hello, my name is aaron, me and my buddy justing just bought a 1970 olds f85. we know it has a 350, long tube headers and a eldebrock carb. i probally mispelled that but yall know what i mean. we seariously need help. the body is in great shape (unless we find something when we have it media blasted). but there are a few parts we are having trouble finding. we need the driverside quarter window, and the rail that the passanger front window sets in. and if anyone could let me know where i could get a wireing diagram for the engine compartment that would be greatly appreciated as well. But the big stuff we need help with is how to build a rocket. we both have built chevys in the past and i have built a few nissan vg engines but this whole olds is a new game to both of us. we think someone has already tried to build the engine but we caint tell cause of the giant exhaust leak coming from the crushed headers. could anyone tell us how to tell if the 350 is stock or not before we take it to a machine shop and have them tear it apart. thanx in adavacned

 

Where in Cali are you guys? I'm in San Jose. If you're close by I would be willing to lend a hand.

 

the great (not really) oceanside, we do alot of the work on the car on camp pendleton at the hobby shop.

 

Ahh.......... you guys are WAAAAAY down there.

 

yupp down in the pits of hell

 

Sempi Fi guys. I am also new to Oldsmobiles but here are a few suppliers that may help you out.

http://www.supercarsunlimited.com/

http://www.fusick.com/

http://www.thepartsplaceinc.com/home.asp

 

Welcome to CO. Without actually dis-assembling the engine you may have difficulty determining if the engine has been re-built or not. The external parts could have been slapped on without a rebuild (carb, manifold, headers, etc). Heck, the heads may have been re-done without a complete rebuild so even if you find aftermarket rocker assemblies that would not be a diffinitive indicator, the engine may have a newer camshaft. Hard to tell. I can say that the edelbrock carburetor is not stock. As far as build recommendations go, I can't give you an idea for two reasons. Not enough information on your goals/budget/etc. and I am not qualified even if you had provided that info. Go ahead and post that info and someone can help you though. I would also recommend that you go over to Realoldspower.com and read their forum on engine builds. They have pages and pages and pages there and after about two hours of reading you may have a little better idea on what you would want to do. Please keep us updated and post some pictures too.
edit: two sources of Oldsmobile related parts would be Kanter and Fusick, both of them are on the web.

 

Welcome you will thank me later for this.

18436572 the wrong way

 

We to the site guy's. First off get yourselves copies of the Oldsmobile body and shop manuals. You can find them on e-bay and other internet sources. They will have you wiring and vaccum diagrams plus tons of other helpful information. Also be detailed in your questions not general and add pictures they help us understand your can and questions better. Good luck

 

Welcome to the site. We look forward to seeing pics.

 

Richard, we can't help it if Chevrolet doesn't know which way a distributor should turn!

Aaron/Justin- you can get a reprinted 1970 Olds Chassis Manual that will have COLOR wiring diagrams and detailed drawings of how things are laid out. There is also an Assembly Manual available based on the original factory assembly drawings and prints and well worth the investment. You can always sell it after you finish the car.

If this is an F85, it's a post coupe, right? I think you can get the quarter window and door window guide from any 68-72 GM A-body 2-door post car (Chevelle, Cutlass/F85, LeMans/Tempest, Skylark/Special).

The key to Olds engines is to remember they're designed for torque, not 7000+ rpm horsepower.

 

 

im working on getting the pics up, today we are pulling the engine and im starting on the rewireing of the engine bay, unless someone can point me in a direction of where to buy a wireing harness. and can anyone tell me what gears are in the rearend or how to find out what gears are in the rearend.

 

Count the teeth is the only absolute on the gears.

stock harnesses
http://www.wiringharness.com/

 

If this is the case...I might have the glass you are looking for. I will check to make sure I have it if we can get confirmation the glass will work. Military discount...you pay shipping...you can have it. Comes out of a 68 F85 pillared coup. PM me and we can figure logistics out.

