The Rocket Review Quarterly Winter...

The Rocket Review Quarterly

Winter Edition

I, like all car nuts, am

dreaming of springtime

when we can get our nice

cars out, and not worry

about salt on the road. Ac-

cording to my calendar, that

is right around the corner!

All I have to report is that I

tried to get an August show

contract from Montgomery

College, but the damn place

has been closed for a week

now for some reason…

The All-GM show t-shirt

cars will be mostly muscle

anniversary cars this year:

1970 Chevelle SS, Pontiac

GTO, Olds 442, and a

Buick GSX. I haven‘t de-

cided on a Caddy, but the

Eldo was the sportiest

model they had that year. I

am trying to use some old

artwork to save time. This

can only be a great seller at

the t –shirt tent! - Cory

Cory Correll’s Message—A Note From Phil Pollack

Capitol City Rockets —Oldsmobile Club of America 2007 Honorable Mention Old Cars Weekly Golden Quill Award publication

Jan-Mar 2010

Volume 21, Issue 1

Steve White Checks In, 2,4

Jetfire Rebuild V 3

„62 Cutlass Mod up-

date, new Rockets

5

Local/National Calen-dar, Classifieds

6,7

Membership Directory/Renewal Form

8

Inside this issue:

Club Events—Save

the Dates:

Sun, Feb 21st,

regular club

meeting at

Branded 72 in

Rockville, MD,

1:30 pm

Sun, March 14,

regular club

meeting at Kil-

roys in VA, 1:30

pm (tentative

plans to switch

to Tucker Mu-

seum visit, stay

tuned)

Scott Phillips—Editor

Rockets shivered

everywhere this

past weekend as

record-breaking

snow nailed us.

This one managed

to get out and idle

for a while in the

driveway before

the next snowfall

hit!

energy to keep my Oldsmo-

bile.

What I will miss

most are the club members

from Capitol City Rockets.

The shows were never about

awards. The shows were my

chance to mingle with some

of the best people I came to

know and freely talk about

common interests. The kind-

ness and friendship that that

people display when showing

off their show cars or daily

drivers are memories I will

never lose. I did not have

time in my life for more than

one hobby, but am so thank-

ful that was the hobby I

chose and would recommend

it to anyone. You all are the

best.

-Major Philip I. Pollack

You can email Phil at [email protected]

Editor’s Note: Phil Pol-

lack wrote me back in October

and asked that I pass along

this message to CCR:

For 16 years, I was the proud

owner of a 1972 Cutlass Su-

preme convertible and a

member of the Capitol City

Rockets. In 2008 I retired as

a Police Captain after 32

years in law enforcement and

was fortunate to get a nice

retirement job at the Library

of Congress.

I had been told at

my age, I would experience

life changing events and that

included retirement and

grandkids. As priorities

changed, I lost the drive and

The Rocket Review Volume 21, Issue 1

gram and what it repre-

sents. Of course, I checked

the fuses and they were

good. After much frustra-

tion, I developed a theory:

It must be a bad ammeter.

So, I removed it (no small

task) and sent it to a gauge

place along with the clock,

which had never worked.

When I followed up with

the gauge place they said

they found the clock in the

box, but not the ammeter.

Crushing agony! Fortu-

nately, I had a spare, but

had to have it checked.

Not wanting to take a

chance, I sent this one to a

different gauge place. The

ammeter came back hav-

ing been calibrated. Believ-

ing this would solve my

problem, I once again

squeezed myself under the

dash and, with much con-

torting, reinstalled it. Then,

ceremoniously, I hooked

up the battery anticipating

the moment of truth.

Guess what? That‘s right --

still no reading from the

ammeter.

I returned to the diagram and nearly went blind. In utter frustration, I called my old friends where I bought the harness and pleaded for help in diagnosing the prob-lem. A technician told me to check the two wires going to the ammeter for electric-ity. Both should be hot. Well, neither one was. (Maybe I should have checked this first.) Anyway, I traced back to the fuses, which still tested good. Fi-nally, I checked the continu-ity in the fuse holders and there was none. On close examination, I found that the contacts in those new holders had a coating on them. I cleaned them and tried the ammeter again. Ecstasy! The ammeter worked. Time it should have taken: 1 hour. Time actually taken:

A week (spread over many

months). Plus a lost amme-

ter and wasted money.

