1966 OLDS 442

Update your progress on your various car projects.

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GMJohnny
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1966 442 - Transmission Identification

Post by GMJohnny »

I've gone to the car and researched the Muncie 4 speed that's in the car. From an earlier experiment, (see Nov. 23, 2019 post)
we know this to be a "wide ratio" Muncie. It's an M-20. The main case #3885010 and side cover #3884685
both indicate that the trans is a 1966 Muncie. The date code on the Muncie is PO214, indicating February
14th. February 14th matches the car's 2nd week of February, so that's pretty good evidence that the trans matches the car, but
it is conceivable that somebody put a correct date coded replacement trans in the car. The bellhousing # 9778882 indicates BOP bellhousing. Here's the site I got my numbers from: http://members.tripod.com/camaro_obsession/muncie.htm

According to this website, vehicles with a 3.90 should have a close ratio trans in the car. Using this logic, either the
trans is wrong to the car, or somebody put in a different rear axle. The speedometer gears are set up for the 3.90,
so perhaps somebody with mechanical understanding did some switching around at sometime. Without a build sheet,
we will never know. The site also indicates that there is a way to match your vin code to the trans, but where they
show the numbers to be on my trans, I can't find the numbers. There may be more to this, but for now, I've got
some solid info that I wanted to document.

GM
Attachments
Bellhousing #9778882
Bellhousing #9778882
Unknown tag# 9784425
Unknown tag# 9784425
Date code PO214
Date code PO214
Sidecover #3884685
Sidecover #3884685
Main Case #3885010
Main Case #3885010
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wxo
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by wxo »

GM, have you thought of trying to contact the previous owner's for more info?
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

I talked to him when we purchased the car, but he was pretty vague about where it
came from. At the time of purchase, the owner was in pretty bad health, which is why
he was selling it, so I'm not certain he is ever around anymore. I do have his phone number
still. What I do remember from our conversation is that he got it from one of his car buddies
who had it in storage and it was hit on the passenger side rear when he got it. Who knows
how long it sat. I have been looking into title searches to see where that goes, but have never
done one. I found one that was free, and it showed that the car was never totaled and never
stolen. I see things online about more in depth versions, but am not certain how far they really
go back. Perhaps someone on Tiresmoke knows a good way to do it?

GM
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GMJohnny
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Remote Mirror / Door Carpet Install

Post by GMJohnny »

After finding out that the car had a remote mirror as a factory option, I started looking for one. Turns out
the remote mirror for a 66 Cutlass was a one year production run. My luck. If my car was a GTO, I would've
had my choice of 4 on Ebay for $75.00. Not the case. I found one on an Olds forum. The guy who sold it to
me happened to be the guy who sold me my distributor last year. I can't say that it's the best bargain I've
ever found, but it was a 100% complete kit and the mirror was a fresh re-chrome, so it's perfect. It was kind
of cool to "unearth" evidence of the car having the remote option, like the factory hole in the vinyl door skin
and the hole in the door to accept the cable where the mirror mounts. While I had the door skins off, I replaced
the worn out carpet on the bottom of the inside of the door. This part of the project was pretty time consuming,
about two hours per door. I also had about two hours in getting the mirror mounted as I ran into some issues
with one of the holes in the door being stripped out. I also moved the retractable seat belts back to their
correct spots. The previous owner had the right belt on the left and vice versa. I didn't realize it until I was
kneeling down staring at them. It was a full weekend's worth of work, but very rewarding! There's no snow
predicted for the next week, so I'm going to try to drive it this weekend!
Old Door Carpet
Old Door Carpet
Old Mirror
Old Mirror
New Mirror
New Mirror
New Mirror
New Mirror
Finished Product
Finished Product
GM
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GMJohnny
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Exhaust Revamp

Post by GMJohnny »

