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Good morning, I have a 1964 Jetstar 1. I have worked on classic automobiles since I was a kid. I started with maintenance on old Ford trucks for the family junk and garbage business. I’ve had a love for carburetors and distributors ever since. I’ve worked on Oldsmobiles before, but nothing with a real rocket 🚀. I was the third to look at the car and I was amazed no one bought it with a rebuilt engine, transmission, and all the accessories with all the receipts. The car is a little ruff but for the low price it was an amazing deal. The owner turned them away because they wanted to do LS swaps. I drove her home 25 miles
In their day these things were brutal. Just overshadowed by the Starfire and then the 442 and Toronado, plus whatever high performance cars the competition was trotting out. It got lost in the shuffle.
345 hp with 3.42 gearing and comparable in weight to an Impala SS.
You'll find this out soon enough. There's the Jetstar 1, and there's the Jetstar 88. J88 is a completely different car from J-1 under the sheetmetal. J88 basically uses Cutlass drivetrain and suspension and does not interchange with Jetstar 1.
Jetstar 1 is a subseries of Dynamic 88, so keep this in mind when you're hunting parts. If there's any question, run it by us first.
Glad you saved it from LS indignity. My thoughts on the LS swap crowd are 1) they like to follow the herd, 2) they don't understand earlier car technology and are afraid of it yet they'll stick an LS in not taking into account all the ancillary crap such a swap requires, 3) they buy into the BS that an old car has to have modern underpinnings to be drivable.
Did I mention that THEY LIKE TO FOLLOW THE HERD?!😼
Last edited by rocketraider; Nov 21, 2021 at 08:58 AM.
J88 is a completely different car from J-1 under the sheetmetal. J88 basically uses Cutlass drivetrain and suspension and does not interchange with Jetstar 1.
Just to clarify, the J88 use exactly the same suspension as does any other 1963-64 Olds full size. Control arms, ball joints, bushings, springs, shocks, steering parts, etc all are the same (well, allowing for normal model variations in things like spring rate). Except for the added mounting tabs for the 330 motor and Jetaway trans crossmember, the frame is exactly the same also.
The difference it that the J88 uses the A-body brakes and rear axle. This means that the front spindles are unique to the J88, as are the brake backing plates (since they bolt to the spindles differently than on the Cutlass). The brake shoes, drums, and other parts all interchange with Cutlass. At the rear, the axle housing and shafts are unique to the J88 (due to the width) but the differential and gears are the same as in the Cutlass 8.2" axle. Again, brakes (including backing plates this time) also are the same as Cutlass.
No, none of this applies to the OP's J-I, however.
But it clarifies that when the parts store tells him J88 stuff works on a J-1, he will know it doesn't!
More clarification:
J88 has a 330ci engine and 2-speed PRNDL Jetaway automatic. Possibly 3-speed column shift or 4-speed floor shift.
J-1 has a 394ci engine and PNDSLR HydraMatic (or rare 3-speed column stick shift).
Technically, the three speed column shift manual trans was the base equipment on the J88. The JT and both three and four speed floor shift were all options.
The three speed column shifted manual was base equipment on the J-I. The Hydramatic was optional on the J-I, standard on the Starfire.
