It's kinda slow over here in the Toro section so I figured Id start a post about my newest Olds

It's a 69 Toro I picked up in Michigan for $800.00.

The original 455 was locked up solid and wouldn't turn even with a 4' long breaker bar...

Someone also stole the original big valve C heads and stuck some J (JUNK) heads in it

#1/2 rods looked to be seized welded to the the crank

Oh yea it sure sucked pulling the motor from the transaxle with it locked up

But we got it out and the Oldsmobile gods smiled down on us

I picked up a complete 66 Toro 425 for $100.00 from an 82 year old dude that bought his 67 Toro new and still owns it and another 67

The 425 had been in his garage for 20 years, the old guy oiled the cylinders and turned it over every once in a while...

I pulled the heads and the pan when I got it home. It looks like a runner

Here's some pics for all you Toro Junkies...

 

Interesting story.......just one picture though, of a wheel standing Cutlass.

 

The back window is there, the guy couldn't get it to go up...

I've got my work cut out for me here but it should be a cool old cruiser when Im done 8)

I'll try to post more pics as the work progresses...

 

$800 for car
$100 for motor
$100 oil n' gas.

Wheel stands in reverse.......
Priceless.

 

I just came back from the boneyard and there is a 67 Toro with a "C" headed engine. Most likely a 425, right? I ought to go snag it.

 

I always wanted a Toro of this vintage.... keep progress and updates coming! There are a lot of cobwebs and moths in the toro section!

 

Always liked the look of the toro's. Good price too. leaves lots of room for the build $$

 

Steve O, Clean looking car, congrats on your purchases/project!

Captjim... if the price is decent by all means snag that motor! P.S. just for grins look closely at that 1967 Toro's distributor. The UHV setup was an option on the Toro's too. John

 

I think the 69 was one of the best looking Toro's made. This one looks really solid. I think you made a very good buy. Keep us posted. You will not meet yourself coming down the road. How did you find a 40 year old car in Michigan with what appears to be very little rust.

 

The guy said he bought it in Chicago and seized the motor on the way home

Then it was towed out behind his house...

A friend of his who is a "mechanic" said it was locked up solid.

It looked like they started to try to pull the motor but soon realized how hard that was gonna be with it seized

I had a tow truck and cash, and time to go get it... He said he had just posted the ad on Craigslist when I called him

It has some rust on the bottom of both front fenders, and a little in front of the rear quarters, But it should be easy to patch up.

The frame, floors, rear quarters, trunk, and wheel wells are very good. Also very good around the windows.

There is a little rust there Im gonna have to fix but nothing really bad... Thank god it doesn't have a vinyl top

Both bumpers need to be rechromed, but all the trim and glass is nice...

The paint is a little faded, interior is black vinyl...

It looks like it just turned 102,000 miles. All the AC stuff is there including the belt

The trans looks to be newer, nice clean fluid, the guy said it shifted good...

The interior is gonna need seat covers and a carpet to be nice...

There is not one dent on this car It appears to have been garage kept and well cared for most of it's life

I've always liked the look of the 66-70 Toro, I was looking for a really nice one, but this one found me

I guess Im gonna have to try to save it...

 

Going price is $200, plus the little extras like balancer, manifolds, etc. But, I gotta pull it.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y_PwZIV7GQ

 

Had to do a little overhauling

This is the very nasty 73 455 block I started with... It sucked getting this thing clean with a pressure washer, degreaser, brake cleaner, ect.



The bores looked good though, 2-3 thou taper...

I had an NOJ (new old junk) 214/224 cam and lifters that's been going strong in 3 other engines so far that I wanted to use...

So I decided to put the guts from the .921 425 in the 455 block...

Nothing but the finest NOJ parts were select fit She's a little loose at .005/.006...



The crank and bearings looked perfect so the bearings were kept in order and reused... It got new rings, and a like new NOJ timing chain.

Also put on a new HV oil pump, it was the most expensive part of this high end build



Compression works out to 9.76 to 1 figured with a 5 cc dish. Im not sure exactly what size that dish is but it cant be much bigger than 5 cc's.

Dynamic compression seems a little high at 9.175, I wonder how it will run on pump gas..



She's gonna go or she's gonna blow



Next I gotta pull the big valve B heads apart. Hopefully they can be cleaned and ran as is



Maybe do some minor porting on em...

 

I expect to see that running by the end of the weekend!....nice work so far! Oh, and I dig the greasy car parts on the white chairs and greasy driveway...brings my back!!!

 

Yea I have a lot of nice $$$ cars, and an Olds powered boat... But I do enjoy playing with my Junk

I still have a lot of work to do before it's gonna run

 

If you have any question, feel free to email me.

 

Thanks I'll keep you in mind If I ever get to the car

My "minor port job" turned into a major port job

The intakes are done though

I hit water on one of the big valve B heads

I tried heating it up to 625 degree's on my grill, then I mig welded it... After I ground the weld off it was cracked

Now its my test head

Thanks To J for the other set of small valve B's from the junk pile



It took the roof as far as I could go, right through the rocker stud holes...



On the push rod pinch I carefully kept going bigger until I saw one start to smoke a little from the inside.

I stopped right there and did all the rest of the ports to the same size, no sleeves...



A lot of bowl work...

These are inner and outer ports...





Im not sure all of this is worth anything because I have to run the Toro intake and exhaust manifolds... I guess Im gonna find out

I still gotta polish the chambers, Then it's on to the exhaust...

I think Im gonna try melting some ZA-12 and some aluminum, If I can get it to melt Im gonna fill the crossovers...

I don't have enough ZA-12 to do the whole job so Im gonna have to try to make a mix with some old scraps of aluminum...

Maybe I can melt my beer can collection

 

I got my getto smelter out

First I preheated the whole Pile O' Junk to about 600 degree's



Then I got my ladle and my heater going...







I tried melting a cut off TH400 transmission ear, an AC compressor fitting, some Coor's light cans, and the leftover ZA-12 from my last fill...

The AC fitting and the trans ear melted into the brew 8) The beer cans wouldn't melt though so I strained em out and had another beer... I was getting hot in front of that heater

I decided to try tossing a Q Jet choke housing in there. It melted pretty quick, but it blended in nicely. Still not enough metal though

So I grabbed a junk air horn and smashed the **** out of it with a BFH... I enjoyed it cause I hate Q Jets







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Now I get to grind all this crap out

 

Blacksmithing a rebuild?
Gotta love it!
That pipe cap looks like it came from a powerplant. LOL! I've seen them.
Nice project car! I like the Toro's from that era.

 

The pipe cap came from the forge shop I used to work at, I was a real Blacksmith for 19 years

 

Hopefully this junk will pass a pressure check

If it does they will be getting hardened exhaust seat inserts, maybe guides, new 2.07/1.68 valves, and milling on all three sides...

I had to sleeve one pushrod hole on the intake port...











I tried to take some pics of the sleeve I put in but their not very good...



I used 1/2" od thinwall bronze tubing and good old JB Weld



Now I can start porting the Toro intake and exhaust manifolds