John Snow

Everything is original, right down to the factory AC that still works. Ive had to change the usual points, wires, coil and plugs though. She cleaned up great, half a bottle of Mothers chrome polish and the trim/bumpers were startin to look like mirrors. Hard to believe theyre over 50 years old.
Before
MkD9BXz.jpg

After
aAKHdoq.jpg
*Buffing by hand not recommended, it does suck*

After the outside was cleaned up I decided to tackle the daunting task of changing out all the little air hoses behind the dash for the AC/heat systems. Im pretty sure I found out what a mechanics hell would look like

4UW23Wk.jpg

Didnt think I'd ever be able to get it back together again.

But I kept at it. I saw a few stamps along the back of a few parts saying they were built in December of '59. So that pretty much proved I was in over my head haha. Decided it'd be best to polish the chrome up while I had it out.
YnQuIrN.jpg

and clean a bit of the trim
z7yad2G.jpg

Before
ytUUMZs.jpg

After
mhSZjLS.jpg

But after painstakingly laying upside down in the floorboards (that are falling through btw) for a day or so I got it back together and the chrome looking better than ever.

Before
e2gmt87.jpg

After
hQ3OzGZ.jpg


The small stuff

XKLs9yn.jpg

Have yet to see another one of those '60 Olds pins either

and yes the protection policy booklet still has the original little plate at the end

tKVA7ev.jpg

All in all its been a great project and I plan on doing quite a bit more to it before I sell it. Ive yet to see another one around town nor did I see one at the car show that had a record 1.090+ cars. And Im basically broke due to being laid off atm so progress will be slow but I usually get bored and at least do something with it anyway.

Couple of my favorite shots (they look horrible resized)
https://i.imgur.com/y5SSovF.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/2FTVCRP.jpg

and if you wanna see more
http://safeofbananas.imgur.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/107933386@N08/
^vid of startup on flickr^

Im on a couple other forums as well so hope some of ya dont mind a bit of deja vu.

Questions, comments, love 'n hate are always welcome.

Kyle's 77 Cutlass

Nice olds. New paint job and she will sing

John Snow

Thanks, but I dont plan on painting it really. I've been told by so many people not to that Im afraid to scrape any of that ol rust off haha. Might think bout it once I get everything else squared away.

D. Yaros

The dash/interior looking good!

Do not know what those hubcaps are, but they are not original to the car?

John Snow

Thank ya. It sat in a garage for nearly 20 years till it was bought by the dealer I got it from so I dunno if they were changed back when the original owner had it (some old dude) or what. But the dealer guy didnt change a thing exterior wise. I did notice theyre a bit different from what I've seen in various manuals on a site specifically for these model cars.

rocketraider

Caps look like 1958 Olds. My guess is it had the Deluxe wheel covers that are held on with clips, the clips rusted away and couldn't keep wheelcovers on and couldn't find any good Sixty Deluxe covers or clips, so they found these 58 standard caps.

I grew up with a 1960 Dynamic sedan that same Palmetto Mist green color with a Citron (pale yellow) roof. It had dogbowls w/ trim rings.

Great job on that dash BTW. Didja notice anything special about the Super 88 nameplate on the right side? or about the ashtrays?

navvet

Great style

John Snow

At least they fit well haha. Wonder if anyone round here has a set of em that are the right ones for it. Would be nice to have everything match. Didnt notice anything particularly special bout it, then again this is the only one Ive ever seen in person. I did take it all apart to polish it though.
This is before I worked on it
70xHxZO.jpg

Kevin45

Rocketraider nailed it. 1958 Oldsmobile http://www.hubcaps.org/olds1.html

John Snow

^thats why I like havin experts around haha. Found which ones I need to get but at 100 bucks a pop I think the ones I got will do juuuuust fine.



Bookmarked that site just in case I win the lotto or somethin heh.

rocketraider

That's the Deluxe 1960 wheelcover that has to have spring clips to hold it on the wheel. PITA to deal with but Olds used clips on all the Deluxe caps from 1957-63. The idea was to hide the valve stem.

My favorite look for a Sixty is the dogbowl with trim ring. Olds "poverty caps" were anything but. They were always stylish and well designed, and everything from a base Dynamic to a Ninety Eight looked good with them.

Allan R

Really nice survivor. Great job on cleaning it up, especially the interior from hell.

m371961

Nice car and you have the right attitude, just keep doin what you are doin and eventually you won't want to sell it.

John Snow

Somethin like this?



and if I had the option to trade for a wagon I would do it so hard.

Thank ya, never wanna take it apart ever again haha


Appreciate it man. It would take bout 5k to pry it from my hands now, guess shes growin on me.

John Snow

So I realized while driving around last night that I might need to fix the heat. Couple little issues though. I dont think I have vacuum pressure to switch the vents and I cant get air to go through where the heater core is. Ive got almost no clue how the system works either.

Anyone know how to fix it to where I at least get heat without havin to find one of them lil switch bastards?

Oh and the wipers wont turn off when I plug em up to the motor, they do change speeds when I turn the switch though. Ive taken the switch apart and saw nothing wrong with it so I dont think thats the issue.

MDchanic

I can't vouch for the similarities, but the '61 manual is available on WildAboutCars.

- Eric

John Snow

Couldnt find much there, wouldn't it be under the tech section?


What is this little bastard called? It goes at the end of the heater hose that connects into the back of the bay.

qxc2RMM.jpg

And where can I find these vacuum switches?

HOYXmkG.jpg

MDchanic

That's your hot water valve, but I have no idea where to get those vacuum diaphragms, other than from the folks on this board.

