2blu442

And other people who don't cherish our beloved Oldsmobiles!!!!!!!!!!

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When I first heard about it I thought I might be able to rebuild it. As I crawled over it I realized what a huge project that would be. But I bought it anyway as I can use parts for my other project cars and maybe have some trade stock left over. It does have the correct G block engine, but the vin doesn't match the dash and it's froze up. The rear is a 3.91 posi (T 3 code)held on with spiral shocks, and the front disc's are dual piston 2 piece rotors. Not to mention the floorpan being in cherry condition. It came from a part of the country that's very dry, so don't see the typical cancer type rust in the sheetmetal. I noticed that the brake booster and dust shields for the rotors is some sort of anodized metal, not painted but very little surface rust. I'm really going to have to go over it and see just what's there and the condition of it. But before this car got banged up and parted out it must have been a really fine machine. The guy I bought it from saved it from being crushed, if you can imagine someone crushing this car with all those parts still on it

For more pictures check out my photobucket link. http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...442/?start=all

66ninetyeightls

WOW that car must have signed the donor portion of its title!!!!!

Still has some great parts on it though.

mugzilla

Those useless dual piston calipers will bring a pretty penny ...

The rear bumper has some straight areas ...

70 cutlass s

At least some parts of this car will live on. Nice bumper.

Bluevista

Nice save and a great find.

There are a ton of real treasures on that baby.
Amazing that the spiral shocks are there along with all the other original parts.

It looks like there haven't been any cannibals been near that car since the initial cannibalism a long time ago or that good stuff would be gone.

FTW65W29

What are the odds that the rear bumper would be that straight?

Olds64

Oh yeah!

68conv455

Amazing that so many hard to find parts are left on the car.
Looking at it, I'm sure you will make out well on it.
I would have bought it just to get the rear bumper.

2blu442

I'm gussing that the person(s) after parts didn't want the Oldsmobile specific stuff. They took the transmission and pedals, but left the Z bar and bellhousing. And they didn't see any value in a 442 with a 4 speed. The core support in this car has less rust than the one in my project car and it has the 4 row bottom supports. But someone wrapped a chain/cable around the front bumper and core support to tow it. The trunk was opened with a crow bar breaking the deck lid trim and badly chewing up the sheet metal. I don't know what they dismantled the dash with, but they may have been after a rally pack and wiring harness hoping to use it in something else.

The story told me by the guy I bought it from said it was a low mile car. That the original owner only had it a few years when he put it in a ditch and wrinkled the sheetmetal. That he couldn't afford to fix it at the time, yet didn't want to drive it with the body damage. It was parked out by a barn and sat there for most of it's life. Some point in time people began to pick parts off of it. Then skip to a couple/few years ago when a cleanup project happens at this ranch where there were a lot of old dead cars. A fellow car nut is roaming through buying up what he can before it goes to the crusher. He's not into Oldsmobiles but recognizes this as a rare car and buys it. It sits with his collection until I come along. It is a 442 as I verified that from the vin number, but I was surprized that the engine and the dash vin numbers didn't match. That made my decision of parting it or rebuilding it much easier. I do have 90% of what it would take to rebuild it, but that would take a huge amount of time. When I consider how many weekends a year I have to play with my hobby a project of that magnitude could take years.

Yellowstatue

The calipers are actully four piston...and they work just great (with stainless sleeves)

scott_442

Another Olds has found a good home! Nice find John. I don't own a 68 but I'd be interested in the rear side marker lights if you want to part with them. I did notice a Gold 72 in one of your pics with a cutout bumper. What's the deal with that car? W29? Any parts available? Have you ever posted any pics on this site of your Olds farm? I think it would be really interesting to see what you have out there.

Lady72nRob71

I do not remember seeing that roofless car - not sure if he still has it (thread was from over a year ago)... Hope the rear sway bar was salvaged also.

Here are a couple of pics I took when I visited the "Olds Farm" this past October.
I felt like a kid in a candy store and I surely did not want to leave!

The pics show only about 20% of his stuff, as inside those buildings are stuffed and more cars are behind me.

John is a truely dedicated Olds rescuer - I commend him for that and also for selling parts to those in need.

Thanks John!!!

2blu442

OK, I guess it's time for an update on this one.

