GM embarked on a vigorous campaign to persuade the major oil companies to offer higher-octane premium gasoline for civilian use. For additional technical information about the cookies used by the analytics service, see their "Google Analytics Cookie Usage on Websites" page; for your reference when reviewing that page, we did not use Google Analytics 4. Sorry! Flathead engines are easy and cheap to manufacture, but they leave a lot to be desired when it comes to performance. . The high-compression four-barrel 394 cu. It was rated at 215hp (160kW) at 4600rpm and 300lbft (410Nm) at 3200rpm. See these additional Auto Museum Online articles on the links below From 1949 until 1951, the 2-barrel carburetor 303 produced 135hp (101kW) and 253lbft (343Nm). 330s were painted gold and had forged steel crankshafts. New brakes, wide Whitewall tires and classic stereo and speaker. Like the test mules, the Rocket 88 was, in the parlance of a somewhat later era, a real bomb. (. Unfortunately, it also creates more friction and means that the average piston speeds are very high, particularly at high RPM, which is detrimental to engine longevity. I might have to find or make some kind of diagram of that. Until well into the 1950s, most engines were undersquare, with a narrow cylinder bore and a long piston stroke. Bore was up to 4.125in (104.8mm) for the largest first-generation Rocket, the 394cuin (6.5L). Powered by the rocket 2bbl. The first generation of Oldsmobile V8s ranged from 1949-1964. 7-27; Michael Lamm, Two Very Important Cars! 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. Comes in plastic display showcase. Lets briefly examine each of them. 2 barrel carburet . 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. 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. These were wedge-head engines with a unique combustion chamber that resulted from a valve angle of only 6. The cookies normally expire in about 10 days, and are not set at all if you do not access any password-protected content. 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. [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. (4,977 cc). A very significant and, at this point, often misunderstood transmission that had a big influence on the character of the cars that used it. The standard 1965-1967 425cuin (7.0L) was called the Super Rocket, and was the most powerful engine option for the Oldsmobile 88 and 98 of 1965-1967. An Ultra High Compression Toronado Rocket version of the 425cuin (7.0L) V8 was made for the 1966 Toronado. Flory. Classic Car Deals (844) 676-0714. The Oldsmobile Rocket 88 is a full-size automobile produced and marketed by Oldsmobile from 1949 to 1999. It depends on your goals. The Oldsmobile 88 (marketed from 1989 on as the Eighty Eight) is a full-size car that was sold and produced by Oldsmobile from 1949 until 1999. The Rocket V8 was the subject of many first and lasts in the automotive industry. This engine was only available in the Oldsmobile Starfire and a performance economy model called the Jetstar I. I have a pretty good handle on Ford Design evolution, but not so much on GM, especially OHV. Big block Oldsmobile Rocket 442 crate engines are also available. The final 1990 configuration was rated at 140hp (100kW) at 3200 rpm and 255lbft (346Nm) of torque at 2000 rpm. 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. [20] Parts peculiar to this system include a toothed disc between the harmonic balancer and the crank pulley, the "adjacent sensor" (an early form of crankshaft position sensor), a special distributor, an engine temperature sensor, and a rudimentary computer mounted inside the car, under the dashboard. Even "modest" restorations can quickly get out of control, cost-wise, so be careful that a $2,000 bargain doesnt become a money pit. Oldsmobile charged $83 for the J-2 option with the three-speed manual (or in the 98),[7] $314 dollars with the automatic.[8]. Each of those engines had its own peculiarities, but they were all in the mold of the Oldsmobile Rocket engine. Collectible Motor Car of Atlanta. Now that we have DISCONTINUED our use of Google Analytics tracking on this website, this cookie no longer functions no additional analytics data will be collected, with or without the cookie. Oldsmobile V8s can be grouped into five "generations.". The first generation 88 was powered by Oldsmobile's 5.0L Rocket V8 engine,. A tracking pixel, sometimes known as a web beacon, is a tiny image file that loads from a remote server; it's a type of embedded content (as is the button itself, which loads from the same domain). Submitting a comment signifies your acceptance of our. 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. Unlike the 76, powered by a straight-six engine, the 88 came with a V8 under the. 18-23; Jim Richardson, Rocket Power: Oldsmobiles 1950 convertibles: The rocking 88 versus the jazzier 98, Special Interest Autos #188 (March-April 2002), pp. R.M. 770-738-7111. Oldsmobile used the popular LV2, a 307-cubic-inch (5.0L) engine, commonly known by the VIN code "Y", from 1980-1990. Were Oldsmobiles ever sold in Brazil in any significant numbers? I would assume a postwar Olds V-8 would have been a real high-rollers car. The Rocket, along with the 1949 Cadillac V8, were the first post-war OHV crossflow cylinder head V8 engines produced by General Motors. 