- Eric

John Snow

Crap, well I hope they chime in soon. Its supposed to snow tuesday and having no heat is gonna suck.

MDchanic

Put an ad in the Parts For Sale section.

There are a lot fewer people on here with the '59-'63 cars than with the later cars.

- Eric

John Snow

Thats the thing, I dunno if the valves are bad or what cause Ive got no vacuum throughout the system for some reason that I cant seem to find. I did find out that if I get suction on the hot water valve it opens up so thats good. But I cant seem to find a way to get those other valves off the side of the blower motor assy. to see if theyre bad or not.

MDchanic

Just attach a vacuum hose to each one and suck on it. If the diaphragm pulls up and holds, then they're good.

If you want to be fancy, attach a vacuum gauge to the hose with a T fitting and clamp the end of the hose to see if the diaphragm leaks down.

If you want to figure out what the diaphragms do, pull a vacuum on one at a time, with the blower fan on High, and see where the air comes out, and whether it's hot or cold.

It's hard to say how to connect the diaphragms and the controls without a diagram, but there's one out there, and someone on here has it. There's also a good chance that the color code is the same on your as it is on the later cars.

- Eric

John Snow

That would be a godsend bout now. Guess I'll be spendin the day tomorrow suckin hoses (thank god for context here)

thanks for the help dude

MDchanic

You'll get it working.

You had the dash apart - were there any hoses attached to the heater control?
If so, they may have colors on them, and you may be able to find the ends and reattach the right parts to each other.

- Eric

John Snow

There were hoses everywhere cause it has ac too, but they were all black. I had to trace them one by one with new hose to wherever they went. The ones that went through the firewall SUCKED. But I know for sure all the hoses are right (if they were right to begin with) in the dash at least. Theres gotta be one hose thats dry rotted somewhere in the bay thats makin it lose all vacuum or somethin.

Octania

Hey, I have that same car in a parts car
1960 Super 88 4dr
Mine is VERY much rustier though

Don R.

Welcome aboard, nice car. Vacuum leaks are a big problem for these cars especially ones with factory air. You absolutely have to get a shop manual, look on Ebay. Those vacuum cans control the mode doors inside the HVAC box, unfortunately the best time to test them would have been when you had the dash apart. MityVac sells a vacuum tester that works well. The heater valve needs vacuum to work but it also can be rusted inside, they are also available on Ebay. You probably have more than one vacuum reservoir tank on the firewall or under the front fender, my 63 has a large one plumbed into the lines for the brake booster plus two smaller ones on the firewall. You need to make sure they don't leak and basically check every hose starting at the engine vacuum sources and working from there. I thought all that was done and found I still had a leak at the trunk release switch in the glovebox! Get a manual, take your time, and good luck!

John Snow

@Octania

Hows the interior parts? I cant figure out how to get the clock working and I think my fuel gauge is bad.
Oh and those vacuum switches, got those?


@Don

Thank ya, and that pretty much summed up my worst fears. Im hoping I can at least get the right valve to open up and force air through the heating duct till spring if it can be done. I did find a way to keep the hot water valve open so now I have flow. I might just use my tax refund to change it up to electronic or something when the time comes.

John Snow

Bit of an update:

There was a few small leaks but nothing major, still cant get the proper suction it needs though.

Anywho, found a leak in a trans line fitting today. Replaced a seal and filled her up, now it shifts perfectly and is keeping all the fluid. I never thought it would be able to gain speed like it can now but damn I love it.

Got the trunk to open today as well. It hasnt been opened since the old man parked it nearly 20 years ago and the dealership didnt know how to get it to open cause they never had any keys to the car. Sadly the spare tire and jack are gone but at least I can stop using the back seat as a catch-all.

John Snow

So, anyone got any rusted chrome cragars theyre willin to sell? I need 5x5s

Killian_Mörder

Those vaccuum modules were still used well after 1963

HOYXmkG.jpg

MDchanic

So the basic system remained the same for a few years?

Good to know. Thanks.

- Eric

Killian_Mörder

The ones I've seen were made of copper. They tend to accumulate calcium deposits which will block valve opening. In regions where tapwater suffers a high calcium content, this problem will be more frequent. Soaking the valve in vinegar concentrate should free it up. I'd keep the concentrate from entering the vaccuum side, though

D. Yaros

Another option might be to have the valve rebuilt? Suspect that Terrill Machine, out of DeLeon, TX might do it?

http://www.deleontexas.com/chamber/tmachine.php

They rebuilt the distributor vacuum advance on my '55 Cadillac.

John Snow

I'll give them a shout tomorrow for sure. Hopefully it'd be cheaper than buying all new ones. Thank ya

John Snow

Been out making money while the car sits under a tarp back home and trying to think of what to buy for it now.

The engine is my main concern for now. I wanna change the gaskets, rebuild the carb, change anything that shouldve been changed out 10 years ago that would help me out now. Problem is I'd rather not go with some cut to fit felpro kit and I don't know where to get the good stuff. So yall got any suggestions as to where and what I should buy so i can finally show it some much needed love when I go back home on the 4th of July?

John Snow

Any suggestions at all?

MDchanic

There should be no problem buying a Fel-Pro gasket set for it. It may take a few days for the store to get it in, but they should be available.

- Eric

Yellowstatue

I can still get stuff for my '57 at Carquest. Not everything though...and their catalogue only goes back to '58, so I order '58 stuff...same thing.

Killian_Mörder

Buy nothing. Simply get it running and decide thereafter if you need to buy anything, once any problems are found. Nobody goes around and replaces gaskets on a preventative basis