Because the high-octane fuels necessary to take advantage of really high compression ratios were not yet available, Burrell ordered the displacement of the production engine (known internally as 8-90) increased to 303.7 cu. (Google, Google Analytics, and other related marks and logos are trademarks of Google LLC. The iThemes Security plugin may also set the itsec-hb-login-xx cookie, which helps to protect the site against "brute force" hacking attempts; that cookie normally expires in about one hour. The output of the 307cuin (5.0L) wasn't particularly high in terms of horsepower. Submitting a comment signifies your acceptance of our Comment Policy please read it first! In any case, the early postwar period saw the emergence of the California customizing/hot rod scene; the advent of the fiberglass kit car body manufacturers such as Bill Tritts Glaspar (Tritt was retained briefly by GM as a consultant in 1951 when they were considering building a lightweight fiberglass-bodied sports car); and the birth of modern motorsport in the US with the founding of the SCCA and the advent of road racing as the most popular form of competition. Im wondering how many weeks of informative evening reading I can enjoy from your articles. Free shipping on many items | Browse your favorite brands | affordable prices. "Affordable Aluminum V8's [sic]", in, Turbo Hydramatic 425 FWD 3-speed automatic, "1975-79 Cadillac Electronic Fuel Injection", "Oldsmobile 403 Engine - Car Craft Magazine", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oldsmobile_V8_engine&oldid=1138357918, 1968 and 1969 400s shared the Olds big-block standard 4.25in (108mm) stroke with the 455 but used a, 19681970 Oldsmobile Toronado GT (W34), 400hp (300kW), This page was last edited on 9 February 2023, at 06:46. (Illustration: Pushrod2 2007 IJB TA at the English Wikipedia; resized and changed file format (from PNG to JPEG) 2008 by Aaron Severson and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license). Plus, there is a cool mix of a preserved chrome cruiser with the right upgrades to make it more enjoyable for modern times. The Oldsmobile 350s made from 1968-1976 have heavy castings, beefier crankshafts, and better flowing heads. Compression ratios never approached the 12.5:1 level that Kettering had proposed, peaking at about 10.5:1. The early Repco engines produced up to 300bhp (220kW), and featured new SOHC cylinder heads and iron cylinder liners. Each of those engines had its own peculiarities, but they were all in the mold of the Oldsmobile Rocket engine. [12] The Oldsmobile engine was very similar to the Buick engine, but not identical: it had larger wedge combustion chambers with flat-topped (rather than domed) pistons, six bolts rather than five per cylinder, and slightly larger intake valves; the valves were actuated by shaft-mounted rocker arms like the Buick and Pontiac versions, but the shafts and rockers were unique to Oldsmobile. Kettering had retired in 1947, but since he was still alive (and active as a GM consultant), naming the engine after him was against GMs corporate policy, so Sherrod Skinner suggested the Rocket name instead. You never mentioned it but the 50 Olds in the photo has the single piece windshield. However, the cookie may remain on your device for as long as the settings of your browser (or other user agent) permit. This problem did not appear until the engine had over 50,000 miles (80,000km) on it. It was used by every domestic GM automobile marque except for GMC and Saturn. Diagram of a typical pushrod/rocker-arm layout of an overhead-valve engine. Two-barrel carburetion was standard; all high performance 324s came with four-barrel carburetors. The cylinder head is little more than a cover for the top of the cylinder, which is why L-head engines are commonly called flatheads. The Vimeo Cookie Policy does not currently disclose the normal durations of the cookies and similar technologies the Vimeo platform uses, but it appears that some may remain in your browser (or other user agent) for as long as your settings permit. We'll start with Olds and return to Caddy in another article. In certain cases, multiple iterations of either or both of these cookies may be set. Bore was increased to 3.875in (98.4mm) (same as the later 283 Chevy) and stroke remained the same at 3.4375in (87.31mm). One or more wp-saving-post cookies may be set while creating and/or editing posts or pages, to help manage version control and the autosave feature; these cookies normally expire after about 24 hours. There may be more than one of these cookies, particularly if you access several password-protected posts with different passwords. The Rocket 88 won six of nine NASCAR late-model division races in the 1949 season and 10 of 19 races in 1950. Is there a serial number plate on the engine? This 1952 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight is a well-priced classic that gives you some of the best styles around. Red Hat is a trademark of Red Hat, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. . . This 1955 oldsmobile deluxe 88 is a 2 door holiday coupe.. 