1960 Oldsmobile Dynamic 88: Engine Top Half

Intro and Background

The blog covers the restoration of my 1960 Olds Dynamic 88. The car spent its early years in the Ohio/Pennsylvania region. The car has been in the family since 1984, when my uncle began restoration #1. That round included a good deal of work by Bob, who towed home little more than a parts car when he bought it. From the pre-resto picture that I saw it looked like it had been parked out in a field and neglected for quite some time. He got the engine running, replaced a fender, added new dual exhausts, exterior body work and paint, re-upholstery, and got all of the mechanicals to function properly. He had it for 20 years and then I purchased the car in 2004, with 58,200 miles on the odometer, and it has been in Arizona since then. Restoration #2 includes returning it to as close to OEM original as possible while maintaining a reasonable budget so the total expense remains close to the book value when complete. This is my first restoration so everything is trial by error and learning along the way.

The car's claim to fame is that it appeared in the movie Kingpin. It served as a background car and you can see it (for only a short time though) during the opening scene of the 1996 movie that starred Woody Harrelson and Randy Quaid. It's being serviced at Munson's garage as the movie opens. Check out the Internet Movie Cars Database (IMCDb) link in the right panel.

Interesting tidbit: the license plate on the front of the car in the above picture reads "60 OLDS", and is in Pennsylvania state colors, was actually made at the Pennsylvania State Penitentiary by inmates in the machine shop.

It has a 371 cu in Rocket V8 with 2-barrel carb producing 240 hp and automatic Hydramatic transmission. It has the original driveline. It's painted the original copper mist poly with white top.

11/18/09

Engine Top Half

Progress is slow but sure! I pulled the heads last month to make it easier to paint them and also to paint the block. I learned that the engine was in need of a valve job and the head gaskets looked pretty bad. This was also a good time to replace the valve oil seals, and clean up the rocker arms, pushrods and valve springs. Here is the before picture of the heads.

The valves were really gunked up and corroded, along with the seats. There had to be a big loss in performance and power due to the air flow and poor seating. The picture isn't great, but this could be one of those ads seen at a gas station about gunked up valves:

I can't wait to see the increase in horsepower and engine performance from improving how the motor breathes. The heads after a valve job and painting:

Here's a before and after of the top half. This the top half of the engine complete and ready for re-assembly to the block. Looks like the car is being rebuilt in the guest room. Oh well, I'll just have to knock out a wall of that room and create a new garage bay so I can drive it out when it's done!