I've pulled off most of the good stuff and put it in the garage. I plan to use the rear in my 1969 W30, which according to a previous owner is what it once had in it. The engine was also going into the 1969 but now I'm thinking of using a 455 there instead. Funny thing, I don't remember the exact amount but the engine vin is only off by a few hundred numbers from the dash vin. My plans were to use the brakes on a 1968 442 project car that I've had for years. I do have more than one set of these brakes,

Yellowstatue, do you purchase the sleeves for the calipers and have a local machine shop press them in? Or do you have to send them out somewhere to have them done? I would be interested in those details if you would share them with me.

The floorpan is so nice from the firewall to the rear bumper, I can't bring myself to cut it up. I do have an extra roof, sheetmetal from the firewall forward, a deck lid, glass, doors dash, etc. I have everything but time to put this back together. The drivers side rear quarter does have the metal stretched pretty bad, but there's no cancer type rust, the metal is sold. Right now I rolled it back of the garage and put a tarp over it. We'll see how things work out, but next summer I'd like to weld on the roof, add doors and glass, and seal it up from the weather. I just can't get over the floor pan being so nice with the roof gone for all these years, I don't want it to start going downhill!

Scott, the rear bumper on the gold car will be showing up on Rob's convertible in the near future. The 1972 car has clean quarter panels but the vinyl top seriously rusted out the top window channels on both the front and rear glass. After we pulled the vinyl off, I could put my fingers between the glass and the roof It also has a cracked frame and reconstructed title. One front fender, stone shield and hood used to be red. The rest of the car used to be Apple Green (off the top of my head I don't know the correct name for that shade of green ) It has perfect floorpans and a lot of good parts. It could be saved, but given the choice of spending my time fixing 442's or a Cutlass led me to decide to part it out. Other than the bumper, let me know what you need. If you have time to surf through some pictures check out my photobucket site. The main album is 69 pages long, then I got smarter and started creating sub-ablums to be more organized. The main album is still a mix of everything, if I start moving stuff then links to photos I've posted here in the past could be broken. I've been adding pictures for several years, so some of the cars and parts are gone now. I no longer have any full sized or 1973-77 vintage cars, but still have parts. The green 1970 and blue 1971 Supremes are gone, as is the 1967 convertible. John

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

2blu442

Thank you for the kind words Rob. Man, look at that sky over the garage!

P.S. This car was still there, I guess we missed looking at it when you were here. I can't imagine missing a car in all that clutter!

Oldsguy

Amazing find. Your dedication to Oldsmobile cars is an example for us all. Great!

Indy_68_S

Not to jump yellowstatue , but I just sent my 4 piston "big bore" (2-1/16" ) calipers to Lonestar Caliper in TX. They're on the return trip now...

http://www.lonestarcaliper.com/

Lonestar will either swap you for a set of already rebuilt/sleeved ones, or do yours for a small 'babysitting' fee. They typically do wholesale work for other vendors, but if you ask nicely, they'll do 'retail' work. They (ph w/ 'Patty')were exceptionally nice to deal with.

Their prices were very reasonable compared to others, but I can't speak toward quality/price because I haven't seen mine yet and I don't have sets from other vendors to compare. I have read many positive web reviews about them.

Another option is Karps. http://www.resleeve.com/ They'll hone/sleeve/rebuild yours. Price was higher, but they claim to use higher quality parts than others. I spoke to 'Ron' there who was very informative.

Finally, there's the big resto supply places that will either sell you new outright or w/ yours as core. But, check carefully....Many of these places claim 67-68 A-body, but they're really selling the smaller bore F-body calipers.....

2blu442

Thank you for the links Indy_68_S but I didn't realize there were two different sizes. I believe the ones off this 1968 are correct, but I'll need to check the others to make sure they're really 1967-68 Olds Cutlass/442 calipers.

Last year I bought a set of crusty 2 piece calipers hoping they could be turned down still, but now see that they're being repop! I wonder if these 4 piston calipers will ever be reproduced? John

Indy_68_S

John, sure...hope the info helps...& a lot of this I learned here! (& I tried to buy that car's setup from you a year or so ago!! )

All 67-68 A-bodies (Shuh-vail (that's how us hillbilly Hoosiers say it!), Skylark/GS, LeMans/GTO,etc..) used the same calipers. There's absolutely no difference across makes...but you prolly already knew that.

