1965 Oldsmobile 442

[GMJohnny]

38,500…. I’ve been pretty busy and forgot to post this small project that I did last weekend. It started with seeing some fuel dripping from the right rear of the car. There’s a gas tank vent on that side. I looked into the situation and there was a leak going on because the rubber fuel lines were old. I replaced all of the lines on the car (return and supply) as well as the in-line canister filter. For reference purposes, the return line is 5/16” and took less than 2’, the supply line is 3/8” and took less than 3’. All of the steel lines are in great shape and will not need to be addressed. It was a pretty quick job and yet another step toward reliability.

GM

[GMJohnny]

38,600…. The previous owner of the 442 lived on a gravel road. We noticed it when we picked it up and it was obvious by looking under the car that this was the case as there was a light residue all on the framework of the car. I’ve been avoiding this project until the weather was warm enough to do the work. Yesterday was the day. I jacked the car up and washed the underside with a hose and some Purple Power cleaning solvent. This job would’ve been a real drag if it was 55* outside, but it wasn’t too horrible at 82*, because i was soaked when I got done. I spent a bunch of time washing out all of the holes ( factory one’s not rot! ) and all of the places that brake and fuel lines run up the frame. To my surprise, there was no hardly any residue that came out of the frame. This car’s frame is so nice and solid! I didn’t take any pics of it wet because I didn’t want to ruin my phone trying to get pics. It was really drippy under there! I let it dry all day in the driveway before taking it out on a long cruise last night. I’ll try to get some pics of the underside the next time I’m there and edit this post with them.

GM

[GMJohnny]

Yesterday, I was able to meet up with the previous owner of the 442 to pick up some miscellaneous parts that were part of the deal. He lives in Michigan, but was from the Cleveland area. He promised me the parts and we were finally able to connect when he came to town. He gave me the original distributor, fan, a front seat cover, a new heater core and a water pump. We had a nice talk about the car and I was telling him about some of the stuff I had done. As part of this, I mentioned that I was thinking of getting a second set of wheels to put spinner caps on the car. He laughed and said “I have the ones that came on the car, you can have ‘em.” He head contemplated bringing them but wasn’t sure I wanted them. My plan is to try to meet back up with him again some time in the future to get them.

GM

[MostMint]

Did you bring the car to this meeting?

[GMJohnny]

Did you bring the car to this meeting?

No… I met the PO in Parma on my lunch break, so the car was at home.

GM

[GMJohnny]

38,885…. So some might and some might not understand this, but having an incorrect look makes me insane. This was the situation with the tailpipes on the 442. The pipes are supposed to come straight out under the bumper. The pipes that were on the car came out where the lower corner of the bumper and the quarter panel connected. Whenever I looked at it, it made me nuts! Last Sunday, I had new tail pipes put on. The old pipes were welded on halfway between the rear wheel and the bumper, so all we had to do was cut it off there and add the straight pipes on. I got them on and they were a bit too long, so today I cut them to a length that was to my liking. I’m pretty anal when it comes to symmetry, so I spent a bit of time making sure they’re the same distance from the bumper, both with length and clearance from the chrome. Once I had them placed correctly, I took a file to the end of them so they’re nice and smooth to the touch. In my mind, this is such a great aesthetic upgrade. I’m very pleased with how they turned out! On to the next project.

GM

[wxo]

I believe the right side is slightly longer than the left.

[Maverick]

I'm not a stickler for originality but, the pictures make your point. BIG improvement!!

[GMJohnny]

I believe the right side is slightly longer than the left.

HaHa! I measured twenty times to make sure it was correct!!
I even repaired my measuring tape to make sure it was right.
The rivets that hold the hook thing on the end of the tape we’re
loose allowing about an 1/8” slop in the tape. The bench vise
smashed them tight on the tape so it was correct. The clearance
to the bumper is exactly the width of my pinky finger on my
right hand!

GM

[GMJohnny]

I'm not a stickler for originality but, the pictures make your point. BIG improvement!!

