In 1949, your main alternative new car choices were the bug-ridden 49 Ford and Mercury, whose engines would need a lot of hopping up to get anywhere near the level of the 88. Initially the paint was red, except for metallic blue in the Toronado applications; 1970-1976 versions were metallic blue at first, then nonmetallic blue. It was advertised with gross power and torque ratings of 312hp (233kW) at 4600 rpm and 415lbft (563Nm) at 2800 rpm. 15-16 MPG is great even by modern standards, for a 300+ HP engine. California residents also have the Right to Opt-Out of the sale of their personal information see the Do Not Sell My Personal Information page. Biggest mistake I still think about that automobile. Power was 81 hp at 3000 rpm. Second, the combustion chambers of a flathead engine have a lot of surface area; more surface area means more opportunities for the heat of combustion to escape (which engineers call heat rejection) before its had the chance to do any useful work. Bore was increased to 3.875in (98.4mm) (same as the later 283 Chevy) and stroke remained the same at 3.4375in (87.31mm). The Rocket V8 was the subject of many first and lasts in the automotive industry. Crazy Egg is a trademark of Crazy Egg, Inc. Optimizely is a registered trademark of Optimizely, Inc. in the United States, EU, and elsewhere. The Oldsmobile Cutlass, Rocket 88, and other classic models remain very popular among car collectors and Oldsmobile fans. Flory. For all the administrative and login cookies described here, "xx" will be a cryptographic hash while "UID" will be the administrative user's user ID number in this website's WordPress database. It used a very oversquare 4.057in (103.0mm) bore and Oldsmobile small-block standard 3.385in (86.0mm) stroke for 350cuin (5.7L). C. G. It was rated at 350 horsepower (261kW) and 440lbft (597Nm) of torque with a Rochester 4-barrel, and 360hp (268kW) with the L69 tri 2-barrel option in 1966. Both the Cadillac and Oldsmobile design teams were strongly influenced by the work of GM research chief Boss Charles Kettering, who had been working on high-compression engines since the end of World War I. A popular modification made to the 403 to increase power was to swap on early Oldsmobile 350 heads to boost compression. Only the center carburetor was mechanically connected to the throttle pedal, and it was the only one equipped with a choke. Can you point me to any information on GM camshaft design methodology? 1962 OLDSMOBILE 88 CORE SHORT BLOCK ENGING 8-394 860673. The idea of keeping the brand names on a model-specific basis is not illogical (although again its contrary to current brand management philosophy), but it would present all manner of practical problems, not least that it would invite the ire of people who had previously paid money for a sales franchise for that brand. Each PayPal payment or donation button may also incorporate a tracking pixel called "pixel.gif" (which loads from paypalobjects.com). $200.00. Cadillac used a distantly related engine which appeared in three different sizes through to the 1962 model year; though the Oldsmobile and Cadillac motors were not physically related, many lessons learned by one division were incorporated into the other's design, and the result were two engines known for their excellent power-to-weight ratio, fuel economy, and smooth, strong, reliable running. Liberation is a trademark of Red Hat, Inc. registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and certain other jurisdictions. Deciding Burrells ideas had promise, Wolfram and Skinner organized a new advance design group to develop a new overhead-valve (OHV) V8 engine and assigned Burrell to lead it. (The idea of Olds as the import-fighter brand obviously had its own problems.) Apart from the Oldsmobile Aurora, the Aurora V8 was also used in the Shelby Series 1. Regarding production tallies, in MY1949, Oldsmobile built 288,310 cars, of which 95,556 were the 76, meaning the remaining 192,754 (66.9% of production) were 88s and 98s with the new Rocket engine. Oldsmobile like mine are real popular in australia. The high-compression four-barrel 394 cu. The commonest type was the Super 88 4-door sedan, Hydramatic equipped. The Rocket Engine Story by One Who Was Thereby Gibson Butler. at 1,800 RPM Transmission: Three-speed manual standard, Hydra-Matic optional Wheelbase: 119.5 inches Crane said Bouvy was Engine/Camshaft designer of the 1949 Cadillac V-8. I dont know what its survival rate is, though. Whether you are looking for a Rocket 455, a 350, or maybe an Oldsmobile 403 engine for sale, we have the ideal replacements ready . This 1952 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight is a well-priced classic that gives you some of the best styles around. The icing on the cake was that fuel consumption was reduced by about 10% compared to the old L-head engine. 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. The engine proved so popular, the division's 88 models were popularly called Rocket 88s. (author diagram). Sending my 53 olds to Dallas for overhaul. 49 rocket 88 was my first car back in 1964. Most components and accessories are interchangeable. 1948 & 1949 Cadillac Fastbacks, Special Interest Autos #11 (June-July 1972), pp. Call me a square,[I am a square], I say you dont denigrate a proud heritage. 