viper771

Hello everyone! I am trying to get my 442 up and running but I am missing a few parts. I am trying to locate the small retainer that attaches the throttle cable to acclerator cable. When I got my car, one of the previous owners kind of did a half assed job with everything, so that piece was missing. I have been looking around but I don't think it is reproduced. Any ideas where I can locate one?

Does anyone have a template for the placement of the rocket on the trunk lid, as well as the long Oldsmobile strip that goes along the bottom? I think either previous owner filled ALL the holes, or the lid is off of something else. I just want to make sure I get the holes right before drilling anything.

Has anyone purchased the new ralley pac gauges for the 68 442 yet? I wanted to know how good they were. I plan to buy all new wiring for my car (since it is all spliced, with alligator clips, tape, etc) and wanted to know if I needed anything extra.

I am kind of new to all of this so I appreciate all the help anyone can give me. Thanks in advance!

mugzilla

The jesus clip ..?

pics plz ...

viper771

I will have to see if I can find a picture of it. A diagram came with my new throttle cable and it is VERY lightly printed. The clip/retainer I need goes right into the round hole on the top of the gas pedal rod.. where it holds the throttle cable in place. The diagram said I needed to reuse the retainer.. but I don't have one to reuse

Yellowstatue

That throttle cable retainer should be available at any decently stocked auto wreckers, all GM cars from '68 to '72 used it... it's a little hard to get off and on so be patient...

viper771

Well that is good news! I willl have to see if I can find one.

Here are a few more pieces I am not sure about...

What does the glove box door latch to? I just have 2 screws but is there supposed to be some kind of either plastic or metal clip the glovebox lock clicks into?

Is there supposed to be any trim at the lower corners of the back window? I see a screw hole on each lower corner in the long metal part that goes along the center of the rear window toward the bottom . I would figure they are plastic like the A pillar ( but much much smaller), but I haven't seen anything on ebay that would fit there.

I have a lot of questions since I have just started to work on my olds since I bought it 3 yrs ago (wife and I were in Germany the past 4 years)... so I haven't had much hands on experience yet

68Tom

Throttle retainer: (www.thepartsplaceinc.com )
EN8450T
( - Cutlass/442) ACCELERATOR CONTROL CABLE RETAINER


I purchased a Rally Pack from The Parts Place. As I didn't buy new wiring, I bought the installation kit with it. Seeing as you are buying all new wiring, you might be able to get the rally pack wiring integrated in the harness. A word of advice: I wasn't too psyched with the Pack itself, nor was I happy with my wiring harnesses from M&H Wiring. They use a thinner gauge than stock wire in their harnesses. The gauges in the Pack are somewhat cheaply made. If I did it all over again, I'd wait for some original gauges & tic-toc-tach to show up on eBay and have them gone through by a gauge specialist.

The glove box latches onto a retangular shaped piece that has a center section that sticks out and up to catch the lock/latch. It is black plastic.

Package tray windlace end caps (www.thepartsplaceinc.com)
IN3383T
(1968 - 1972 Cutlass/442) CUTLASS "S" & 442 PACKAGE TRAY WINDLACE END CAP - PR


If I was back in Phoenix, I could give you the trunk strip, 442 & Rocket measurements, but I'm not. Sorry. By the way, there's a super nice trunk strip on ebay at the moment.

viper771

Thanks for the info! I have a trunk strip (came with the car) but just no holes in the actual trunk for it...same with the rocket and 442 emblem (there are just 2 holes for the emblem so I can drill the others easier).

Ah so there is some kind of trim that goes back there in the window!!! I haven't spotted any glove box latches yet. I figure that they prob get broken over the years. I will have to keep looking.

So you think the orig gauges are better than the repo ones? I guess that is pretty much always the case when you compare repo to orig. Now.. is there a way to use the ralley pack with an HEI distro ( I think the signals they send out are different)? I would like to go back to points with a coil.. just bec it is easier to me and I don't know a whole lot about cars yet.

Thanks for the info!!! You guys are the best!

68Tom

Read up here on the repro Rally Packs.
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...e-jumping.html

I changed my distributor from points. I don't think there will be an issue. Unless you're going for an all-original show car, I don't think going back to points is a wise thing to do. It'd essentially be a downgrade performance-wise.

There were at least 3 tic-toc-tach's on eBay a week ago, but now there's only one on there. I've found the gauges to be harder to find.

Another issue with the repop gauges is the insides aren't painted blue, so when they're illuminated at night, the color is going to be off a bit from your speedometer. Overall, I decided to just give them a shot. They're definitely less expensive than finding an original Pack and having them reconditioned. Guess I'll see how it goes--if I ever get the car finished.

Also, while you have your dash apart, I'd suggest having your speedometer checked out. After 40 years, the plastic gears inside tend to go. And trust me, you don't want to have to pull that dash apart more than you have to. It's not an enjoyable process.

viper771

Hey... after digging around I found the ralley gauges and tic toc tac in my trunk! I think I must have ordered them awhile back and my inlaws stashed them away for me!!!!

My car was orig a column shift, but someone added in a ratchet floor shifter. When I bought the car, a 68 colsole with shifter was included. I plan to put that in and get rid of the annoying ratchet shifter. Then I can just get a 68 column so it looks like it has always been a floor shift car!

It won't be hard to redo stuff in the dash since I bought the car with the dash taken apart already. I still need to look for the plastic defroster attachment that goes on top of the heater box. Everything else seems to be there..

