Thread: Twin Engine Oldsmobile, 4-4-2 much, tribute to the original Hurst "Hairy" Olds

a trip to the junkyard sat netted us two 12mm bolt F body brackets to screw with.
cut the bridge right away so we could bolt it up and do some real test fitting.


well the anti rattle clip on the caliper hits the rotor edge and primarily due to the arc differences but the inside edges of the bracket also just barely touch the rotor. so it looks like moving the mounting inward .5" for the 1" smaller rotor is too much.
at least with the smaller rotor there's tons of room around the F body caliper...there aint no way to make the 12" fit in the 15" though
from the looks of it moving the caliper inward at that position is possible but im not gonna mess with our gateway to bigger brakes come time to play on a roadcourse...
plenty of room for a new bridge to get welded on and it clear the caliper fingers.

tons of room for cooling airflow around the caliper and rotor as well as the air feeds for the rotor hub should keep these nice and cool. definitely a worthy headache to undertake...if not for the $ we save on 15" rims and slicks, its worth it for the lighter dual piston calipers and rotor mass.

also started screwing with a few APP sensors...tore one apart to the sensor module...should be real easy to make a thumb lever and attach it to a glove.


the paired pedals will at least allow a little foot rolling to let you bias the throttle a little either way...ill have to make new pads and pullback loops but at least these are steel unlike the newer plastic stuff....
just a shave at the edges lets em clear...awesome that the pedals still use the same tooling that made our 94 olds pedal lol

part porn





rotor side



the two perpendicular plates are the top and bottom of the billet knuckle "block"


but its good enough for wally to use for the chassis while the knuckles are made.

Wait, there's a part in that last picture? I just see a magazine. I think there might be a part in the first picture too but it's kinda hazy. Like I have tunnel vision.

the 4 mockup knuckles are nearly done. built to the correct dimensions and should be good to 6,000lbs each so it can roll around on em while the billet knuckles are machined and anodized.
this is the rear knuckle, the lower is an A arm with the large monoball at the outside taking the cars weight through the coilovers. the other link of the lower "H" arm is essentially the steering link but in plane with the lower A arm to keep bumpsteer at 0 while maintaining the anti dive/rise geometry.


fronts are setup similar but with the proper knuckle geometry and the steering arm up higher for the rack position.


gonna be tight but we should fit everything...even if we cant go wider than a 10" rim up front





two fronts below it, along with another trans brace and the caster mounts for the powerplants while they are out of the car

finished the LIM for the new rear engine...finally. with this intake and the other having the B1 and B2 IAT sensors under the ic cores ill have true data at the effectiveness of the single pass modified wbs core vs the dual pass zzp core for the other engine.

Enjoy sneaking the bolts past the sensors.

I like how you plumb the vac lines.

the sensors thread in a lot farther and as long as there unplugged the bolts are easy I bought pigtails to make them work without having to pull apart the intercooler assembly to disconnect everything the rear engines vacuum system is essentially a 3/16ths stainless hardline to the l32 MAP sensor and fuel pressure regulator.
there's no more alternator bracket or coolant elbows with the new intake

Should be pretty damn clean and simplified when its all plumbed up and ready to go. Hope you try hide the vac lines as much as possible and I like the idea of using 3/16 lines too. I was thinking a guy should do all the lines in nicopp and fittings. I fvcking hate brittle old vac lines and fittings with a passion.

im trying to design around a "powertrain module" setup that would allow for the easiest service. disconnect primary power, fuel feed & return, control wires and drop the whole rear or front powertrain out.

the goal is to make the rear powertrain module a test stand out of the car, allowing us to "test" the engines/80e's out while using the brakes to hold resistance to test all the gears. would be a delightful way to test junkyard tranny's quite easily during winter months/etc.

all 4 final dimension knuckles are welded and outfitted with their bolts/bearings.
none of em are setup for the brakes but all have the cutout to allow the caliper and bracket to be slid into place to check clearances. that "5th" knuckle is a dual side front knuckle but with all the final brake mounts/dimensions to ensure the caliper clears the coilovers/control arms up front.
he can either take measurements off it or he can actually bolt it on and swing it through the turning arc.
hoping for ~15* turning with the 15x10 rims on the front with the F body calipers in the 11" rotor position, and hopefully 25+ for the street, with the calipers in the 12" rotor position and 16" rims and narrower tires.
here's the drivers side rear knuckle. setup to use a "Z" arm on the lower (pretty much an H arm but unconstrained to allow for adjustable anti dive/rise geometry.
that lower right joint is essentially the steering tie rod but in plane with the lower "A" arm. that lower left slot is for the large monoball to carry the weight of the car through the coilovers behind of the axle centerline to package things much better and to make sure we can try our damnedest to shove a 15x12"+ rim back there.
upper plates are setup to allow the upper arm to be positioned for best packaging to fit big shoe's