(continued on page 4 of the

Rocket Review)

Agony and Ecstasy—Life with a Vintage Car --Steve White

Page 2 The Rocket Review Volume 21, Issue 1

As you‘ll see from some

recent experiences, I'm

lucky I don't earn my living

working on vintage cars.

Those of you who know me

probably know of my 1953

Oldsmobile that Stan Poole

and I restored. Since the car

left Stan‘s shop in 2007, it

has enjoyed some success at

car shows. In the course of

going to and from those

shows and participating in a

few tours, it has amassed

over 2,000 almost-trouble-

free miles. But, as can be

expected following a resto-

ration, there have been

some bugs to deal with.

What follows is an account

of three frustrating issues

and my ―success‖ in dealing

with them.

Case 1. After installing a

new main wiring harness

during the restoration, I

realized the ammeter wasn‘t

working. I decided to track

down the problem at home

on my own time. In the

process, I became painfully

familiar with the wiring dia-

Paul Seleckmann and his

wife drove this maroon 1962

Cutlass convertible down

from PA to show off its new

interior and rebuilt engine.

Here’s Steve’s ‘53 at the National

Meet in 7 Springs, PA last July.

Minor issues began after...

CCR Treasurer’s Report as of 2-7-10

Balance 1-6-10: $2863.46 Expenses: -0-

Income: Balance as of 2-7-10: $2,983.46

Dues $ 120.00

Total Income $ 120.00

Treasurer‟s Report—Ken Quincy

The anemeter, crankshaft oil seal-

ing, and turn signal troubles were

all puzzling Steve.

To learn how this 215 Jetfire V8

was test run/broken in prior to

being installed, see page 4…


bears mentioning that

since this was the initial

start up, all internals had

been prelubed with a

heavy dose of Lubriplate

#105 white Motor As-

sembly Grease, and we

had used an oil priming

pump to ensure top end

oil pressure before start-

ing. Also, I had filled

the sump with Valvoline

20/50 racing oil.

The moment of

truth was upon us—18

months of toiling at least

one and sometimes 2 or

3 nights a week came

down to this. My in-

structor, Gary Phares,

hit the starter. For a

little while it just turned

and sputtered, and

wouldn‘t start, then

wham—it fired up. We

had the idle set to run at

about 2200 RPM, good

for initial start up and

break in. After one ini-

tial stall, we ran it for a

good 20 minute break-

in, and it ran really

smoothly, no tics,

misses, leaks, or funny

noises at all. What a

huge relief it was and a

great joy to listen to it

roar out of the old bro-

ken off exhaust pipe…

After that, it was

a big rush to get it to

Seven Springs. I also had

the car stripped and

painted while the engine

was out, so there was a lot

to do prior to the Na-

tional. As I‘ve said be-

fore, I had a ton of help

and it did make the Na-

tional event about 10 days

later.

It was a nervous

drive up the mountains to

Seven Springs. Every-

thing seemed fine, al-

though it didn‘t seem to

want to slow idle too

much. Upon arriving and

shutting down, and then

starting it back up, I had a

loud clicking sound from

the passenger side valve

cover. The noise was in-

termittent, and would go

away and then come

back. Drove me crazy!

This fall I ran it

with the valve cover off

and turns out I had a de-

fective, wobbly push rod,

and as the replacement

push rods were 5/16‖

and the OEM‘s were 1/4,

when the heads heated

up, those not perfectly

aligned in the holes were

rubbing the head. An

interesting fix is in the

works—so far so good

and we‘ll see how it goes!

JetfireRebuild, Part V—It Actually Runs! S. Phillips


In the last issue, I

wrote about Jim Noel‘s

rebuild of the turbo unit.

Honestly, with the pic-

tures he sent and how

many pieces it has, I

could write a novel. Once

I had the turbo/carb

setup on the engine, and

finally got it all plumbed,

it was time to test it.

