BlueCalais79

Gosh darn door handle set ups for the 1992-1997 Cutlass 2 doors! Dang it! You would not believe how much you have to bend and shape one to contour it to match where it fits into the door! And, one word of advice when you work one of these, wear gloves. You WILL cut your hands if you don't.

firstoldsmobile

Bought door weather strip for my 86 442. It was just awful. The holes at the top of both sides of the door to where the plastic push pegs weren't even close. When trying to stretch them to line up the holes tore completely. I had to actually re-drill holes for a screw or push peg to work. What a joke.

JOHNNYOLDS442

What Brand are they?

iuse to use soft seal years ago but. Ow I use Metro one of the best!
i’ve never had a pair that was so bad that I had to read drill holes or stretch them are you sure you didn’t have the left on the right or backwards or something?

JOHNNYOLDS442

BackInTheGame

Firstoldsmobile, who is the manufacturer of the piece(s) you used that did not work well?

allyolds68

I had heard that the inner fender seals didn’t fit worth a crap but I bought them from Fusick with my red inner fenders anyway. I started to work on them today. Turns out the finder seals fit an original inner fender fine, the repro red inner fenders just don’t fit the seals. It should be a real joy getting the repro red inner fenders installed. I can’t wait....






Edit:

I found a place that has almost the identical rubber product for a very reasonable price. Fusick offered to send me some as well but I had already ordered it.

firstoldsmobile

Where do I start ranting and venting on stuff that doesn't work right? Have now a 1980 442 that I actually plan to keep because of it's rarity. Have bought, fixed up and sold a 79 Hurst Olds, 88 Cutlass Supreme Classic, 1986 442 T-Top and a 79 Hurst Olds Tribute Clone.
Reproduction parts are just painfully awful.
Top of the door outer weather-strip squeegee on a 78-80 are always too short and screw holes don't align.
Roof rail weather-strip is too short as the push plugs don't align on each side.
Door weather-strip the same as on my 88 Supreme Classic I had to drill holes on the top side of the door for the push plug or screw to line up.
Replica Plastic Company has good intentions - as bumper and fender fillers are really hard to find and so they reproduce many items for many types of cars HOWEVER
the molds are not quite the right size, or too large or not curved correctly so getting fillers to fit is a chore. They also do not drill screw holes, so hold onto a piece you may already have to use as a template.
On a 1980 Calais, the front bumper filler is a 1 year only and so very difficult to find. On the replica plastic part I bought, the gap on the passenger side corner of the bumper is disturbing. Being fiberglass pieces not plastic it can't be heated to bend and then cool down to stay shaped.
On the front driver side fender filler, I had to literally cut a piece of sheet metal, extend the filler piece wider, then fiberglass it, sand and paint it to produce a more correct curve and width because of the horrendous gap.
Rocker panel trim clips are worse than a joke. Each one were too high top to bottom by a a lot. I had to cut 1/2 inch off the bottom and then Dremel tool sand the bottom edge to make a lip for
the rocker trim to catch.
I only do this as a hobby and I can see why guys who do restoration for a living say they'd like to stay away from reproduction parts because they don't work well.
On a positive note of something that does work well--
I purchased a dash coverlay and it IS AWSOME. It snapped on so well that I didn't even have to glue it down. One has to look really close to see that is not the original dash piece.

firstoldsmobile

On a one last word by me that I had time to think about. I can't imagine how long it would take and the cost if I wanted to restore my 1980 442 to exact factory specs like Mark Worman does on Graveyard Cars.
An O.E.M. front bumper filler in a junkyard good enough to restore I'm sure is out there, along with the horn button which was a 1 year only, the Calais Hood Emblem on 79 Hurst Olds - 80 442 tough to get. I still can't find headlight bezels which I'm sure is as tough.

GCH

Purchased a convertible top boot from Rockauto that don´t fit into the slide channel.
Mailed Rockauto and they should send the info to the manufacturer Acme Auto but
never heard anything more.