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. 1, 3-5; www.azoldsclub. True-to-scale detail. Olds veterans claimed the Burrell group was completely unaware of the Cadillac project until quite late in the development of the Oldsmobile V8. During those few brief years, both the hot rodder and the racers weapon of choice was either the Cadillac 331 c.i. The Rocket 88 won six of nine NASCAR late-model division races in the 1949 season and 10 of 19 races in 1950. Sunday - Closed. (PayPal.com, PayPal, and all logos related to the PayPal services are either trademarks or registered trademarks of PayPal, Inc. or its licensors. (Ten of the 13 88s that entered that race managed to finish, itself an impressive feat.) In the mid-1980s, hot rodders discovered the 215 could be stretched to as much as 305cuin (5L), using the Buick 300 crankshaft, new cylinder sleeves, and an assortment of non-GM parts. They normally expire in just under one year, but you can delete the cookies in your browser (or other user agent) at any time. In a flathead engine, the camshaft is in the block, driven directly by the engines crankshaft. The engine was designed by Charles L. McCuen, who later had a hand in approving the Rocket engine for production. in. [[[Chevrolet Corvair#First generation (19601964)#{{{section}}}|contradictory]]]. These cookies expire in about 15 days if the user clicks "Remember Me" when logging in; if not, the cookies normally expire when the user closes their browser (or other user agent), or, failing that, within about two days. The super-fuels the engineers wanted would probably have added even more. Cookies whose names begin with "_ceg" are associated with the Crazy Egg web analytics service (which is subject to the Crazy Egg Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy). ), This cookie was set if you clicked the "Disable Google Analytics Tracking" link to prevent the Google Analytics service from tracking your use of the Ate Up With Motor website. 78-79; and Josiah Work, 1949 Rocket 88: This Is Not Your Grandpas Oldsmobile, Special Interest Autos #139 (January-February 1994), reprinted in The Hemmings Book of Oldsmobiles, pp. But it DID have a fairly illustrious season on the track and in road racing. The new V8 was designed with plenty of extra room in the block for future displacement increases, but Gilbert Burrell and his team actually hoped that Oldsmobile could return to the 287 cu. A cheaper solution (pioneered by Buick back in the days before General Motors was formed) was to leave the camshaft in the block, as in a flathead engine, but add long metal pushrods to allow the camshaft to actuate the valves remotely. . Sorry! (At present, this setting does NOT affect the payment or donation buttons that may appear on portions of the site's administrative dashboard, nor does hiding the box affect any cookies that may have already been set). The Nash was driven by Roy Graham a wrestling referee at Dallas Sportatorium who also had the Nash dealership in Corsicana TX. The engine had 10.25:1 compression and a single-barrel carburetor. Note the quadrant for the Hydra-Matic atop the steering column. SPECIFICATIONS Engine: OHV 90-degree V-8, cast-iron block and heads Displacement: 303-cu.in. 34-41; Arch Brown, Richard Langworth, and the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide, Great Cars of the 20th Century (Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, Ltd., 1998); F. Gibson Butler, History of the Rocket Engine, originally written 15 November 1977 and excerpted in Desert Rocket Report: Newsletter of the Oldsmobile Club of Arizona October 2004, pp. The Olds engine performed well and was very smooth running but didnt have as much scat as the modified flat head. 1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 88. The 307 "Y" produced 148hp (110kW) and 250lbft (340Nm) in 1980-1984 models and 140hp (100kW) and 250lbft (340Nm) in 1985-1990s. When it comes to Oldsmobiles from 1957, the hardtop was the second-most-popular body style, with 49,187 units produced. 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. They may persist for up to two years. Oldsmobile 1949 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight History Gallery Valuation Rocket 88 (1949 - 1953) 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 These are standard specifications - not necessarily specifications for the vehicle (s) in the photo (s). 1955 Oldsmobile 88. The FirePower, Buick Nailhead, and Chevrolet V-8s didnt exist yet. Owned that vehicle till 1970 and traded in due to a bad dual chamber fuel pump for $350. 96. 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. It is arguably the best engine Olds made in the muscle car era, although it never made it into a "muscle car". (The basic Eighty-Eight was rarer, accounting for only about 35,000.) [citation needed]. 15 results per page. Submitting a comment signifies your acceptance of our. From 1949 until 1951, the 2-barrel carburetor 303 produced 135hp (101kW) and 253lbft (343Nm). . 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. Have a 47 98 custom cruiser. 50,000 cars were imported in 1952, US brands comprising some 90% of that total. 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. 