The beauty of re-

building it at NVCC in

Manassas is that once you

complete your rebuild,

they have a test stand

with gauges for readouts,

a radiator, and remote

starter. That way, you

don‘t have to risk having

a problem after putting the

engine in the car. About

2 weeks prior to the July

Oldsmobile Nationals last

year, the rebuilt Jetfire

215 V8 was ready to test.

First, mounting it

on the test stand required

a little modification as the

stand is set up for more

conventional engines.

Once we got it secured,

we had to attach the fluid

injection tank, add the

methyl alcohol/distilled

water mix, and connect a

battery and a fuel source.

By about 11 am,

we had it all rigged and

were ready to fire it up. It

Here is the Jetfire 215 V8 on the

NVCC test stand, pre-initial

start up.

This is the oil primer to ensure

max pressure prior to start up.

It took 18 months to get to this

point, and boy was I anxious! It

ran great and break in was easy.

Instructor Gary Phares (r) and

shop assistant Alex Sallwey (l)

get ready to fire it up.


the crank stub goes. To test this idea, I visited my friends at the local auto-motive machine shop and discussed the problem. The machinist said, ―You did seal the keyway with Permatex, didn't you?‖ Duh! It seems not doing so allows oil to dribble through the keyway and around the bore of the pulley into which the crank stub fits. If I had just talked to my machinist friend before jumping to conclu-sions, I could have applied the Permatex by merely removing the radiator and then the pulley. That would have avoided all those other unnecessary steps, which was most of the job. But, at least my latest theory was close to the mark. Time it should have taken: 6 hours. Time actually taken: A week (and months of fretting and theorizing) plus wasted money. Case 3. After put-ting some miles on the car, the right turn signal sud-denly stopped working. I found it was popping fuses whenever the switch was turned to the right. I pored over everything I could think of with no success. Armed with a fresh theory, I removed the switch from the steering column (no

small task) and sent it to be rewired. Anyway, the switch came back looking beautiful with bright new wires flow-ing from it. With high ex-pectations, I reinstalled it. Guess what? That's right -- it still popped fuses. So, I continued to add to my frustration by rechecking everything I had already checked. Then by chance I overheard someone men-tion that a faulty bulb can cause blown fuses. I was skeptical, but went to the right side parking/directional light bulb and inspected it. It looked ok, but I decided to replace it anyway. Voila! The turn signal starting working again. No blown fuses since! Time it should have taken: 30 minutes. Time actually taken: A week (spread over many months with much anguish) plus wasted money. If there is a sequel to this story, it will concern the horn, which once worked, but hasn‘t since I ―repaired‖ the directional signal. Fortunately, I have a theory. Editor’s note: Steve‘s arti-cle was originally written for the Sugarloaf Mountain Re-gion of the AACA‘s Piston Popper bulletin. Thanks for sharing, Steve, and keep that Rocket on the road!

Life with a Vintage Car—(Continued)--Steve White


Case 2. While the car was at Stan‘s, I rebuilt the engine in my garage. The fresh motor, which runs beautifully, developed a slight leak that caused a light film of oil to appear on the underside of the hood after driving about 100 miles. I looked everywhere, but my search for the source of the leak was going nowhere. On arriving at car shows, I al-ways faced the task of clean-ing up the oil mess. Tiring of this, I continued my search for the cause. Even-tually, I zeroed in on evi-dence around the front of the crankshaft pulley. After much cogita-tion, I theorized that I had left the oil slinger off the front of the crankshaft. (Had it been the seal, the leaking oil should have ap-peared on the back side of the pulley.) This meant re-moving the timing cover. (No small task!) To do this, I had to remove the radia-tor, crossover pipe, draglink, oil pan, and front motor mount, which attaches to the timing cover. Of course, the front of the engine had to be supported. There was a moment of suspense as I removed the pulley and tim-ing cover to reveal the truth. But what‘s this? The slinger was just where it should be. Just as panic was setting in, a theory emerged. I decided the oil was going through the bore in the pulley where

Paul Seleckmann and his

wife drove this maroon 1962

Cutlass convertible down

from PA to show off its new

interior and rebuilt engine.

