It was the seminal American muscle car, predating Chrysler's Hemi-powered 300-C by . A BRILLIANTLY written article! As far as I know, the transmission was not harmed. The super-fuels the engineers wanted would probably have added even more. It was used in most Oldsmobile models, as well as those from Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Pontiac. Collectible Motor Car of Atlanta. The wild rocket hood ornament was technically a $5 option. 1750 Enterprise Way Suite 109 Marietta, GA 30067. Accessing certain posts or pages on this website may require you to enter a specific password. The heavily domed hood would continue through 1953. These carburetors did not open progressively; they were either open or closed. Performance modifications included a "hot" camshaft (in reality, just a camshaft used in various applications during the '70s with .440"/.440" lift and 196/208 duration at .050"), stiffer valve springs, a larger vibration damper (same as all '73-'79 350s, 403s, and 455s), a Y-pipe dual-outlet exhaust system, and richer secondary metering rods in the carburetor. Many modern engines deal with this problem by placing the camshaft in the cylinder head along with the valves (an overhead cam (OHC) engine), but there still has to be some way for the crank to drive the camshaft. Oldsmobiles first OHV V8, dubbed the Rocket engine, had a 3.75-inch (95.3mm) bore and a 3.44-inch (87.3mm) stroke, compared to 3.25 inches (82.6mm) and 3.88 inches (98.4mm) respectively for the straight eight the Rocket replaced. Get a Oldsmobile crate engine for cars like the cutlass, 88, 98, or the 442.GTO. It was the first mass-produced OHV V8, in 1949. The Olds FAQ (www.442.com) has info on where to find and how to decode the engine and body plates for different model years. This was the only engine offered in 1923, when the Model 47 continued alone. Instead, influenced by the Space Race between the United States and the USSR, the legendary Rocket was born, available in Oldsmobile's 88, Super 88, and 98 models. The early Repco engines produced up to 300bhp (220kW), and featured new SOHC cylinder heads and iron cylinder liners. You are correct its even a Studebaker Avanti, not the later Avanti II. Raising an engines compression ratio allows the engine to extract more energy from the fuel it burns, improving both power and fuel economy. In certain cases, multiple iterations of either or both of these cookies may be set. Yup Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Pontiac plus some GMC vehicles, some 1954-on Chevrolet pickups, 19501954 Lincolns, a bunch of independents (Hudson, Kaiser, Nash), Rolls-Royce, and Bentley, among others! It also used the .921in lifter bore size of the Toronado Rocket. It is arguably the best engine Olds made in the muscle car era, although it never made it into a "muscle car". Other American manufacturers would reach the same conclusion. Most contemporary road tests at least mentioned fuel consumption. The Oldsmobile Cutlass, Rocket 88, and other classic models remain very popular among car collectors and Oldsmobile fans. Power for the base engine was up to 315hp (235kW), even though compression was down a quarter point, to 9.75:1.[9]. Incidentally, the Rocket engine was not Oldsmobiles first V8. The 1954 88 and Super 88 V8s used an 8.25:1 compression ratio for 170 and 185hp (127 and 138kW) and 295 and 300lbft (400 and 407Nm), respectively. 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. The 88 model remained in production for a whopping 50 years and over ten. Put the petal to the metal and go man go! 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 The V8 was standard in the new 1949 Oldsmobile 98, replacing the old 257 cu. As part of its marketing campaign for the Rocket V8, Oldsmobile arranged for an 88 convertible to handle the pace car duties at the Indy 500, with speedway president Wilbur Shaw at the wheel. We are known for our high quality,attention to detail and meeting our customers goals. There will typically be several such cookies, each beginning with "gdpr" (e.g., gdpr[allowed_cookies], gdpr&5Bprivacy_bar&5D, and gdpr[consent_types]). Particularly by 50s standards, the flathead Ford wasnt an outstanding engine, which I think even a lot of loyalists would have readily admitted, but you could get them by the cartload and there was a huge, well-entrenched aftermarket for them. 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. The 303 was produced from 1949-1953. Some people fit these motors into a modified classic car or muscle car because of Oldsmobile GM reliability and performance horsepower advantages. 442 . These cookies expire in about 15 days if the user clicks "Remember Me" when logging in; if not, the cookies normally expire when the user closes their browser (or other user agent), or, failing that, within about two days. Offenhauser 3200 49-53 Olds Rocket Dual Quad Intake, Small Port $889.99 Ships Free . SPECIFICATIONS Engine: OHV 90-degree V-8, cast-iron block and heads Displacement: 303-cu.in. Completely restored it, all original. A popular modification made to the 403 to increase power was to swap on early Oldsmobile 350 heads to boost compression. The first generation 88 was powered by Oldsmobile's 5.0L Rocket V8 engine,. The standard 1965-1967 425cuin (7.0L) was called the Super Rocket, and was the most powerful engine option for the Oldsmobile 88 and 98 of 1965-1967. Some consider Rocket 88, recorded by Jackie Brenston in 1951, to be the first rock and roll song. Oldsmobile 1949 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight History Gallery Valuation Rocket 88 (1949 - 1953) 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 These are standard specifications - not necessarily specifications for the vehicle (s) in the photo (s). Owned that vehicle till 1970 and traded in due to a bad dual chamber fuel pump for $350. The Rocket 88 model name was dropped after 1957. Oldsmobile charged $83 for the J-2 option with the three-speed manual (or in the 98),[7] $314 dollars with the automatic.