NDERISE

another good looking component, did u have another foil tag made are was yours still good, I had mine made by a guy out of Canada and he did a great job. if I remember wright is was like 7 bucks.
ray

costpenn

Don't know if anyone is even reading this thread anymore, but today's work (1 hour)

Am in the middle of some house remodeling, so resto work is falling to the last of the priorities. Today I salvaged the firewall boot thing that goes on the wiper motor (that seals it to the firewall) off another used unit I had, cleaned it and installed on my reman unit in the pictures above. Also found out the original wiper mounting bushings ARE a putty gray rubber color, and the black aftermarket ones are not like the OE part. Also went to the cool super old school hardware store here in Dallas and bought a bunch of those stamped steel nuts that hold on various exterior trim parts.

507OLDS

Last priorities? I'd like to see how fast you would get it done if you actually dedicated yourself to your project. You are already moving at ludicrous speed.

69442C

Joe,

I have a new wiper motor gasket if you would be interested. $5 plus postage. If you were still interested in a few AC components you mentioned on another thread, let me know and I can dig them up too.

Brian

costpenn

Brian, sold on that gasket- thanks!!!

costpenn

Getting back into the swing of things, but Sheri and I are going to town on a Mad Men watching binge (2 1/2 hours)

Almost finished with body bolts. Think I'm now going overboard on the correct bolt thing. I bought some new "star" washers from the specialty fastener hardware store - the ones that go on the horn mounting bolts, disc brake prop valve bolt, etc... and I noticed they had one less point on ridges. I'm actually thinking about going back and redoing the old ones instead, and they are a major PITA to detail without bending them up.

69442C

Sounds good Joe. I'll send you a PM early this week with a total.

Brian

Aron Nance

Joe, your posts are definitely being read!!!!! Keep up the great work.
aron

Eddie Hansen

Yes folks are still interested following the updates regularly . I hear you on a mad men marathon the missus did the same to me but it was season 2 house of cards... lol

costpenn

Thanks for the replies. Today's work was 3 hours.

I know you won't believe it, but the subject was bolts. Thought I was close to the end of the body bolt bags, but then remembered I had marked the wheel well bolt bags as junk, but decided I was going to reuse them. The captured washer ones that hold the front lip of the wheel well to the support were really bad, and it took almost 1 hour on those alone to clean them well. All that is left is the window hardware from inside the doors/quarter panels to do and then onto the interior bolts. There's lots of interior bags, but many just have 1-2 fasteners each, and they are mostly in pretty good shape.

The radiator is ready for pick up tomorrow. Bad news is it needed a new core, and it was 450.00 total to get it done with the correct core style. They did in fact remember to not mess with the tag and not paint it so I can shoot it with that Eastwood's radiator paint. Will also check on status of the engine work at the machine shop, and settle on a place to drop off the rear bumper and transmission. Front speaker is on its' way back from Freeman Tuell.

costpenn

Also for those counting, I have about 33 hours so far in fastener reconditioning, with about 8 more to go.

jensenracing77

What is correct for the radiator color? I used the eastwood stuff on my A/C condensor but I think the radiator tanks should be gloss. I don't know about the radiator core.

Eddie Hansen

That is a lot of tedious work ugghhhhh reminds me of sanding the underside of my car by hand on my back...kudos for dedication....

costpenn

Eddie, I did the underside of the Hurst like that - never again, have lost my nerve to be under the car, sanding away and yanking on things with the car inches above me supported just by 4 jackstands.

costpenn

Today's report (2 1/2 hours)

Dropped off the rear bumper at Quality Bumper in Dallas. They quoted me 350.00 satisfaction guaranteed. We'll see... Also picked up the radiator. Nice job, but it looks awful without paint on it. Tag did in fact survive intact.

Finished all the remaining body bolts. The window hardware was in excellent condition with just a few of the cloth covered rub strips/window glides needing to be replaced.

Disassembled the brackets on the condenser today. Will blast the actual steel brackets and detail the rest of the hardware. Anyone know a good way to clean and straighten the fins on the condenser core?

jensenracing77

Plug the lines real good and stick it in the blast cabinet. I don't think there is any other way to do a good job. I was blasting mine at 80psi and it did not bend the fins. They make combs for the fins but I find it much easier to sit there with a screwdriver and take your time bending them back.

NDERISE

did my a/c cond. like eric said with a small screw driver and small needle noise pliers took me 8 hours it cam out good

costpenn

Looks great Ray. The fins were never that straight the day it was originally made!!