 

Finding a good unbuggered used harness might be an adventure, and they're different between V8 and 6-cylinder cars. You can get reproduction engine wiring harnesses but I don't know what cost is now. M&H Electrical Fabricators, Lectric Limited and Rhode Island Wiring Service are three manufacturers that come to mind, but I expect you can get them thru Fusick, Year One and other vendors.

On rear gear- get you a wire brush and scour the grunge off the RH axle tube. The two or three letter code is stamped into it, usually a few inches from the center section, and I've seen them on back side, front side and top side of the tube. Find the code and we can decode it for you. My guess is if it's factory, it's somewhere between 2.93 and 3.23.

*edit- Richard's link to M&H shows they have the 1970 F85/Cutlass/442 V8 engine harness for $108 and forward lamp harness for $170.

442 have internally regulated alternators and there's a little difference in the wiring from F85/Cutlass with external regulator, so specify whether you're using internal or external regulator alternator. If the wiring's already fubared I'd make the changeover to the later style internal regulator unit and use one for a mid-70s Cutlass with airconditioning. It'll save a lot of dicking around with a voltage regulator.

 

I found out after I ordered my harnesses from Year One that this is the vendor they use (stickers in the box). I could have saved myself about $40 on the price of the harnesses.

And since they are in LA you could just drive over and pick them up.

Make sure to get BOTH the engine and front light harnesses. This will take care of all of the essentials under the hood. They are clipped together and bolted to the bulkhead at the fuse box.

I can post pictures of my old ones that I removed last moth if you want me to. Just let me know.

 

today turned into a crappy day, while justin was at work someone backed into the front fender of the olds, so anyone know where we can get a fender, there are none of those cars out here in a junk yard.

 

How bad is it? Can it be banged out and repaired? Surely there are still some 70 Olds A-body cars left in yards out there. A 71-72 fender will work, but there are a few differences in the hood opening area that only a purist would really be concerned about. There's also the repop route if it comes to that.

I guess the biggest thing I'm wanting is for you to not get discouraged and give up and get rid of the car, because of some jerk's stupidity and carelessness. Was it parked on base when it happened? you could really put somebody's *** in a sling if it was.

Keep us posted.

g

 

yes it was parked on base when it happened and the guy that backed into the cutlass is going to make an insurance claim to get it fixed. but our only concern is that with where the dent is we dont know if they are going to try to repair it or just replace the intire finder. we really want as little body filler as possible. but who knows what lies beneth the crappy black paint thats on the car. but if anyone can help us locate a driver side back quarter window that will would fit would be great. tomorrow (sunday june 21st) we are installing a radio and speakers so we should have time to take a few pics and ill try my best to upload them but im about as computer smart as i am oldsmobile smart. any help on any thing would greatly be welcomed. i still caint fingure out how to pm someone.

 

To PM click on their name next to their post and a box will come up with several options. One of them is "Send a private message"

To post pics

At the bottom of the reply box hit "Go Advanced"
Scroll down below the reply box and hit "manage attachments"
A new box will pop up.
Hit "Browse"
then select your pics and hit "upload"
wait a few seconds then close that box AFTER the pics have uploaded.
The you can check to see if everything is Ok by hitting "Preview Post"

 

Chad- just checked the parts book and 1968-72 Olds A-body post coupe 77 body styles quarter glass is the same.

Aaron- be prepared for some chin music from the insurance company on an old car that from what I'm reading isn't licensed yet. Being military may help.

Where's home, jarheads? If you ever station in VA or NC, holler at me.

 

well rocket raider home for me ( aaron) is the great (well sometimes great) state of alabama, and justins home is iowa. and now some really bad news... well im going to try to add pics to tell the story but if it dont work then i will just finish in a little bit. wish me luck.

 

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...lbumId=2654892 i hope that link works, justin is the blond guy doing the look at my wheels pose and aaron is the dumb f**ck trying to lift the car.... and we only thought getting hit was the bad part of the weekend. and this was one heck of a way to spend the weekend of your 21st

 

 

thanx for posting those. im not sure if you can tell from the pics but the lug studs broke in half while we were riding down the road.