After running in the high 13's last year, I've decided to see what I can do to free up
some more power to maybe be in the mid-13's, or solidly in the 13's enough that I can
do it even on a warm day. While I was rolling around under the car looking for transmission
I.D. numbers, I looked at some of the bends on my exhaust pipes. Currently, the pipes
are aluminized 2.25" from the manifolds out the back. The guy who bent the pipes did
a nice job getting them tucked under the car, but his bends squelch the pipes to 2". The
car has stock, super quiet, restrictive and non-aluminized mufflers. The tail pipes are
period correct and are a replica of what was produced in 1966, with chrome tips. They
are machine made and have the correct "kinks" in them. My goal with this is to keep the
tail pipes, but get better from the manifolds to them. Yesterday, our exhaust guy made
a house call to my barn. We've discussed 2.5" aluminized pipes from manifolds to the
mufflers with an "H" pipe. I've chosen ( they're on their way already ) a Dynomax #17629

https://www.dynomax.com/super-turbo-off ... 18016.html

This is the closest muffler to the size of what's in the car. They should look pretty nice, never
rot (lifetime warranty) and help a ton with the flow. We're going to weld reducers to 2.25" where
they attach to the pipes I'm expecting a bit more power from the modification and a bit more
noise. I've been reassured that this is a good muffler by our mechanic and the internet seems
to support this. Hopefully, if it's not a rain out next weekend, we will be having the upgrade
installed. More to come.

GM
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GMJohnny
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Rebuild Front & Rear Carbs

Post by GMJohnny »

57342 …. I rebuilt the front and rear carbs today. I'm not certain why, but the screws tend
to loosen up on the carbs. The damp fuel collects dirt and the carbs look horrible. I opted to
put new gaskets in the front and rear carbs today. I've rebuilt the middle carb already. The
project wasn't too terrible, but it did take me two tries. The needle and seat assemblies that
came with the new kits didn't work so well. When I started the motor, the fuel bowls filled
up very quickly and fuel came bilging out. I went back to the needle and seat assemblies that
were in the carbs and the issue went away. I did test drive the car and it seems to have a bit
of a stumble when RPM's aren't up. I'm going to make sure that the issue isn't the center carb
acting up the next time I get to work on it. For now, the carbs are dry and looking pretty. I also
put a fuel filter in the glass bowl / water separator where there wasn't one before.

GM
Attachments
Clean Rear Carb
Clean Rear Carb
Dirty Carb
Dirty Carb
Missing One Carb
Missing One Carb
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TireSmoker
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by TireSmoker »

I think you're gonna be pretty happy with those Dynomax's. I had them on the Chevelle back in the 90s, and currently have them on the Blazer.

-Dave
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

TireSmoker wrote:I think you're gonna be pretty happy with those Dynomax's. I had them on the Chevelle back in the 90s, and currently have them on the Blazer.

-Dave
The Dynomax's get good reviews and come recommended. Anything performance related will be
better than the mufflers on there now. They're so restrictive! I'm still waiting on the pipe installer
to get me into the shop. The landlord of the garage where the pipe bender is doesn't want anybody
in there during the Corona period. Last I heard, the bender was going to be moved to the other shop.
We'll see!

GM
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GMJohnny
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Rebuild Front & Rear Carbs -- Final Repair

Post by GMJohnny »

Today it was nice enough outside to try to diagnose the stumble when the front and rear carbs
kicked in. A bit of research on the internet had me thinking that the best thing to do was to make
sure that the middle carb was tuned properly. I disconnected the linkage to the front carb (which
activates the rear carb) and took it for a spin. Zero bog with the center carb as the only carb. Super
clean, crisp response, good at cruising speed. Back to the garage. The guys on the net were all saying
to check the accelerator pump. Both the front and the rear got new ones. I tried to test the accelerator
pump on the front carb by moving the linkage by hand. No fuel. I took the carb off, took it to the bench
and worked the linkage several times with no fuel. I tapped the side of the carb with a screw driver
handle and tried one more time and fuel came out nicely. After repeating this action several more
times, I knew I had it right and bolted the carb on. I took the rear carb off and the same issue was
there. This time I wasn't so lucky. I had to take the top of the carb off and free up the accelerator
pump. After re-assembly, the carb was shooting fuel properly. I reconnected all the fuel lines and
linkage and took it for a spin. Bingo! Super clean all the way through the gears. There's a tiny bog
if you slam the gas to the floor, but multiple sites on the net indicated that you have to go a bit
slower with the tri carb set up to allow them to work correctly. It's literally a 95% slam to WOT to
achieve no bog. I can say that the rebuild seems to have helped performance. I'm thinking that the
skirts on the new accelerator pumps swelled up and got stuck in their bore. Before my next ride,
I'll double check that they are working correctly before I assume they're 100% correct. I'm now thinking
that, after I get the exhaust work done, I can bump up the rev limiter a hundred RPM's or so, It's pulling
very strong to 5000 and I think I might be short shifting. More to come.

