On that level, the Oldsmobile Rocket engine didnt make it, but thats with the benefit of hindsight. I had been running a very healthy flat head that had several modifications such as a stroker crank, racing cam an two stromberg 97 carburetors. (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 cookies were previously used by the Google Analytics service to collect information about visitors and their use of the Ate Up With Motor website. 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. First, their volumetric efficiency is poor. Earlier 50s and(I believe)all 49s had the split windshield. As part of its marketing campaign for the Rocket V8, Oldsmobile arranged for an 88 convertible to handle the pace car duties at the Indy 500, with speedway president Wilbur Shaw at the wheel. Note the quadrant for the Hydra-Matic atop the steering column. 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. It was installed in the Oldsmobile Light Eight and was related to the Cadillac flathead V8 engine. An 88 also won the first grueling Carrera Panamericana, the 2,176-mile (3,500-km) Mexican Road Race. 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. 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). Since the valves of a flathead are also in the block, the camshaft can actuate the valves directly. 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 Olds 88 was also one of the fastest automobiles in America at the dawn of the 1950s, and it was the car to beat in NASCAR racing, winning 10 out of 19 races in the 1950 season. "Alternative Engines: Part 2--Buick V8", in, Davis, Marlan. 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. This very open and flat chamber was fuel efficient and had lower than average emissions output. With a 4-barrel carburetor and 10.75:1 compression, the Olds 215 made 195hp (145kW) at 4800rpm and 235lbft (319Nm) at 3200rpm with an automatic. 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). Like the test mules, the Rocket 88 was, in the parlance of a somewhat later era, a real bomb. Apart from the Oldsmobile Aurora, the Aurora V8 was also used in the Shelby Series 1. Thank you! 98. 15 results per page. A special 1963 10.5:1 version was also produced with 345hp (257kW). [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. Some consider Rocket 88, recorded by Jackie Brenston in 1951, to be the first rock and roll song. Biggest mistake I still think about that automobile. A very significant and, at this point, often misunderstood transmission that had a big influence on the character of the cars that used it. Call 800.979.0122, 7am-10pm, everyday. at 1,800 RPM Transmission: Three-speed manual standard, Hydra-Matic optional Wheelbase: 119.5 inches In development, the high compression ratio combined with the charged load created problems with spark knock on hard throttle applications, which led Olds to develop and utilize a novel water-injection system that sprayed metered amounts of distilled water and methyl alcohol (dubbed "Turbo-Rocket Fluid") into the intake manifold air-stream to cool the intake charge. Unless youre building a rod, its often worth it to spend more upfront for a car thats in better condition. 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. 442 . Enables the Support Ate Up With Motor box (which contains an embedded PayPal payment button see the, gdpr[allowed_cookies], gdpr[privacy_bar], gdpr[consent_types], cookieconsent_status, _ga, _gid, _gat, _gat_gtag_UA_6113964_2, comment_author_xx, comment_author_email_xx, comment_author_url_xx, wahFontColor, wahBgColor, a11y-desaturated, a11y-high-contrast, a11y-larger-fontsize, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE__k, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE__default, YSC, YEC, _Secure-YEC, PREF, GED_PLAYLIST_ACTIVITY, CGIC, DV, CONSENT, SOCS, AEC, exchange_uid, id, pm_sess, pm_sess_NNN, aboutads_sessNNN, remote_sid, test_cookie, use_hitbox, _gac_gb_, __gads, _gcl_, _gcl_au, _gcl_aw, _gcl_dc, _gcl_gb, _gcl_gf, _gcl_ha, __gpi, __gpi_optout, __gsas, Conversion, 