!

Tedd Thompson

Lichtmann,

Unless buggered up I see no reason why you couldn't reuse the original head bolts, we do this all the time.As far as the lettering goes those are manufactured and can be found through USA Parts Supply (703-335-1935) or Fusic Automotive Products Inc (1800-623-1589) I have used similar letters and found the quality as good as original. Fuick or USA Parts should have a gasket set for your car if not available in your country.If you do a search there is a post that will go through the procedure for doing your steering wheel, not to difficult a job if you can work with your hands and don't mind working with sand paper, epoxy and spraying pain, just ask if you have a problem...Tedd

Lichtmann

Dave,

Thank you for explaining the designation of the sides. For me standing in front of the motor it´s a little illogical but i think i´ll get used to it.

The engine is painted golden. I´m not really shure if i remember right but i think the whole transmission was painted green (not turquoise like the buick motors).
This would be an indicator that the tranny was at least once outside the car. Not so cool.
All i know is that the 58 jet-a-way hydramatic is supposed to be a 4-speed automatic. While driving the shifting from 1st to 2nd gear was barely noticeable but from 2nd to 3rd there was a pretty heavy bump. I didn´t noticed a shift from 3rd to 4th.
I think i have to take a close look at the transmission when i'm able to. The car is now 20km away from my home and i have no key to the garage. Long story.

Thanks for the fusick link. I´ll check it out.



Tedd,

i´ll also check out USA Parts Supply. thanks

Now i know that back in the days torque-to-yield bolts didn´t exist. But i heard once that the steel of the bolts for sure wasn't grade-8 and you could be lucky if it was grade-5. So i thought of replacing them before they give up on me.

I found some steering wheel restauration kits at eastwood.com.
Would you recommend such a kit or does any epoxy do the job?
I tried to search for a thread about this subject but i couldn´t find a "how to" Can you remember?

I ordered the Fel-Pro FS7747S Full Gasket Set and i think it will arrive this week.
If i have to shave the heads is it ok to use those standart gaskets? At which point do i need a thicker gasket?


Thomas

D. Yaros

Now that you mention it, you are correct that the '58 engine color would be gold. The green/turquoise color was used later to distinguish the 394 c.i. engine from the 371.

Given that, I would think the trans oil pan would be the same color as the engine. The fact the tranny may have been out (rebuilt) may be a good thing, not a bad one?

Lichtmann

For sure a rebuild would be a good thing if it was done right.
I´m just worried about the hard shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear and that there might be no 4th gear, so it´s not the original transmission.

By the way Fusick and USA Parts Supply are great!!
A little expensive but great. Thank you for the tip.

I will post my other questions into the specific forums.
Thank you all for the advice.