Not sure if this is the right place to post this. But, I do have a big block in my car and this pertains to the underhood area. Someone have a decent pic of a 71 or 72 Cutlass firewall that they detailed? Preferably without an air cleaner or maybe even before the engine is stabbed. My car looks good and its my driver/cruiser but now that it's driveable it's hard to tear into it again so I'd like to be able to detail things one part at a time. I'm looking for colors of the wiper motor, other things there. I did blast and epoxy and paint the heater box before I put the front end on it.I also need to clean and reinstall my plastic wheelhouses but I have that handled...
thanks.

 

my old 66

 

What's the right colors of the wiper motor? I dont want to look like a lot of the guys that paint things to stick out. Some guys at the car show just rattle canned everything black under the hood and and another had everything painted a very obviously non origional metallic blue wiper motor and a gold voltage regulator and horn relay was cruddy fake spray chrome. etc... I'm hoping for everything to look basically stock under the hood except for my 455 and headers. And I'm pretty sure I wont be painting my differential cover neon green...lol Thanks, Richard.You do a phenomenal job of detailing. I'm just hoping to make mine decent underhood or maybe a bit nicer.

 

I do like the bright speed nuts on the heater box. Wonder if we have some that size at work. That's a nice touch and will be easy to get the ones I can get to.

 

Scrolling through some other posts, I see that Rob posted some pix of an origional low mileage 72 cutlass... Mine's a totally different critter. I see the wiper motor and I will do mine like that. but I have no power steering, or power brakes, or A/C. Mine looks nekkid.

 

I have a doc that says the wiper motor can be natural metal, plated or painted black most I see are silver ir plain metal that has been polished

 

There was nothing correct about mine. I just wanted a clean OEM type look.

 

That's perfect. I'm not too worried about " correct" but definitely clean, reasonably detailed, and not gaudy. So things look like they could maybe be correct.

 

Sounds like you need to option-up, then!

There are some good original firewall shots of my stock 72 in this thread:
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...o-unknown.html

No detailing has been done on the car, but each part under there is getting its own TLC and have not yet been reinstalled. The general colors should be pretty similar though - nothing is too far gone.
I will be detailing the wiper motor tomorrow afternoon - check in that thread then and see the finished motor.

Until then, here is the way the car looked when I bought it - nothing unstock about the colors...


Notr the blue and yellow stamps near the regulator!

 

Here's a before and after pic of my wiper motor. No painting or refinishing was done,just some good old elbow grease...and some Mothers chrome polish.

DSC02501.jpg

DSC02502.jpg

hope this helps

 

Ok...HUGE progress for me today on the underhood finishing. I grabbed the inner wheelhouses from the shed and brought them into the garage. You see, I have a kinda good (For me) problem in that a couple months ago, my neighbor lost his house. Sad story involving an ex wife wanting everything. He hadn't been around for months and one day he shows up with a U haul and grabbed his bedroom stuff, a TV and some personal stuff. He told me I could have everything else. :-) I got a decent compressor, sandblast cabinet, bench grinder, compound mitre saw, nice alum. step ladders, a new plow for a full size truck,etc... He was a divorced guy and likes stuff. So, I have 6 stalls worth of garage stuff in my 3 car garage and today I began the organizing. Tomorrow I will fix a couple holes for those U nuts to the fender bolts and I will scrub and paint em and install them and pull my wiper motor and some other goodies...

 

WOW - lucky you!! I wish the space for a sandblast cabinet...

I posted some more firewall pics in my Into the Unknown thread that could help you out.

 

Thank you. I was already eyeballing the pics about a minute ago. Problem is, I don't really have room for one either. He was into motorcycles so with his jeep in one stall, he still had a ton of room for his stuff.The blast cabinet will probably end up under my bench, other stuff in the shed or down stairs. After having the stuff a while, only thing I'm getting rid of is his old garage radio because I got one of those tasty Milwaukee work tune setups...
Put the Ipod in it and listen to radio from everywhere!:-)

 

Here is mine before the engine when in. I think I've kept it clean, detail and not gaudy.

 

My god will you wash that filthy thing!!!!!

 

Yea I know. I haven't dusted it in a few hours...

 

If my swap turns out half as nice as yours - whhhho baaaaaaaaby!

 

Oh no, you said the four letter 's' word!

 

Ssssssssshh!!!!!!!

 

Oh no you di-int! I'm tellin! Have at it boys...I've considered a 572 for my next one...

 

That looks awesome! I'll have to look something up for you. That little sticker that was covered over on the 'before' sticker is reproduced. Just gotta remember by whom.
There's a guy up here in Canada who makes them and sells them on ebay:


Here's the web link: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...m=390331051238 I'm sure they can make them for your application. I would definitely do one on mine. I feel inspired.