[8]. In development, the high compression ratio combined with the charged load created problems with spark knock on hard throttle applications, which led Olds to develop and utilize a novel water-injection system that sprayed metered amounts of distilled water and methyl alcohol (dubbed "Turbo-Rocket Fluid") into the intake manifold air-stream to cool the intake charge. 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. A very significant and, at this point, often misunderstood transmission that had a big influence on the character of the cars that used it. 4-barrel models used 9.25:1 compression in 1957 and 10:1 in 1958 for 277hp (207kW) and 400lbft (540Nm) and 305hp (227kW) and 410lbft (560Nm) respectively. They may persist for up to two years. Popular price guides put Lansing's mid-1950s cars at an average of $16,500 for a four-door all the way up to $72,900 for a two-door convertible. Output for 1983-1985 was 180hp (130kW) and 245lbft (332Nm). It uses a 3.8in (97mm) bore (in common with the Buick 231 V6 and 350 V8) with a 3.385in (86.0mm) stroke. The Vimeo Cookie Policy does not currently disclose the normal durations of the cookies and similar technologies the Vimeo platform uses, but it appears that some may remain in your browser (or other user agent) for as long as your settings permit. The Rocket 88 won six of nine NASCAR late-model division races in the 1949 season and 10 of 19 races in 1950. Not all the listed cookies and/or data items are necessarily set in all instances, and there may sometimes be others not listed above, particularly if you are logged into a Google account. The 260cuin (4.3L), 307cuin (5.0L), 330cuin (5.4L), 350cuin (5.7L) and 403cuin (6.6L) engines are commonly called small-blocks. You could say the same thing about the original Century, if you were so inclined, which I am. The shape of a flatheads combustion chambers also limits its maximum compression ratio (the amount the fuel mixture is compressed before burning). 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. edu/~wkovarik/ papers/fuel.html, accessed 30 May 2008, and Henry Ford, Charles Kettering, and the Fuel of the Future,' Automotive History Review #32 (Spring 1998), pp. 17, No. Free shipping on many items | Browse your favorite brands | affordable prices. The Oldsmobile V8, also referred to as the Rocket, is series of engines that was produced by Oldsmobile from 1949 until 1990. (At present, this setting does NOT affect the payment or donation buttons that may appear on portions of the site's administrative dashboard, nor does hiding the box affect any cookies that may have already been set). These photos were taken outside the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, California (a few blocks south of LAX). They were all painted Bronze and had V and G stamped on the cylinder heads. It was rated at 215hp (160kW) at 4600rpm and 300lbft (410Nm) at 3200rpm. A cheaper solution (pioneered by Buick back in the days before General Motors was formed) was to leave the camshaft in the block, as in a flathead engine, but add long metal pushrods to allow the camshaft to actuate the valves remotely. Fabulous article. at 1,800 RPM Transmission: Three-speed manual standard, Hydra-Matic optional Wheelbase: 119.5 inches 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. The 400cuin (6.6L) version was the second tall-deck "big-block" Olds. The Generation II V8 ended production in 1990. GM embarked on a vigorous campaign to persuade the major oil companies to offer higher-octane premium gasoline for civilian use. It shared the same compression ratio of the Toronado Rocket at 10.5:1. 1964 Starfire produced 345hp (257kW) and 440lbft (600Nm) for the 1963-4 Starfire and 98 Custom-Sports Coupe. "Affordable Aluminum V8's [sic]", in, Turbo Hydramatic 425 FWD 3-speed automatic, "1975-79 Cadillac Electronic Fuel Injection", "Oldsmobile 403 Engine - Car Craft Magazine", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oldsmobile_V8_engine&oldid=1138357918, 1968 and 1969 400s shared the Olds big-block standard 4.25in (108mm) stroke with the 455 but used a, 19681970 Oldsmobile Toronado GT (W34), 400hp (300kW), This page was last edited on 9 February 2023, at 06:46. Yes, the Hydra-Matic had a parking pawl, which was engaged by selecting reverse with the engine off. [20] Parts peculiar to this system include a toothed disc between the harmonic balancer and the crank pulley, the "adjacent sensor" (an early form of crankshaft position sensor), a special distributor, an engine temperature sensor, and a rudimentary computer mounted inside the car, under the dashboard. Now 70 years old and giving a lot of thought to building me a 1950 Olds casket. In the event we receive any compensation and/or other valuable consideration for any other content presented on this website, the nature of that compensation or consideration will be disclosed as part of the applicable content and/or otherwise adjacent to it.