1949 Oldsmobiles proclaimed that they had Futuramic styling (theres even a Futuramic badge on the front fenders), but it was updating a basic body introduced in 1941. Flory, J. Owned that vehicle till 1970 and traded in due to a bad dual chamber fuel pump for $350. You see, this 1957 Golden Rocket 88 Holiday two-door hardtop, with the J-2 setup and only a few more than 30,000 actual miles, is owned by his daughter and son-in-law, Jan and Tom Hummer. Model: 1949 - 1960 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 Engine/Motor: V8 Horsepower: 135 Torque: 283 Pros Cons Design Let's try and forget the full-size Oldsmobile 88 models that were produced all the. It was offered in the Hurst/Olds version of the Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais and in the 4-4-2 version of the Oldsmobile Cutlass Salon. The oil industry wasnt interested, nor was the auto industry, nor it must be said was the contemporary American public. All of this was occurring from about 1948 thru the first half of the 50s. 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. 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. The demise of Olds is yet another dreary episode in the ongoing story of GM losing its way. Me at the age of 70 in the back seat with a 21-year-old blond. Talk to the experts. If the fluid reservoir was empty, a complex double-float and valve assembly in the Turbo-Rocket Fluid path would set a second butterfly (positioned between the throttle butterfly and the turbocharger) into the closed position, limiting the amount of boost pressure. Phone: 480-285-1600. The practice of keeping model names alive even though applied to a vehicle with little in common with the original seems to annoy no one but me, [example Impala], why not keep division names alive and apply them to selected models. The super-fuels the engineers wanted would probably have added even more. Bore was up to 4.0in (100mm) and stroke was increased to 3.6875in (93.66mm) for 371cuin (6.1L). (Valve spring, spring seat / retainer placement too? The wp-donottrack_feed cookie, which controls a blog feed, was set by accessing the dashboard menu for the WP DoNotTrack plugin (which we do not currently use on this website); this cookie normally expires in about one year. 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. 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. 26-33. Some Oldsmobile employees detested that name, but it remained strongly associated with Oldsmobile well into the 1960s. [13] It could also be fitted with high-compression cylinder heads from the Morgan +8. 4 speed hydromantic transmission. Some early 307s were painted GM Corporate blue, but most were painted satin black. However, my research has of necessity stretched back somewhat further than that and not just to the late 40s but, in tracing company histories, at least as far back as 1903 and the curved dash Oldsmobile. in. 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. ), If one was trying to tally how many Rocket engines were built in Olds cars in 1949-50, do you have those numbers? This 1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 has the Deluxe trim with a dashboard clock; Deluxe models cost $78 more than the standard-trim version. The FirePower, Buick Nailhead, and Chevrolet V-8s didnt exist yet. Being ahead of your time or having a short season is not the same as being overhyped, and since the muscle car category in general is as much about hype and point of view as substance, I think thats an important consideration. Presumably this says something about the cars place in the culture. Required fields are marked *. Bore was 3.75in (95mm) and stroke was 3.4375in (87.31mm). The following are turn key engines available . The turbocharger fitted to the V8 engine was a small-diameter Garrett T5 model with integral wastegate, manufactured by Garrett AiResearch, and produced a maximum of 5psi (34kPa) boost at 2200rpm. The Rocket would only get bigger, not smaller. R.M. (4,705 cc) and were designed to take advantage of research that had been done by GM Research VP Charles Kettering on high-compression engines (of which well have more to say below). The original Oldsmobile V8 was to have been marketed as "Kettering Power" after chief engineer Charles Kettering, but company policy prohibited the use of his name. 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). He saw the potential in an engine design offering increased compression. 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. edu/~wkovarik/ papers/fuel.html, accessed 30 May 2008, and Henry Ford, Charles Kettering, and the Fuel of the Future,' Automotive History Review #32 (Spring 1998), pp. When it comes to Oldsmobiles from 1957, the hardtop was the second-most-popular body style, with 49,187 units produced. After logging in, the wp-settings-UID cookies store the logged-in user's configuration settings, while the wp-settings-time-UID cookies record the time those configuration settings were last set; again, there may be multiple iterations of each of these cookies, which normally expire after about one year. (Those pages do not currently discuss the storage of data in your browser (or other user agent) using technologies other than cookies, e.g., in web storage.) Your email address will not be published. The typeface used for the labels in the author-created diagrams is Liberation Sans, one of the Liberation Fonts (version 2.00.1 or later), which are copyright 2012 Red Hat, Inc., used under the SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1. (I quess that would be total Olds minus Olds 76 model.). 26-31; Roger Huntington, 1965 Engines, Motor Trend Vol. Then in 1955 Chevrolet introduced their ohv V8 (as did Packard, Plymouth and Pontiac) and changed the game again. in. 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. 