 

Well- happy 21st anyway. Celebrate it for what it is, not for the stupid **** that happened to you. Guy only turns 21 once in his life. 'Bama? You and I speak the same language as noted in my location.

Gawdamighty. Somebody must have put the mojo on those lugnuts when they put that wheel on. That or used the wrong lugnuts for aluminum wheels and tightened them too tight.

Check that car over close and see if there's any remnant of bright yellow paint in the trunk or other hidden spot. Possibly a closeted F85 Rallye 350- going by that OAI hood and sport mirrors. Also look for W45 on the body data plate underhood.

Or could it be... ONE OF THEM? You hardcore Olds freaks will know what I mean... Li'l small-block Rocket screamer.

 

ok, i caint look for the w45 because some jack off painted over everything, and i mean everything. and yes the yellow is there and yes it is a 350 rocket (for now). but if you look in the trunk some jack off painted the trunk like the mexican flag. talk about ticked when we saw that. our plans are put a 455 in it then get the body soda blasted and we are going to repaint it black then add yellow stripes on the deck and the cowls of the hood. but anyone know where we can get a set of headers. the ones we have are crushed because of the jack off that headed the front springs so the car is so low the hit on every freaking speed bump.

 

oh yea and where can we get the right hood pins for that hood

 

Take a look here http://rides.webshots.com/album/331548807oyIEaL and
here http://www.phoenixgraphix.com/gm/1970r350.htm and see if yellow w/ black stripes does it for you.

You should be able to see the W45 stamped into the data plate, and the PNT code should be -- as the Sebring Yellow paint was a non-standard Olds color.

Fusick www.fusick.com or Parts Place www.thepartsplaceinc.com will have the OAI hood pins. I think you can download their catalogs as a pdf file.

g

 

well, actually we are going with a diffrent approach, we havent decided just yet but its either going to be all black ( kind like it is now) with yellow stripes or dodge green with black stripes.

 

well with all the bad stuff thats happend this weekend there is a bright out come. i found a 455 with tranny for a streight trade. and its local. so hopefully by the end of this week we will have a freshed up 455 in the car. so i guess every grey cloud has its sliver lineing. and i was looking at the rearend for the code or whatever to get decoded to find out what gears are in the car and there are no markings on the rearend. i tried to scrape all the gunk off but still couldnt find anything. it is a 12 bolt housing if that helps.

 

Lot of 12-bolt Olds housings had 10-bolt carriers in them- just one of the many weird things they did. Does the rear end cover have the oil channel in it like Chevy, or not? You may have to do like Richard suggested and count teeth on the ring and pinion. You can try rotating the rear wheels and see how many times the driveshaft turns for one revolution of the tire.

Though, even if it's a Rallye 350, I'd be surprised if it had deeper than 3.23 .

 

i dont know how to embed a vid here so here is the funniest vid you will ever see and it is a great lesson on how not to move a cutlass when all 5 yes ALL 5 lug studs snap on you going down the road. please enjoy we can now look back at it and laugh but we were a lil bit lit. but its funny as hell.

 

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...nnelID=5143764 thats the link i ment to post in the above post my bad.

 

Great vid. Some of those field mods never work out. That motor sounds pretty good, definitely not a stock cam. Hope the 455 trade works out.

 

That's a funny video.

 

Damn, youngun- they teach you that in Combat Engineer school?

Redneck engineering at its finest. Being able to work with what you have will take you a long way when you return to civilian world...

g

 

Brings back memories of shade tree operations from the past god thats funny, been there done that

 

well, im glad everyone enjoys the video, but the whole reason it fell was the little cup thingy that goes on top of the jack was missing so the car just slid right off. but amazingly when the car fell the jack was in the up position and missed everything. no damage to radator or fans ( dual eletric) or anything. suprised the crap out of us.