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50 Olds, a little plastic surgery


Fat Brian

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I had intended to do a mild custom with my first build of the 50 Olds but then the itch hit and I had to cut it up. I had seen years ago a 53/54 Chevy which had had it's rear fenders widened, I was eventually going to try this on an Olds but it happened to day. I cut along the crown of the fenders all the way from the front of the side bulge to the rear bumper, seperating the entire from face of the rear fender. I then added an eighth inch wide strip of square Evergreen and reattached the outer fender. The effect is subtle but hopefully after paint it will stand out a bit more. I have removed all of the side chrome and will start on a chop next, I've never done a chop this complex and I hope I can pull it off without having to get another body. I'm also going to french the headlights and some otherodds and ends. So, without further jawing, here are the pics.

DSCN0176.jpg

DSCN0177.jpg

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Great idea widening those rear fenders. Looking good.

As far as updating the engine goes, the Olds engine was redesigned for '64 and stayed in production in that basic form until 1990. A big-block (tall-deck) version debuted in 1965, and there are aluminum heads available aftermarket (Edelbrock) for the newer engine design in 1:1. Factory horsepower ratings for the 455 were as high as 400, with massive torque.

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I don't have any idea what to use for power, I would really like to keep the drivetrain Olds but I want a modern motor. I don't want to have to drop a 350 in it just to get some updated parts.

Brian, you could use the four-cam Olds powerplant from the Revell Shelby series 1 kit if you want to go ultra-modern ;)

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Brian, you could use the four-cam Olds powerplant from the Revell Shelby series 1 kit if you want to go ultra-modern ;)

That's what I was going to suggest, Jeff. It builds up nice and would be a natural for a modern tekkie build. But the 455 is also a versatile beast that could fit that style with a little effort in accessory selection.

Thanks for the heads up on the Series 1 engine, that might be just the ticket. Otherwise I do have some 455s laying around that might get pressed into service with a modern intake plunked on it. I did a little more today, gluing the headlight bezels in getting ready for the frenching. I'm still strategizing the chop and trying to decide if I want to eliminate the B pillar and make it into a psuedo hardtop, maybe reshape the rear window and C pillar a bit.

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The so called Olds engine is actually a Cadillac engine, the Northstar. It is a Cadillac designed engine, NOT an Olds, even though Cadillac shared it for the last few years of Oldsmoblie production.

I was wondering that, Olds and Cadillac kind of joint developed the 4.0 quad cam motor that was in the Aurora and later used in Indy racing. Cadillac took it and punched it out to 4.6 liter for the Northstar series. That engine has a lot of design ideas from the Lotus derived motor in the first ZR-1 Corvettes.

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How about one of the Old's engines from one of the Pro Stock kits, you could fab a single four intake for it, & change to a TH 400, or fab up your own EFI unit for it, that would be a little different direction than most would think of. (guess it just takes a deranged mind to think of that much horsepower in that "little coupe").

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Well, tonight the top came off. I decided to go with the more difficult chop where you cut the roof into quarters. I like the look better, the new roof is wider which plays up how low it is and the rear window doesn't slant as much and I don't really care for the fastback look on this car.

The first cut I made was across the roof width wise at the door line on the B pillars.

chop1_zpsfd4c44c5.jpg

Next was the lengthwise cut.

chop2_zpse0625cbb.jpg

Here the roof is quartered and the B posts have been removed, the A and C postd have been cut down about six scale inches.

chop3_zpsd5692c2d.jpg

Here is the roof tacked in place with tape, you can see how much will need to be filled.

chop4_zpsd87d6a04.jpg

This is the new roof profile, it still needs some fine tuning and I need to decide what to do with the B posts. I also removed the drip rails from the roof side and the chrome strip from the top of the doors.

chop5_zps28730e48.jpg

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