Hey hey, I seem to have acquired a classic oldsmobile aluminum engine. It was given to me via a friend after his father-in-law had passed away. It was in his garage when he bought the house some 15+ years ago. He cleaned it a little bit but ended up just leaving it in the shop over the years. It does not look like it was taken apart after it was removed from the vehicle it was in. I cleaned it a little more to identify it, so there are pictures of markings I found on the heads and block. I have not taken anything apart myself, since I'm not super familiar with this engine and I did not want to damage anything. I do know that the crankshaft does turn freely and I can feel compression strokes when I turn it. The water pump also spins freely. I am a skilled mechanic, so I can tear it down to bare if someone wants to see internals or so. I was wondering if I can get some input on anything specific to look for, and what this engine would be worth to you guys? I would love to get this engine into the hands of someone who would love this piece for their classic olds, but I want to make sure that I know what I'm talking about before I post it for sale. Thanks for any help/input you can share!

 

Check with the Land Rover crowd.

 

That exhaust manifold looks like it may have been set up for a turbo. This could be the block from an early turbo charged Jetfire from 62 or so.

 

My understanding is that only Oldsmobile used the 5 bolt valve covers, and Land Rover's was a 4 bolt? Or am I wrong/backwards

 

I'm just trying to help you widen your market audience. The 215 isn't really "sought after" in the Olds market; it's a very small sect.

 

Oh gotcha! Thank you, I will definitely check with them as well once I feel confident on my knowledge of this beauty!

 

Sorry, Chris, not even close. That hole in the passenger side manifold is for the choke hot air tube. There is supposed to be a sheet metal cover over it.

 

It appears from the engine identification number, that you have a 1963 high compression (10.25 to 1) four barrel motor by the "S" prefix and the "G" suffix.

 

Thank you much! I had found a couple different variations of code graphs and I couldn't figure out which one was right. Glad to have some clarity on that

 

That info was straight from the 1963 Oldsmobile Service Manual.

 

That same info is also in the 1961 and 62 manuals. Every Olds 215 has an "S" prefix on the engine unit number and every 4bbl version got a "G" suffix. These won't tell you the year of the motor.

 

Thank you for the info! So it's a 61-63(64?) With 'S' 10.25 compression ratio and has the 'G' 4bbl intake?

 

61-63 and yes, you can see the 4bbl intake on the motor

 

Awesome, thank you! Yeah I saw the 4 on the intake, but was unsure if olds did anything weird like the rest of the motor 😅

 

Yes Joe, but the engine unit numbers started at 200001 in 1963.
Making this a 1963 engine.

 

Thanks all for the info! I'll probably post it up for sale soon. I'll put it here and on the land rover forums as well. I think I'll put it out there for $300, does that seem fair for an engine like this?

 

For sure a 1963 engine. Do you know if it is from an automatic car? If it is, it is the 11:1 compression engine.

 

That, I do not know, what you see is all I have to go off of. It was handed to me like this and told me they didn't even know what kind of engine it is. Lol

 

Another good place to list your engine is with the MGB British sports car folks. Ther is an MG forum that even has an engine swap section as I recall. That engine is a popular swap to replace the factory 4 cylinder engine. In fact the factory used in their MG V8 version. It will sell quickly there I would think. Good luck! 👍

 

Speaking of 215's.
This sweet little "T" Bucket was at a local car show.
215 powered, it must have been light as a feather.

 

Cute !!!!! It can't weigh much more than 1,600 pounds.

 

I wanted to put a Jetfire engine on one but just to many other projects to do and never enough time or money.