Yup, mufflers can be a PITA when you have to fix them yourself without a welder. Just be careful about the 'BLAAAAAH' high decibel noise especially if the police happen to be in earshot....Hopefully the temp repair will last till you can get it welded.

 

I'm gonna have to do something real soon , because I can still smell exhaust when I'm stopped waiting for traffic lights to change and such .

 

For a good temp fix Bryan - you know that metal tape used to seal duct work? Try some of that until you have the $$$ for weld. If you can smell exhaust, for God's sake make sure you have your windows opened for fresh air. Just the fact you can smell it means there's a hole somewhere in the car it's coming through. C.O. (Carbon Monoxide - not Classic Olds) can overcome you very quickly in a confined space. And no - wearing that bag over your head won't help

 

The metal tape is designed for heat - it gets used on the furnace plenums too.

 

Bryan,
I hope the paint work on the bumper cover doesn't turn into a disaster for you. Flexible body panels use a special primer and then there is a flex agent that is added to the base coat. Failing to use these products will result in paint that will crack when the cover is flexed. Since you are using rattle can paint, I don't believe the primer you used was correct and the color coat doesn't have the flex agent. There's not much you can do now but I would suggest that you do not bend any of the cover once it's painted or you may get a lot of paint cracking and possible flaking.
Brian

 

It's not that you need paint for plastic...you need paints that are meant to stay flexible like the panel being painted...which is urethane. Lacquer dries very hard so don't bend the panel if you can help it. And the guy you spoke to doesn't know what he is talking about.

Brian

 

I bent the bumper around a bit today and it holds up fine , but I imagine the sun , heat , and cold will not help in the long run ... by then she wont even have this car anymore hopefully .

 

I have no idea why I put so much time into the rear qtr wheel well lips on the outside , because the chrome trim will be going back on there eventually anyways .... The last side was really welded like crap from the factory . The rocker panel was not matched up very well with the rear qtr . It was off like a 1/4 inch , so I put fiberglass filler to fill the void after I removed the old filler . Then like the other side I went all the way around to fill the dents in where the spot welds were ....





I ordered this tubing because the 1/8 ID tubing had to thick of a wall to fit in here , so I ordered 1/16 ID tubing . It still wouldn't fit as well as I would have liked it to ,but this will have to do ....

 

When it's nice out I'm going to put the car on jack stands , one side at a time , so I can get the rust encapsulator to run where I want it to ....





dfgdf

 

They look decent , but thet are flimsy compared to the originals . They were a real PITA to put on too . I had to bend the tabs in a bit in order to put these on , but I tested it out by pulling on them and there is no way they will fly off or anything . I still have to put the new ones on the back rims yet . Sorry for the lousy pics ....

 

So did you buy them used or new? Repops aren't a lot of fun are they? OEM's only have around 6 clips on the back (+/-) IIRC and they hold really well. Probably the reason you had so much trouble installing those was because of all those tangs. OEM's hold pretty tight also.

Car does look pretty good with them, just that dangling mirror looks like someone tried to rip it off. Getting there!

 

Bryan the car looks great. The rally wheels really do the trick. Did I miss what color you're planning on painting the car?

 

I bought them new , and there are a lot of tabs . Everytime I tried to gently pound them around , it would pop off on the other side . I could hear that Benny Hill music again . That's when I started bending the tabs in .

That's my new adjustable mirror . I wanted to leave it off for now until I can get to the new gasket I was going to install on the back side of it . I have these waterproof foamy gaskets at work that I was going to cut to fit on there . Eventually I will need some OEM replacements along with the window felts and gaskets too .

Thanks , I was thinking either a nice blue or black color . I don't want to invest on a expensive paint job , because I never had any sheet metal work done . I don't like the idea of leaving the filler covering the holes , and then painting the car . I'm kind of worried that some of it may come loose some day , screwing up my paint job .

 

Have you thought of, dare I say it, a MAACO paintjob? Cheep and not great, but it will give you some color and besides primer is bad to leave on a car for a long time. And it buys you some time so you can plan a real resto, if that's in the cards.

I'm partial to either blue or black, especially with a white top and interior.

I never liked Benny Hill but that music cracks me up every time!

 

Actually I am considering MAACO , only because I know someone who has worked there a long time . I may even paint it myself , but more then likely I will just sand the car to bare metal and put a epoxy on the whole thing , seal it , and drive it that way .... at least It's protected then .