2 tone twilight blue and polar white colors with ivory and blue interior. Following the Automobile Manufacturer Association ban on factory supported racing, power ratings went down for the 1959 and 1960 88 models: 270hp (200kW) and 390lbft (530Nm) for 1959 and 240hp (180kW) and 375lbft (508Nm) for 1960. Even a heavier 55 Super 88 with the later 324 (like the one tested by both Motor Trend and Motor Life it looks to be the same car) could manage up to 19 mpg at a steady 60 mph, dropping to 1213 mpg in mixed use. The Ford/Mercury flathead V8 was of course a popular choice up until the early part of the decade (and had been since its introduction in 1932) but the introduction of the new overhead valve V8s Cadillac and Oldsmobile in 1949 and Chrysler and Studebaker in 1951 were a game-changer for the performance crowd. He saw the potential in an engine design offering increased compression. The new, mid-sized Oldsmobile Rocket 88 went on sale February 6, exactly seven weeks after the 98. The engine proved so popular, the division's 88 models were popularly called Rocket 88s. Classifieds for Classic Oldsmobile Rocket 88. Assuming your car has its original engine, its the version Oldsmobile called the Skyrocket, which was differentiated from the base Rocket by its four-barrel carburetor and gross ratings of 330 hp and 440 lb-ft of torque. I might have to find or make some kind of diagram of that. The engine had 10.25:1 compression and a single-barrel carburetor. This was much flatter than the 23 of the small-block Chevrolet and 20 of the Ford small-block wedge heads. in. Unlike a Mustang or a later Chevy, where theres a thriving business in replacement pieces, finding parts for an Olds of that vintage isnt necessarily easy these days. (Author diagram). Compression was up again in 1956 for 230hp (170kW) and 340lbft (460Nm) in the 88 and 240hp (180kW) and 350lbft (470Nm) in the Super 88 and 98. 4 speed hydromantic transmission. From 1950 through 1974, the 88 was by far the most lucrative line throughout the division, largely due to the entry-level versions like the 88 and the Dynamic 88. Engineers today are wrestling with questions very similar to those faced by their counterparts of 70 or even 90 years ago. The new V8 was also more powerful: Rated output climbed from 110 to 135 gross horsepower (82 to 101 kW) while torque increased from 213 to 283 lb-ft (289 to 383 N-m), allowing an Oldsmobile 98 with Hydra-Matic to reach 60 mph (97 km/h) in a brisk (for 1949) 13.5 seconds, with a top speed of 96 mph (155 km/h). (4,214 cc) L-head straight eight. Your email address will not be published. For 1957, the basic 88 was officially named Golden Rocket 88, taken from Olds' 1956 Motorama two-passenger show car. C. G. About six weeks after he started work, Burrell showed his designs to Oldsmobiles chief engineer Jack Wolfram and Oldsmobile general manager Sherrod Skinner. com/ newsletter/ 2004-10_OCAZ_Newsletter.pdf, accessed 15 June 2015; Helen Jones Earley and James R. Walkinshaw, Setting the Pace: Oldsmobiles First 100 Years (Lansing, MI: Oldsmobile Division of General Motors Corporation, 1996); John Gunnell, ed., Standard Catalog of American Cars 1946-1975, Rev. Then in 1955 Chevrolet introduced their ohv V8 (as did Packard, Plymouth and Pontiac) and changed the game again. If you change certain aspects of the site's appearance using the accessibility sidebar, it may set these cookies to manage and remember your settings. It shared the same compression ratio of the Toronado Rocket at 10.5:1. By the time the battle reached a temporary ceasefire at decades end, the average power of the typical passenger car had (at least on paper) more than doubled. Required fields are marked *. 1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 88. 