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. I dont know what its survival rate is, though. Power for the base engine was up to 315hp (235kW), even though compression was down a quarter point, to 9.75:1.[9]. Talk to the experts. 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. I might have to find or make some kind of diagram of that. 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. 15 results per page. 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. Your email address will not be published. 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. Im wondering how many weeks of informative evening reading I can enjoy from your articles. Oldsmobiles companion make, the Viking had a horizontal-valve V8 with two-plane crankshaft in the early thirties. The original Oldsmobile Rocket V8 soldiered on until 1964, eventually reaching 394 cu. Rocket Racing & Performance is a custom engine building facility that specializes in Oldsmobile Performance.We offer a full machine shop, in house engine dyno, and parts supplier serving the local Wisconsin area and worldwide. We think it was probably just as well that the proposed ultra-premium fuels never materialized; as it was, increasing the octane rating of pump gasoline from the 70 RON of typical mid-forties regular fuel to the 98 RON level of later super-premium fuel increased the amount of lead in each gallon by more than 40%, with significant public health consequences. Particularly enjoyed your succinct descriptions of the engineering factors behind certain design choices. First, their volumetric efficiency is poor. 1962 OLDSMOBILE 88 CORE SHORT BLOCK ENGING 8-394 860673. Oldsmobiles first postwar engine was born during the UAW strike that shut down GM production from November 1945 through March 1946. That July, Burrell was promoted to chief motor engineer for the division. Two-barrel carburetion was standard; all high performance 324s came with four-barrel carburetors. It was no longer available in cars in 1961. 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. With a 4-barrel carburetor and 10.25:1 compression, the Olds 215 made 185hp (138kW) at 4800rpm and 230lbft (310Nm) at 3200rpm with a manual transmission. In 1962 and 1963 Oldsmobile built a turbocharged version of the 215, designated Turbo-Rocket. (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 PYPF cookie normally expires in approximately four weeks, the 01A1 cookie in approximately one year. in. 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. Thank you so much for further refining my understanding of my 52 Super 88 Holiday Coupe.I love this car for its rich history, and the fact that I inherited it from a dear, tragically taken friend. Did Rock 'n' Roll Really Begin With a Song About a Car? - MotorTrend [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. at 1,800 RPM Transmission: Three-speed manual standard, Hydra-Matic optional Wheelbase: 119.5 inches Power was 81 hp at 3000 rpm. 26-31; Roger Huntington, 1965 Engines, Motor Trend Vol. The first generation of Oldsmobile V8s ranged from 1949-1964. The image file itself contains no personally identifiable information, but the loading of that file may be used to help identify and/or track you. Classifieds for Classic Oldsmobile Rocket 88. Except as otherwise indicated, all written content and images are copyright Aaron Severson dba Ate Up With Motor. 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. An 88 also won the first grueling Carrera Panamericana, the 2,176-mile (3,500-km) Mexican Road Race. Full instrumentation is standard Olds had not yet succumbed to the allure of warning lights. For additional information about how Google uses cookies and/or other technologies that may collect and/or process personal information, see the "Technologies" section of their Google Privacy & Terms site and the "Our advertising and measurement cookies" section of their Google Business Data Responsibility site, which includes a detailed list of cookies associated with Google advertising and measurement products. Our sources for this article included the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide, Encyclopedia of American Cars: Over 65 Years of Automotive History (Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, 1996); John R. Bond, Car of the Year: The 1949 Cadillac, Motor Trend November 1949, reprinted in Cadillac Automobiles 1949-1959, ed. With an overall length of 202 inches (5,131 mm) and an overall width of 75.2 inches (1,910 mm) on a 119.5-inch (3,035mm) wheelbase, the 88 was hardly a small car even by American standards and it tipped the scales (in this body style) at almost 3,800 lb (1,717 kg) with Hydra-Matic, but its Rocket V8 would leave Pontiacs elderly straight eight or Chevrolets Stovebolt Six for dead and the Oldsmobile name carried more prestige than Pontiac or Chevrolet. 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). These photos were taken outside the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, California (a few blocks south of LAX). Oldsmobile might be gone, but the Rocket brand hasn't been forgotten by collectors shopping for a 1950s American automotive icon. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage 1949 Oldsmobile 88 Futuramic Rocket Engine Magazine Print Ad W31 at the best online prices at eBay! wider bore provides a greater surface area on which the forces of combustion can act, improving power Power increased the final Rocket was rated at 345 gross horsepower (257 kW) but fuel economy eroded. (I quess that would be total Olds minus Olds 76 model.). 