1964 Olds F-85 - Project Red Ransom

[Rocket 442]

Current incarnation is a street/strip car and I want to be able to drive it this spring/summer, but I have begun gathering parts and researching quite a bit. Have the general blueprint for what I need.

Car is a 1964 Olds F-85 Deluxe. Current incarnation is a Street/Strip car but that is changing now.


Currently:
- 455 Olds F Block
- Edelbrock Performer RPM Heads
- Modified Performer Intake
- Mondello JM-20-22 Cam
- Harland Sharp 1.6 Roller Rockers
- Trickflow 3/8 Chrome-moly Pushrods
- Spectre Ultra Low Profile Intake Plenum & Dual Filters (only way I could get it jammed under the hood without cutting it)
- TH400 Trans
- Trans Cooler
- Griffin Radiator (can't remember specs on it at the moment, but its a biggie)
- Dual Electric Fans
- Mini-tubbed

Plans
- SpeedTech Upper & Lower Tubular Control Arms
- SpeedTech 1 5/16" Chrome-Moly Front Sway Bar
- SpeedTech Tie-Rod Adjustment Sleeves
- Viking Double Adjustable CoilOvers
- ridetech Spindles
- Canton Racing 6qt RR Oil Pan & Pickup
- Accusump Accumulator
- Oil Cooler of some sort
- Sway Bars
- Headers (hopefully some that I don't have to completely beat the crap out of)
- Exhaust
- Electric Cutouts


Still in planning:
Engine
an Olds 455 is an odd choice, but with only marginal additional weight compared to a small block, my parts, and my familiarity with it its the best choice for me. Biggest issue I can see is the Oil, which I hope to solve with the Canton Racing Oil Pan and the Accusump. Eventually a EFI setup would be nice, but that'd be farther down the road.

Long-term Transmission/Rear-end setup
Current TH400 is built well, but may want something more personable later on. Rear-end I'm still not sure on, we'll see what happens and what I can find out.

Springs, Shocks, Chassis.
Still learning my way through this, but no better way to learn than to do it wrong and redo it. Looking at adjustable Coilovers. Also plan on continuing to stiffen the frame.

Interior
I want some supporting seats, but nothing too race-based as I want to be able to drive it 4 hours away without dying. I have to do the carpet, and I want to keep the dash itself close to stock, and possibly replace some gauges with some more useful and better designed ones for quick readings.

Wheels/Tires
I could spend years debating this, so I'm just waiting until I can sort out what will work. I want to keep it somewhat classic, so maybe a Salt Shaker or similar, hard to tell as these cars can look odd with some wheel designs.



and I'm sure there a bunch of stuff in my head I'm leaving out. It'll be somewhat of a "budget" Pro-Tourer for now, with the hopes to continue to replace and upgrade as I go to turn it into a serious pro-touring car that can compete with todays cars. Gonna be an interesting journey, we'll see how that goes.


Car as it currently sits, Obviously the suspension will change quite a bit.
















More the height I expect it to sit at:

Wheels/Tires will be switched as well. Not sure on those yet.

[aidanfancystang]

Love the color!

[64G-lark]

Looks like a nice car to start with. I will be watching your build.

[Buryingthesun]

one of my all time favorite bodys

[Canton Racing]

Nice looking car, i'll be keeping track of this build.

[Carguello08]

very cool build, how much power is the 455 making ?

[Mr Nick]

THANK YOU for leaving it Olds powered! Do you have any idea if the Canton pan will fit a 68-72 chassis? I would consider swapping to one if I need to pull the engine again for some reason.

Here is my toy:

[Rocket 442]

Thanks everyone.

very cool build, how much power is the 455 making ?

Haven't dynoed it, but previous similar builds were right around 450-475 Horsepower and 500+ ft-lb.

THANK YOU for leaving it Olds powered! Do you have any idea if the Canton pan will fit a 68-72 chassis? I would consider swapping to one if I need to pull the engine again for some reason.