GM
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

I've been getting annoyed by a small oil leak where the oil pressure gauge line connects to
the block brass fitting on the block. I tried to snug it down, but it didn't stop the leak. The line is
copper on this car, not the translucent plastic stuff. I was able to purchase a kit online for $12 that
was to be the cure to the issue. I went to do the work and noticed some oil spray on the inner fender
on the driver's side, so I knew it was getting progressively worse. The way the old line worked was to
have a small nipple soldered on to the copper line. Well, when I put a wrench to it to remove it, the
copper line broke free of the solder. I'm pretty fortunate that it happened in the garage and not while
driving. It would've made a mess for sure. The replacement kit uses small brass rings that you find in
a compression fitting with a slightly bigger ( 1/8" ) copper line. After losing one of the small brass rings
somewhere in the garage and a quick trip to the local Napa store for a donor compression fitting, I was
back in repair mode. IIt took about a half hour to finish the work. The nice thing about this repair is that
I was able to shorten the length of the copper tube. The last one was about two feet too long and I had to
coil it up under the dash to hide it. Now, I'm perfectly fit and no leaks!

GM
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GMJohnny
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New Directional Lever

Post by GMJohnny »

Old Lever ( Notice pitting )
Old Lever ( Notice pitting )
Mid-Way Through the Job
Mid-Way Through the Job
Work Completed
Work Completed
Today I made a small, yet much needed upgrade. The directional lever that was on the
442 was obviously an original lever. It was pitted and rough to the touch, and the chrome
was shot. I found out that you can get a repop version that looks 100% correct. I got the
lever as a birthday gift from Fred32V & Mom. The job took about 25 minutes, and most of the
time was spent figuring out where my steering wheel puller was and where the long bolts I needed
were. I was a little concerned initially that the new lever's angle was going to be wrong, but I think
the on that was on the car was bent toward the dash some, as this one seems to be in the perfect
position in relation to the steering wheel. I'm glad I did the job, as the screw holding the old lever
in place was loose, and putting the new lever in allowed me to tighten that up and there's nearly
no slop in the lever anymore. After the install, I had to take the car for a one hour test drive to
make sure my work was satisfactory. All was well when the car was parked.

GM
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GMJohnny
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3.23 Axle Install

Post by GMJohnny »

A few weeks ago, I happened to be looking at Craigslist and stumbled across a pretty rare
piece. What I found was a factory 3.23 rear end complete with axles out of a 1966. When I
was redoing my rear end, I was looking for this exact piece. When I first saw the ad, the guy
had it listed, with 6 or 7 pictures of it, but none of the code on the axle housing. I replied to
his ad and he said he was unable to find the code, but after telling him where the code was,
he went back out to his garage and found it. If the rear end is out of a '66, and is a positraction
carrier, the code should be "SF", which this one is. I went to look at it and got the back story on
it. He had the rear end for 10 years and the original plan was to put it in his '66 El Camino. The
rear end was too wide, so he scrapped the idea and changed the ratio in his current rear end.
He told me that the guy he bought it from had just rebuilt it. I didn't open the rear end at his place
and took his word for it. Last week, I did the prep work on it. I put new gear lube & positraction
additive in it, although the stuff that came out appeared to have never been run as it was clean.
The axle bearings and seals both appear to be new as well. Yesterday, I did the install, mostly by
myself, but on the back end of the job Fred32V and BP came over to finish off the work. I took the
car for a spin yesterday and this morning and it seems perfect. No chatter on corners and super
smooth without vibration up to 80 MPH. I really like the difference in rpm's at cruising, I can get
up to 70 still under 3,000. The next step for the 3.36 rear end (assuming it's not too costly) is to
have the factory 3.90 installed on the posi carrier that's in there. This way I will have two rear
ends. If I end up not using the 3.90 rear that much, it should be a pretty easy sell and I should be
reclaim the majority of my money that I put into it.

