oldstata

Solo here is what I did on the lower fender bolt

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I sprayed a bunch of wax inside for rust prevention
I tacked welded the nut the only thing that was bad is I took the 1/4 inch of play the nut moved around out and it was a bit of a challenge to line up the fender

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You can clean up the welds and smooth out I didn't waste the time but it's your call

oldstata

Here is a pic of the upper fender bolt that broke on me. I also welded up this area ground flat and retapped it, once again I had to modify the fender hole to fit properly. I think if you mark before hand it would have gone smoother for me

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Sorry I didn't take a good pic of this area

All four bolts took me less then 30 min to repair if your fire wall section isn't rusted

Napoleon Solo

That repair looks slick. I may attack it myself , I may trade off work for it. My buddy sez you can get at it through the inside once the plastic vent covers are removed. I think I'd rather open it up like you did and sanitize the whole area. I figure next weekend I will be able to blast the car tub and possibly blow some primer on it.

Napoleon Solo

Over the weekend I finally made some time to strip the '64. It is as kleen as I expected. Maybe moreso. I haven't done the roof yet but just look at that passenger quarter - perfect. Aside from small dents, there is no rust anywhere. The driver's side quarter does have a bit of filler on it that I haven't stripped yet. It must be minor dings since it can't be seen from the inside.
The wheel wells and arches are like new and the floor pan is pristine as expected. Rockers are mint and dent free too.

Napoleon Solo

A few more.
I'm not sure if I will blast the inside floor. I may preserve the factory grease pencil marks. I am also toying with a colour change....yes? No?

oldstata

Wow solo !

That's great work and very clean.
What color you thinking? The way you are doing it you could do any color you want

BangScreech4-4-2

If Midnight Mist is the original color, I'd stick with that.

oldsmobiledave

Leave the color original. Nice work so far. Looking forward to seeing the car in person in the spring (if you are giving tours!).

Dave

therobski

Solo your on a roll! Very nice work indeed.

Napoleon Solo

Thanks, gents. I was really leaning toward keeping the car midnight mist too. It's just when I see a blank slate my mind wanders. Dave - my door is always open. I would like nothing more than to spend an afternoon talking car stuff. Let me know when you're coming out.

Ok - the big question of the day is - should I retain the factory grease pencil marks on the floor or strip it kleen? I will be looking at finishing the body in the next day or so. The other thing I dread is cutting a hole in that perfect floor for the console shift linkage. (heavy sigh..)

Eddie Hansen

Personslly I would strip it clean and put the mark back on, I think it would be more important to make sure the entire area was cleaned as the rest of the car just in case, unless your going to have a little panel in the carpet to lift up and show the mark. If you were leaving most of the original paint I would leave it for posterity, but as you have stripped all the major pieces in for a pinch in for a pound.

Napoleon Solo

Right you are, Edward. I read your post and thought it best to strip the car spotless. Although I do like the carpet flap idea... Besides, what am I - a Mopar guy or something? No one is going to ever see it again and nobody cares. I have them documented in photos regardless.
In any case, the big legible grease pencil mark is just about where I will need to cut out the floor for the shift linkage.

A few more pics as I progress. Windscreen and rear window channels are solid.

phillipm

Holy cow that car is straight! Wow.

oldstata

Looking great solo!

If you decide to tack that box nut for the lower fender, looks like you have great access on the rear panel where the frame real usually is. it would be hidden even with the fender off. You might be able to open it enough to replace instead if just tacking it . Man wish my car could have been that straight!

Napoleon Solo

The car IS crazy clean. I got quite lucky with it.
Well, it's a little slow going lately, work is busy and I've been a little under the weather of late. Having said that, I stripped my fenders the other day and did find a little filler and dent puller holes on the driver's fender. The passenger side was fine so I am flummoxed as to why someone welded the filler panel to the lip?!? There is no rot or damage to the area - it normally bolts on with the eyebrow trim.

stan 65 cutlass

hey man, odd about that filler panel, did you see the 64 rear bumper in langley? maybe its one of yours already
http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/rds/pts/4881974729.html

Napoleon Solo

Hey, Stan. I did see that bumper - not one of mine. It's been up for awhile but there aren't many of us with '64s in this area....
As for the filler panel, I think I can rescue it without damage. I'm going to finish blasting the car this weekend. I have two hoods to choose from so we'll see which one is the winner.

Napoleon Solo

Over the weekend I finished off the body and went to work on the two hoods I have. I had to get the lock mechanism out of the trunk lid (toda) before I could hit it. The factory hood is a little crunchy along the leading edge but as it was lightly blasted, it looks like there is a skim of mud on it. My other hood, shown has a LOT of mud on it from a few bruises. I'm a little disappointed that one of them isn't cleaner but you can't have everything.

The doors I've opted not to blast for the simple lazy reason that I don't want to tackle the disassembly and reassembly specifically when the internals look factory fresh. I plan on just D/A'ing them and working with what I have.

Also, I resprayed the lower dash panel section black. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to redo it. I have to peel off the tape and have a good look. All of the dash internals are polished up and ready for installation and I've decided to add triple guages to the mesh chrome section where the speaker would normally be. The piece I'll be using is a little bent so no NOS or mint parts will be harmed....

HonestDave

Yowzers.......a whole lot a work goin on, Napoleon.

My hat's off to you. Think I'll go start the coffee pot

bigin1978

that's gonna be a nice car!

