Like most of my projects, this car was purchased because I needed a part for another car that this car doesn't even have. Case in point, I needed a manual transmission for the Mother TruckR... so I bought an old Oldsmobile.
To be fair a lot of us looked at this car and were considering pulling the trigger, I just happened to be the idiot that did it. I want to thank Seth and his FIL Paul for the opportunity to own this car. It's a giant piece of crap and the family absolutely loves it.
Understand that this car is a E36M3bucket. There is no kind way to describe it. It's rusty, it smokes, tires are bad, shocks are bad, wiring is chewed up, the brakes are nonexistent and the transmission slips... It's rough.
The plan is to fix brakes, change all of the fluids, install a little bump in the trunk and drop the suspension a fairly large amount. Add some air fresheners and cruise the E36 M3 out of it.
I can't believe you're thanking me. At all.
On the other hand, the car is awash in super cool late 60's design details, the power windows work, and it moves on it's own. It could be worse. Not a LOT worse, but worse. 
OldDave
New Reader
9/19/17 2:22 p.m.
those big Olds are beyond COOL. ride like on a cloud, hold about 10 cases of beer in trunk, and can hold up to ten friends, as long as they are real friendly like.
A rolling party!!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/vYblg4i2HD8?rel=0
suckas to the side,
i know you hate my ninety eight.
mazdeuce said:
I can't believe you're thanking me. At all.
On the other hand, the car is awash in super cool late 60's design details, the power windows work, and it moves on it's own. It could be worse. Not a LOT worse, but worse.
The original photos made the interior look black but the most glorious dark green hue is glowing through the grime on it. Heaven.
OldDave said:
those big Olds are beyond COOL. ride like on a cloud, hold about 10 cases of beer in trunk, and can hold up to ten friends, as long as they are real friendly like.
A rolling party!!
Ten? With a sub box this thing will swallow 6 Igloo coolers.
slefain
PowerDork
9/19/17 4:01 p.m.
As the owner of one pimp wagon to another, welcome to the family!
And don't throw anything away without telling me, some of the 98 stuff swaps to the 88. I need some bits and pieces.
Need more photos - the two you posted it actually looks pretty decent.
I'm a fan of big GM cars from that era, in my case I go for Pontiacs. I currently have a restored '61 Bonneville but have had a number of others from the 60s and early 70s. Great road trip cars.
Does yours have the 455 engine? It the transmission is bad the good thing is it's a TH400, so getting it rebuilt or replaced should be straightforward.
I know the answer to that! You have to zoom in, but the air cleaner does indeed say Rocket 455.
Of all the old GM cars that I have been in I've never seen radio knobs quite like those. Just awesome.
Agent98
New Reader
9/20/17 6:32 a.m.
...about the only thing that will ruin your day is Olds timing chain issues, might want to look at the distributor while you rotate the crank forward, then backwards. Any play going backwards before the dist rotor starts to move, or if you hear timing chain rattle at idle = no bueno.
I wonder if a squirt of Marvel Mystery oil down the spark plugs will unstick the rings and cure the smoke.
Great acquisition!
Yes! !
Some TLC and a quick trim of the coils will make this stellar in short order. I'd be willing to bet that with some driving the rings seat themselves a bit and the smoke clears up some. I'll second the timing chain caution; I'm not sure when they switched but the 330 in my Dad's 64 Cutlass had nylon gears and suffered a catastrophic failure, the extent of the damage is not yet known but the timing gear teeth were all in the bottom of the oil pan.
More pictures!!
I LOVE big Olds barges from that era. If it was in a little nicer shape, I was thinking of doing a fly and drive with my dad to get it. When I was a kid, my parents had a 1970 98 convertible and it ruled. I showed this thing to my dad and he was tempted!
It went to the right home though! Looks like a fun project and should be a great cruiser once you get it sorted. I'll be following this one!
Yes, we NEED more pictures!
Did these share a chassis with the Monte?
Crackers said:
Yes, we NEED more pictures!
Did these share a chassis with the Monte?
No.. The Monte was smaller. This would have been GM's biggest and therefore shared with Impala, Caprice, Bonneville, GanVille, Big Buicks etc.
Fu Manchu - check
Old's Ninety eight - check
Rocket 455 - check
Trunk full o suds - check
John Welsh said:
Crackers said:
Yes, we NEED more pictures!
Did these share a chassis with the Monte?
No.. The Monte was smaller. This would have been GM's biggest and therefore shared with Impala, Caprice, Bonneville, GanVille, Big Buicks etc.
Huh, I didn't realize they were on a smaller chassis. Even the Monte's were still boats.
OldDave said:
those big Olds are beyond COOL. ride like on a cloud, hold about 10 cases of beer in trunk, and can hold up to ten friends, as long as they are real friendly like.
A rolling party!!
This reminds me of when I had my 70 Kingswood Estate.
I did almost literally this down a fire road on the way to a rave.
Woke up the next morning in some random persons tent and found 6 people sleeping in/on the car.
Somehow drove home with less people. LOL
Good times.
Crackers said:
John Welsh said:
Crackers said:
Yes, we NEED more pictures!
Did these share a chassis with the Monte?
No.. The Monte was smaller. This would have been GM's biggest and therefore shared with Impala, Caprice, Bonneville, GanVille, Big Buicks etc.
Huh, I didn't realize they were on a smaller chassis. Even the Monte's were still boats.
Monte Carlo and Grand Prix (from 1969 on) were based on the intermediate platform (as in a Chevelle or Lemans). They used the same basic suspension components but with a stretched wheelbase on the frame.
slefain
PowerDork
9/20/17 10:27 a.m.
Does it have factory true duel exhaust? Mine does, and apparently the manifolds are rare as hell.
That air cleaner looks terrible, let me send you a nice new shiny chrome one from Jegs and you can just mail that crusty old one to me.....
I am converting the 455 to TBI using parts from the 1990 long box truck (sensors, harness, computer) a 1990 454 throttle body with upgraded injectors, an external fuel pump, an Olds 455 dual plane aluminum intake, TBI adapter plate and a 1982-87 307 distributor with the wiring modded to match the TBI distributor. For $350 I will have a better ignition, better fuel control and EFI reliability.
Four 10" subs powered by two 250w amps, a pair of Pioneer 6x9s in the parcel deck, 6.5" Pioneers in the doors and a sacrilegiously cut dashboard cut to round out the $400 stereo.
The suspension is the issue for me. The brakes are E36 M3 and relatively unobtainable. If I could come up with a way to convert the entire frront suspension over to the GMT400 parts that I have. Coming off the 454 truck (small rotors, spindles, calipers, hoses) some spare spare parts that came with it (upper and lower control arms) or off the long box truck (steering gear and rods) I just am not certain yet if I can make that kind of magic happen without a bigger wand (or welder at least)
