Welcome to C.O., is the engine seized?

 

 

Welcome to the site, look forward to some pictures. Good luck in your quest for an engine.

 

Here's a list of "donors" . To help your search .
1949 & 50 "88" & "98" 303 CI...…..Fits right in .
1951 thru 53 "88 , "Super" 88 , & "98" 303 CI …………..Fits right in but may require exhaust manifold swap .
1954 thru 56 "88" , "Super 88 ", & "98" 324 CI………...Fits , but requires lower bellhousing and starter swap , in addition to manifold swaps
1957 thru 60 "88" , "Super 88" , & "98" . 371 & 394 CI...…..Fits , but requires that flywheel be "offset balanced " , in addition to Lower bellhousing , starter , manifold swaps .
Crankshaft must be drilled for pilot bearing .
1961 thru 64 "88" , "Super 88" , Starfire , & "98" 394 CI……..May require "custom fabrication" in exhaust area , as well as all previous mods .

 

WELCOME !
glad to hear you are in ownership of a very cool ride, but sorry to hear the motor is used up.
there are many ways you can go as far as a swap.
An original early 50s 303ci in good shape thats worth the money is gonna set you back some. and the parts are available but expensive.
depending on your budget and or skill, it might be a better Idea to get either a later 60's or 70's Olds motor that has been rebuilt. and you will gain some reliability wth a newer style engine for the most part
I have a 78' olds 350 in my 53 rocket and it has been bulletproof.
you can also, ( dare I say ) go with a chevy small block. you will get a lot more for your money, but lose the coolness of it being all olds.

 

Watch E -Bay and Craig's List .
Some idiot may be ditching a good runnng 303 and a Hydra-Matic to install a small block Chevy or an LS -1 .

 

If the only major issue is the low compression and tired upper and lower end (nothing seriously broken) you can do what we shade tree mechanics would call a freshen up.That is use all the original hard parts, pistons crank and valve train and just replace with new standard rings, do a hand job on the valves, new shells on the rods may not need to do the mains, new gaskets and give it a go. That is not a rebuild by any standards but often a engine freshened up like that will go another 20,000 miles with out issues. I think it would be wise to have a good mechanic look and listen to your motor before you make any decision.

As far as your 49 being popular the 49-50 crowed is well and doing fine. Probably one of the most popular post war models till the mid fifties. Don't listen to your young friends to much they may influence you in ways that are not wise...... Lost in the fifties... Tedd

 

Tedd, that is what we used to refer to as an overhaul. The only thing I would add is a timing chain and maybe hone the cylinders before reinstalling the pistons with new rings.

 

Rings, bearings, gaskets and lapping the valves will go a long way to restoring power. Call it a "freshen up" in today's jargon or "overhaul" the past. Either way, it will restore power to an old car. You might be surprised how reasonable to get it running nice. Good luck.

 

Grandpa cars are usually the best ones to get.

I also like the idea of rebuilding the original motor.

If I were to do something modern to it, I'd put discs on the front and adapt a T5 or AOD to give it the ability to run out on the highway with modern traffic. How often do you see a post war Olds cruising down the interstate?

 

Well if you ever see mine on the interstate it's running on drums. If I'm reading the original Po correctly he needs something on a budget and disks though nice would jump the cost up substantially.... Just my thoughts..... Tedd

 

We all love pic's of your car. Inside and out.

 

Hey, first off sorry I didn't reply, I stopped getting the email notifications. I have found an engine for a fair price, it is being shipping to me from Nevada. I also should be getting a hydramatic. Both items have been rebuilt, they were this guys fathers but the father passed, the guy was selling the house and had to get rid of them. I am eagerly awaiting their arrival!

 

Welp. Got scammed on that. Unfortunately that ate up my savings for the car. FML and this car. I'm done.

 

Scammed how ? You lost money ? FML ? Whats that mean ? Done with what ?

 

Hmmmmmm.

 

Im really sorry you got scammed.
Can you tell us what happened?

Its very unfortunate, its not the cars fault though.
Don't give up on it

 

Fellow called me couple weeks ago, had a rocket he was getting rid of, said he found my number from here. His dad had passed a few months ago and he had sold the house and needed everything out of it. His dad was an olds specialist for most of his life, apparently his dad had rebuilt an engine and transmission for another fellow but he then couldn't afford to pay for the work so his dad kept it. The guy that called me needed it gone soon and really didn't want to junk it because he knew how much work had been done to it but had little choice. That's when he says a friend mention there's someone on the forum looking for one (me) and he got my number. We arranged to get it shipped and it was supposed to be here friday. He has since than dissappeared off the face of the earth. Mister Edward Ellis of Nevada if that's even your real name, don't spend that money all in one place now... and I hope you're happy.

 

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Sorry you got scammed. Can you pm me all of the info you have for this guy through your transaction? Thanks for sharing pics.

 

Cool car. My dad says my grandpa use to race a 1949 88, he’s trying to find pictures of it from some of our extended family.

 

Well I removed the engine last week when I thought I was going to receive another the new one, my dads friend who is a very smart mechanic looked at it and we concluded it was the rings that were worn. All the cylinders were about 30 psi low on the compression, and he said it would be smart to rebuild, as the rest of the engine was probably really worn as well. Something to that extent, anyhow he is a lot smarter than I am and I trust him.

I am in Indiana, I see you are in Ohio. I'd be willing to drive that far but I will need more details about the engines. I really don't know if the hydramatic is good so I'd kinda like to get another one that is known working.
Thanks

 

picture of the front, exhaust manifolds are stuck tight. The muffler was bad anyway so I just cut it those manifolds will not come off!