Yeah, I'm an oldsmobile guy at heart so I don't mind having a 455 in there, and we have a 3 extra blocks and a ton of spare parts if anything is to go wrong.

I'm not sure on the Oil Pan for 68+, I'd assume it'd work okay but I'd ask them to be sure.

[deejai35]

Great looking car already. Can't wait to see the pro touring treatment.

[SparkyRnD]

great looking car, and welcome to another olds guy!

[Rocket 442]

A few updates.

Got the 455 into the car. Getting it in gently with this bigger Oil pan was a challenge and took some finesse. I ran into a few fitment issues as expected. The FlowKooler Long Water Pump hits my electric fan setup. Going to have to find a shorter Water Pump and then re-sort my pulley/belt setup. I know Mondello has a 5" pump, but even that is cutting it somewhat close and then its 13lbs because its cast iron. Looks like 65-67 Olds V8s had pumps closer to 5" so we'll see if I can find something in that range. I have a pretty mammoth radiator & dual fan setup (pics below will show that) as I really don't want any overheating issues. Looking at maybe going with an Electric Water Pump to save space, its just a bit more cash.

The 64(?) Power Steering Pump bracket I'm running will likely not work if I get a shorter pump, its already a pain in the butt to get working with the RPM Heads and has only a few degrees of adjustability because it hits the valve covers.

Radiator & Fan setup (trans cooler also has its own smaller fan)



Slowly but surely, but some progress. The Spectre Intakes are just set there now, and don't quite fit with that PS Bracket again. My hopes is I can find one smaller bracket that I can tuck down lower and then I should have plenty of clearance for what I need.

[72Cutty]

Good looking Cutlass. Makes me want to get back to work on my car.

[Gil]

Will be a very nice sleeper !

Gil

[carguykeith]

Sweet ride! I'm really happy with my electric water pump, you can run it and the electric fan to cool down between runs.

Also have you thought about a front plate? It takes a bunch of stress off the middle of the block which is a major week spot on the BBO, it keeps the torque from twisting off motor mounts and it really cleans up the front accessories.

[Nicks67GTO]

Nice starting point. I love the non traditional type builds!

[Rocket 442]

Sweet ride! I'm really happy with my electric water pump, you can run it and the electric fan to cool down between runs.

Also have you thought about a front plate? It takes a bunch of stress off the middle of the block which is a major week spot on the BBO, it keeps the torque from twisting off motor mounts and it really cleans up the front accessories.

Thanks. I've looked into a few Front plate setups but right now its mainly getting it started and street-worthy. As I continue to update it slowly that'll likely be in the plans as I'm sure things will stay where they are and I'm happy with performance.

After I get the pulleys fixed I'm going to start on the SpeedTech Suspension work. I'm pretty sure a short mechanical pump is the best bet for now. The Electric pumps are at least 6" which doesn't solve my space issues as I hoped it would.

[Mr Nick]

There are 3 length water pumps for Olds... 5.1", 5.6" and 6.1" From what I could find, there is no aluminum 5.1" pump, I just replaced mine last week and had to go with an iron pump. And as you mentioned, getting the correct pulley combo.

My power steering pump hose hit the alum heads on my SBO and it wouldn't even mount. I contacted Chip at Power Steering Services and he sent me a pump body with a hose on the back with a tighter bend, clears fine now.

[mcalvo]

THANK YOU for leaving it Olds powered! Do you have any idea if the Canton pan will fit a 68-72 chassis? I would consider swapping to one if I need to pull the engine again for some reason.

The Canton road race pan 15-502 for Olds V8s fit's fine in my '68

-Michael

[therobski]

Hey buddy, check out my thread in this section-"building a 64 Olds F-85 Rust bucket" 6-15-2014 last update, it been over 4 years, a work in progress, grap a cold Miller or 2, lots of pages and check it out. I will updated soon.