what is the wheel lug spacing on my 1969 delta 88 again ? Is it 5x5 or 5x4.75 ?

 

5x5"

- Eric

 

Any update?

 

sorry, been lurking the past few nights, nothing new, I am leaving my mechanic alone for a bit, he told me last week the machine shop was behind because they do some work for the lv speedway. I will give him a shout tomorrow and report back any news about the 455.

 

update: engine still at machine shop, confirmed that new crankshaft, new connecting rods for abused piston and new gasket kit will be installed. It will be at the shop for a bit longer. I'm going to head over there and see what else we can do as far as cleaning up engine bay before re-install.

 

You know we're dying here without pictures, right?

Ten posts and 17 days without a single picture posted.

It's like a desert... Thirst... THIRST...




- Eric

 

And I know exactly how you feel........I haven't seen her in all that time, since the fuzzy pics. Motor at machine shop, no way to get them there, and car has just been sitting inside mechanics garage all this time. I have been working like a madman lately, so I haven't been able to drive there to visit her. And when my wife and I have the same day off....well you know. I will attempt to get down this week and snap some pics.....scheduling some front end bushing work before plopping motor back in...then tidying up the engine compartment....on a prior post I mentioned that this particular mechanic (Jim) rebuilt a 289-4v ford motor for me back in 97 or 98 for my then 66 A code 4 spd mustang, and the job he did on the compartment was amazing. Now I want to be part of the 69 resurrection so my goal is to get down there prior to re install and do just that. Happy Saturday CO.

 

Hey sir I am now in Vegas if you would like to hang out and talk cars at some point, My olds are not here yet though

 

sicky,
PM me your number. When do your car(s) get here ? Perhaps we can go down to the shop and see how mines coming along.
Just got off the phone with Jim, my mechanic. Even tho I am working harder and longer hours as of late it certainly hasn't shown up on the weekly paycheck (salary is like that) so we discussed scaling back on some of the aggressive items I wanted to get done and really just concentrate on getting that 455 back into top shape. Update without pics (I haven't been down there yet): New Crankshaft, reconditioned 2 Rods, then its putting it back together with new Waterpump, adding the neoprene rear seal in place of the ol' rope seal, new Gasket kit, fluids, hoses, stat, etc. I am not going to do the Control Arms yet, gotta wait. Get all that done and get her home. Its been over a month now. Getting the motor done, and then once home doing as many other projects on her myself.
Pics will come as soon as I get down there.
R

 

Finally after 2.5 weeks, got to go see the olds. I snapped some pic's, not very interesting because not much has changed. The rods and piston are coming back from machine shop and this large olds 455 paperweight will be finally put together. Notice the massive 2 barrel Rochester carb. One pic has my lil mechanic daughter in it, she, as well as myself, wants this back on the road so she can ride with papa in 60's style. Will add pics when we are ready for the re-install.

 

a few more pics from today.

 

This is actually a great picture:




Glad to hear it's coming along.

- Eric

 

one last thing.....can someone let me know how to get rid of the white question mark as my avatar ? If you click on it you can see I have a pic inserted, but I dunno why its not showing up. Thanks CO.

 

Go to "User CP" in the bar above (after "Forums" and "Gallery").

Along the Left side there will be a bar called "Your Control Panel."

Go down ten lines, to "Edit Avatar," which is just below the "Settings and Options" heading.

Do your thing in there.

- Eric

 

I'd have looked for a 425 with that much gone wrong in there and a budget of $2500.

I have a 67 425 runner I could have sent.

 

Good to see some progress. It looks good!

 

Finally down to some juicy stuff.....
thoughts on a few things. Thought #1. Received a "pretty close to number" of $2600 for the following which is heading towards the endgame, meaning we are about done with it. So I am spending $2600 on: teardown and cleanup of engine, including the replacement of a crankshaft, a connecting rod and cleanup of the rest of them, one piston and rings (the damaged piston from someone sabotaging motor when PO had it), new Gasket set, seals all round of course, all fluids, waterpump, hoses, plugs and re-tune. Installed back into car with new tranny mount. Engine will be painted (thought #2, coming) ad engine compartment will be steam cleaned and repainted as well. Thoughts from you on the price... (and also my thinking was the PO had rebuilt this motor perhaps a year ago with new pistons and connecting rods, I am only replacing what was ruined by the idiot who screwed with the motor)
Thought # 2: Engine and Engine compartment colors for 1969 delta. Was it gold like others from that year ? This is the juicy part, something about painting a motor, and painting it the correct color of course, that gets me all excited. And any details about the engine compartment would be helpful too, besides correct color.
So I am listening. Colors and what you think of what I am paying for this engine overhaul. If the $2600 sticks after completion of the work I will have $3200 total cash spent on this delta.
and I promise good JUICY pic's during the re-install/painting part of this project !

 

1969 and earlier big blocks were Olds Red. Fusick is the only place I know where you can buy it, though there are many places to get a red that is damned close.

- Eric

 

Looking for some input on my color choice (Thanks Eric, Olds Red is probably the way I will go) on engine and engine compartment as well as ideas on anything else about refurbishing the engine compartment I should know about..input on my expenses thus far, as well I am looking at wheels and I have not seen any 69 delta 88 with buick or olds rally wheels yet. Anybody have a pic or does this wheel NOT fit the delta ? I have the 5x5 spacing and (of course) found some nice rallyes but they are 5x4.75. The other look I like is the cragar ss..........