Have took off the slide and "grind" it so it,s fits and have sombody sew it on the cover again.

convertible top boot - ClassicOldsmobile.com
#30 , #31 , #33 , #35

firstoldsmobile

YEAH ANY T-TOP WEATHERSTRIP SUCKS. May not be that the weather-strip isn't made correctly as hell these T-Tops leaked when the car was new.
Great ideal and look good but keeping them from leaking is A CHORE

GCH

Have tried to post a video on a alternator / generator i purchased from Rock auto january 2 -2021
Terrible sound from it. The video format was not accepted , mp4.

BSiegPaint

Inline / Motor City 68-72 Cutlass Exhaust Manifold Flanges part # INL11138
Listed as "for stock 2-1/4" to oversize 2-1/2" pipes". The problem is the inner diameter of the opening is 2-1/2", so there is no way to use these on "stock" pipes or manifolds.



Original compared to Inline



Original inside Inline



Inline part next to stock exhaust manifold

FStanley

I ordered repro black inner fenders, they were such a piece of crap I sent them back.. and redid my originals with SEM bumper coater

mattking

Year one has a set of bucket seat rails for a 64 cutlass. They will bolt in but are 1” too low and there is very little if any rake to the back like the originals. Also there is no way the stock **** will fit

Rocketguy

Restoring the heat system in a '66 Cutlass with air, Freemont car built 57 years ago this week.

The OPGI heater box seal kit, part number CH17364. $40 worth of seals and there's one that's usable.





The one for the engine bay air shroud does fit the box:





But it does not have the provision to seal the heater core tubes to the firewall like the original:





And it is about half as thick as the original:





You can see the return flange on the air shroud would bottom out on the firewall before the seal could contact it:

WearnWrals

This thread is like group therapy - at least I'm not alone. I've had nothing but problems with parts for my 1969 Vista Cruiser. It really saps the fun out of wrenching on the weekend when you spend time fighting bad parts and wondering what you are doing wrong.

Just today:
- NAPA lower radiator hose didn't fit. Had to use the ill-fitting previous tube as a template and cut to size- Inline Tube wire hose clamps would not fit over any outlets correctly. Sending them back.
- GMPP radiator top plate did not have the correct bends to cradle the radiator and fan shroud. Had to hand bend into to place.

Previously on "Crap Parts Ruining My Day":
-Inline Tube parking brake grommet does not fit opening (too small and doesn't retain the cable). Had to use super glue.
- KYB rear shocks come with bolts that are too short to thread on the nut after installing the washer. Had to scrounge up some original shock bolts.
- UMI Rear Upper Control Arms not built to spec and about 1/4" too lose over the bushing. They were great and sent out a replacement right away.

And the most egregious:
- NAPA lower ball joints. I couldn't press them in with the loaner tool so I brought them to a machine shop. They couldn't get them in either and found they were about 0.02" oversized. Went back to NAPA and got the same part number from a different manufacturer- those pressed in just fine.

GCH

Hi never heard of NAPA , is it a sparepart place ?

oldcutlass

NAPA is an American parts store chain.

GCH

Ok thanks

matt68F-85

Struggling to get the fender to door gaps acceptable (‘68 Cutlass).
Left: original core support bushing that was on the car.
Right: aftermarket “factory correct” bushing (vendor’s description), except for the height, the most critical dimension.
Didn’t take long to figure out the problem was the bushings. Took longer to find the old one.
I could shim the hell out of it, but why? Why reproduce something to the wrong size?
This aftermarket crap is such a joke. The new bushings are around 5/16” too short.
Based on pictures only, it looks like all the vendors sell the same ones.
The front end has been apart for a long time and I could only find one of the original bushings.
I put the original bushing back on and bingo, the gap is almost perfect.
Now it is off to the salvage yard to hopefully find a “real” factory correct bushing.
What a #$%^& waste of time. Hopefully this can save someone else some frustration.