1965 Oldsmobile 442

[GMJohnny]

40,248 … Last August I purchased a pile of 425 parts from a guy and part of the deal was a set of factory steel valve covers. I’ve been working on this project for a few months now, obviously! I wasn’t a fan of the PCV system that was incorrect for the car and I was hating on the cheap chrome valve covers that always leaked. I opted for the factory set up over them. So, I stripped the valve covers down to steel, primed and painted them satin black. I purchased the correct breather that pushes in the valve cover and the tube and hose that connect this breather to the air cleaner. ( that part is NOT easy to find and isn’t repopped! It wasn’t cheap either ) That breather was all gunked up, but a week long soak in gasoline and some high pressure air got it working perfectly. It too received a paint job and now it looks new. Sunday, I spent the three hours to change out the valve covers. Sometime I’ve the winter, I used PermaTex to glue the new cork gaskets to the valve covers. The covers were easily installed with a new set of correct valve cover bolts. No leaks after a half hour test drive, so I’m putting this project down as done. If I take the time out to paint the motor, these parts will be correct and the valve covers won’t have to come off. To be noted was how clean the inside of the motor was. I’ve had many Oldsmobiles that had build up around the valve springs and rockers. These look as clean as the day they were installed.

GM

[GMJohnny]

40,540….On the last few rides, I started to notice a shudder when the car was put into reverse. The first couple of times I wrote it off to this being an old car, but on my last Sunday drive it became obvious that the issue was getting worse. I checked under the car and was able to move the trans up and down and side to side by at least 1/4”, so I speculated the trans mount was failing. Trans mounts are CHEAP for this car, so Rock Auto shipped one to me for under $20. Yesterday I made the swap. The job took about 1 1/2 hrs. with the majority of the time being spent cleaning things up. The crossmember needed to slide back toward the rear of the car. To do this, the E brake cable needed to be disconnected. It hasn’t been disconnected on this car for many years, so de-gunking it took some time. Also, the bolt on the driver’s side of the car wasn’t touching the mount, but it was tight in the hole. After checking the hole, it looked like there was gunk at the top of the threads impeding the progress of the bolt. I tapped bolt holes out to clean the threads up and now the bolts both run up flush and hold the mount tightly to the trans. There were washers missing all over the place, so I made the move to put lock washers on the trans mount bolts and put flat washers under the lock washers on the crossmember bolts. After this, the reassembly went quickly and now the shudder is gone. Back on the road!

GM

[GMJohnny]

41,000 …. I found a sweet deal on Ebay on a factory vacuum gauge for the 442. For under $100 I got the gauge shipped to me and purchased the new vacuum hose and the brass fitting to connect the hose to the intake manifold. It took me a couple of hours to do the install, but when I was done it worked 100% on the initial start up. The gauge is super clean and adds a bit of color to the interior of the car. I like the look and it was a pretty painless project.

GM

[Basement Paul]

Now it will be easier to save fuel while driving.

-BP

[wxo]

Did the console already have accommodations for installing the gauge?

[GMJohnny]

Did the console already have accommodations for installing the gauge?

WXO,

Yes sir! There were three options for what goes in that spot from the factory,
a tachometer, vacuum gauge, or a rocket emblem. I’ve completed the trifecta
now, the 442 has had all three since I’ve owned it. There was no customizing
required for this project.

GM

[GMJohnny]

41,385… Well, it literally took a year for the second phase of carb rebuilding to come to a close. About three weeks ago, I took a Saturday morning and rebuilt the original carb. I had about three hours of my time in the rebuild, which included resetting the float height and drop, both of which were wrong on both floats according to my 1968 Motor Manual. I did the install today and, like the last rebuild I did on a 4GC Rochester, I had no leaks and the car ran perfectly when I was done. It took about an hour and a half to do the swap and that was with me dragging my feet. I took it for a test drive and all works correctly. I’ll take it for a longer Labor Day Weekend cruise later on in the weekend. It’s nice to finally have that carb on the car and off my workbench!

GM

[GMJohnny]

So, about a month ago, I received an instant messenger message from someone who wanted to purchase the 442. After a phone conversation or so, multiple texts and many pics and videos sent, a deal was struck. We decided on today as the day for the car to depart. The purchaser drove 9 hours with truck and trailer to pick it up today. Both he and I are happy with the outcome, and I wish him the best of luck with the car. He’s been on the hunt for a ‘65 stick 442 for about a year and now he owns one. I’ll be searching for another “new to me car” and I’m hoping I’ll have one before 2024. Close the book on the ‘65 442.

GM

[TireSmoker]

Looking forward to see what you pick up next..

-Dave

[GMJohnny]

Find me an El Camino or a big block Cutlass....

GM