 

Bryan? Something to consider about the wheels. If you decide to color code them to the car at a later date it's very easy. But in the meantime if you painted them argent that would be a factory color that could be kept even when the final paint goes on.
SS11 - argent paint them (regardless of body color)
SS111 - lower body color theme.

Hmmm, just thought of this. If you painted them argent that would be pretty close to the car color right now.....

 

Thanks ... Argent sounds good to me . I will need to get these rims powdercoated I think , or they will just get all scratched up from the trim rings , and the yahoo's that put the impact wrench on them to remove the rim down the road when I get the tires replaced .

 

Even powder coated wheels will get scratched up from the trim rings so that's not a real advantage UNLESS you decide not to reinstall the trim rings. But that would be a waste of $$ already spent, right? Since the rings hide everything I wouldn't bother with PC because it costs at least 70/rim to do that vs a can of paint for 4. To avoid any impact wrench damage simply replace those wheel nuts with chrome 7/16 acorn nuts. They're tall enough that impact wrenches won't touch the wheel itself.

 

Ok , first off , can anyone tell me where the part in the first picture goes on the inside of the door ? ( for the window ) I can't remember . If anything , I'll have to take the other panel off to see where it went . I will have to take out the window again to put the felt and the door chrome piece back on . I will have to save that for after I put the epoxy on the areas I just added the filler to . I took the speaker out of the back seat , and put it in the trunk , and now I can't fit the spare tire in there . I was going to build a new box after looking at this link on how to do it properly . The new box would fit on the shelf area behind the back seat enough in order to fit the spare in there too , but there is no way it will fit with 12 " woofers in a box . It would have to be no more then 13 " tall , which wont work .... Eventually I'm going to put 4 speakers in the cabin area too . 2) 6 x 9's in the back window , and 2) small square speakers I can hang from the corners under the dash on each side , powered by the 150 watts from the stereo + the 220 watt amp that's in the trunk powering the box . I don't want to cut / drill holes in anything , so this is the only way it will work ... I think .... I bought this stuff like 20yrs ago , and barely used it . I got tired of punks trying to break into my 92 Cavalier I had back then , even though I had the trunk chained down with the box and amp in it . It has a detachable face on the stereo , and I always had the face with me , but someone broke in anyways and took the base for the stereo . That prompted me to remove the whole thing . I'm hoping it's old enough now that no one will want it ....

 

Finally got most of it done . I need to keep moving on this car , because I have the roof venture , and the entire underbody to work on too . I keep having to put air in the back tire that I painted the white wall stripe on . It goes flat in about 4 days . I'm hoping there is just a nail or screw hole in the bottom or something ....



Oh , the wire hanging from the stereo is my antenna .

 

Well , I'm back working on the 72 CS for now . I removed the rear bumper to pound it back in shape , and swap the tailight assembly with the one I took off of the free rear bumper I acquired .....

Here's the assemblies I took off of the free bumper .... The one on the right seems the best , so that's what I'm going to go with ....



This is a pic of the sockets before I cleaned them up ....



and this is what it looked like afterwards ....



So , off with the bumper ....



This bumper is actually in real good shape .....


fgh

 

So since the PO of the free bumper just cut the wires instead of disconnecting the wire at the connectors I have to cut them and splice them one by one ....



and here's what it looked like after I was done ....



QUESTION ... I tested the lights once I wired up the tailight assemblies , and the tailights don't work at all . No brake lights , tailights , or blinkers . Is it possible that it grounds to the bumper once you bolt the lights back on to the bumper and bolt the bumper back on ? I also have an issue up front too ... The side marker , and the blinker/parking light on the passenger side of the front bumper doesn't work either when I turn the lights on . I had this problem before along with the bad tailight socket . Maybe the socket and or bulb is bad up front also . I replaced the little round relay under the dash a couple of times , so it's not that . If the lights are off the left blinker works fine , and the right one works , but blinks real slow . If I turn the lights on , the right one stays lit up , and wont blink at all + then the front passenger side lights don't light up like mentioned above . This changes every now and again , in other words sometimes it actually works , but most of the time it dont . I found a loose ground and lightened it up , but that didn't seem to matter .

Here's what the back of the free bumper looks like with all that tar crap on it ....




There will be more to come , but gotta go to work for now .

 

Looks like a great project

 

Thanks , I think it became much more then a project anymore .