GM
Attachments
72BDCB51-06DB-4407-8F1A-7D96A702B3DD.jpeg
80CB79E6-D4EC-4998-B15A-58660FECC617.jpeg
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

So, this will be a long post as it is two parts.... Part 1 -- Last weekend I finally got my exhaust work done.
The pipes from the manifolds to the Dynomax Super Turbo mufflers are now 2.5" and the "H" pipe was installed.
This was a wonderful upgrade. It smoothed out the pull through the gears and you can really feel when the cam
starts to kick in around 2500. This part I'm extremely pleased with. There was a requirement for a carb adjustment
as the idle was way high I'm guessing because of way less back pressure. I adjusted the carb and took it for a spin
and it would almost stall as I came to a stop, but if I sat for a moment, the idle would bounce back up. This I attribute
to not enough vacuum at the adjustable vacuum advance canister. So yesterday, I made a small adjustment to the
vacuum canister and took it out to breakfast. Part 2 -- The vacuum adjustment was way off on the first try, so I
re-adjusted it at Fred's place and we took the car to breakfast. During the drive, there was a miss that was
horrible, like there was a missing cylinder or the carb was totally loaded up with fuel. We made it to the restaurant
with plans of running some errands after breakfast. I decided to abort the errands as the car was running so poorly,
I just wanted to make it home. As we went to pull out of the drive, the car was a serious handful. It flooded and stalled.
When I went to re-fire it, with foot to the floor, it coughed back through the carb. That's when I noticed smoke coming
out of the cowl area. I quickly jumped out of the car and opened the hood to see two of my air cleaners ON FIRE! I
want to think that I was pretty calm as I tried to blow out the flames, but they wouldn't go out. I then ripped off my
shirt to act as a blanket to smother the flames. I couldn't quite get the fire all the way out, because the foam filters
were really starting to burn. As quickly as I could, I removed the air cleaner tops and threw them out of the way, then
wrapped the two carbs with my shirt again, and WHEW, the flames went out. I wasn't in the mood to try to fix the issue
in the parking lot, so Fade came to the rescue with his flat bed. I got the car back last night just before I was going to
dinner, so I pushed it tin the barn and I'll have to figure out the issue. This was quite a scare, and I can tell you that it
was a pretty helpless feeling watching my car start to burn. I've seen two posts on Oldsmobile sites this year where guys
have lost their car to fire. I'm going to buy an extinguisher. The good news is that the only things that were really damaged
were the air filters. I'll get new ones. More to come.

GM
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

It's been a while since I posted last, but progress has been made in the last three weeks. I found out the problem
that caused the fuel issue and eventually the fire. The brass float sunk in the carb closest to the fan. I was relieved to
have found the smoking gun, but this led to a ton of work. To make the long story short, I've taken all of the carbs
apart and made sure they all have neoprene floats in them and I re-set the float heights on them. The middle carb is
set to 21/32nds and the end carbs at 23/32nds. Float drop is set to 1 24/32nds. Per this Pontiac Tri Carb YouTube video:

https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/v ... tion=click

During the process of re-assembly, I ended up with a fuel leak at the brass junction block where all of the fuel lines
connect. I've been thinking about putting new copper lines and fittings on the car because the old lines are all kinked
like someone "adjusted" them with the box end of a wrench. The copper lines were all replaced along with the brass fittings
that connect them to the carburetors. While I was there, I replaced the old home-made carb studs with correct ones and of
course topped off the carbs with new paper filters and air cleaners. I wire wheeled and clear painted the steel linkage for the
center carb and the choke pull off as well. The vacuum line to the distributor now is very neatly run from the back carb ( pulled
the plug off of the base and inserted a brass 90* elbow and shortened the vacuum hose ) instead of sharing vacuum with the
choke pull off on the center carb. As part of the bench clean up, I was able to make a complete set of bases and foam filters
from parts I had leftover from previous work, ( I'm only going to run foam filters for a show or maybe the drag strip because
they burn so easily. ) and I've put that package into storage. I've driven the car a couple of times locally basically testing it
and driving very lightly. After sitting for a couple of weeks, I want to make sure that I can continue enjoying it for the rest of
the summer.

GM

PS -- I bought a fire extinguisher and put it under the driver's seat.
Attachments
777635F1-87AA-414E-9FB4-9BBA96F47CD0.jpeg
608BF637-2C02-4057-862F-9C89A5228517.jpeg
Last edited by GMJohnny on Sat Jul 04, 2020 12:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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wxo
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by wxo »

I was thinking of this fire and how you put it out with your shirt. Then I wondered about a fire blanket rather than an extinguisher. I'm not sure what comes out of an extinguisher, but you might not want to find out, that after the fire, you have a substantial cleanup and possible damage from the contents of the extinguisher. On the other hand this may never happen again. :mrgreen:
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