1966 OLDS 442

[GMJohnny]

This post has been a while in the making. About two months or more ago, I happened to find a REALLY NICE & CLEAN
set of 5 factory stock chrome SSi, 14"x7"'s wheels from early an 1970's Cutlass. These look identical to the 14"x6" wheels that
would've been on the car in 1966, except they will clear disc brakes should I ever do the upgrade. I got the set for a considerable discount over reproduction new wheels, so I picked them up. I figured that I'd get them on next year sometime, UNTIL I ran across
a guy selling two redline tires that I wanted (FR70-14 Firestone Wide Oval Redlines from Coker) on Facebook Marketplace.
He had two of them for about a hundred bucks per tire discount, and they were still in the wrapping material from the shipper. I went online and purchased another two so I had a set. A new set of chrome centers and new chrome lugnuts later, and I had the set compiled. I spent about four hours masking off and painting my four coats of satin black on the black portion of the "new to me" rims.
They turned out sweet! I took them to the tire place last Tuesday, and they had them done for me early Wednesday. Fred got to
play UPS man, and hooked me up by picking them up from the tire place and delivering them to my barn. I put them on that night,
but the car was filthy and the tires were all dirty from being handled at the shop. I'm thrilled with the result! There was a side of
me that will miss the dog dish caps, but I'm liking the sportier look for now. Here are some of the pics:

Set of five waiting for paint.

Tape and tape and cut and tape.

Painted the drums black waiting for the wheels.

Upgraded!

Upgraded!

GM

[wxo]

It looks great, GM. The new wheels/tires change the entire character of your machine. However, it does take away that unique, "down to business" look of the dog dishes.

[GMJohnny]

It looks great, GM. The new wheels/tires change the entire character of your machine. However, it does take away that unique, "down to business" look of the dog dishes.

Fred said the same thing!! I toyed with painting the black wheels the color of the car and
turning the whitewalls in or getting redlines still with dog dishes. The color of the car is a custom mix and
the match of the wheels to the rest of the car would have been wrong for sure. I was not loving the whitewalls
and I've always loved the chrome/redline combo. Who knows, in six years I might want something else!

GM

[GMJohnny]

I've been wondering about the fuel "economy" of the 442. I don't seem to fill up that often, but I don't
drive it long distances either. So last tank, I decided to check it out. The odometer was at 56,297 on Aug. 9th.
I wanted to see how long I could go, with a goal being over 200 miles/tank. With a 17 gallon tank, that'd
put me around 11.5 miles/gallon. The fuel gauge works, but I never trust it as it rarely goes to "Full" when
I fill it and it seems to drop quickly to "E". Knowing the miles per gallon helps me know where I really am in
the tank. It should be noted that my speedo seems to be a bit slow (maybe 8 - 10% when using a gps). I filled
on Friday the 30th and the gauge was reading BONE EMPTY, so much that I was putting the car in neutral going
downhill to conserve fuel. I filled at 56,472 miles and only put in 13.4 gallons. That calculates to just a bit over
13 mpg. If you calculate the % the speedo is off, you get 14 mpg. That's pretty good. It's also important to know
that I don't necessarily baby the car, I gun it on occasion. I also don't do much steady driving over 60 mph. I'd
guess that if I could stay out of all 6 barrels, I could maybe stretch it to 15 or 16 mpg. To make it to Carlisle on
a tank, I'd need 18 mpg to pull in on fumes!

GM

[GMJohnny]

Somebody compiled the 1966 Oldsmobile commercials, pretty cool!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSdJdHU ... 02RsYDaDfo

GM

[GMJohnny]

My attempt to look like a Motor Trend magazine article from 1966:

GM

[MostMint]

Somebody compiled the 1966 Oldsmobile commercials, pretty cool!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSdJdHU ... 02RsYDaDfo

GM

Rocket Action!

[GMJohnny]

The 442 had a good day at the track today. It was just a test and tune, but the weather
was favorable - under 50 degrees. Rain was in the forecast around one, but we started
racing a bit after 10, so we knew we could get a few passes in with decent weather.
The track, after a few cars with slicks on them went down, was pretty sticky. I was having no
issues keeping the car cool, in fact, two of my four runs were off-pace because I didn't have
the car warm enough and it bogged off of the line. My other two passes were pretty good.
The first was a 14.22 @ 98.11, with a 60' time of 2.16. My best pass was the third run of
the day. I ran 14.13 @ 97.70 with a 60' time of 2.16. This trumps by best 14.37 from last year.
The only thing that I can attribute the et drop to is the distributor. It's the only thing ( other
than wheels and tires ) that was changed since last time. I do feel that, if there was no
head wind and the temps were in the high thirties, it could get better by a bit and maybe
touch the 13's. If I go out when it's that cold, I'll have to remind myself to let the car warm
up before running it. This is the ONLY Oldsmobile that I've owned that is super easy to keep
cool.

GM

[GMJohnny]

Well all I needed was some cold air and no head wind and, as predicted in the prior post,
I was able to touch the 13's yesterday. 13.97 @ 99.18 on my first run & backed it up with
a 13.95 about an hour later (no mph due to electronics issues). Discounting a run where I
wheel hopped like crazy, my worst run was a 14.10. I had a 14.06 also. I managed to learn
how to control the bog off of the line, but launching without getting wheel hop is a very
fine line with this car. My 60' times were averaging 2.16, but I did muster up a 2.10. I'm
thinking good and hard about making a pinion snubber which will allow me to really attack
at the line. The cam really starts to work at 2500, and to be able to launch there would make
a big difference. I think there's a tenth to be gained there. I will admit that I think I'm a better
driver this year than I was last year. My shifting is much better than it was last year and that
is also helping the car look better on a time slip. All of that being said, I'm going into winter
knowing that I ran in the high 13's through the mufflers on dinky little tires. I'm satisfied for now!