 

The lights in back magically work now . They must of had water in the socket assy when I was cleaning things up , but some PO put the bumper bracket bolts that lead to the frame in backwards . I got them to loosen , but now they just spin and I can't tighten them back up either . I still have an issue with the blinkers on the passenger side front bumper though . The front bumper light and side marker don't work up there , and they don't illuminate when the lights are on . When I turn the lights on , the right blinker stays illuminated on the dash cluster and wont blink either , so more fun to come . I'm close to getting this issue resolved hopefully .

 

Does someone want this extra 71 rear bumper I have ? I don't need it , and I will give it away for free .

 

I pounded about 90% of the dent out of the bumper , and here's what it looks like ....







and here's the backwards bolts I have to figure out a way to tighten them now after I put the bumper back close to the adjustment that it should be at ....



and here's what I had to go through in order to get them tight again . I will worry about taking them off all the way , and turning them around another time ....

 

Here's what the bumper looks like on the car with the rust spot sanded off . I used some heavy duty sand paper to start , and finished with some worn out 100 grit ....



A couple of close ups of the spot sanded and cleaned off .....





and here's the area coated with some rust encapsulator where it was pitted a little bit ....



Once I get this area re-sanded and filled if necessary , I'm going to add primer , sand and put some of this cheap chrome paint on the spot ....

 

I did not sand the primer smooth enough , because when I sprayed the chrome paint , you could see lines in the paint .... not to mention the chrome paint I used was not even close to matching . I found chrome paint from Plastikote that seems like it will turn out better . I already sanded the paint / primer off of the area on the bumper , and I'll re-prime it , light sand with some 320 grit , and try this new chrome paint . I know it wont match or look perfect , but anything will look better then it did .

 

Ok , forget the bumper . It actually looks ok after sanding all the rust off . I will deal with that later on ..... maybe . Since I'm never going to be able to do anything with this car , I may as well deal with the windshield track / cowl area . It is really bad , the rust goes all the way across , and when it rains ( not that the car goes outside then ) I get a leak that runs down the rear view mirror , so the top of the windshield track has issues also . ( besides getting rid of the moisture collecting vinyl top ) I will have to find some help if I'm to take the windshield out . I will use the technique that Allan told me about to get the window out . ( guitar string to cut the adhesive )

edit .... I would also like to see if I can get the 455 broke loose , and maybe take a look at what condition the cylinders are in after it sat in my moms garage for 5 or 6 years . I also have to see if I can get the broken manifold bolts out of the block ( three of them ) .

Do you guys think that mice may have crawled into the engine block via the carb or where the manifolds were taken off ? My mom does get an occasional mouse in her garage from time to time .

I guess none of you's would know my moms garage What I meant was ...... Is this a common thing to happen with mice ? I've seen threads in the past that had mouse nests in the engine when they started the breakdown .

 

Looks like you're making some nice progress!

 

Thanks , this is the first time I thought about doing any work on this car in what it seems like forever . I tried to see what kind of damage the back window track has , but you can't really see much of anything unless you remove the back window . I can see rust here and there , but the layer of metal that you can see inside of the trunk where the window would sit looks to be fine . The dash rust is another story .... I'm really not sure what I'm going to do about that at this time .

 

Bryan,

Been a while since I visited this thread.

Lets start with those 'backwards' bumper brace bolts. They're not backwards, that's how they're supposed to be. If you can see the heads turning when you apply torque to the nuts? Your bolt and / or bumper brace is shot. Those bolts have a square cut head to fit into the brace and have a special lock washer under the nut on the other side. If they're really as bad as you're saying you may need new bolts and braces. ILT sells the bolt package. I used them on my rear end restoration and they are excellent quality and fit. Plus they hold really well. I'd just cut through the bolt from the nut side to get those rusted ones out. Use temporary replacements till you get the good ones.

re: tail lights not working. Yes, they ground through the bumper mount to the frame of the car. Without a good ground they won't work. BTW that's a nasty looking coating on the backside of that bumper. Don't know what the PO was thinking. Maybe it's that way to hide a ton of rust underneath? BTW, those tail light bucket gaskets? If they are still flexible (not dried out and rock hard) use some oven cleaner on them to get the dirt and built up crud off. Let the cleaner work and then scrub with a stiff brush. You may need to repeat that process a few times to get them really clean. Mine came back to new looking condition that way. If the gaskets are rock hard? Ditch them and buy some repro foam ones. The hard gaskets won't seal the tail lights as they should.