1956 Oldsmobile 88 4dr St Rod, new gas tank, new brakes and tires, rebuilt front end, good body, new paint, nice patina, good original interior, rebuilt . About . Road tests were conducted later that year and the new V8 went into production a few days before Christmas 1948. [22] This was the first engine to use the smaller Rochester Dualjet two-barrel carburetor, the only carburetor used on the 260. The shape of a flatheads combustion chambers also limits its maximum compression ratio (the amount the fuel mixture is compressed before burning). It was installed in the Oldsmobile Light Eight and was related to the Cadillac flathead V8 engine. 1, 3-5; www.azoldsclub. I was aghast at the ad campaign, This is not your Fathers Oldsmobile. Features Power Transmission: 4 Automatic Hydra-Matic Production Figures Handling 1949 Averages Ate Up With Motor's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy may be revised from time to time. Just didnt have any power. An engines static compression ratio is the ratio of the swept volume of each cylinder to the volume of the combustion chamber; the higher the ratio, the more the engine compresses its fuel mixture before combustion. Skinner and Wolfram tried again in March 1947, having decided that alternative engine configurations were impractical, and this time managed to secure production approval from GM president Charles E. Wilson. The Generation II V8 ended production in 1990. Oldsmobiles companion make, the Viking had a horizontal-valve V8 with two-plane crankshaft in the early thirties. They were all painted Bronze and had V and G stamped on the cylinder heads. The 403 is fundamentally the exact same block as an Oldsmobile 350 V8, however it features a larger bore. 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. For sale 1967 Oldsmobile Delta 88 custom, 2 door hardtop. 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). 1750 Enterprise Way Suite 109 Marietta, GA 30067. Trim Rocket 88 1951 Oldsmobile 88 Futuramic 88 Rocket 303 V8 Hydramatic custom $16,900 Each engine in this generation is quite similar with the same size block and heads. The early Rocket V8 weighs a bit over 700 pounds (318 kg) and had an SAE gross rating of 135 hp (101 kW). The second generation of Oldsmobile V8s was produced from 1964-1990. [citation needed]. $410.00 shipping. 10-17, 56; Richard M. Langworth, 1954 Packard Pacific: Last of the Great Straight Eights, Special Interest Autos #51 (May-June 1979), reprinted in The Hemmings Book of Postwar American Independents: driveReports from Special Interest Autos Magazine, ed. The LG8 was a modern 307cuin (5.0L) High-Output derivative of the LV2 produced from 1983 to 1987. hi, i have a engine with thename oldsmobile rocket on it, where can i see what sizethe engine is, 305, 394 plse i need this info as i want to rebuild this engine, thanx. There were 64 1st Gen sold in the last 5 years. Diagram of a typical pushrod/rocker-arm layout of an overhead-valve engine. The engine was designed by Charles L. McCuen, who later had a hand in approving the Rocket engine for production. I will let you know soon. Even in markets where fuel is substantially more expensive than in the U.S., fuel efficiency is widely regarded in purely economic terms. OHV engines can also support much higher compression ratios. Your email address will not be published. Adding turn signals, backup lights, windshield washers, and heater tacked an additional $112 to the price these items wouldnt be standard for several more years. Home / Cars for Sale / Oldsmobile / . The Oldsmobile 350s made from 1968-1976 have heavy castings, beefier crankshafts, and better flowing heads. This problem did not appear until the engine had over 50,000 miles (80,000km) on it. The icing on the cake was that fuel consumption was reduced by about 10% compared to the old L-head engine. First, their volumetric efficiency is poor. These cookies manage your cookie and privacy preferences. A BRILLIANTLY written article! The Nash was driven by Roy Graham a wrestling referee at Dallas Sportatorium who also had the Nash dealership in Corsicana TX. Oldsmobiles reign as the hottest performer in the land proved to be short-lived. iThemes is one of the Liquid Web family of brands; iThemes and Liquid Web are trademarks of Liquid Web, LLC.). 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. The popularity of the flathead Ford engines depended heavily on the first two qualities. I came here to pick up some information for a book Im writing and was pleasantly surprised to find more than I bargained for. 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. In short, the flatheads breathing ability is only mediocre. 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. The same year, an Olds 88 won the grueling 2000-mile-plus Carrera Panamericana road race in Mexico. Its unclear at what point Oldsmobile engineers became aware of the Cadillac engine or how much they knew about it. A smaller 260cuin (4.3L) V8 was created for the new Oldsmobile Omega in 1975 by decreasing the bore to 3.5in (89mm). (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. U.S. Pat. Ford, Chevy, Dodge and Mercury were the top sellers and I believe Oldsmobile would come in 5th or 6th place. Where is the plate located? The new, mid-sized Oldsmobile Rocket 88 went on sale February 6, exactly seven weeks after the 98. (6,460 cc), which was about the limit of the original block design. The 88 model remained in production for a whopping 50 years and over ten. One by one, every other American manufacturer brought out its own OHV V8 engine: Chrysler and Studebaker in 1951; Lincoln in 1952; Buick and Dodge in 1953; Ford and Mercury in 1954; Chevrolet, Pontiac, Plymouth, and Packard in 1955; and AMC in 1956. 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