1P_JAR, ACLK_DATA, GPS, NID, ENID, ANID, AID, TAID, IDE, APIS, SAPISID, DSID, HSD, SID, HSID, SSID, SNID, SIDCC, FCCDCF, FCNEC, FLC, FPGCLAW, FPGCLDC, FPAU, GAPS, GLC, N_T, OTZ, PAIDCONTENT, RUL, TAID, UULE, LOGIN_INFO, Permission, yt.innertube::nextId, yt.innertube::requests, yt-html5-player-modules::subtitlesModuleData::display-settings, yt-html5-player-modules::subtitlesModuleData::module-enabled, ytidb::LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY, yt-player-autonavstate, yt-player-bandaid-host, yt-player-bandwidth, yt-player-headers-readable, yt-player-lv, yt-player-quality, yt-player-volume, yt-remote-cast-available, yt-remote-cast-installed, yt-remote-connected-devices, yt-remote-device-id, yt-remote-fast-check-period, yt-remote-session-app, yt-remote-session-name, application_server_key, AuthKey, DeviceId, Endpoint, HighPriorityNotificationShowCount, HomePromptCount, HomePromptTime, IDToken, IndexedDBCheck, LogsDatabaseV2, P256dhKey, Permission, PromptTags, RegistrationTimestamp, shell_identifier_key, TimestampLowerBound, yt-serviceworker-metadata, _abexps, aka_debug, clips, continuous_play_v3, embed_preferences, has_logged_in, is_logged_in, jsessionID, player, search_click_position, Searchtoken, stats_end_date, stats_start_date, sst_aid, uid, v6f, vimeo, vuid, _ceg.s, _ceg.u, optimizelyBuckets, optimizelyEndUserId, optimizelySegments, _ga, _ga_, _gac_, _gaexp, _gaexp_rc, _gat_, _opt_awcid, _opt_awgid, _opt_awkid, _opt_awmid, _opt_utmc, _opt_expid, __utma, __utmb, __utmc, __utmt, __utmv, __utmz, _dc_gtm_, AMP_TOKEN, FPID, GA_OPT_OUT, adsense, adsenseReferralSourceId, adsenseReferralSubId, adsenseReferralUrl, adsenseReferralUrlQuery, S_adsense, Conversion, _gac_gb_, __gads, _gcl_, _gcl_au, _gcl_aw, _gcl_dc, _gcl_gb, _gcl_gf, _gcl_ha, __gpi, __gpi_optout, __gsas, id, pm_sess, pm_sess_NNN, aboutads_sessNNN, test_cookie, CONSENT, SOCS, GED_PLAYLIST_ACTIVITY, 1P_JAR, ACLK_DATA, GPS, NID, ENID, ANID, AID, TAID, IDE, APIS, SAPISID, DSID, HSD, SID, HSID, SSID, SNID, SIDCC, FCCDCF, FCNEC, FLC, FPGCLAW, FPGCLDC, FPAU, GAPS, GLC, N_T, OTZ, PAIDCONTENT, RUL, TAID, UULE, wordpress_test_cookie, itsec-hb-login-xx, itsec_interstitial_browser, wordpress_sec_xx, wordpress_logged_in_xx, wordpress_xx, wp-settings-UID, wp-settings-time-UID, wp-saving-post, wp-donottrack_feed, (Archived) Privacy Policy for the Facebook Page for Ate Up With Motor, Rocket Bomb: The Oldsmobile Rocket 88 and the Dawn of the American Horsepower Race, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license, Information Collection and Sharing Notice, Magnificent Kludge: The Rope-Drive 19611963 Pontiac Tempest, Contrary Compact: The Life and Death of the Chevrolet Corvair, "How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services", "Google Analytics Cookie Usage on Websites", "Our advertising and measurement cookies", "Privacy" section of the Optimizely Trust Center, "Cookies and localStorage in the Optimizely snippet". 303CI ROCKET V8, 4SPD AUTO, COOL, ICONIC 50S STYLING, 4-DOOR CONVENIENCE, CLASSY. Even still, the same design philosophy carried with it throughout its production run. Horsepower: 135 hp at 3,600 RPM Torque: 263-lb.ft. It was the seminal American muscle car, predating Chrysler's Hemi-powered 300-C by . Make: Oldsmobile Model: 88 Year: 1956 Engine: 455 Rocket Engine - Turbo 400 - Foose Mags - Airbags Suspension. So, its not particularly surprising that a highly tuned flathead Ford would be stronger than a stock 1950 Olds 303. Powered by the rocket 2bbl. From the 1950s through the late 1970s, each GM division had its own V8 engine family. 15-16 MPG is great even by modern standards, for a 300+ HP engine. 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. Olds were very popular in Brazil but I can t give you any numbers. If you correctly enter the password, the site saves this cookie on your device to allow you access to the password-protected post or page. Get a Oldsmobile crate engine for cars like the cutlass, 88, 98, or the 442.GTO. For more information about what data PayPal services collect and how that data may be used, visit the "Legal Agreements for PayPal Services" page to review the PayPal Privacy Statement and Statement on Cookies and Tracking Technologies that apply in your location (the Statement on Cookies and Tracking Technologies that applies to each region is linked from within the applicable PayPal Privacy Statement). 