We all know somebody with one. This is mine. 1966 Olds 442. Dad bought it in 1997. Had it painted, had the engine built, and pretty much shelved it. Small things would get done here and there, but nothing to get it even close to running. Lost interest. Side tracked with other stuff. He fell ill in 2015 and passed away in 2016, and it went to me.
In 2017 I started assembling it, just enough to roll out of his garage and into mine. All I really needed to put in was a steering column. Brakes would have been nice but we made do without.
Unfortunately it took about 3 years for me to get motivated enough to actually move it to my place. In the spring of 2020 it finally saw daylight.
From there, I really hustled over the summer. Installed the M22 trans and driveshaft. Bought a complete vehicle wiring harness for a Chevelle and modified it to work for the Olds. Hard to find new parts for these things.
That, and brake lines, front clip, engine plumbing, exhaust all done in a couple months. Even got the parking brake working. Lots of hiccups along the way of course. Dad lost some parts, had some wrong parts, etc. Lots of studying to figure it all out.
In August I rolled it out for it’s first run and got kicked right in the nuts.
It ran, but ran terribly. Went through everything I could. Eventually worked down to the camshaft installed the engine some 20 years ago. Degreed it, and found it was ground for the wrong cam bank angle (Olds used two different ones in this era). So one bank was 6 degrees retarded and the other 6 degrees advanced. If you fix one, the other goes off 12 degrees. So back apart it went. And it sat. And sat. I was pretty de-motivated after all that work and money put into it.
Now, another year and a half has gotten away from me and I’m trying to finally wrap this effin thing up to actually drive in 2022. Recently put the new cam in, switched out a couple other things for parts I preferred. Waiting for a few little odds and ends and I’ll fire it up for round two when weather permits. Fingers crossed this time.
In 2017 I started assembling it, just enough to roll out of his garage and into mine. All I really needed to put in was a steering column. Brakes would have been nice but we made do without.
From there, I really hustled over the summer. Installed the M22 trans and driveshaft. Bought a complete vehicle wiring harness for a Chevelle and modified it to work for the Olds. Hard to find new parts for these things.
That, and brake lines, front clip, engine plumbing, exhaust all done in a couple months. Even got the parking brake working. Lots of hiccups along the way of course. Dad lost some parts, had some wrong parts, etc. Lots of studying to figure it all out.
In August I rolled it out for it’s first run and got kicked right in the nuts.
It ran, but ran terribly. Went through everything I could. Eventually worked down to the camshaft installed the engine some 20 years ago. Degreed it, and found it was ground for the wrong cam bank angle (Olds used two different ones in this era). So one bank was 6 degrees retarded and the other 6 degrees advanced. If you fix one, the other goes off 12 degrees. So back apart it went. And it sat. And sat. I was pretty de-motivated after all that work and money put into it.
Now, another year and a half has gotten away from me and I’m trying to finally wrap this effin thing up to actually drive in 2022. Recently put the new cam in, switched out a couple other things for parts I preferred. Waiting for a few little odds and ends and I’ll fire it up for round two when weather permits. Fingers crossed this time.