Here is Steve’s Rocket V8, just

after the restoration, prior to an

oil-slinging solution…

his ‘53 was looking good at the

2008 All-GM show.


Modified „62 Cutlass Update, New Olds Friends

A few years back I wrote about meeting my ‘62 Cutlass

buddy, Jimmy Shoaf, in an MSN group. I visited him

over the holiday and here’s how his ‘62 Cutlass looks.

This is Jimmy Ford’s 1975 Cutlass Supreme. Jimmy

lives in Landover, MD, up near FedEx field. He’s

looking for the Cutlass Supreme emblem that goes on

the driver’s side fender and the hood emblem.

Jimmy left the interior with a

fairly stock dash, but had

leather upholstery and door

panels done to complement

the color scheme. I must say

it looks really stunning.

Jimmy chose a Corvette burnt orange hue for his

‘62. It runs an extremely stout 350 with a turbo

400 trans. It’ll smoke tire pretty much any time!

This is new member Ken Gear’s 1977 442 that he

bought last year about this time. It is a 33K mile

original, orange with a white top. Ken lives in Fair-

fax Station, VA and is excited to cruise this spring.

2010 Capitol City Rockets Calendar

The following meeting dates and places were proposed at January 10, 2010 meeting. Meeting

time 1:30 pm, Kilroys/Keyser rule in effect.

Sun, Feb 21st@ Branded 72 BBQ (old O’Brien’s) in Rockville, MD on W. Gude Dr. See website for direc-tions.

Sun, Mar 14th @ Kilroys in Springfield, VA. Kilroy’s is located just off the Braddock Road exit of 495 in the Ravensworth Shopping Center. We discussed a visit to the Tucker Museum for our meeting instead.

Sat, Apr 17th—Spring Dust Off cruise in at STAR Pontiac, Buick, GMC in Leesburg, VA. 12—4 pm. (Tentative Date)

Sun, May 16th @ Branded 72 BBQ in Rockville, MD.

Sat, June 20th @ Sully Plantation Show in Chantilly, VA. Meet at the picnic tables behind the Food Court at 1 pm.

Sun, July 11th @ Branded 72 BBQ in Rockville, MD.

Sat, Aug 14th—Tentative date for our annual All-GM show @ Montgomery College in Rockville, 9-3 pm.

Sun, Sept 12th @ Kilroy’s in Springfield, VA.

Sat, Oct 16—Rockville Antique and Classic Car Show @ Rockville Civic Center. 11-4 pm.

Sun, Nov 14 @ Kilroys in Springfield

OTHER National 2010 DATES OF INTEREST

Spring Carlisle—April 21-25

Carlisle All-GM Nationals—June 25-27

Olds Powered Race Nationals—July 18 Norwalk, OH

OCA Nationals—July 21-25 in Sturbridge, MA

Fall Carlisle—Sept 29-Oct 3

Hershey—Oct 6-9


Want to know more about local car

cruises and upcoming shows?

Check out www.capitalcruisin.com

Click on our logo and it will take

you to our website.

Club dues were due November 1.

If you haven’t paid yet, please do

so to keep receiving the Rocket

Review.

Local Mar, 2010 Dates of Interest

Mar 13—Howard County Fair-

grounds Swap Meet

March 26-27—AACA Sugarloaf

Region Indoor/Outdoor An-

tique Auto Parts Meet—100’s of

vendors, 6 enclosed buildings,

free admission & parking, auto

corral, demos—Fredrick Fair-

grounds, Fredrick, MD

Mar 27-28—Berryville Antique

Tractor/Auto Swap Meet

CCR Classifieds Classified ads are free to chapter members. We take cars, parts,

services, anything. Submit your typed or printed ad to the Chapter

PO box, marking it ATTN: ROCKET REVIEW, or simply email the

editor at [email protected] You may run your ad for up to 3

issues at a time. Ads must be resubmitted for reprinting after that

time, and please let Scott know if you wish to discontinue the classi-

fied ad due to sale of the parts or car.

