Fired my Oldsey today...

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JeffKeryk

JeffKeryk

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Jan 9, 2010
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Los Gatos, CA
My wife's father was a Clinical Psychologist (UCLA PhD) at the famous Napa State Hospital in Napa, CA.
In 1965, he was looking for a family car; he went to the Oldmobile Dealer in Redondo Beach and bought a special order 4-4-2.
Anyways, when he died 10 years ago, he gave us his beloved Oldsey; 94K, always garaged. It has to be one of the most original '65s left.
It has been sitting for more that 2 years in our condo's garage not far from our home.
Tomorrow termite sprayers will need to get into the garage so I had to move the Olds.
I bought an Interstate battery from Costco, primed the carb, aired up the tires. Fired right up. Yippie!
I am starting a plan to get the car up to snuff.
You Oldsmobile fans will recall the Jetaway 2 speed with the switch pitch stall converter, aka the Junk-away.
I will swap it out for a good Turbo 350; I understand it fits right in.
I put an Edelbrock manifold and Q-Jet on when I got the car due to the leaky, worn out 4-Jet.
There is a legendary guy in the area, "Henry at Ole's Carb" who will rebuild it for me.
Please excuse the dust...

I am jazzed. Dig the cool curb finder behind the rear tire...
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I took my driver's test in one that looked just like this one-except different color.
 
The GM metal gas tanks tend to rust on top, and only leak if you fill it up a lot or park on a hill. That can be a real PIA when you have a full tank and discover that it is unsafe to park anywhere near anything valuable, and you have to get it fixed before you can park it anywhere near anything valuable. Also sometimes they may be hard to get a hose down the fill neck to drain that full tank. I know you use to be able to do that with some of the older vehicles. But some of them have a piece in the fill that stops a hose.

For many years I only kept a few gallons in my garage kept 1985 Olds 88 coupe (mainly because I did not want a lot if gas in it because I only drove it a mile every week-end and did not want a lot of gas to get old and go bad). After many years when I really needed to use it for a week or more when the normal daily driver had to have work done on it, I put a lot of gas in it for the first time in a long time and when I parked it on a hill got an unwelcome surprise. Two cars that could not be use, and now the second one was a rolling fire hazard that required attention soon. And a hose would not go down the fill neck.

Jeff, seriously, if you are going to keep it, for now do not ever have the total amount of gallons in the tank be more than a few gallons. And when you have the money and your mechanic has the time, drop the tank and inspect the top of it well before ever putting a lot of gas in it.

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Another thing to be concerned about when the years have rolled by, is that the radiator my have corroded inside to the extent that it is no longer up to getting rid of all the heat that that big engine has to get rid of.

And if you are going to do the radiator while you are at it, you might as well do the heater core.
 
Jeff, some of those older engines require some modifications to the valves if you are going to put many miles on it with todays unleaded gasoline. I do not know if the one in your 65 is one of them, but you should look into that if it has not already been done.
 
Some older engines had solid lifters, if it has that it may be more demanding of the oil, and would require the valves to be adjusted sometimes. Again if do not know if your 65 is one of those.
 
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The interior is trashed. 55 years, rats, etc.
OK, TBT, there is an old time ulpholstry guy in the East San Jose hills, Mr. Morgan. He is licensed by Cadillac and Rolls Royce for restorations. The fitrst time he helped me, with the Vette, he had a 1950 Cadillac Convertible owned by Neil Young. The top was gone, just the beat up frame. There are no patterns; he was making one from scratch. He was half way done with the Caddy's interior.
He installed the seatcovers and carpet on the Oldsey. On the Vette, he cut the seat foam from block. I doubt Mr. Morgan is still alive.
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In 1964, Jim DeLorean stuffed the 389 into the Tempest A-Body and wrote GTO all over it. To keep up, Chevrolet put thgether the Chevelle SS and Olds took the Holiday Coupe with Police Special configuration and 4 speed. With front and rear sway bars, this was the best handling A-Body. 7:75x14 bias ply white walls baby!
4-4-2 was 4 speed, 4 barrel and dual exhaust. But the small block cars could not run with the torque monster Pontiacs; in '65 Chevy used the 396 and Olds destroked the 421 to a 400. Automatics were offered in '65, so it became 400 cu in, 4 barrel and dual exhaust..

The 400 engine uses hydralic flat tappet camshaft. There were no solids. I MAY pull this one apart and install a hydrolic roller setup. People talk about hardened valve seats, but this car will not see many miles, so stock is fine. I had hardened valve seat installed in the Vette. It was more necessary because the valves were sunk into the heads.

Regarding the fuel tank, this is a California car, built at Fremont and always garaged. Interestingly, I have owned 3 cars built there: the 4-4-2, a '93 Toyota 4WD at NUMMI and our Tesla Model 3. I have the build sheet for the Olds.
The only rust is a tiny amount at the base of the rear window. Our '68 Corvette, on the other hand, had leaky pin holes in the tank and was a mess.

The trunk has an original tire for the spare and the houndstooth mat in perfect shape. Yes, several bodies will easily fit.

Thanks for all the kind words. This car is Sue's connection to her father; I can never sell it. If it were a Goat or Chevelle SS, it would be worth much more even though this is a very rare car in comparison.
You wanna borrow any of the other cars? Sure, just keep your hands off my Oldsey.
 
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