this is the "5th" knuckle, its for the drivers front but the upper and lower plates are cut to allow it to flip upside down, but for the most part its just to ensure it all fits with the 11" F body setup since the front is gonna be tight.
the steering arm is close to where the projected rack height is gonna be but its left adjustable for something as close to zero bump steer as we can manage.
setup for a bit of anti ackerman with the mockup knuckles as the billet knuckles will have replacable arms to let us play with bumpsteer and ackerman



here's all five, ready to ship off to wally and get it back under construction after the gleefull news that none of the oem strut junk would work...meh i guess its all for the better...

Wow. In my next life I want to be a fabricator. How did you get the lim so clean and shiny?

lots of work with a cartridge roll and die grinders.

start collecting tools young....i had no life so all my $ is in the garage

been working on a few things lately.


drew this up a while back, probably hard to tell what it is eh?
the two daisy heads get tack welded to the cut down GM APP sensor and allow for the sensor to be controlled by a lever and (eventually) have the two return springs.
the app sensor mounted to the glove to provide a solid mounting


whole buncha arm styles for bending/twisting and testing to see whats the most comfortable and safe mounting and control via finger/thumb.
the only other thought i had was a lever on the steering wheel near 3 o clock. the daisy gives plenty of options for mounting



been working on a control arm mounting that borrows from circle track and such to allow for tons of pivot point adjustments over a 1" range with just changing the slugs.
this was the last issue i was having, i can figure rough roll center/etc but i know its gonna take fine tuning, so to have something smaller than 3/4" adjustments is quite nice for the future handling in the twisties.



Al was bored so this happened....

oh i cant wait till the whole car is done....

got a bit more done, block is drilled and tapped for the relocated/new 3/8ths-16 ***** bolt
got the last of the brackets mapped out for the engine to diff brace, as well as the engine mount plate.


i also finally got the TR's trans pan helicoil'd and fixed....no more leaks!






i dont know if ill link the rear plate to the engine to diff brace but i might, i really want it to be easy to swap out the final drive gearset.
the F body neck just barely clears the 80e tulip's boot clamp, probably wont work on the 65e in the slightest with the shorter crank to axle centerline distance.

Look at all that man trans 4t80 goodness in here!!

Would you please elaborate on the heater hose connections. There's some coolness going on there too.

the heater hose connections for the lim and the timing cover are now an 12 fittings since the rear engine does not use a heater core we are repurposing it to allow for an engine oil to coolant heat exchanger where the alternator used to be the new alternator location for the rear engine is down where the AC compressor used to be.
the only belt drive the rear engine will have is from the crank to the alternator pulley with a mechanical tensioning setup and the supercharger belt
for now the coolant will just be routed in a loop until we get around to the remote filter block. the timing cover was threaded to 3 quarter inch NPT to use an an fitting while the lower intake had a fitting welded on to the port where the bypass elbow goes into.

well Al and I had a good day at the junkyard....picked up an entire intact 04/05 DBW harness to start hacking apart for the rear powerplant package, also a nearly new napa "mini" starter as well as a good older "middleweight" starter

then we got realllly lucky and found a 91 GP...with thee mintiest set of alcoa crosslaces ive ever seen....


right down to the brand new looking coatings in the hub....and this was on the "bad" rims with all the front brake dust. hell there arent any major dimples in the lug holes from impact sockets dinging around...only issue is the hammer on weight corrosion...sweeet so now we have enough that the "ugly" first set gets to donate their back barrels to the nice rims to make a set of 10" crosslaces...maybe ill weld the leftovers together for some 6" crosslaces for those that want drag skinney's lol





just look at how minty that schtuff is! from the looks of the car the fella took damn good care of it.... glad i can help his parts live on...





we finally finished the longblock...also made more headway on the engine to 4t80e diff brace, as well as hammered out a set of engine lift brackets



seems like such a shame to hide all the oil control mods....but here's hoping to no longer finding evidence of oil in the chambers...



bank 1 & 2 IAT sensors are in... all tq'd and ready to rock...



the obligatory leaning tower of power pic....
dont mind that thing below the blower...its just a diverter/plenum spacer

pretty flippin sweet!