Napoleon Solo

It's been quiet for awhile but this weekend I commissioned a buddy to do the metal work that needed doing on the body. There were 5 areas of concern: front and rear body mount bolts, a spot on each rear wheel arch at the trunk pan and lastly the rear pan between the trunk and rear window. So my buddy from TLC restorations brought his shrinker stretcher and MIG with him and made the cutout pieces on the spot and welded them in. First he drilled out the brace spot welds so I can blast underneath making sure that all of the rust is history. Front bolt mount areas were cut out for the same reason, also giving me great access to the insde of the rockers to clean out the blast media and shoot some rustmort in there to keep it kleen. The cage nuts will be rewelded or fabricated. Lastly was cutting out the rear pan for replacement.
The whole trip was maybe 3 hours with maybe 2 more hours to reweld all of the cutouts and the new pan in.
Whew! Thus concludes all of the metal work needed on the car.

Next will be primer and massaging out the minor dings and dents. The cool stuff is starting up!

therobski

That's some nice fab work. A while back when I ordered the rear deck pan, I used the one from a 64-65 GTO, same thing. They may now have them listed for Cutlass as well.

Napoleon Solo

Tomorrow while my good friend Terry finishes up the last of the metal work, I will be starting the basic disassembly of the engine for a clean up, new gaskets and finally a repaint.
I just mounted the engine to my freshly fabbed and powder coated engine stand. I designed a support plate that interfaces between stand and block, so I can remove it and install plates for other engines. My Jaguar 4.2 litre will likely be next.

442scotty

The car is coming along real nice ! Where on earth do you find the time to work on it as much as you do!

Napoleon Solo

Scotty! It doesn't seem like I work on it much. Since most of the car is at my shop I can squeeze in an hour or two every few days. Most of the hard stuff I know people with whom I can trade off work. I handle the easy stuff...

Anyway, my good friend Terry from TLC restorations finished up the rest of the little metal work that needed doing today. A total of one work day to complete over two Saturdays. Now I just need to reblast the fixed spots and get some primer on that bad machine.

Napoleon Solo

I got word today that my buddy needs his rotisserie back soon. I have four weeks to get the underside painted so I can put the body back on my dolly.

oldstata

Solo, I really like how you did that lower fender bolt. Did you Por 15 the inside or just primed after sand blasting it ? Same with under the deck filler panel

X2 on if your lucky enough to have your project at your work place it's easier to squeeze in a hr or so

Napoleon Solo

I thought it was pretty slick too. My guy Terry sprayed rust inhibitor all inside the exposed surfaces before welding everything up. He even fixed the cage nuts so fender alignment will be a snap.

I am super busy at the shop but I am also lucky enough to live ten minutes away so a few hours on the weekend are easy peasy.

Napoleon Solo

It's been a little while since much has happened but some progress made. A couple of weeks back Terry from TLC restorations did the bumping amd filing on the body finishing everything that needs doing on the body tub itself. Currently he's working on my fenders ( very little to do) and my gnarly core support leaving the hood and doors to last.
Last week I ordered a bunch of goodies for the chassis, engine and steering. This weekend I went to the Monroe Swap meet where I bagged a near mint set of poverty caps that are correct for '64 (finally!) and picked up all of the stuff I ordered at my P.O. box. It was like Christmas this morning when I went into the garage to unbox everything. I started priming and painting my steering parts today already. Next week I will be pulling the trigger on my 4 wheel disc brake kit and go pick up my body and chassis hardware kits from AMK. They don't have a Cutlass specific kit but 64 GTO will be close enough - plus or minus a nut or two.

Napoleon Solo

In the mean time I've been restoring my console and dash. Repainted both the the black and silver on the dash face and repainted the hard plastic vinyl look pieces on the console. Gave the center section a good cleaning with wire brushes.

oldstata

Solo, with the new hard ware kit please use "caution" with the wheel well to fender, as it is noted on Bro's sight that the bolts are to long and damage the fenders with new paint on them

Looking great love metal work

Napoleon Solo

Steering parts, 2" lowering springs and engine parts. I can't wait to get these wheels on the car...

therobski

Solo, if your going for authenticity I'm' not sure those are the correct poverty hubcaps for a 64 F-85. Maybe they were different outside the states? However they look great!

Napoleon Solo

You are partially correct - I think the ones I have are for a 'B' body car but year correct. The f-85 cars got the bullhorn style which are 'more correct' but very difficult to find. I bought a mint set on ebay not asking about diameter. Beautiful but utterly useless to me - diameter is 9" A bodies are 10.25". They'll fit the 61-64 f-85 cars no problemo.

Anyway, these will do until until the day comes that I actually find the bullhorn set.

therobski

Ah, your 2nd picture shows the correct ones like on my 64. Dirty right now but they will look great after I polish them.

Swede64

I was extremely lucky to find a set on ebay listed as 61,62 or 63 poverty caps. Mint condition and buy it now at $150.00. It hit the buy it now button pretty hard.

oldcutlass

Looking good!

Napoleon Solo

Indeed - I was stoked when they arrived but alas - they are too small! I paid $125 for them. What size wheel are you running? Your PCs look identical to mine but obviously they fit. I have Wheel Vintiques 15x7's and 8's. Whatcha got?

Second look at both - yours are a little different...

Macadoo

The whiteboard is a brilliant idea! And I've been waiting for a mid-sixties resto on this forum. I'll be watching with interest.

oldstata

Solo, that pic infront of the sure blast is amazing !