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. The Olds 403 was used by Buick and Pontiac in addition to Oldsmobile until its discontinuation after 1979. [2] [3] In 1929, Oldsmobile installed a 90 degree monobloc flathead V8 engine in the Viking companion brand before the monobloc was used in LaSalle and Cadillac vehicles from 1929-1931. I have an interest in the history of Camshaft design tildentechnologies.com. Clarke (Cobham, England: Brooklands Books Ltd., ca. The LG8 was a modern 307cuin (5.0L) High-Output derivative of the LV2 produced from 1983 to 1987. 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. The B-body Oldsmobiles rode a 6-inch (152mm) shorter wheelbase and were 11 inches (279 mm) shorter and 3.6 inches (91mm) narrower than the C-body 98 and weighed 250 pounds (227 kg) less. mill or the Chrysler Firepower hemi of the same displacement. The overhead valve engine concept offered both power and efficiency, with an improvement in fuel economy (estimated at about 10 percent better than prior engine designs). The wahFontColor and wahBgColor cookies, which are set if you alter the site's color scheme, normally expire after about 14 days, but you can remove them immediately by clicking the "Restore Defaults" button on the sidebar. However, former Cadillac engineer Harry Barr, who led the development of Cadillacs first OHV V8, later asserted that Charles L. McCuen, then GMs vice president of engineering (and the former general manager of Oldsmobile) had ordered Cadillac chief engineer Jack Gordon to show Cadillacs OHV design to Oldsmobile carburetor engineer Tony Wauters. 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. Lets briefly examine each of them. There will typically be several such cookies, each beginning with "gdpr" (e.g., gdpr[allowed_cookies], gdpr&5Bprivacy_bar&5D, and gdpr[consent_types]). They had long since lost genuine autonomy anyhow. Motor Trend (July 1950) mentioned getting 18.8 mpg at a steady 50 mph and a 1950 Olds entered in the Mobilgas Economy Run bettered 20 mpg. 12 (December 1964): 36-47; William Kovarik, Ph.D., Charles F. Kettering and the 1921 Discovery of Tetraethyl Lead In the Context of Technological Alternatives, originally presented to the Society of American Engineers Fuels & Lubricants Conference, Baltimore, MD, 1994, revised 1999, www.radford. Many were shared among other divisions, but each design was unique: GM later standardized on the later generations of the Chevrolet design: Northway sourced Oldsmobile Flathead V8 (1916-1923). Such cookies and/or stored data items may be set by various domains (such as, though not necessarily limited to, youtube.com; youtube-nocookie.com; googlevideo.com; ytimg.com; google.com; accounts.google.com; www.googleadservices.com; and/or doubleclick.net, which is part of the DoubleClick advertising service, also owned by Google LLC). 1956 Oldsmobile 88 Rocket The engine design for the Rocket 88 came from GMs chief researcher, Charles Kettering. A nominal 360 hp was claimed in 1967 when equipped with a W30 camshaft, 4-barrel, and outside air induction, 502 of which were factory produced. A diagram of where the hydraulic or solid lifter fits in a flathead might be helpful to readers. Accessing the login page sets the wordpress_test_cookie, a session cookie that tests whether the user's browser (or other user agent) will allow the cookies needed to log in to the administrative dashboard; this cookie normally expires when the user closes their browser (or other user agent). I can see it now. Yup Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Pontiac plus some GMC vehicles, some 1954-on Chevrolet pickups, 19501954 Lincolns, a bunch of independents (Hudson, Kaiser, Nash), Rolls-Royce, and Bentley, among others! 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. Two-barrel carburetion was standard; all high performance 324s came with four-barrel carburetors. More-or-less stock Rocket 88s continued winning their classes at the drag strip well into the 1950s. For the Rocket 88, Oldsmobile came up with a 303 cubic inch V8 capable of a maximum 135 hp and 283 lb-ft of torque. I have read and accepted the Privacy Policy However, the cookie may remain on your device for as long as the settings of your browser (or other user agent) permit. The real standard of the world. Rockets, Vikings and Your Old Man. The end of the Korean conflict sent the country in a foreign exchange crisis that lasted until the middle 90s, cutting imports and providing the basis for national production. Bore was up to 4.125in (104.8mm) for the largest first-generation Rocket, the 394cuin (6.5L). It has been noted to go up to $100,000 at some auctions. Oldsmobiles companion make, the Viking had a horizontal-valve V8 with two-plane crankshaft in the early thirties. Ate Up With Motor, its logo, and other associated icons and graphics are trademarks and/or service marks of Aaron Severson dba Ate Up With Motor. Coincidentally, Cadillac had been working since 1936 on a very similar OHV engine to replace its familiar monoblock flathead V8. 