AFAIK, the larger bore (2-1/16") are not being repro'd. The smaller bore ones might be. I see a lot of ads for 'new' ones...prolly driven by the Camaro market and were original to Novas...and have spilled into the Chevelle market.

I think the only way to tell a true big bore is to pop a piston and measure the bore. I don't know if measuring the piston itself is accurate as I never had a small bore set to check. Casting numbers are identical for both types. I also don't know if small bore ones can be bored out to big bore. Seems like it...but who knows? Also...repops sometimes have the same size line hole for both L&R. Originals had 2 different line fitting sizes.

As for crusty cores.....I had one extra inner half that was pretty rusty/crusty. Lonestar happily bought it. Not much, but it covered my shipping both ways! They're always looking for cores.

I just realized youy may have meant "2 piece rotors" instead of calipers. If so, I was looking at these repops for mine, but 1.) they're crazy expensive & 2.) I've heard about quality/durability issues with the chinesium versions. There are now US made versions.....I don't know if these are better, but they're more expensive! I'm leaning toward the one-piece rotor now....

If your rotors are meaty enough to turn, they're prolly worth more than the repops. Even if they're close, they're worth something to those striving for absolute correctness.

Hope this helps...
-Tom

2blu442

Thanks Tom! Yes I do remember talking with you about them. Had I offered you a set of calipers from a different car? I have a set of calipers in a box that I'd been discussing with someone here.... then I got busy and lost track of the discussion. Rats! I feel like I'm getting to the point where I have to write everything down or risk forgetting it when I'm distracted with the next day's activities

Indy_68_S

IIRC..You were going to look around for more parts & then pointed me to some in the For Sale section... I ended up getting some parts from rockethound...got a pair of calipers (cheap!) off of CL and went from there !

w-30dreamin

ouch! it hurts to see pics like this,then I notice the 4 speed hole and the clean floors

I am really surprised the rear bumper looks intact.

Yellowstatue

I dropped my calipers at a shop (Prizm?) in east side of Toronto. They completely rebuilt my units with stainless sleeves and new pistons and seals...I paid about $180 cash a couple years ago...have had three sets done for three cars ...also John Stuart Co. in Stoney Creek does the same rebuild $?? (treadle vacs too)...too far for you to ship Richard

Yellowstatue

I just went out to the shop and checked and yes there is a sky over my garage too...

sammy

sammy

Oops, my question is under a photo...

The 3.91 is code T3, what is the T4 code...having trouble finding that imfo..

Thanks,
Ted

sammy

Are these guys still around?Also, would you still recommend them?

Thanks,
Ted

2blu442

Ted, my reference book shows the 1968 Canadian built cars could have T5, T6 or T7 but no T4. Are you sure that's the code?

Oh Wait, the 1969 Canadian built shows a T4 as the 3.07 non posi with front disc brakes. Still be worth double checking that code.

John

sammy

John,
The POP says T4..... To be sure I will have to pull cover plate ...somebody else also said it would be the 3.07.....

Ted

Build date was Jan10 1968....

2blu442

Maybe my reference is wrong then. Does the Chevy rear end have the two letter code stamped into the tube like Old rear ends?


John

sammy

Checked rear end today.....

In yellow paint on pinion. X143
Ring gear. 3862691 14-43 GM
Non posi, carrier normal

That would be the 3.07 ...what reference book are you using?

Ted

64Rocket

John,
Do you still have this car ??
Do you still have the rear bumper ?

Gene

2blu442

Gene, I'm using this bumper on another car. But I do have a core bumper with the cutouts if you'd consider something that needs straightened and replated.

John

2blu442

Hi Ted
I'm using the book created by Supercarsunlimited called "442 by the numbers" It shows that code being used in 1969 but not 1968. I consider this book very good, but this could be an error if all evidence shows you've got the original rear end.

John

sammy

The 3.07 was the axle ratio for Canadian built cars only.That included 442,CS, Cutlass and F85 models. The rest were 3.08.
This was the case with the 2.73 (2.78) and the3.31(3.23) .
Source is from the package I received for my 442 from GM heritage....

Ted