Joe

Johnd

Joe - Your restoration is amazing

costpenn

Thank you. I have been following your resto as well. You are taking on a lot more than me on yours!! Continued good luck.

costpenn

No work to report since the 25 th (1 1/2 hours)

Did some detailing and refinishing of the condenser hardware. It pretty cool to document exactly the order in which the sub assemblies are put together. Some items are plated only, then others are plated and the painted.

Quarter skins have arrived at the painter's place. Tried to do biz with Tabco, but they seem to have an issue with returning phone calls. Used TPP, this transaction worked out well - shipment arrived two days after being ordered. Reconed OE speaker from Freeman Tuell arrived. Total cost was 43.50 with freight included.

No more work till next Monday. Going to Lubbock to see our son.

crawdad442

Hi I started reading your thread and couldn't stop....it's so cool you are detailing your resto project like this....keep p the good work and i'll be watching thanks again.....

costpenn

Too cold again to work outside, but did a few parts inside (1 1/2 hours)

Was cleaning a few misc parts that will not need any refinishing before reinstallation. One interesting thing is the TH400 kick down switch. On the sliding rod, there is a piece of rubber hose that acts like a bushing - is this correct, or was it an "enhancement" by a previous owner to get the switch to kick down earlier?

jensenracing77

I added a rubber hose to one many years ago not knowing that you can adjust the switch. I can't remember off hand how you adjust it but i think you just pull it all the way back then press the petal to the floor and it is adjusted? It has been a long time since I have done it so i may be wrong.

HWYSTR455

Nice project! Subscribing...

.

costpenn

So Joe, you have seen an original one like this that would make you think it came from the factory with the hose on it? I guess I should look at the PIM!

NDERISE

They do not come from the plaint with a hose, someone added this becuase they did not know how to adjust it or the adj. Did not hold in the wright possition so they added a hose.
Ray

jensenracing77

Your PM box is full... Do you still need a flywheel cover? I found a couple that I need to clean up and check condition.

costpenn

I cleaned some old e-mails out just now. I still do need one that is not scratched all to hell. I messed mine up trying to clean it by using too stiff a plastic blade spatula on it.

costpenn

Finally started on interior fasteners (2 hours)

Began the last box of baggies tonight. Many just need a good cleaning - especially the fasteners/plastic clips/retainers located on the dash. Windex and a toothbrush followed by a hand drying with a paper towel makes them look like new with no more refinishing needed.

Some interior fasteners I will be replacing instead of refinishing are sill plate screws, kick panel screws on RH side, head rest escutcheon screws, seat apron screws, door u-jamb screws, door jamb vent screws, and dual gate plate screws. All others will just either be cleaned and/or refinished.

As an aside, today I went to the old time full service hardware store here in town to see if I could find some more specialty fasteners that either no one of the Olds houses or AMK offers or they are incredibly high priced on. I found the headlight bezel to headlamp surround screws. They are a #8 size Phillips oval head that have a #6 size head in chrome for 28 cents each, and an almost exact duplicate of those 3 strange large Phillips sheet metal screws that hold the grilles to each other and the surrounds for 30 cents each.

Will post another thread in the 442 forum about my rear bumper filler dilemma.

Thanks to all those who have contacted me with the encouragement on this thread and project. I have gained an appreciation for what 69442C and LadyandRob did in maintaining the thread logs on their restos.

costpenn

Long session today. The weather was great (5 1/2 hours)

Last Friday, I went to check on the progress on the body at Vastine's. I picked up the last body fasteners that had been left on the car to hold the fenders on. While there I noticed I had left the two small clips that hold the side marker light harness lead to the support on the car. I got them off without breaking them and reworked both painting them dull olive green. Don't know if that is the correct finish because they had been painted by the body shop.

Pic below shows the lengths the body shop is going to in cutting out as little of the original metal as possible. Also a couple of pics of my reconed speaker, as well as a pic of the 72 to keep me motivated.

Know I must sound like a broken record, but today fasteners were the game. I lost count of how many baggies I did today, but to be fair, some only have one screw in them - maybe I went overboard in keeping everything separate and labelled? ( example - defroster plenum to heater box/evap case?)

Some interesting things of note to the detail junkies like me:

The bolts that attach the top of the core support to the fenders are slightly longer than all the other bolts on the support that look similar to each other. They also all have the same head marking on my car - a small ER in a circle that are not found anywhere else on the support.

The screws with the captured washers that hold the glove box to the hinge and the same screws that hold the glove box striker plate to the dash are unique in that the finish on the washer (bare steel) is different than the screw (phosphate) I have not seen any fasteners anywhere else on the car be finished like this.