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. In Brazil, OHV V8 engines are commonly known as motores roquete (rocket motors), no matter which producer. Hemmings Motor News has been serving the classic car hobby since 1954. It kept the retired 425's 4.126in (104.8mm) bore to produce between 275 and 400hp (205 and 298kW; 279 and 406PS). Made of diecast with some plastic parts. Skinner liked the idea, but it had to be approved by corporate management, which brought a new round of objection from Cadillac the 98 was already a close match for Cadillac in performance and a V8-powered B-body Oldsmobile would undoubtedly be faster. (These cookies may not be set at all for administrative users unless they access the publicly visible portions of the website and/or update their consent settings e.g., by accepting an updated version of the Privacy Policy. These changes increased torque to 250lbft (340Nm) but lowered power to 170hp (130kW), while lowering the RPM at which peak power and torque was achieved. There were 64 1st Gen sold in the last 5 years. Some of the photos in our Avanti article, and those of our story on the Packard One-Twenty, were taken at the same time. Most 394s used 2-barrel carburetors, but special high-compression 4-barrel versions were available starting in 1961. Like all other GM divisions, Olds continued building its own V8 engine family for decades, adopting the corporate Chevrolet 350 small-block and Cadillac Northstar engine only in the 1990s. The bore was so wide that the cylinder walls were siamesed, as in the Chevrolet 400 V8, with no space for coolant to flow between the cylinders. We'll start with Olds and return to Caddy in another article. Even modest restorations can quickly get out of control, cost-wise, so be careful that a $2,000 bargain doesnt become a money pit. Im not a mechanic, so Im afraid I cannot provide any kind of repair advice. The Oldsmobile 350s made from 1968-1976 have heavy castings, beefier crankshafts, and better flowing heads. Popular price guides put Lansing's mid-1950s cars at an average of $16,500 for a four-door all the way up to $72,900 for a two-door convertible. Most contemporary road tests at least mentioned fuel consumption. Complete Engines for Oldsmobile Delta 88, Motor Mounts for Oldsmobile 88, Fuel Injectors for Oldsmobile 88; Additional site navigation. The placement of the valves also means that the combustion chamber has a smaller surface area and thus greater thermal efficiency some 20% better than a comparable flathead. If we have enabled multi-factor authentication (which requires an authentication code as well as a password to log into the administrative dashboard), the iThemes Security plugin may also set the itsec_interstitial_browser cookie during the login process. in. Still, the same quandary exists that faced Gordon Burrell and Jack Gordon in the late forties: New technologies in this case, direct injection, turbocharging, and even hybrid powertrains can benefit both performance or fuel economy and emissions, but one still almost always wins out over the other. It has been purported that there is a 403 Oldsmobile block and cast that has solid main webs that may have been equipped in vehicles such as the Pontiac Firebird equipped with a towing package, but there are currently no clearly documented surviving examples. in. CC-1634303. 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. Unlike the 76, powered by a straight-six engine, the 88 came with a V8 under the. The 1954 88 and Super 88 V8s used an 8.25:1 compression ratio for 170 and 185hp (127 and 138kW) and 295 and 300lbft (400 and 407Nm), respectively. 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. The engine is also known for its reliability, smoothness and quietness. It has gained popularity among young muscle car lovers. Comments may be moderated. (For more information about our discontinuation of Google Analytics tracking on this website, see the "Online Tracking" section of the Privacy Policy. Unfortunately, they were also thirsty and a pain to tune, which was not at all what wartime buyers wanted, and after the war there was a gradually increasing array of cheaper alternatives. The Chevrolet Corvair Spyder Turbo, likewise a forced induction i.e turbo-powered car, predated the Oldsmobile Jetfire Turbo, however by only a few weeks[citation needed], thus being the world's very first turbocharged commercially sold vehicle. 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. For example, the stock (non-high-output, VIN "Y") 307cuin (5.0L) in the 1983 Oldsmobile 98 was a mere 140hp (100kW), although in that year a high-output model (VIN "9") was available producing a nominal 180hp (130kW), at approximately 245lbft (332Nm) torque. Clarke (Cobham, England: Brooklands Books Ltd., ca. That July, Burrell was promoted to chief motor engineer for the division. Some things, like the Hydra-Matic, arent so bad, but trim pieces can be a major pain, and even the early Rocket engines can be challenging at this point. Flathead engines are easy and cheap to manufacture, but they leave a lot to be desired when it comes to performance. Although Oldsmobile (as well as Buick and Pontiac) had used eight-cylinder engines for more than a decade, Cadillac was not happy about the idea of Oldsmobile offering an OHV V8 and convinced corporate management to deny Oldsmobiles request for development funds. Most 425s were painted red, though the 1966 and 1967 Toronado units were light blue. The 76 lingered for one more model year and then was dropped entirely; the division wouldnt offer a six again until 1964.
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