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. See these additional Auto Museum Online articles on the links below In the mid-1950s, American automakers were engaged in a ferocious horsepower race. 1948 & 1949 Cadillac Fastbacks, Special Interest Autos #11 (June-July 1972), pp. 96. Complete Engines for Oldsmobile Delta 88, Motor Mounts for Oldsmobile 88, Fuel Injectors for Oldsmobile 88; Additional site navigation. . 9 (September 1964), reprinted in Oldsmobile Muscle Portfolio 1964-1971, ed. All generation-2 small-block Olds V8s used a stroke of 3.385in (86.0mm). Output for 1983-1985 was 180hp (130kW) and 245lbft (332Nm). This 1955 oldsmobile deluxe 88 is a 2 door holiday coupe.. 2 tone twilight blue and polar white colors with ivory and blue interior. (The basic Eighty-Eight was rarer, accounting for only about 35,000.) 4-barrel models used 9.25:1 compression in 1957 and 10:1 in 1958 for 277hp (207kW) and 400lbft (540Nm) and 305hp (227kW) and 410lbft (560Nm) respectively. in. In addition, all page headers, custom graphics, button icons, and scripts related to the PayPal services are service marks, trademarks, and/or trade dress of PayPal. $410.00 shipping. . We are known for our high quality,attention to detail and meeting our customers goals. The means exist to do the same work while burning less fuel; the question is whether a meaningful number of American consumers will accept those means while theres still fuel left to burn. All LV2s feature a 4-barrel carburetor. Hours of Operation. To learn more about how Google may use information collected by the Google Analytics service, see their "How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services" page, the "Information for Visitors of Sites and Apps Using Google Analytics" section of the Google Analytics "Safeguarding your data" help page, and the Google Privacy Policy. $8,888 or BEST REASONABLE OFFER. Monday - Saturday: 9-5. The Rocket 88 would vacuum the chrome off V8 Fords (unless the Fords owner had made a substantial investment in aftermarket parts) and it took a semi-exotic like the new Jaguar XK-120 to soundly beat the Olds. All 425 engines were fitted with forged steel crankshafts with harmonic balancers. 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. It was no longer available in cars in 1961. 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. The 88 model remained in production for a whopping 50 years and over ten. iThemes is one of the Liquid Web family of brands; iThemes and Liquid Web are trademarks of Liquid Web, LLC.). (Vimeo and the Vimeo logos are trademarks of Vimeo.com, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. (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). A diagram of where the hydraulic or solid lifter fits in a flathead might be helpful to readers. [13] It could also be fitted with high-compression cylinder heads from the Morgan +8. It was the only GM engine to meet US emission standards using a carburetor all the way up to 1990. Phone: 480-285-1600. 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 Submitting a comment signifies your acceptance of our. Sorry! The original Oldsmobile Rocket V8 soldiered on until 1964, eventually reaching 394 cu. The 324cuin (5.3L) version was produced from 1954 until 1956. Full instrumentation is standard Olds had not yet succumbed to the allure of warning lights. The 425cuin (7.0L) big-block was the first tall-deck "big block," produced from 1965 through 1967. Free shipping on many items | Browse your favorite brands | affordable prices. Off.).) 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. Can you point me to any information on GM camshaft design methodology? This was the only engine offered in 1923, when the Model 47 continued alone. Oldsmobile used the popular LV2, a 307-cubic-inch (5.0L) engine, commonly known by the VIN code "Y", from 1980-1990. NASCAR held nine Grand National races in 1949, of which stock Rocket 88s won six. 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. Richard A. Lentinello (Bennington, VT: Hemmings Motor News, 2002), pp. 