 

I will take silence as it is assumed I have spent too much on what services I have received. All good. Not that money is growing on a tree in my small yard but it was best case with my work schedule to have my engine built by someone else. I will probably go the olds red route, but we'll see, as its not going to be a 100% back to assembly line restored perfection.

I have already talked y'all ears off regarding wheels/ hubcaps/ tires so lets pass on that too then.

What I would like to hear from the CO peeps is how to finish the engine compartment on a budget, what color paint, semi gloss or flat and any interesting details I might want to consider. C'mon now I'm dying over here !

 

I can't say anything about the money, as I have no idea what it costs to pay people to do things. I do everything myself that I can.

I have no comment on wheels, because I think the big cars look stupid with anything other than factory hubcaps and whitewalls.

The firewall and core support, as well as the frame and steering bits, should be low-gloss (not semi-gloss and not flat) black.
If you want to go crazy, then the steering box should painted with "cast blast" or similar for a bare metal look, and the brake booster with that iridium-plated color.
The fender inserts should be the same black if metal, or clean them with oven cleaner if plastic.

Clean the wires with some thinner, maybe retape them with wire tape, if you're really into it.

Not much to really say here, I'm afraid.

- Eric

 

For wheels, what about stock black with dog dish caps? Other than that, back in the late 70s I saw some full size Oldsmobile's with Cragars. In the late 80s I saw a couple with the Torque Thrust IIs. In the 70s, anything and everything had Cragars or slots on it, and the Cragars looked good. Slots are better suited to the mid-sized cars.

My only problem with Cragars is that they are heavy. A lot heavier than a stock wheel.

 

June 9 update. All parts are in, I bought Olds Gold paint for the 455 and my guy says tommorow he's going to start the assembly. I told him to forward whatever pics he can send if I'm not there so I will be updating soon. Should be driving my baby within a week to two weeks......

 

Gold big block?

NO!!!!

Red is available

 

+1. '69 455s were Olds cherry red, and looked good that way.

- Eric

 

Will do. Yikes....asked my daughter after a couple special beverages what color she liked better for my motor...red or gold....and she said gold.....time for me to coax her into the red now. And the worst thing is I KNEW THIS....because I was reading up on it....but......Arrrggh.

OK... no way it's going to be gold now. Buying red. Flip my world back on it's axis please......

 

Of course, if the girl wants gold...

- Eric

 

After looking at several of you CO friends and your engines painted red she relented....then a quick phone call to Jim my mechanic....all is good. He postponed starting the resurrection of motor til tommorow morning so "cherry red" it will be, I'm sorry to say I'm not going the $18.50 a can route tho. O'Reillys best and closest to Olds red it will be....
This thread was started some time ago, ions ago to me, and to see the light coming at me at the end of the tunnel is sooo gratifying. Pics should be coming of the resurrection, and then car should be back into my hands in about 10 days. The motor work will be complete, now I will concentrate on rubber, wheels and front end bushings as well as really start looking at the car as a whole in general. I haven't had much time with her, I bought it on a tuesday I think and that friday sent her to Jim for the engine rebuild. I am going to assure anyone reading this that I will upload lots of pictures of her, in hopes down the road this thread becomes valuable to someone else. Heck its a 69 delta 88 not your mainstream Olds, but its a two door and in all it's glory, its mine !

 

Perfectly reasonable, especially since, in my opinion at least, the Olds red is a fairly generic one that you should be able to get really close to in a "regular" engine paint.

Just be sure to waste the money to get the right color orange for the air cleaner (it's a sort of a cross between orange and red), as it's a fairly distinctive color, and really helps to give the motor that "Olds look."

- Eric

 

Cool. What about the wheels? Any decisions there yet?

 

Early on I bought some 75-77 cutlass hubcaps, 15 inch just like mine but Eric pointed out that the diameter and where this particular cap attaches to the rim wouldn't fit and he was right. So currently I sit on four of those and three original delta hubcaps from 69. As spoken earlier in this thread my first idea was to go hubcaps with white raised white lettering tires........or more recently I have been thinking about either olds or Buick Rallye's rims or perhaps cragar ss' with cooper cobra's wrapped around them. Thoughts are heard....

 

I wouldn't go with the Buick wheels, but that is just me. The stock rims with blackwalls and pie plate caps would be my choice. The Cragars will look good, but they are heavy. Much heavier than a stock wheel.

 

Is the lug spacing (5x5) for a delta 88 (1969) the same for a cutlass ??

 

No. The A bodies are 5x4.75.

 

arrrrugggghh. ok.

 

Finally....pics of 455 being put together.

 

And two more.

 

So my CO mail has been apparently going to my spam folder....

Hurst is going to be here in August I am hoping (if it doesnt sell first) and I am not sure about the other ones yet as i dont know how long i will be out here. I will send you a message with my phone number right now and cant wait to check out your Delta and shoot some bull

 

LOL if you wanted to go the gold route i have that 35.00 Olds gold paint sitting in the garage you could help yourself too . But the red does sound like a good choice as well.

But wasnt the 455s Blue like other years and only the Hurst had the red engine?

 

Nope. Only the Toro engines were (light) blue until 1970, when all 455s were painted a darker blue.
Prior to that, all 455s, 425s, and 394s were red.

DownBoy, you are aware that those are the later model "cereal bowl" pistons, which will probably give you about 7.5:1 compression with Fel-Pro gaskets and unmodified heads, right?

- Eric