Frame off restoration

[Wilson05]

Does anyone know of some good litureture guide on a Frame-off restoration. I finally got by 68 CS back and thinking about doing a complete restoration on her. Any ideas?

[68Tom]

Well, I guess it depends how specific a book you're looking for. I assume when you say "CS", you mean a Cutlass S?

You definitely will want to purchase each of the following.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1968-...1%7C240%3A1318

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1968-...1%7C240%3A1318

In terms of specific and what order to do the restoration, there's no specific Oldsmobile book that I'm aware of. However, I've found it to be fairly straightforward. Reading old and current posts here on restoration work is very informative. In fact, it could be more informative than a book.

If you have any questions, just ask away. They'll definitely get answered here.

[sklbndt]

How to Restore Your Muscle Car by Greg Donahue is a good basic guide. http://cgi.ebay.com/How-to-Restore-Y...3A1%7C294%3A50

[Eddie Hansen]

Originally Posted by sklbndt

How to Restore Your Muscle Car by Greg Donahue is a good basic guide. http://cgi.ebay.com/How-to-Restore-Y...3A1%7C294%3A50

I also got that book and found it excellent!

I would offer a small caveat when considering a restoration, I am NOT an expert, I am just a hobbyist, I did a frame on resto of a 72 skylark for my wife, and am currently doing a frame off on my 69, you need to decide a few things before ripping it all to pieces.

1. budget, what do you feel you can spend comfortably, then add 30-40%
2. What do you want to achieve? all original numbers matching? RestoMod? stock with upgrades?
3. Do you need to drive it? do you have a good Place to work? what can you do yourself and what do you need to farm out? and these questions go back to budget, are you sitting with some spare cash that you have earmarked for the resto?
4. Do you care that your restoration costs may exceed the expected value of the finished project?

These are some of the things I wished I thought of before tackling my project , what started out like gangbusters quickly became mired in where do I stop? I pulled the motor , tranny, rear end, etc etc etc pulled the body off the frame, redid the whole front end, painted the frame etc etc, now I need to decide should I leave the drums or 4 wheel discs? it be easier to swap now, I bought replacement quarters but need to sit the body back down on the frame to fit them, I should have did them first LOL. I am swapping in a 69 455 motor, but want it freshened up, I want to have the 4 speed freshened as well and the posi, all these things get daunting after awhile and then there is the budget! my wife thinks my car stash is household mad money!! I try to put a few bucks away every month for the resto but then something always comes up.

I could have swapped the motor ( after it was freshened ) then maybe do the brake upgrade, then the quarters, then lifted the body off....

just make sure you plan well i did not, if it wasn't for this site i would probably have parted this poor car out ahile ago....

good luck and post pics!! inspire the slackers!! (aka ME) LOL...

[Wilson05]

Thanks for all the info so far guys. This site rocks and everyone is giving good information. Thanks for the heads up Eddie. I will take all that into consideration. I will definitely get some pictures up soon!

[Eddie Hansen]

Originally Posted by Wilson05

Thanks for all the info so far guys. This site rocks and everyone is giving good information. Thanks for the heads up Eddie. I will take all that into consideration. I will definitely get some pictures up soon!

wilson your welcome I was in no way trying to discourage you, just hoping your resto goes smoothly!!

I think I would see what you want to do mechanically first.
then what upgrades you want( if any)
then what is needed for the resto ( interior, seals whatever)
then the body work and paint, this way you can still be driving it etc


I love the 68's too BTW!!

speed on brutha..

[Wilson05]

You didn't discourage me at all. I've been looking at complete rebuilds and didn't realize it was so much time and work. Still debating on it though. I really want to drive her a little beings she hasn't been driven in 9 years. Might get it running, do some upgrades and plan out my rebuild while I'll play, then tear it apart. Not sure yet though.

[68Tom]

What exactly are you going to do with this car? Is it going to be a driver or do you want to show it? Personally, if it not in terrible shape, there's no real need to do one a frame-off.

I guess it all depends on a) in what condition the car currently is, b) what your plans are for it (weekend driver, daily driver, show), and c) if a daily driver or lack of a garage, in what kind of climate you live.

If you can post some pics, that would help. You can upload them onto photobucket.com and them post the url link which will allow you to post pics within your post.

[riverrat]

I got a 1980 cutlass tore off the frame and found a lot of stuff that needed fixed to my standards that I did not see when the car was whole. The hardest part is been finding parts, But I am getting there. The best advice that I can give is to video tape everything I mean everything no matter how small you think it is. and put every thing in frezzer bags and lable it. I have had mine apart about 9 months and Iam sure I will have to check my tape more than a couple of times. You dont want to have a bucket of bolts left over and no ideal where they go.