The spray can "Plastic Dip" stuff works wonders on freshening all the dipped rubber ends on the parts inside the door that contact the glass.

The PIM states the square piece of clear plastic that is sandwiched on the accelerator pedal pivot is a bearing. Is that it's actual function?

dc2x4drvr

Looks good Joe.

costpenn

Thanks guys.

Today no work, but did call to check on status of p/s pump and gearbox being rebuilt at Power Steering .com. They received the components on Jan 20th, and only now are they going into tear down. Was now told it will be shipping by end of this week.

Also bought a set of NOS Acniter R44S plugs off ebay. Went by the old parts store here in town to see if they had any before bidding, but all they had were ones and twos with the 4 stripes on the insulator. They did have a couple of R43S plugs that I bought for next to nothing. I believe those were OE on the W31's? Also scored a couple more blue vintage PF-30's. Got a stack now, and know I should have a white one on my car- still looking

1969w3155

Yep. Vintage? Want to sell them?

costpenn

Sure. Just went out to the garage to check them out and they are in nice Acniter boxes and have the 4 stripes with Acniter printed on the insulator. 7.00 for both of them shipped. PM me if interested.

costpenn

Almost done with bolts today (2 1/2 hours)

Did 15 baggies today leaving only 4 left to do - which are the interior door and quarter panel hardware. A lot of this stuff I bought new from AMK. Perhaps the biggest thing left to do in those bags are the screws that hold the window fuzzies to the sheet metal. The OE ones are black, and all I can find available are zinc plated in new. I don't want to paint them because of their exposure to moisture, so they will be going to the plater - one of the few interior fasteners to do so.

Time Out - Will add onto this post some more details after I finish watching this episode of Mad Men.

OK I am back. Love this written stream of consciousness thing.

Anyway, before are pics some of the items I did today, with brief notes on each:

Accelerator pedal spring (heavy surface rust - original finish looked to be bare steel)- I aggressively wire wheeled the exterior and tried to "spread" the spring while doing so to get the rust in between the coils, and Dremel tooled with a small wire brush the ID of the spring. Washed down with carb cleaner, wiped off and shot a pretty heavy layer of acrylic clear coat on it.

Door jamb courtesy light switches (dirty and tarnished with original finishes being natural) - used Brake Cleen to clean switch with a tooth brush. Then used a tiny amount of carb cleaner on the black plasticky parts to get a film off of it. Then polished the black button part very lightly on a cloth buffer, then detailed the "MB" marking on the end. Then taped off the plastic parts, and wire wheeled the brass (?) part until even in appearance. Left nude, no other coating applied.
These are these weird 70-71 only I think 3 pin switches that are not reproduced, so I really did not want to mess them up.

Steering column/dash mounted radio capacitor (dirty and end with stamped markings tarnished) removed the plastic connector, and wire dremeled the connector clean. Used carb cleaner on the actual wire to get it shiny clean again. Used brake Cleen and a Q-Tip to clean the red fiber stuff on the end where the wire comes out, and then carefully wire wheeled the discoloration tarnish off the other end of the capacitor body. I did not wire brush the main body seeing that the ink stamped date code was still in good condition. The mounting screw and mounting were cleaned with glass cleaner and a toothbrush since they were in excellent condition.

Accelerator Pedal Mounting Assy (dirty, and end of screws heavily rusted) The plastic body way very dirty, but otherwise ok, so it got the Purple Power, toothbrush and Griot foam pad on a stick treatment. The clear plastic "bearing" was cleaned with the same stuff, but I not want to risk damaging it by being too forceful, so there is a black line where it rubbed the acceleration pedal rod still visible. It will not show after the pedal is reinstalled so I left it alone. The two bolts were wire wheeled, and painted with the Eastwood's phosphate paint.

There will still be more fasteners to do when I disassemble the evap case and under dash heater box, the steering column and the rear end, but the vast majority are now done.

costpenn

Sorry the pics are dark!!!

Aron Nance

Joe: I think "attention to detail" is a bit of an understatement!!! Great job, great descriptions, great thread.
Aron

costpenn

Coming from a featured monthly writer for Journey With Olds , I consider that a high compliment. Thanks Aron.

costpenn

Got in a little work (1 hour)

Finished the LH door and door panel hardware. Received my NOS R44S plugs. Bumper shop called and said there was some pin holing of the bumper after they stripped it on the LH side. Said they were going to weld it up and then see how it looks before chroming. Engine should be back next week. I have got to get going!!!