GM

[GMJohnny]

Today I put the 442 into winter hibernation. Prior to the final parking, I changed the oil
and greased the front end. (57,198 on the odometer). I've been thinking of ways to gain
speed and keep thinking about the trans. At first, I had envisioned going back to the 3.90's
and getting an overdrive unit to bolt to the back of the trans. After some serious contemplation,
deliberation and calculation, I think that plan is out the window. I believe (based on the "original"
rear end being in the car) that my trans is a close-ratio Muncie. (The only "True" way to know is to
remove the trans and look at the input shaft and maybe the gears in the trans.) The deal is that the
close-ratio trans has a crappy first gear ratio. A wide ratio is way better. The way I feel today, I
will be taking the trans out to check, if it's truly a close-ratio, I will want to buy a wide-ratio.
Doing this should give me a better seat-of-the-pants feel and allow me to better take advantage
of the bottom end that the Olds big block offers. More to come.

GM

[GMJohnny]

Well I thought about verifying whether the transmission was close or wide for a bit and realized that,
if I jack the car up in first gear, we could count the revolutions to figure out which unit I had. BP was
over today to use my bench vise and torch kit to remove some u-joints, so I put him to work counting
the revolutions of the rear wheel. Somehow in my head I had it backwards and thought that the motor
would go around one time for the rear end's 7.39 times to verify that the car had the reported close
ratio box in it. Duh, I had it backwards. It was a joy turning the motor over with my 1/2 drive torque
wrench about 8.46 times, ( 3.36 rear end ratio x 2.52 first gear ratio = 8.46) let me tell you,
( 10.50:1 means something! ) but we found out that the car does have a wide ratio trans in it. Which
is both good and bad. Good in that it saves me a bunch of $ and labor, but there goes my 2 tenths that
I was going to get by upgrading the transmission. I have to contemplate my next move, but I'm certain
that whatever I do, a pinion snubber will have to me manufactured. As always, more to come.

GM

[GMJohnny]

I took advantage of a sunny and near 50* Sunday afternoon and fired up the 442.
The battery tender did it's job, and I had plenty of cranking power. I had to pump
like crazy to get it going, but once it fired, I was good to go. I let the car run for
about 20 mins. The only issue I found was a loose clamp on the fuel pump. Easy fix.
After the warm-up, it was back under cover 'til spring.

GM

[GMJohnny]

I decided that it might be important to see how true to build my 442 is. I've started researching
body codes & the vin # to see if it really is what I think it is. Using the below website I decoded my
body tag.

http://www.oldsmobility.com/oldsmo/view ... ?f=12&t=18

Time built: 02A -- 2nd Week of Feb
Year built: 66 Body style: 33817 -- Cutlass Holiday Coupe LAN - Lansing Built
Trim: 980-B Black Vinyl Bucket Seat Interior Paint: R-R -- Spanish Red ( top & bottom )
W = Soft ray tinted front windshield only 2L = Cut out 4 speed
4F = Outside remote control mirror 5 V=442 side trim Y=Deluxe seat belts

Some interesting stuff:
1) My car has bucket seats in it, not the bench. According to the chart in the link on this post, 980 is a bench
seat code, but I've seen multiple pics and sites that discredit this. 980 is bucket, 970 is bench.
2) There's a plastic plug in the driver's door where the remote mirror control used to go. (I'm going to start
looking for the remote mirror)
3) I've never found the build sheet, so I don't know what radio option it had -- I'm assuming because there's
an antenna on the fender that it came with a radio.
4) The rear axle ratio "TG" code is stamped into the axle. 3.90 no-posi ( parts on shelf - replaced w/ 3.36 posi )

I'm going to add motor numbers & trans numbers to my thread as I get the pics.

GM

[GMJohnny]

For reference, the casting #'s on the 442 engine:
Intake Manifold: 393238 F
https://oldsjunction.classicoldsmobile. ... /ofinm.htm

Clyinder Heads: 389395 B Stamped into LF head: V103811 T ( T indicating a Tri Carb Motor )
https://oldsjunction.classicoldsmobile. ... /ofhed.htm

Engine Block: 390925 E
https://oldsjunction.classicoldsmobile. ... /ofblk.htm

GM

[GMJohnny]

Sunday, when the temps got into the lower 40's, I headed out to the barn and tinkered
a bit with the 442. I had my shifter boot sitting on my workbench since last fall and finally
got the time to install it. It was time. I noticed a crack in the boot early last spring, and
by the end of summer, I could see the ground as I was driving. I had about a half hour in
this project. I also repaired the small plastic plug on the windshield wiper motor. The wires
coming out of the plug were all hanging on by a thread. I purchased a new clip kit. The new
plastic piece was wrong, but the steel clips that contact the wiper motor were the parts that
were needed. I lengthened a wire and reinstalled the two wires in the clip. Another half hour
spent. Both of these projects are things that were still working, but when I noticed them, they
drove me nuts. Problems solved!

GM