In reply to G_Body_Man:
I'd risk it, personally. Keep a fire extinguisher handy but otherwise just do it. I doubt it's actually fire hazard bad and I wouldn't put new gaskets on a possibly trashed engine. If the cam is bad I'd plan on rebuilding an engine.
In reply to pres589:
The valve covers are leaking oil onto the headers. That might be a bit of a problem.
G_Body_Man wrote: In reply to NOHOME: Can't find any sedan bumpers on Kijiji. I'll need a grinder at some point, just not now. Besides, It's better to be an extra $200 in the hole and have the car mostly fixed than to not, and be a couple hundred in the hole if I wanted to sell it.
We put a bumper on the Lemons Amazon (Charlie) like this:
Using a four and change foot long section of hot rolled C channel. Now, for ultimate style, we did cut a triangle out of the center and bend a vee into it and reweld, but you can skip that part and get a new bumper for tens of dollars.
G_Body_Man wrote: In reply to pres589: The valve covers are leaking oil onto the headers. That might be a bit of a problem.
Valve cover gaskets should be under $10. Seriously, just do this. While you have them off you can observe the valvetrain with a helper cranking the engine with the coil disconnected.
In reply to tuna55:
Sounds good. Also, I found a bumper. It's $200, but worth it.
G_Body_Man wrote: In reply to pres589: The valve covers are leaking oil onto the headers. That might be a bit of a problem.
until you know if the engine is even any good though, don't do it. It's not going to burst into flames instantly.
Oil on the headers will just smoke for the most part.
If you get this engine timed/firing correctly on all cylinders, and determine it's actually good, THEN throw gaskets and such at it.
Otherwise it's just good money thrown after bad.
In reply to xflowgolf:
The engine was running fine just a couple of weeks ago.
VALVE COVER GASKETS ARE $10!
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/fel-vs12869ac/overview/make/oldsmobile
Just do it, while you're in there, poke around. It's literally the easiest thing you can do to your engine, and combined with your timing/spark/compression check, you'll get an excellent idea of the health of the thing.
In reply to tuna55:
Sounds good. I'll order some this weekend.
G-body man
www.car-part.com will be your friend. Older cars like yours will be tougher to find parts for on Kijiji or Craigslist.
In reply to NGTD:
There's a bumper in Orillia, and a bumper in Oshawa. I'll see if I can grab the Oshawa bumper.
G_Body_Man wrote: In reply to xflowgolf: The engine was running fine just a couple of weeks ago.
How old is the gas? Our modern fuels have a tank life of about 6 months.
In reply to NOHOME:
8 months, but I put some Stabil in there before I tucked it away for the winter. Either way, I'm draining and re-filling the tank when I get the new frame rail welded in. A dab of undercoating, and nobody will be able to tell that the rail is non-original.
What kind of stabil and at what dose? I only run marine (blue) double dosed. Was it run some after adding it to deliver the "stabilized" fuel to the (I'm assuming) carb? On carbed apps I also dump several ounces of 2 stroke oil down the float chamber vent. Makes em smoke like mad on startup but even if it sits for years the gunk in the carb will remain soft and gasoline soluble thanks to the oil.
Forget about the bumper until you fix the running issue. Spark (and timing), fuel, compression. Check them in that order.
Just to be clear, we're talking about this car right?
If so, that bumper doesn't look that bad.
Perhaps start a new project thread and help us guide you? Don't overwhelm yourself. Take it piece by piece, and project by project.
Structural rust can be fixed and hidden if it hasn't rotted too extensively. A bumper is a bolt on affair, and likely just requires finding something parted out on a message board, or some weekends hunting your regions pick-n-pull junkyards.
It looks like a good start for a unique rear drive V8 ride for a teenager. The sedans are less popular to modify, but under the skin it's the same G-body that have been modded and raced every which way, so parts/mods/etc. are plentiful. Start with the basics. We'll help!
In reply to Kenny_McCormic:
I just used regular stabil at a double dose. It was run for 15 minutes prior to being garaged.
In reply to xflowgolf:
That reminds me, I have to update my build thread. I found two bumpers in Ontario, and I've contacted the wreckers in Orillia to see how much it would cost with shipping.
I'm having a hard time not writing a snarky comment about this weird fixation you seem to have on the rear bumper of a car that you say has frame rust and a potentially wounded engine. So I'll just leave this post about it.
pres589 wrote: I'm having a hard time not writing a snarky comment about this weird fixation you seem to have on the rear bumper of a car that you say has frame rust and a potentially wounded engine. So I'll just leave this post about it.
Asperger's Syndrome can make a person do weird things.
G_Body_Man wrote: Asperger's Syndrome can make a person do weird things.
haha assburgers
In reply to t25torx:
I'm actually Aspergian, and I find that friggin hilarious 
Like others have said. Figure out why it's only running on 7 cylinders before you pump any money into it. Compression test, spark test, fuel test..
In reply to t25torx:
I know how to do a spark test and a compression test, but how do you do a fuel test on a carbed car? It's not like there are any injectors to pull, and the primaries and secondaries work perfectly fine.
I didn't read every post, but I'll put it this way:
When I was 16 we didn't have an internet and much in the way of over-analyzing stuff. I dove into stuff blindly with barely a clue what I was doing. My entire tool collection fit into a 2 drawer carry box. With that box, I pulled the heads and intake off a mid-60's T-bird (in a gravel lot) and installed them on the engine of my F-100. In our apartment parking lot. Amazingly the SOB ran!
Prior to that, I replaced the trunk floor of our '71 Dodge Demon. Getting a clean floor cut out of a junk yard car, drilling out all of the spot welds to the chopped sub-frame on our apt patio and then doing the same to the car - again - in an apt parking lot, so I could only do as many spot-welds as my crappy $25 cordless Craftsman drill could do on one charge since the lot was far beyond extension cord distance. Using a std 3/8" drill bit (I knew nothing about spot-weld bits back then).
Now almost 30 years later, I have a garage full of tools and I fret over every single project. I often miss having that youthful ignorance when I would just dive into a project without really knowing a damn thing.
So... if you want my opinion: Turn off the computer and just do it. 
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