Your front blinkers (side marker lights) have a bad ground connection somewhere. Sounds like the issue is with the right side. Change the bulb on the left side also and see what happens. They should be 194's IIRC. Also check the main connection to the front lights - clean any corrosion on that harness and spray with electrical contact cleaner. I use a bit of dialectric grease on those connections just to prevent any future corrosion.

I know you don't want to hear this, but you just can't duplicate the look of chrome with a rattle can. I applaud your efforts to try a stop gap method and keep the bumper looking good. Did you forget that I'm still holding an OEM bumper for you up here? One with perfect chrome?

Mice can get into almost anything, but your question doesn't address the issue of whether your Mom's residence has a healthy mouse population. My garage is mouse free. Worst thing I find is maybe the odd spider or beetle out for a stroll. If you're concerned about blocking their entry? Use steel wool to plug your exhausts. They don't like chewing through that. It's a temporary thing till you decide what to do with the 455 in storage. IIRC that 455 is from a 76? Unless you do a lot of upgrades to it I think you'd be better off just rebuilding the original 350.

 

Hi , the 455 is from a 68 Toro I use to own , and has been sitting there for about 6 years with the carb not covered .

I gave up on the chrome paint on the rear bumper . It looks ok with the rust sanded off for now . I would love to buy that bumper , but then that would be the only thing that looks good on the car . I pounded 90% of the dents out of the one I have , so my bumper is still good . I've been having thoughts about selling the car , and getting one that is mostly done some day maybe .

I agree with the ground wire on the front lights , It has to be a bad ground somewhere .

I got the rear lights to work now . I think there was water in there or something .

My biggest worry now is the dash rust , but there's nothing I can do about that except to keep moisture off of it , so it doesn't get worse .

Sorry for the messed up reply , but I've been sick lately and don't feel very good .

 

Hopefully this thread will greatly improve from what I WAS doing . I deviated from the subject and had to go back and delete a few posts that were not related to what I need to do here . Anyhow .... Since there's a million things to do , I decided to put a piece back on the drivers door that I took off and never put back on , I will then continue my way around the car . I had to take the passenger side door panel / accessories off to see where this part goes ....

I will eventually have to replace this . The rest of the door panel is in good shape ....




The cardboard behind the door panel has seen better days . I got a few of these between both door panels ...



Of course the infamous screws going all the way through the carpet portion of the door panel ....





Here's the part in question that I'm trying to figure out where it goes . After I removed the brown cardboard paper from the door , I seen where it goes . Now I know why I didn't put it back on . I will have to remove the glass because it's in the way of re-installing this part inside the door ....

 

While I had this area opened up I lubed some of these parts that needed it . The inner workings of this door are in good shape . Not so much with the drivers door ....





I'm trying to find this retaining clip for the window crank on the drivers door . I can't remember where I put it ....

 

Here's the differences with the driver / passenger side door panels ....





Here's the cardboard backing on the door panel . It definitely needs to be replaced like the other side . The clips that hold the panel on won't even stay on anymore because it's ripped ....



The paper cardboard piece doesn't even exist on this side ....



This is where the door handle goes . This mechanism seems to be completely shot , look at all the play in it ....

 

The little plastic retaining ring that holds this in place is also toast . Sometimes the mirror adjuster pops out of here ....



These plastic bushings that slide on the post need replacing because they're all worn out ....



This part is always nerve racking , and a PITA to get back in / adjusted right . The door hinge bushings are shot , so there's up and down play in the door along with the worn out inner door parts makes it difficult to get the window adjusted right (note the holes in the rubber glass bushing is for adjusting glass ) I also lubed / adjusted everything on this side and the window rolls up and down REALLY smooth ....



After all this , I finally got the part back on where it belongs . Nice overspray and rust on the mirror ! I guess they left the mirror on the car when they painted this car the second time ? ....



Here's what it looked like when I had everything back on and the grease cleaned off the window s again ....

 

Where can I find these plastic track bushings ? They don't seem to list these on Rock Auto , Summit , or Yearone . I found everything else I would need but these plastic bushings ....

 

I cleaned up the visors and passenger side door panel . I may need a decent cleaner to get this any better then I did . I will also have to go to Michael's Craft store to see if they have anything similar to a size 92 bonded nylon thread to sew the visors back up . I will also need a mirror for the passenger visor ....







The door panel cleaned up decent also ....