98 J-2. Although I often wondered why GM needed three mid-level brands, since you already have them, why not preserve them, especially since it is embarrassing and demoralizing to lose one, now two. Most 394s used 2-barrel carburetors, but special high-compression 4-barrel versions were available starting in 1961. Its output of 0.45 hp per cubic inch was 7% better than the 0.42 hp per cubic inch of the popular and widely produced 100hp (75kW) 1949 Ford Flathead V8. This car has the pushbutton radio, which cost about $96. R. V. Hutchinson, who was an Oldsmobile engineer prior to transferring to Product Studies #5 when C. L. McCuen was appointed 1st Vice President in charge of engineering, designed and build a heavy in-line 6-cylinder (850 lbs.) Change Background Color (Note: This option sets cookies on your device to manage your color settings; see the Cookie Notice for details. The oil industry wasnt interested, nor was the auto industry, nor it must be said was the contemporary American public. R.M. Oldsmobiles companion make, the Viking had a horizontal-valve V8 with two-plane crankshaft in the early thirties. The first was that Ketterings engine required fuel with a considerably higher octane rating than any contemporary pump gasoline; better fuel economy was hardly useful if you could only fill up at airports. Your email address will not be published. Well, Oldsmobile had had a hard time finding its way once GM started trying to define the identities of each of its brands as the _______ brand (which, it must be said, was fast becoming the most meaningful distinction between them. Sunday - Closed. 9, No. All the chrome is perfect interior all original all the glass is good.all the gauges work. Oldsmobile Rocket 88/98 GM General Motors, which remains the world's largest producer of pushrod OHV engines, started the revolution when Oldsmobile and Cadillac began developing their OHV engines in 1945. So, its not particularly surprising that a highly tuned flathead Ford would be stronger than a stock 1950 Olds 303. All other trademarks and/or service marks are the property of their respective owners. Sorry! Raises and Lowers - 4 Leg Suspension - New Paint Job 2 Tone Black & Copper - New Starter - New A/C - Cloth Bench Seating - New Battery - New Flowmaster Exhaust - MSD Ignition - Headers - $5000 of Mechanical Work Just Done PLEASE DON'T SUBMIT COPYRIGHTED CONTENT YOU AREN'T AUTHORIZED TO USE! CC-1634303. This was the only engine offered in 1923, when the Model 47 continued alone. This setting is stored in your browser (or other user agent) in the gdpr[consent_types] cookie described in "Privacy and Cookie Preferences" above, so if you delete that cookie or access the Ate Up With Motor website from a different device, browser, or user agent, you will need to adjust this setting again if you still wish to hide the box. Concern about diminishing oil reserves is nothing new in the twenties, some engineers feared the U.S. would be out of oil within 30 years but it was not until the seventies that those fears entered the public consciousness. This is incorrect, in the context of wider vs. narrower bore sizes with the same displacement. The Rocket-powered 98 was already a very respectable performer, so installing the new engine in the lighter body made for quite a hot number. Owned that vehicle till 1970 and traded in due to a bad dual chamber fuel pump for $350. Will drop by again. [citation needed] Compared to the V6, the 260 was also smoother-running, and far more durable. Two-door fastbacks, like this one, were known as Club Sedans; the four-doors were called Town Sedans. For sale 1967 Oldsmobile Delta 88 custom, 2 door hardtop. Flory, J. In1953, at seventeen years old I had a 1932 Ford 5 window coupe that with the help of two uncles that ran auto repair shops installed a 1950 Oldsmobile engine that I got out of a wrecked car, into my coupe. With an 8.75:1 compression ratio and a 2-barrel carburetor, the Olds 215 had the same ratedhp, 155hp (116kW) at 4800rpm, as the Buick 215, with 220ftlbf (300Nm) of torque at 2400rpm. Note the quadrant for the Hydra-Matic atop the steering column. It was the only GM engine to meet US emission standards using a carburetor all the way up to 1990. 2027; John Katz, Racing the 88, Special Interest Autos #145 (January-February 1995), reprinted in The Hemmings Book of Oldsmobiles, p. 88; Jamie Kitman, The Secret History of Lead, The Nation March 2000; Allen Hunt, Horsepower from Detroit, Part IV: Cadillac, Oldsmobile and the horsepower race, Car Life Vol. But it DID have a fairly illustrious season on the track and in road racing. (The basic Eighty-Eight was rarer, accounting for only about 35,000.) In a flathead engine, the camshaft is in the block, driven directly by the engines crankshaft. It was used in most Oldsmobile models, as well as those from Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Pontiac. The high-compression four-barrel 394 cu. The Oldsmobile engine was then pretty new, a new 88 was expensive, and Im guessing that getting a decent crate or junkyard engine would