[GMJohnny]

38,993 … Last Friday, ( I’m a bit late posting! ) I had the day off work and took advantage of it by changing the mufflers on the car. It came with Flowmaster’s that sounded ok, but the big issue with them is they would allow popping sounds to be extremely noticeable on downshifting. It was annoying. After having lived Dynomax turbo-flows on my last 442, I decided to make the change. The install went pretty well EXCEPT for the fact that the mufflers were about an inch too short AFTER I cut the Flowmasters out trying to save them. I cured the issue with some adapters that BP welded to the mufflers for me, creating a 2” extension. Once welded, the install was pretty painless. I used Dynomax 17629 mufflers for the record. The beauty of the job is that the obnoxious popping on deceleration is muffled about 95%. On to the next project.

GM

[GMJohnny]

I decided to make the trip to KMP on Wednesday night. It was quite warm, but I felt I was mechanically ready to make a try at a pass to get myself a baseline of what the car can do in the quarter. My first pass was basically a hot lap as I went from the street to the strip in about 15 mins. I decided to have the rear tires at 25 psi and launch at 2500. Bad combo. I spun hard resulting in a 2.5 60’ time and a 15.62 @ 90 mph. The next pass things got a bit stupid. The car wouldn’t fire when I went to make my pass. I’ve experienced the situation before at home, so I knew what the issue was — a blown fuse to the distributor. This happens when you leave the ignition switch in the ON position without the engine running. ( A known issue with Pertronix ignition) I replaced the fuse and started the car and BP got me hooked up to go back in the time run line. The weird thing about the start up was the key was spun way past its normal position when running. I wasn’t sure if the ignition switch was failing or not, but the car was running, so I made my pass. This time I had lowered the tire pressure to 23 psi and decided to launch at 1800 rpm. The car hooked up perfectly and I had a 2.13 60’ time with a 15.01 at 91.5. I got the slip and was encouraged by the drastic drop in ET, but was afraid to shut the car off in fear of having it not start, so I made a bee line run for home. It turned out to be a non-issue as the ignition switch was just loose in the dash and I tightened it up in about five minutes after getting home. I tested it at least ten times and it’s working correctly again. Before heading to the track again, I’ll get more fuses (used the last spare up). I felt like there was more time to be saved with a higher launch RPM and certainly the cold would’ve helped me. My guess is that I’ll end up the year somewhere around 14.70 - 14.60. I’ll retry the track next week, hoping for colder weather.

GM

[MostMint]

What kind of fuse do you need? I have a bunch. Let me know by tomorrow I can send them with Dad.

[GMJohnny]

5 amp push in fuses are what’s in the ignition. The plastic kind that’s
not a mini fuse. I could use an old air cleaner lid if you have one.

GM

[GMJohnny]

39,502 … One part of a large pile of ‘65 Olds parts I acquired from a Facebook marketplace was a 4GC Rochester that was factory stock on a 425 Olds. It’s very similar to the carb that came on my 442. My carb is a one year and one model only carb. It’s pretty rare. Not wanting to do my first rebuild ever on a 4GC on my carb, I figured I’d do a trial run on this one. It wasn’t a horrible undertaking, and like most projects, if you take your time you’re rewarded with success. The rebuild was pretty simple aside from a check ball that was cemented in the hole it is designed to cover by old crappy gas. Literally, there was no possible way to remove the ball. I soaked it for a couple of days with penetrant. I tried heating the fuel bowl. 150 psi air wouldn’t blow it out. So I gambled on drilling it out. It worked! Today, I did the install on the car. To my surprise, the car started and ran perfectly on the first shot. No leaks. The only issue I ran into was that I overthought the air flaps in the secondaries. They’re adjustable, and from my prior knowledge of Rochesters, you can adjust this to allow air to come in faster. I made it so it was too fast, and I got a bog order WOT. The base plate needs to be removed to get to the air valve. It took me three times to get the speed correct. I can tell you that this rebuild is such an upgrade. There is no fuel smell under WOT, it idles consistently at the same RPM, and the choke works perfectly. My plan is to run this carb until I can get the original one rebuilt. I guess that means I’m half way through the project, but I can keep driving it and enjoying it while I take my time with the other rebuild. Parts will be ordered this weekend for phase II.

GM