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. Where is the plate located? (Ten of the 13 88s that entered that race managed to finish, itself an impressive feat.) Now 70 years old and giving a lot of thought to building me a 1950 Olds casket. In the event we receive any compensation and/or other valuable consideration for any other content presented on this website, the nature of that compensation or consideration will be disclosed as part of the applicable content and/or otherwise adjacent to it. 1, 3-5; www.azoldsclub. We are largest vintage car website with the. 2 barrel carburet . The V8 was standard in the new 1949 Oldsmobile 98, replacing the old 257 cu. A popular modification made to the 403 to increase power was to swap on early Oldsmobile 350 heads to boost compression. 770-738-7111. Oh, and lets not forget the Bonneville speed merchants. The Olds FAQ (www.442.com) has info on where to find and how to decode the engine and body plates for different model years. Have never been an American car guyI cut my teeth on old British roadstersbut I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed your well-written, informative article on the history of the Rocket 88. Cant wait to get my Wool Fedora and get it back on the road. A new Cadillac was dramatically more expensive and also heavier, and Buicks with the big straight eight engine probably had Dynaflow. The FirePower, Buick Nailhead, and Chevrolet V-8s didnt exist yet. Im currently writing a book on Yankee iron of the 1955-1973 period (the true golden age of the American Car in the modern era.) (WordPress and the WordPress logos are registered trademarks of the WordPress Foundation in the United States and other countries. (4,213 cc) L-head six. Bore was up to 4.125in (104.8mm) for the largest first-generation Rocket, the 394cuin (6.5L). Did G M make a 1949-50 olds 88 or 98 4 door fastback ? 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. The PYPF cookie normally expires in approximately four weeks, the 01A1 cookie in approximately one year. in. I can see it now. 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. 394s were produced from 19591964 and were available on many Olds models. In the spirit of trying to improve a fantastic article. Some early 307s were painted GM Corporate blue, but most were painted satin black. Some people fit these motors into a modified classic car or muscle car because of Oldsmobile GM reliability and performance horsepower advantages. [citation needed], Introduced in the middle of the 1957 model year,[6] the 1957 and 1958 J-2 Golden Rocket had three two-barrel (twin choke) carburetors with a vacuum-operated linkage. 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]. I came here to pick up some information for a book Im writing and was pleasantly surprised to find more than I bargained for. In 1985, roller lifters, floating piston wrist pins, and swirl port intake runners were added. The first generation of Oldsmobile V8s ranged from 1949-1964. 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. From 1950 until 1974, the 88 was the division's most profitable line, particularly the entry level models such as the 88 and Dynamic 88. 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. . Displacement swelled from 303 Ci or 5 liters all the way to the gargantuan 455 Ci 7.5 liter V8 in the early 70s. The output of the 307cuin (5.0L) wasn't particularly high in terms of horsepower. This 1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 has the Deluxe trim with a dashboard clock; Deluxe models cost $78 more than the standard-trim version. Embedded video players for content hosted on the YouTube video platform (which is owned by Google LLC) may set these third-party cookies and/or use similar technologies to store data in your browser (or other user agent) for purposes such as (without limitation) managing video settings (e.g., tailoring the playback to your connection speed), storing video preferences, providing certain functionality (e.g., allowing you to pause a video at a particular point), showing you advertisements, associating your video viewing and other activity with your Google account (if any), ensuring proper functioning of the service, preventing abuse, and/or compiling user analytics data. 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. (If you need to review or change these settings after you accept, you can do so from the Privacy Tools page.) Your email address will not be published. The 403 Oldsmobile was generally painted "Corporate GM Blue" on every model line it was equipped in. 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!