James Stukenborg's Olds V8 Coupe - Beavercreek, Ohio
1966 Corsa coupe with a rear mounted reverse rotation 266 Olds engine.
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215/266 aluminum Olds V-8 with power glide transmission. Olds Starfire steering wheel. Aluminum 15" Camaro wheels. Aluminum finned brake drums.
Jim Stukenborg’s V-8 Corvair
Jim’s V-8 is a 1966 Corsa coupe with a rear mounted reverse rotation 61 Olds 215/266 aluminum engine with an automatic transmission in place of the stock Corsa 4 speed and utilizing a floor mounted shifter. A 4 row custom radiator is horizontally mounted up front in the lower part of the trunk. The horizontal mounting (actually raised about 4” at the rear) allows for the use of the entire upper trunk for the spare tire and jack plus space for other things. The cooling air comes in below the front bumper and exits through the bottom of the trunk. A shrouded electric cooling fan is mounted to the outlet side of the radiator for cooling in stopped traffic and maybe some on a really hot day. The wheels are 1980’s vintage 15” aluminum Camaro, mounting 205-60 tires up front and 235-60 in the rear. The 235’s in the rear required a little trimming of the inside of the fender openings. The color is 1975 Cadillac Firethorn, a color very close to the stock 1966 Corvair Aztec bronze. A 69 Camaro air dam is mounted up front. The quad rear exhaust tips are from a Cadillac. LM Corvair convertible rear springs are use to raise the rear end a little. Convertible springs are about 2” longer than coupe springs. Aluminum brake drums are installed. The 91/2”x2’’fronts are from the rear of a late 70’s GM “A” car. The 91/2x21/2” rears are front drums from an Olds Vistacruiser or Buick Sportwagan from the 60‘s. To mount the rears the wheel lugs must be pressed out of the drums. The Olds theme is carried out in the interior with the use of an Olds Starfire sport steering wheel. Water temp and oil pressure gauges are added below the dash.
The car was originally built by Jim Greene. As I recall the story told by Ken Arnold. [Ken is well know in the V-8 Corvair circle for his Corvair drag racer. Ken’s race car is currently being restored for street use by Dean Gemberling]. Jim wanted a V-8 Corvair like the one Ken had built for himself. The two had become good friends that began when they were both at Southern Tech and continued when both were together in the army reserves. Ken found a nice unrusted southern car for Jim. Jim built the car in Michigan with the custom adapter and motor mounts supplied by Ken. At some point in his life Jim moved to Georgia. He ended up selling the V-8 to Dave Jorgenson. I bought the car from Dave in 1999 made some changes to the car after acquiring it including paint, wheels, brake drums and other details.
The engine specs provided by Ken are as follows:
61-63 Olds 215 ci stroked with a Buick 300 crankshaft. The crankshaft mains were turned down to the 215 diameter and a little shaved off the end to get close to the 215 length. The stock engine was a 2 bbl carb, so with the overbore, the compression was still low enough to use regular gas.
The cylinders are bored 0.034” oversize to use 2.8 V-6 Chevy pistons.
The crankshaft uses 215 std main bearings, The connecting rods are stock Buick/Olds 215 ci with the piston pin holes enlarged to the 2.8 Chevy piston size. The rod bearings are 0.010 undersize.
Rings are moly for a 2.8 Chevy V-6.
Oil pump is a high volume Kenne-Bell.
Rear main seal: D & D spacer for use with a 3.8 Buick rubber lip seal.
The engine front cover has been changed to a 1985 3.8 Buick V-6 cover to improve water flow and to use a std neoprene lip seal instead of the stock rope seal.
Distributor is a MSD Billet with ball bearings because the thrust load on gear is reversed from stock.
Coil is an Accel 14001.
The MSD 6200 ignition is triggered by a MSD magnetic distributor.
Starter is a stock Corvair.
Camshaft is a standard performance reverse rotation with gears. Ken likes the Isky 282 hyd cam for strip and street, but the Isky cam was out of stock when these notes were written some years ago.
The stock 215 heads are now topped off with a nice set of finned valve covers that came from Ken a few years ago.
Lifters are OEM.
The Offenhauser aluminum intake manifold mounts a Holley 390 carb.
The exhaust manifolds are from a 300 Buick.
I have 300 heads that have larger valves and will bolt to the 215 block. To use them would require the use of different pistons to get a reasonable compression ratio, so the heads have not been installed. (When Buick changed the aluminum 215 to 300 ci in 1964 they went to a cast iron block, but keep the Al heads for that year).
Ken’s V-8 drag Corvair had a 266 ci engine. Over boring enough to arrive at 300 ci proved impractical for racing as the cylinder walls were too thin and distorted.
Input shaft is stock.
Bellhousing is a custom build by Ken by welding together halves of the Corvair and a Buick 215 to early Ford adapter.
The flex plate is custom made by Ken to mate the Buick 300 crank to the P.G. converter.
Only two spider gears are used in the stock 3:55 non posi differential
Tranny is a stock Corvair Powerglide with plugged vacuum modulator (for more positive shifts). (Note: for a more robust differential two more spider gears can be added).
Ken built later engines where he use an adapter that he designed for use with a small block Chevy rear main seal used on reverse rotation engines for marine use. Turning down the rear seal area on the Buick crankshaft to the diameter of the Chevy seal is required. See Ken’s sketch and photos of the crank and seal adapter attach. Ken says he has a 300 engine he built for Jim Greene that is for sale. (Sad note: Jim Greene passed away on April 28 a day after Ken had his regular weekly phone call with Jim. Part of the conversation was about which type of rear main seal Jim used to build my engine).