So stay with HEI is the verdict. I guess I wouldn't mind, it isn't going to be a show car or anything. I would like to at least put a quadrajet carb on it. It has an edel. carb on it now... headers, and a 455 with Ga heads. I just want to make it look more like stock. I have a pair of x/y mainfolds. I don't mind the 455 so much, but I think the C heads flow better from what I have read.

I will prob send all my gauges in to be repaired, but I think it will be $$$$.. but that is the price you pay. I will read up on what people said about the repo gauges. I think I read an article where someone took apart the repo ones and painted them blue on the inside so they looked better at night, and matched the spedo more. Now I can't find that article lol

Yellowstatue

The trunk 442 emblem fits into four rectangular holes that have four rectangular clips in the holes to hold onto the four studs on the emblem..so what you could do is locate the aproximate location of the hole and then use a needle or pin to clean out the hole for the proper shape.. the Cutlass script has the same stud location...

2blu442

Last night I took a bunch of pictures of my 1968 project car. The deck lid trim is off so I measured from the drivers side across with a tape measure taking pictures of each hole. Hopefully your have just been filled with bondo, but this should give you a good starting point to look for the holes. Also there's the rocket emblem over the lock, and one picture of the gove box latch. I missed getting the inside rear corners of the package tray. Yes, there should be short plastic fillers attached at each end of the long metal piece. It's common for them to become brittle from the sun and break or crumble. There's too many pictures to post here, so if you click on the link it will take you to my photobucket site. Let me know if there's any other views that would help you. John

http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k257/2blu442/

viper771

Thanks for the pictures!!! The holes for the deck lid trim is a bit higher up than I thought. Well, now I have to find that glove box piece.

I am not sure if the holes in the trunk are filled with bondo. I tried to knock around the hole area but it seemed solid. I figure that maybe the deck lid is off another car.

The rocket emblem seemed to be a little off center from the trunk lock hole as well.

Now I will have to go dig around in my car to see if I need some other pictures of something. I am sure I do. All my books are still in Army storage so I am just going off of memory for right now. At least if I order my acclerator cable clip I can get the car running/ moving again.

Can any of you guys suggest a good exhaust system? I want to get rid of my headers since, well one is cracked, and they really make the interior of the car hot.

thanks again for the pictures!! I really appreciate it!

Jamesbo

"Well, now I have to find that glove box piece. "

Do you know if a 69 is the same?

viper771

Thanks for that info I think I have only 2 out of the 4 holes for the emblem for some reason. Do they sell the clips seperate? The new emblem that came with the car had no clips at all.

It seems that when I was fixing up my 56 chevy, I had the same problem. The new emblems wouldn't come with any clips!!! But I only lived 30 mins or so from Danchuk at the time and they would just give me them for free.

viper771

That is a good question. I don't think there were a whole lot of changes in the 69 aside from front end changes, the key moving to the column, and the doors changing a bit. I checked my 68 gto droptop to see if it had such a clip inside, but as I recall it is just some kind of triangle spring in there. I was hoping some gto stuff that I needed would interchange, but alas, it isn't the case this time

68Tom

If you want to get the car back to stock, you can't beat a Gardner system. Built to exact OEM system standards and measurements. They literally bolt right in. They're nice.

They're a bit more money than the cheaper kits from Summit, but since you won't need to do any cutting or welding (if you can't do this yourself), I think it balances out. Plus it looks exactly like they did from factory.

http://www.gardnerexhaust.com/

Here's some manifolds, but one was repaired. Still, pretty cheap at the moment. I paid $339 for my pair. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1968-...Q5fAccessories

68Tom

Here you go. Tell him you want the one for the '68 (he lists the part #). I believe the screw holes are the long ones for a '68 (the one in the pic), but double check in the pics that were posted earlier.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/68-69...4506.m20.l1116

viper771

Yeah! That is exactly what I am looking for!

If you guys want, I can take some picts of my project. I just want to get it up and running in time for winter. At least for the first time she will be put in a garage out of the weather for the first time since I owned her. Thanks again!!!

On the exhaust system, that sounds like what I need. I can't do any cutting or welding since I don't have the tools to do that unfortunately (and I don't know how to do any of that). I do have a set of x/y manifolds I bought a few yrs back. I should unwrap them and see what kind of shape they are in. I really don't even know how good a job any of the previous owners did on the 445 that is in the car now. For the most part, it sounds pretty good. It would be a lot better without exhaust leaks

viper771

By the way... anyone know how much a typical Gardner system would cost? I emailed them just to get a quote but they want me to call. I figured that when they mentioned "concourse system" in the email, it means REALLY expensive. I wouldn't mind doing that in the future... but at this point I would be happy just to drive it around the block. Maybe just replacing the headers would be ok for now. It is more or less a 10-20 footer due to the amature resto on it and rather thin paint job.

68Tom

I just bought one. I think it was in the $600 range, which I didn't think too bad seeing as it's exact to specs. If you want to add the hangers and whatnot, it adds a bit to the cost. All in all, it was way more reasonable than I expected.

Just give 'em a call. They're not going to bite your head off or anything. They're super friendly and have great customer service.

Here, read this (skip the ridiculous arguing going on towards the end). Trust me, the system is worth it in the long run.
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...r-exhaust.html

viper771

That isn't bad at all. I was thinking more like 2K or something. I will have to see how well my manifolds are. I never unwrapped them. But that is helpful info. I will give em a call I still need to dig around and see what else I need. When the car was converted to HEI I don't think it was done right. I just have a number of things to work on I guess. Thanks for the info!

viper771

Ok just ordered a bunch of parts! Thanks for all the help and info. I don't see why they don't sell the trunk emblem retainers. Are they just clips or some kind of speed nuts? Hopefully I can get the car moving around next week! I'll let everyone know how that goes.