cost almost as much as a decent Cadillac V-8. Completely restored it, all original. If not, it may be a little more difficult, short of pulling the heads. They call mine the black ace and they have a club division in the oldsmobile club of america. If you look up the concept of MEP (e.g. The 4 barrel versions had a larger diameter harmonic damper, the 2 barrel only a balancer hub without the rubberized outer ring. As far as Im aware, it was basically similar to the parking pawls of Dynaflow or Ultramatic, although those transmissions had a separate position on the quadrant for it. These were wedge-head engines with a unique combustion chamber that resulted from a valve angle of only 6. Simplified diagram of the cylinder of a flathead (L-head) engine. 1948 & 1949 Cadillac Fastbacks, Special Interest Autos #11 (June-July 1972), pp. However, the only badging identifying it as such was a simple "88" underneath each taillight. At the risk of shameless self promotion, you might also be interested in the recently revamped article on the early Hydra-Matic, which most Oldsmobiles of that vintage had. Compression ratios of 9.0:1 at 310hp (230kW) or 10.25:1 at 360hp (270kW) were available in the U.S. A special 1965-1967 425cuin (7.0L) V8 was the Starfire engine. Nonetheless, both Oldsmobile and Cadillac deemed it a good compromise. As the diagram below illustrates, an L-head engine has its valves in the side(s) of the block. New brakes, wide Whitewall tires and classic stereo and speaker. Im not sure where you stop4 more new engines in 1958 (Chevy W, Mopar B, FoMoCo FE, Lincoln M.E.L. (6,460 cc), which was about the limit of the original block design. *. at 1,800 RPM Transmission: Three-speed manual standard, Hydra-Matic optional Wheelbase: 119.5 inches in. Oldsmobiles first postwar engine was born during the UAW strike that shut down GM production from November 1945 through March 1946. If you use the buttons to make a payment or donation, the PayPal services will set additional cookies (not listed here) to manage your PayPal login and transaction data (and potentially also for various other purposes, e.g., user analytics and/or advertising). It was the first mass-produced OHV V8, in 1949. Were Oldsmobiles ever sold in Brazil in any significant numbers? In short, the flatheads breathing ability is only mediocre. 96. [citation needed] The 1977-1980 350s have lighter castings, including a thinner block with large "windows" in the main bearing bulkheads,[citation needed] and have crack-prone cylinder head castings[citation needed] manufactured by Pontiac Motor Division (castings are marked "PMD"; these heads were also used on the 260),[citation needed] and a lightened crankshaft. GM embarked on a vigorous campaign to persuade the major oil companies to offer higher-octane premium gasoline for civilian use. 1750 Enterprise Way Suite 109 Marietta, GA 30067. The V8 was standard in the new 1949 Oldsmobile 98, replacing the old 257 cu. The 1967 and later versions of the Repco engine had proprietary engine blocks. Overhead valves did not suffer the same problem, which gave them the potential for much higher compression ratios. Vintage lovers are ready to spend any amount of money to get hold of a Rocket 88 of 1949. These taller-deck models are commonly called "big-blocks", and are 1in (2.5cm) taller and 1.5in (3.8cm) wider than their "small-block" counterparts.[1]. Some L-head straight-eights were MORE powerful than early OHV V-8s, although they were getting to the limit of their potential, at least in states of tune that were still reasonably streetable. Moreover, correct tuning was a continual headache. Contact. For engines built during the first part of 1955, the 324 skirted pistons had a reputation for failing due to the cast aluminum skirt separating from its steel interior brace. (. in. Performance modifications included a "hot" camshaft (in reality, just a camshaft used in various applications during the '70s with .440"/.440" lift and 196/208 duration at .050"), stiffer valve springs, a larger vibration damper (same as all '73-'79 350s, 403s, and 455s), a Y-pipe dual-outlet exhaust system, and richer secondary metering rods in the carburetor. The real standard of the world. Some competitors were a bit faster all-out and a few could beat the Olds off the line, but the 88 was one of the fastest cars in America in 1949. I just wanted to know if I have a rocket engine and how can I check if its a 394. (Ten of the 13 88s that entered that race managed to finish, itself an impressive feat.) The 1961 through 1963 Sky Rocket (and 1964 Rocket) was a high-compression, four-barrel 394cuin (6.5L) engine. The development