49leadsled

I am a small hot rod shop owner and I have been given the opportunity to restore a 1948 Oldsmobile(I have never touched a 1948 Oldsmobile in my life). The car was delivered with the engine completely tore down to the block and head. I am in the middle of putting the engine back together I noticed the metal flanges on the manifold and I counted that I was 1 single flange short is this factory? I have been looking all over the internet and I am not seeing anything that helps me. Can I remove them and just use a new manifold gasket? What is the purpose for them? Any help would be great. Thanks again for any help.

47 Convertible

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Did you do a search on the various forums here for repair/rebuilding of flathead Olds engines? If nothing you might also want to contact Olds clubs as I suspect those who faithfully restore the 40s cars frequent those rather than classicoldsmobiles.com. Just Google Oldsmobile Collectors Clubs. There appear to be 3 or so.

More detail and some photos would probably help get responses. Pics of flanges and where they fit would help. For example are you talking about flanges that sit on outside of manifolds and are a means of fastening manifolds to the block? There are a couple of photos of 'oval' shaped flanges on rebuilt flathead Olds engines on the Internet but the detail isn't great.

Not many on CO-- even on the Vintage Olds forum, rebuild the flathead 8s or 6s though the 6s are more frequently encountered. Most of us who are 'frequent flyers' on the Vintage Olds forum of CO are probably as puzzled as you are. Seems like its easier to scour ebay and craigslist to find whole engines than to find parts.

I know this doesn't answer your question but hopefully points you to other sources on this site and other sites that might be more productive.
Jerry

Ozzie

More information is needed. I can't tell what to search for. The header says "Need help on a 49". The text says it's a 1948. Neither says whether it's 6 or 8 cylinders. Pictures might help. Usually a manufacturer doesn't spend money on a part unless it has some purpose.

Tedd Thompson

If you don't get a good response here(a picture would help a lot) give the AACA forum a shot. It isn't a very active forum but there focus is in original restoration, perhaps they can help you out. ... Tedd....http://forums.aaca.org/

49leadsled

I apologize on the header being wrong. This build has gotten me puzzled because I came into the build after 2 other shops had started it. So all the research I have found closest to this 48 is all 49 info so I stare at 49 info while building a 48. I am re-wiring under the hood and dash and that is a small headache in itself(no fuse panel and at one spot 3 wires solder to each other then all go in different directions). The engine is a 257 inline 8. The first picture is one of the 3 flanges I have that only fit in the block(picture 2). My finger in picture 3 shows the other flanges that fit in the manifold. Thank you for helping my brain has not been on this planet for a bit. I had the left side of my skull caved in a couple months ago(sucker punch).

49leadsled

I was able to find a replacement kit at Obsolete Oldsmobiles. Now I just got to get them here and that should help me solve this puzzle. Thanks for giving the advice.

Ozzie

Thanks for the clarification. I'm afraid that I can't help much. The oldest parts book I have is from Jan. 1955. It lists parts for the straight 8, but the drawings are for the V-8 which started in 1949. There is a drawing for the 6 cylinder engine which shows a similar part. On the 6 cylinder engine it is considered as part of the manifold gasket set. The drawing for the 6 cylinder shows the "protrusion" facing the manifold. The gasket set (group 3.270) for the 1932-1948 8 cylinder exhaust manifold is shown as ternesteel asbestos, part number 555401. Surprisingly, no gasket set is shown for the intake manifold for the 6 cylinder or straight 8 (but is shown for the V-8), though there is a listing for the straight 8 intake manifold itself. It would be best if you got to hear from someone who is familiar with the straight 8 engine. My experience begins with the V-8.

47OldsWy

Let me know if you still have questions after you get your kit. I have a inline 8 and can go look at it and see what it has for flanges and how many. It looks like those are your intake gasket/ flanges and there should be four of them.

49leadsled

I have 3 of the 4 intake flanges. Then I have 2 doubles and the middle double one on mine doesn't have anything. The new kit shows 3 doubles and 4 singles. I made a gasket set for the manifold but now I am wondering if that was even necessary. Man this car is driving me crazy I am working on installing the fan shroud which was already disassembled and now I get to figure how it gets reinstalled. Any of you got pictures of the fan shroud already installed or know how to install it.