CARS/PARTS FOR SALE:

Parts for sale: ‗65 Olds Cutlass/442 parts listed below. Contact Mike Stillwell at [email protected] or call 703-799-2904 or 703-599-6713 (cell)

Hood Fair $200.00 1

Bumpers, Front

and Rear

Cores-rusty $50.00 ea. 1 ea.

Grille Good $100.00 2

Heat & A/C

Controls

Fair to Good $75.00 1

Floorshift Steer-

ing Column


Headlight Buck-

ets-Complete

Fair to Good $200.00 1 Pair

Glove Box Door -

Complete

Good to Excel $75.00 1

4-Row Radiator

Bottom Mnt

Fair $50.00 1

4-Row Radiator

Top Plate

Fair $75.00 1

Vent Glass Set -

Conv-Holiday

Good $150.00 1 Pair

Floor Shift Dash -

Complete


Column Shift

Dash - Dash Only

Fair $75.00 1

STAR Pontiac, Buick, GMC pick of the issue:

2007 Buick Lacrosse. 3.8L V6. Burgundy, 4 speed Auto. 44K miles. Listed at $13,500. See it at www.starcars.com or call 703-478-1355.

Wanted to Rent– Trailer and Tow rig to get my ‗53 Olds to New Bern, NC AACA Nation-als in mid-May. I am an experienced driver. Need about 6 days and will pay fair price. Call Steve White @ 703-533-0386 or email [email protected]

Cars for Sale: 1972 Toronado. 51K original miles. 455 V8, loaded, interior near perfect, body no rust but has some dings and dents. Paint is fair. Asking $1750. Call Mark Levine at 301-379-9368 or email him at [email protected]

Parts wanted : 1969 Toronado: Need four button power window switch for drivers door armrest. Contact Ken at 703-573-7919 or email [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

THE CAPITOL CITY ROCKETS is a chartered chapter of the

Oldsmobile Club of America, Lansing, MI. Chapter dues are

$15.00 per year. Current OCA membership is required.

Chapter Officials

President .................................................... VACANT

Vice-President ........................................... Cory Correll

Treasurer ...................................................... Ken Quincy

………………………………[email protected]

Secretary ........................ Mike Stillwell (703) 799-2904

............................................................ [email protected]

Newsletter Editor……….Scott Phillips (703) 858-5752

…………………………………[email protected]

Events Coordinator ................................. VACANT

Chapter Advisors

Toronado………….Ask Ken Quincy or Cory Correll

1961-63 A-Body…………….Scott Phillips (703) 858-5752

1964-65 A-Body…………... Mike Stilwell (703) 799-2904

1973-77 A-Body……………..Denney Keys (301) 390-1577

1978-80 A-Body....................Michael Coxen (301) 251-8666

PerformanceV8 Tech Dick Miller Racing, (901) 794-2834

[email protected]

Bevan Allen Memorial Service Award Recipient

2000: Denney Keys

2001: Michael Coxen

2002: Mike Stilwell

2003: Dick Brown

2004: Cory Correll

2005: Scott Phillips

2006: Mike “Hitch” Stillwell

MEMBERSHIP

APPLICATION

CAPITOL CITY ROCKETS

CHAPTER OF THE OLDSMOBILE CLUB OF AMERICA

NEW RENEWAL

OCA # OCA EXP. DATE

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CITY

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EMAIL ADDRESS: ______________________

LIST OLDSMOBILES CURRENTLY OWNED:

O.C.A. CHAPTERS AFFILIATED WITH:

SEND NEW MEMBERSHIPS TO:


ATTN: NEW MEMBERS

P.O. BOX 230442

CENTREVILLE, VA 20120

SEND RENEWALS TO:

CCR RENEWALS

P.O. BOX 230442

CENTREVILLE, VA 20120

CCR YEARLY DUES ARE $15

PLEASE MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO:


Current Membership in the

Oldsmobile Club of America is Required Rocket Review © is published by Capitol City Rockets, 2010

Capitol City Rockets

Club Info and Membership

Application

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Capitol City Rockets DO NOT CREASE

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