testing, however, had been done using the smaller B-body Olds 76 as a test mule. "Alternative Engines: Part 2--Buick V8", in, Davis, Marlan. Of those sales, 100,273 were the Rocket 88. An outstanding 350 Oldsmobile engine for sale would be perfect in a Cutlass convertible. Clarke (Cobham, England: Brooklands Books Ltd., ca. In MY1950, total production was 407,889, of which only 33,257 were the 76, so 374,632 (91.8%) had V-8 power. The desire to raise compression ratios had prompted Kettering and his staff to develop tetraethyl lead as an octane-boosting gasoline additive in the early twenties (as discussed in greater detail in our article on the 1970-1981 Chevrolet Camaro), but the research staff had been working to raise compression ratios even higher. Produced from 19681980, the Rocket 350 was entirely different from the other GM divisions' 350s. 1959 and 1960 371s used green painted valve covers. You shared that mileage ranged from 12 MPG 18 MPG depending on the year. R.M. I forgot this on one occasion when I was attempting to jump start my 55 Olds; after getting the car rolling backwards, I was rewarded with nothing more than a ratcheting sound when I shifted from N to R. The engine did not rotate and the car did not start. 394s were produced from 19591964 and were available on many Olds models. They had long since lost genuine autonomy anyhow. By late 1956, many Olds dealers learned about the problem. Two distinct versions of the 400 CID engine were made: The 1966-1967 4-4-2 400cuin (6.6L) V8 was a short stroke engine which featured B and C cast large-valve cylinder heads and hydraulic lifters of larger diameter, as well as push-rods of different length and diameter than the standard Olds Rocket V8. SPECIFICATIONS Engine: OHV 90-degree V-8, cast-iron block and heads Displacement: 303-cu.in. I never had one apart to that extent, but my understanding from the theory of operation is that there is a pivoting pawl that will engage a toothed wheel when the engine is stopped with reverse selected. Happy to see someone that not only mentions, but appreciates the early Olds. A slightly larger 307cuin (5.0L) version was introduced in 1980. The factory painted "small-blocks" gold or blue (flat black on the late model 307cuin (5.0L)),[1] while "big-blocks" could be red, green, blue, or bronze.[1]. 8-9; Arch Brown, Similar But Different: 1949 Cadillac vs. 1949 Oldsmobile 98, Special Interest Autos #149 (September-October 1995), reprinted in The Hemmings Book of Oldsmobiles: driveReports from Special Interest Autos magazine, eds. Akamai is a registered trademark or service mark of Akamai Technologies, Inc. in the United States (Reg. If you delete or disable these cookies, your existing preferences will be lost and you may not be able to save your privacy settings for this website. 1956 Oldsmobile 88 45,891 mi 324 Rocket V8 $ 39,995 or $576/mo Oldsmobiles now-famous OHV Rocket V8 engine was in its the beginning when this 1956 Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday hardtop emerged. The Cadillac and Oldsmobile V8s represented the start of several major trends in American engine design. Many modern engines deal with this problem by placing the camshaft in the cylinder head along with the valves (an overhead cam (OHC) engine), but there still has to be some way for the crank to drive the camshaft. Prior to the advent of the 1949 Cadillac and Olds engines, many (though by no means all) U.S. engines were L-head, or side-valve, design. The effective dates of the current versions are: Paid advertisements and/or sponsored links on Ate Up With Motor will be identified with words such as "Sponsor," "Sponsors," "Sponsored Link(s)," "Sponsored Content," "Ad," "Advertisement," "Advertisement(s)," or "Paid Promotion" (and/or by images or icons containing such words). Monday - Saturday: 9-5. The Rocket 88 model name was dropped after 1957. The 303 was produced from 1949-1953. There were 64 1st Gen sold in the last 5 years. Unlike all other 425s, this version was painted slate blue metallic. From 1916 through 1922, the only Oldsmobile V8 was a 246.7 cid L-head of Model 47 with a 233.7 cid V8 that made 60 hp. in. Set an alert to be notified of new listings. By 1952, the 88 was growing inexorably bigger and although Oldsmobile engineers had little trouble getting more power out of the Rocket engine by 1955, it boasted 202 gross horsepower (151 kW) newer, lighter cars soon surpassed its performance. Runs great. Generally, getting up to 1819 mpg on the highway was not unusual for early 50s Oldsmobiles even with Hydra-Matic, although that required a lot of steady-speed cruising at reasonable legal speeds.