FYI:
Compression ratio info for different head types on the Olds 266 block:
Olds 2 bbl- unkown, but works well with 87 Octane gas
Olds 4 bbl- approx 13.5 to 1
Buick 4bbl-14 to 1
Buick 300 4bbl- approx 10.5 to 1
Jim Stukenborg
5-6-24
Jim’s V-8 is a 1966 Corsa coupe with a rear mounted reverse rotation 61 Olds 215/266 aluminum engine with an automatic transmission in place of the stock Corsa 4 speed and utilizing a floor mounted shifter. A 4 row custom radiator is horizontally mounted up front in the lower part of the trunk. The horizontal mounting (actually raised about 4” at the rear) allows for the use of the entire upper trunk for the spare tire and jack plus space for other things. The cooling air comes in below the front bumper and exits through the bottom of the trunk. A shrouded electric cooling fan is mounted to the outlet side of the radiator for cooling in stopped traffic and maybe some on a really hot day. The wheels are 1980’s vintage 15” aluminum Camaro, mounting 205-60 tires up front and 235-60 in the rear. The 235’s in the rear required a little trimming of the inside of the fender openings. The color is 1975 Cadillac Firethorn, a color very close to the stock 1966 Corvair Aztec bronze. A 69 Camaro air dam is mounted up front. The quad rear exhaust tips are from a Cadillac. LM Corvair convertible rear springs are use to raise the rear end a little. Convertible springs are about 2” longer than coupe springs. Aluminum brake drums are installed. The 91/2”x2’’fronts are from the rear of a late 70’s GM “A” car. The 91/2x21/2” rears are front drums from an Olds Vistacruiser or Buick Sportwagan from the 60‘s. To mount the rears the wheel lugs must be pressed out of the drums. The Olds theme is carried out in the interior with the use of an Olds Starfire sport steering wheel. Water temp and oil pressure gauges are added below the dash.
The car was originally built by Jim Greene. As I recall the story told by Ken Arnold. [Ken is well know in the V-8 Corvair circle for his Corvair drag racer. Ken’s race car is currently being restored for street use by Dean Gemberling]. Jim wanted a V-8 Corvair like the one Ken had built for himself. The two had become good friends that began when they were both at Southern Tech and continued when both were together in the army reserves. Ken found a nice unrusted southern car for Jim. Jim built the car in Michigan with the custom adapter and motor mounts supplied by Ken. At some point in his life Jim moved to Georgia. He ended up selling the V-8 to Dave Jorgenson. I bought the car from Dave in 1999 made some changes to the car after acquiring it including paint, wheels, brake drums and other details.
The engine specs provided by Ken are as follows:
61-63 Olds 215 ci stroked with a Buick 300 crankshaft. The crankshaft mains were turned down to the 215 diameter and a little shaved off the end to get close to the 215 length. The stock engine was a 2 bbl carb, so with the overbore, the compression was still low enough to use regular gas.
The cylinders are bored 0.034” oversize to use 2.8 V-6 Chevy pistons.
The crankshaft uses 215 std main bearings, The connecting rods are stock Buick/Olds 215 ci with the piston pin holes enlarged to the 2.8 Chevy piston size. The rod bearings are 0.010 undersize.
Rings are moly for a 2.8 Chevy V-6.
Oil pump is a high volume Kenne-Bell.
Rear main seal: D & D spacer for use with a 3.8 Buick rubber lip seal.
The engine front cover has been changed to a 1985 3.8 Buick V-6 cover to improve water flow and to use a std neoprene lip seal instead of the stock rope seal.
Distributor is a MSD Billet with ball bearings because the thrust load on gear is reversed from stock.
Coil is an Accel 14001.
The MSD 6200 ignition is triggered by a MSD magnetic distributor.
Starter is a stock Corvair.
Camshaft is a standard performance reverse rotation with gears. Ken likes the Isky 282 hyd cam for strip and street, but the Isky cam was out of stock when these notes were written some years ago.
The stock 215 heads are now topped off with a nice set of finned valve covers that came from Ken a few years ago.
Lifters are OEM.
The Offenhauser aluminum intake manifold mounts a Holley 390 carb.
The exhaust manifolds are from a 300 Buick.
I have 300 heads that have larger valves and will bolt to the 215 block. To use them would require the use of different pistons to get a reasonable compression ratio, so the heads have not been installed. (When Buick changed the aluminum 215 to 300 ci in 1964 they went to a cast iron block, but keep the Al heads for that year).
Ken’s V-8 drag Corvair had a 266 ci engine. Over boring enough to arrive at 300 ci proved impractical for racing as the cylinder walls were too thin and distorted.
Input shaft is stock.
Bellhousing is a custom build by Ken by welding together halves of the Corvair and a Buick 215 to early Ford adapter.
The flex plate is custom made by Ken to mate the Buick 300 crank to the P.G. converter.
Only two spider gears are used in the stock 3:55 non posi differential
Tranny is a stock Corvair Powerglide with plugged vacuum modulator (for more positive shifts). (Note: for a more robust differential two more spider gears can be added).
Ken built later engines where he use an adapter that he designed for use with a small block Chevy rear main seal used on reverse rotation engines for marine use. Turning down the rear seal area on the Buick crankshaft to the diameter of the Chevy seal is required. See Ken’s sketch and photos of the crank and seal adapter attach. Ken says he has a 300 engine he built for Jim Greene that is for sale. (Sad note: Jim Greene passed away on April 28 a day after Ken had his regular weekly phone call with Jim. Part of the conversation was about which type of rear main seal Jim used to build my engine).
FYI:
Compression ratio info for different head types on the Olds 266 block:
Olds 2 bbl- unkown, but works well with 87 Octane gas
Olds 4 bbl- approx 13.5 to 1
Buick 4bbl-14 to 1
Buick 300 4bbl- approx 10.5 to 1
Jim Stukenborg
5-6-24
