hardgreg

I recently posted a few pictures of a 1977 Oldsmobile Omega with 19,000 orignal miles on it in the newbe forum. My short term intent is to get this car in decent running condition for my 16 year old daughter, and if it survives her, then I would like to restore it at a later date. The car has not run since 1989, but has been in a garage the entire time. The motor is not siezed up, and initial assessment looks fairly good (No rust anywhere, just extremely dirty.

Question is, I have a budget of about $3500.00 to get it in good running condition. Is it reasonable to think that is enough $$ or am I wasting my time?

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Greg

gearheads78

Doing the work yourself not a problem.

Paying a pro to do all the work might go over budget.

RROLDSX

Sorry, not an attractive car in my opinion. If it were my daughter I'd take the $3500 and buy something newer that gets better fuel mileage and has the newer safety features.

billmerbach

If you do it yourself and get help from these knowledgeable people on this site no problem I'm 16 and building my omega just 55 more dollars and I've practically have a car minus breaks and radiator

MDchanic

$3,500? You could buy two whole Ωmegas for that.

What could you possibly need to do, provided it doesn't have any major flaws, like a blown engine or transmission?

Cooling system flush, antifreeze, oil, oil filter, rear end oil, carb cleanout / rebuild (rebuild kit, float), fuel filter, air cleaner, cap, rotor, spark plug wires, spark plugs, belts, hoses, tires, probably a master cylinder and wheel cylinders.

Maybe fuel lines and brake lines, maybe drop the gas tank, maybe find a radiator leak.

I'm thinking $500, not including tires, $1,000 absolute max, with the tires another $500 or so.

Save the rest of the money for booze for you and your wife for when your daughter stays out late and doesn't call.

- Eric

oldcutlass

Is your daughter on board with it? I know it shouldn't matter but it does. $3500 should be enough to get it running and safe if you can do the work yourself.

billmerbach

I think Eric pretty much covered it but he forgot fuzzy dice what's a car like that without fuzzy dice

Jedidiah

Do it and have her help you work on it. Don't worry about how good it turns out, her working on it will allow her to appreciate things she might not have thought about before. It won't be a waste of time if it helps her later.
I started restoring my 72 with my dad when I was 15 and I'm 18 now. It helped me learn how to set reasonable goals within a budget and got me serious about engineering. Not to mention, it makes you start thinking about how aspects of design affect our society. It was probably the best damn thing he could have ever done for me.

MDchanic

... or a pine tree air freshener.

"Every car's got one..."

- Eric

billmerbach

Touché

MDchanic

Yes, but, for bonus points, do you know which movie that's a quote from?

- Eric

billmerbach

Idk its French so I wanna say three musketeers but on a cartoon level Tom and Jerry..."Touché mister ***** cat." :P

MDchanic

Not the "Touché," which is a fencing expression which means, "You touched me," or "You scored one," but "Every car's got one..."

- Eric

billmerbach

Oh my bad but i think I've heard it before but I'm not to sure

MDchanic

Any other guesses before I break the suspense???

- Eric

billmerbach

Lemme have it lol

MDchanic

It's from the fim "Repo Man" starring Emilio Estevez, from 1984, one of the greatest car films of all time (in some ways, anyway).

Every vehicle in the movie has a pine tree air freshener, including the LAPD motorcycle, and at one point, the character who works at the repo yard clearing junk out of the repo'ed cars, who, if I recall, wears them around his neck, says "Every car's got one..." as he finds another one.



It's worth seeing, especially for a young person, and especially now that nobody has to waste their time with tapes or DVDs anymore.

- Eric

billmerbach

I've actually heard/seen some of that movie to be honest with you

MDchanic

That explains why you drive that car, then.

- Eric

billmerbach

Lol probably

Koda

Hell, I think Maximum Overdrive is one of Esteves's best car movies.

Jed, glad you like engineering. Engineering school will kick your butt. Let me know if you need advice on how to live through it.

As for the Omega, it's going to be her car, of course it matters if she wants it. Way too many people assume that the favors they do people are going to be automatically loved. Some people might hate that car so much that they'd rather earn enough to buy their own than drive it. But, yes, get her involved NOW. Like, this minute. Like "honey, here is this car, and I'd like you to have it. Here's our budget, and now let's talk about getting it running." It will be the heap she and her dad fixed up to her forevermore after that, and she won't keep it forever, and it won't be worth crap, but she'll value it.

billmerbach

Yea and if your budget allows get a different color for the car it don't have to be a fancy paint job but she might not like the buckskin color lol

hardgreg

The daughter is all in, she loves "old cars", just hard for me to get my head around a 1977 car being "old".

BTY Jed, Engineering school is worth it. when you get out, try finding a smaller company doing real engineering instead of a "Lock..d", "Boing", or a place like that. You'll learn more in 5 years than an entire career at the big firms. Save those places for later in life.

I have worked both, and writing requirements is not engineering.

Professur

I'd rather spend a couple of grand on a car that's got no sensors or electronics to fail. With our older cars ... if it's not running .. it's coz you broke something. Not because one out of 7000 sensors goes menstrual.

Tedd Thompson

Keep in mind any 16 teen year old will change their mind in a heart beat, if their friends say anything derogatory or anything else comes up the car will be on the outs. My `daughter wanted a cute little two seater sports car for her 16th then found out it didn't seat 6 comfortably Sometimes you can't win....Tedd

billmerbach

True words proffessur glad i not the only one

hardgreg

Thanks for the advice Professur, I had a recent data point on the sensors with my 2006 Dodge truck. After much debate on the symptoms, came to closure on a intermittent TPS, even though no engine light, no engine codes.

Professur

To be honest .. I mind less the sensors ... as I do being told that without the $8000 dealership scan tool you're not even able to replace the power steering box.

MDchanic

Friend of mine got a deal on a set of fancy factory HID headlights for his E46 BMW from a junk car, so he put them in.
Easy swap.
They didn't work.
Turns out that in order to swap headlight types, the body computer has to be reprogrammed for it, which can only be done by the dealership's fancy proprietary computer.
He put the old lights back.
Now they don't work either - no highbeams, and they act weird.


This kind of crap drives me crazy.

- Eric

billmerbach

^^^^ that's some crazy bs

oldcutlass

So what's the plan for this car? Does your daughter have any ideas on what she wants you to do to it for her?

Professur

Standard method for a daily driver Whoa, Go, Show. Visual inspection to ensure it's structurally safe, then hit the brakes hard. If the lines are at all questionable ... rip and replace. That new nicopp brake line material lasts forever, is dead easy to work with ... and believe me ... when you're handing the keys to your little girl ... that's one thing you don't every want to be responsible for overlooking. Take a good look around the clamps. My Parisienne had a double line failure where the lines from the master cylinder clamped to the frame. I'd just rebuilt the tranny and had the rear end off the ground to do some testing. Took about half an hour for my hands to stop shaking.

ziff396

I agree. You just can't just look a brake lines and say they are good. They rust from the inside out also. How many people replace their brake fluid (on average) over 30 - 40 years?