 

I can't help it, it's the voices in my head! Yes thats it, the voices, the voices are telling me to do it! I think I need an attorney! I'm not talking without an attorney!

 

The voices I kept hearing said 'BBC, BBC' over and over and over...

 

Ok. Got my wiper motor removed. It's gross. but I had to come back inside before I could really start to scrub. But, is there a way I can post pix without loading them onto photobucket or something like that?

 

One piece at a time - been there, done that, but got the motor restored like I wanted!



Here are Jamesbo's famouse instructions!

Hit Post reply
if not in advanced hit Go advanced
scroll down below the reply box to
Manage attachments
click on it and a new box will come up
hit browse then uplaod and wait til the pics are uploaded
close that box and voila

Please be sure to note there is a 1.5MB size limit on pics

 

Ok... Here goes... Thank's Rob. Here's a "Before" pic. Keep the floor dry incase lunch makes an encore appearance. lol

 

I went to a car show this weekend and some guy just pulled everything off the firewall and painted everything silver and bolted everything back to the black firewall. I'm hoping for a bit more professional look.

 

That is one nasty looking motor, but it is amazing what simple green will do. Doing it correctly takes time and make it look better. I cleaned my motor by removing the pump and holding it over the kitchen sink, scrubbing with a toothbrush and simple green and rinsing very gently and stratigically to prevent water from getting into those dark deep cavities of electrical stuff...

 

Well tonight i went about scrubbing the heck out of the dreaded wiper motor. Looked a little better but still ugly. The stamped cover had a covering of surface rust, Some old black overspray on things so I cheated a bit. I took apart the big things, scrubbed em good and rattle canned things. I got some RustOleum Bright metallic for the stamped cover, some silver for the cast body, and satin black for the motor part. I left the black plastic part alone, just cleaned it. Heres an After pic.Also, I began the repair of the torn holes on my splash shields. I may make this thing shine yet! Next to spruce up is my horn relay. I actually feel kinda good about this progress and it looks better than the guy who just sprayed the whole thing silver and bolted it back to the firewall. Thanks Richard (Gearhead) and Rob for the inspiration. Although not as fun as driving it, it gives me a rewarding feeling.:-)

 

MUCH nicer! Go grab a beer and stare at that puppy a while!

Yes, driving is better than fixing, but it is good eye candy in the garage and at shows.

 

So my car will be painted by Friday, any volunteers to detail my wiper motor? *cricket cricket* Anyone? No? Damn

 

It really wasn't that tough. I really should replace it someday. I cleaned it as well as I could but it's pitted and not so nice up close. Good thing it's hard to get up close and see it.
It's like eating an elephant. One bite at a time. I went
Almost 20 years without driving it. Things just got kinda skunky after a while. Me and my car ( It used to be named "the Tuna Troller") thank everyone for the guidance and wisdom to do this right.

 

Hey,lady72,mustang 442,nice work!This probally is one of those things that some folks would'nt care about,i'm not one of them.My wiper motor is shot,i've got a couple at pull-a-part,there shot too.I need a new one,so,the one you've shown here looks good.Where did you buy that?I really like the made in USA,so where can i get one?If that''s restored my hats off to you.NICE!Help me out here,CHINA,ownes enough already!Thanks,BO

 

Yes these are ones that had come on the cars and have been restored. Where they came from is beyond me. Rockauto sells the cardone motors but not sure where they are made. Also it looks like they paint the whole thing which is not original.

 

I'm not doing a restoration,#s matching car.I,m building a hot rod.I just like detail.Your firewall took me back 20yrs though,thats just the way mine looked when i got it,again ,nice work.Later,BO

 

Then who needs wipers? Just drive fast enough so the rain won't stick!

What is wrong with your motor?

 

I really don,t know.The car got on the back burner ,for a few years.I checked the fuses and the circuits,had fire where it should.Ruled out the switch.Then i strait wired it,nothing.Got another one from pull-a-part same thing.A new ones about 50 ,so i,ll get a reman.If it doesn,t fix it ,then i,ll have to get serious.It,s never been replaced so there pretty tough.No big deal.I havent driven it on the streets for awhile,I usally trailer it to the track,I have slicks on it right now so i,ve gotta buy some tires too.

 

I got mine at AutoZone, it was a Remade / Refinished AC Delco!!! Works Great, Made, and Remade in the good 'ole US of A

 

Never hurts to try the local guys. Most of the time you can see it before you pay so you can get just what you want.

 

Here's some pictures from e-Bay...
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/65-67-GM-CHEV...item2c5e868e5c

I don't know if they have the colors correct or not.

Jaybird