Have a 47 98 custom cruiser. Brand new 1/87 (HO) scale diecast car model of 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 Coupe #22 "Overseas Motors Atlanta" Red die cast model car by Oxford Diecast. The other Nash driver was Robert Owen, the Dad of my best friend, also from Corsicana and my neighbor on S. 16th ST. Been an Olds man a long time. 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. Unless youre building a rod, its often worth it to spend more upfront for a car thats in better condition. 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. You could say the same thing about the original Century, if you were so inclined, which I am. 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). As part of this I ran across a very interesting 1934 paper by a GM engineer Chris H. Bouvy and would like to know more about him and whether his design method was used within GM. The cookies normally expire in about 10 days, and are not set at all if you do not access any password-protected content. A long piston stroke gives more torque, which means better engine response at low speeds. The engine is also known for its reliability, smoothness and quietness. Is there a serial number plate on the engine? 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. About six weeks after he started work, Burrell showed his designs to Oldsmobiles chief engineer Jack Wolfram and Oldsmobile general manager Sherrod Skinner. Barr believed the Oldsmobile engine was a direct derivative of Cadillacs design, although he conceded that Cadillac also benefited from some of Oldsmobiles work. 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. 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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. 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. in. The real standard of the world. The Rocket, along with the 1949 Cadillac V8, were the first post-war OHV crossflow cylinder head V8 engines produced by General Motors. ), When you list the OHV Detroit engines that came along after the Rocket, the DeSoto Hemi of 1952 and Plymouth Poly of 1956 may merit mentioncant recall if the 1955 Packard V8 got its curtain call. 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. 1955 Oldsmobile 88. I will let you know soon. 1750 Enterprise Way Suite 109 Marietta, GA 30067. Terry Ehrich and Richard Lentinello (Bennington, VT: Hemmings Motor News, 2001), pp. The Rocket, along with the 1949 Cadillac V8, were the first post-war OHV crossflow cylinder head V8 engines produced by General Motors. 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. A BRILLIANTLY written article! 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. The 400cuin (6.6L) version was the second tall-deck "big-block" Olds. For sale 1967 Oldsmobile Delta 88 custom, 2 door hardtop. It had the same 0.921in (23.4mm)-diameter lifters of the first-generation Oldsmobile engines, rather than the standard 0.842in (21.4mm), which let engineers increase the camshaft's ramp speed for more power, 385hp (287kW), without sacrificing idle or reliability. True-to-scale detail. Complete Engines for Oldsmobile Delta 88, Motor Mounts for Oldsmobile 88, Fuel Injectors for Oldsmobile 88; Additional site navigation. . If you look up the concept of MEP (e.g. 324 rocket v8. 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. Cadillacs OHV V8, released around the same time as the new Oldsmobiles, was itself an important and influential engine that earned Motor Trends first Car of the Year Award, but it was the Oldsmobile Rocket 88 that started an avalanche. If anyone at GM had had doubts about offering the big engine in the smaller body, the sales alone would have been enough to convince them. The 425cuin (7.0L) big-block was the first tall-deck "big block," produced from 1965 through 1967. You are correct its even a Studebaker Avanti, not the later Avanti II. Logging in sets the wordpress_logged_in_xx, wordpress_sec_xx, and/or wordpress_xx cookies, which store the user's login credentials to allow access to the administrative dashboard and other administrative functions; there may be multiple iterations of each cookie. Most components and accessories are interchangeable. 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. 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). These limitations hurt both power and fuel economy. 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. The "Rocket" name disappeared from the air cleaner decal in 1975, the same year that the catalytic converter was added to the emissions control system. For anyone interested the 1950 Mexican road race where 12 Olds 88s entered and 10 finished, eight of the 10 were beaten by a flathead Nash. Some consider Rocket 88, recorded by Jackie Brenston in 1951, to be the first rock and roll song. From 1949 until 1951, the 2-barrel carburetor 303 produced 135hp (101kW) and 253lbft (343Nm). 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). As far as I know, the transmission was not harmed. 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. 4 speed hydromantic transmission. So, its not particularly surprising that a highly tuned flathead Ford would be stronger than a stock 1950 Olds 303. Some persist for only a few minutes, or until you close your browser (or other user agent); others may remain in your browser (or other user agent) as long as your individual settings permit. For more information about how Akamai may collect, process, and/or use personal data, visit the Akamai "Privacy and Policies" page and Privacy Trust Center. Call 800.979.0122, 7am-10pm, everyday. Your wording in the flathead section (acts directly) suggest the valve stem tip rides the cam lobe in a flathead. The Cadillac engine and the Chrysler FirePower had more power out of the box and as much or more potential. 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. However not practical to drive around pittsburgh, pa. To many hills for that single chamber master cylinder. Set an alert to be notified of new listings. 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. Ate Up With Motor and its embedded content providers may use cookies and/or similar technologies and collect personal information about site visitors as described in the Privacy Policy and Cookie Notice. I can see it now. 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. Oldsmobiles companion make, the Viking had a horizontal-valve V8 with two-plane crankshaft in the early thirties. So this sedan was delivering big torque with a healthy dose of Streetside Classics - Atlanta (877) 828-8754 Lithia Springs, GA 30122 (406 miles away) 6 Note the stylized rocket chrome trim on the front fender. The Rocket 88 model name was dropped after 1957. Free shipping for many products! 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. (4,977 cc). 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. 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. BMEP, IMEP), you will immediately see that bore/stroke ratio does not directly effect engine power. 1955 Oldsmobile 88 gasoline blue manual This is a 1955 Olds 88 with its original 324 V-8, automatic, power steering and brakes, tinted glass (all windows), factory wheel covers, wide whitewalls and&. 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. at 1,800 RPM Transmission: Three-speed manual standard, Hydra-Matic optional Wheelbase: 119.5 inches The present mindset (with which I dont necessarily agree, mind you) is that all brands must either be Youthful or Aspirational or if possible both, so a brand whose name begins with Old and which is best known for decades of middle-of-the-road respectability isnt off to a good start on either front. The main qualities that make an engine attractive to hot-rodders are how much it costs, how easily it can be hopped up, and how much power you can get out of it without blowing it up. 1968-1974 350s were painted gold; 1975-1976 350s were metallic blue like the 455; 1977-1980 models were painted GM Corporate Blue. It also used the .921in lifter bore size of the Toronado Rocket. Since the advance design group envisioned a 1949 introduction for their new engine, the project was dubbed SV-49. Fabulous article. [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. 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.