9, No. PLEASE DON'T SUBMIT COPYRIGHTED CONTENT YOU AREN'T AUTHORIZED TO USE! All the chrome is perfect interior all original all the glass is good.all the gauges work. Known variously as the Rockette, Cutlass, and Turbo-Rocket by Oldsmobile (and as Fireball and Skylark by Buick),[10] it was a compact, lightweight engine measuring 28in (71cm) long, 26in (66cm) wide, and 27in (69cm) high (same as the small-block Chevy),[11] with a dry weight of only 320lb (150kg). It used a 4.126in (104.8mm) bore and 3.975in (101.0mm) stroke. Olds were very popular in Brazil but I can t give you any numbers. The Oldsmobile V8, also referred to as the Rocket, is series of engines that was produced by Oldsmobile from 1949 until 1990. 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. The second issue was that the practical limit for L-head engines was a compression ratio of about 7.0:1; above that threshold, it became difficult to control combustion roughness. 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. I have read several histories of the 1949 Oldsmobile and Cadillac V-8s, but never seen Bouvy mentioned. However not practical to drive around pittsburgh, pa. To many hills for that single chamber master cylinder. (For each of these cookies, "xx" will be a cryptographic hash.) Most components and accessories are interchangeable. 1952 Oldsmobile 88 | Classic Cars for Sale - Streetside Classics The cheap ones are expensive, and the expensive ones are cheap. I heard it (fittingly) in connection with Jaguars, but of course its true in general. In a flathead engine, the camshaft is in the block, driven directly by the engines crankshaft. R. V. Hutchinson, who was an Oldsmobile engineer prior to transferring to Product Studies #5 when C. L. McCuen was appointed 1st Vice President in charge of engineering, designed and build a heavy in-line 6-cylinder (850 lbs.) Classic Oldsmobile Rocket 88 for Sale. A popular modification made to the 403 to increase power was to swap on early Oldsmobile 350 heads to boost compression. "Kelly", Jr. Baechtel, John. Millionaires would drive the few Cadillacs. Some consider Rocket 88, recorded by Jackie Brenston in 1951, to be the first rock and roll song. [citation needed] Most 260s were coupled to the Turbo Hydramatic 200 transmission,[citation needed] but a 5-speed manual transmission was also available in some vehicles. Complete Engines for Oldsmobile Delta 88, Motor Mounts for Oldsmobile 88, Fuel Injectors for Oldsmobile 88; Additional site navigation. Its true Oldsmobile didnt really maintain that position for long and didnt try again to go for the performance market until the 60s, but having a short season isnt the same as being overhyped. The Oldsmobile Cutlass, Rocket 88, and other classic models remain very popular among car collectors and Oldsmobile fans. Both are well-documented, albeit relatively short-lived. (Thats a lesson that many Jaguar and Porsche owners have learned the hard way.)[/quote]. They were criticized at the time as being unsafe in city traffic because they picked up their air too close to the tail pipes of cars ahead. To mitigate these problems, both Oldsmobile and Cadillac adopted an overhead-valve (OHV) layout. Maybe just intake or vacuum leak. Depending on carburetion or use of turbocharger. From 1916 through 1922, the only Oldsmobile V8 was a 246.7 cid L-head of Model 47 with a 233.7 cid V8 that made 60 hp. The introduction of the "Rocket 8" V-8 for the 1949 Oldsmobiles was perhaps the pinnacle of his achievements, incorporating in its overhead-valve design such features as five main bearings,. The top brass equivocated, but Skinner finally got the green light. This was not an official assignment; he was simply exploring ideas for his own interest and amusement. By contrast, both the Cadillac and Oldsmobile V8s were oversquare, with a wide bore and a short stroke. Im not a mechanic, so Im afraid I cannot provide any kind of repair advice. Just didnt have any power. 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. Ford, Chevy, Dodge and Mercury were the top sellers and I believe Oldsmobile would come in 5th or 6th place. Is there a serial number plate on the engine? A diagram of where the hydraulic or solid lifter fits in a flathead might be helpful to readers. Because the high-octane fuels necessary to take advantage of really high compression ratios were not yet available, Burrell ordered the displacement of the production engine (known internally as 8-90) increased to 303.7 cu. Engineers today are wrestling with questions very similar to those faced by their counterparts of 70 or even 90 years ago. In a 1972 interview with Michael Lamm, then editor of Special Interest Autos, former Cadillac chief engineer Jack Gordon lamented the trend to ever bigger and thirstier engines, noting that he had tried unsuccessfully to convince oil companies to develop ultra-high-octane fuels so that Cadillac could adopt more fuel-efficient high-compression, small-displacement engines. 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. Its output of 0.45 hp per cubic inch was 7% better than the 0.42 hp per cubic inch of the popular and widely produced 100hp (75kW) 1949 Ford Flathead V8. Any interest in better fuel economy was quickly forgotten; gasoline was cheap and speed sold more cars than parsimony. This 1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 88 has the Deluxe trim with a dashboard clock; Deluxe models cost $78 more than the standard-trim version. These limitations hurt both power and fuel economy. We are known for our high quality,attention to detail and meeting our customers goals. Its taken economic downturns, the occasional oil embargo, and mounting signs of environmental calamity to get Americans to take a real interest in how much fuel they use; even then, that interest never seems to last for long after the latest crisis has passed. Produced from 19681980, the Rocket 350 was entirely different from the other GM divisions' 350s. Output for 1983-1985 was 180hp (130kW) and 245lbft (332Nm). I would assume a postwar Olds V-8 would have been a real high-rollers car.