costpenn

This was beginning to crowd my other resto thread.

Am freshening up my 1968 W-46. (#184) I restored this car in '99 and gave it a good cleaning on 2006 and 2012 but haven't done anything else to it in the intervening years. I had a week off on my W30 build so I thought I might go through and work on some things that needed polishing, cleaning or repainting in preparation for the Texas Zone meet coming up in a few weeks. Pulled just about everything off the engine, respraying and or cleaning & polishing everything that I reinstall. I am stealing the OW fan clutch off this car for the W30, and changed out all the previously replaced afternarket vacuum hoses with pure black lengths (with no writing or colors). Aside from that and new oil fill tube and radiator top plate stickers, eveything else was reused. Here's a couple of pics of the work completed so far (total time invested in the engine compartment is 23 hours). Still have to clean and install the A/C hoses, spark plug wires, radiator and shroud, cowl screen and wiper motor. Should be done with engine by tomorrow night.

I didn't think I had done a good job, or even payed attention to using the correct OE fasteners on this car back in 1999. I was wrong - the vast majority are correct on the engine.

This one will always be my favorite.

72xw30

Looking good, great work!

Sam

z11375ss

Gorgeous motor.

83hurstguy

Impressive! Great work, I'm quite jealous, haha. You did mention in the other thread that is the Fusick paint? Our cameras must be represent the colors quite a bit differently (not surprised by that).

oldcutlass

Awesome, looking forward to seeing it and you next month.

pacekar

everything looks great what did you do to the ac box to make it look like that.

costpenn

Luke thanks! My camera is such a POS. Look at the first two pictures and see how different the colors look - taken just seconds apart but from a different angle. First is a little orange, second almost looks Buick red. Will post a pic tonight of the original silkscreening on the air filter if you need it for yours - I managed to save it by taping around the edges when I painted the air cleaner base.

costpenn

Thanks - I just cleaned it and was lucky no one had ever painted on it. if you look closely, it still has the "Olds" printing on it.

83hurstguy

Thanks Joe. Mine actually survived pretty well (pic attached). I'm thinking about trying to make a stamp to replicate it... if yours looks like this, I should be good to go. That's a good idea about taping around it though, I'll likely give that a shot.

I enjoyed your vacuum hose thread as well. It's good to know that some of the restoration stuff is overdone. Do you know if your car has the original upper radiator hose? My upper hose had the two wire clamp staked into it, and a faint old double white stripe along the length of it... was trying to figure out if this was the original hose...

costpenn

Here's that pic of mine. Looks like you can save yours. My radiator and heater hoses had been changed when I got it. I saved all the vacuum hoses I could, but the ones off the PVS switch were toast. The booster hose is original, and have never pulled the check valve off it because I know something will break!

costpenn

Finished motor today. Was able to get the OAI hoses off and on with no rips. Total time was 29 hours. Tuesday will continue with polishing on exterior bright work, etc...

rob1960

Looks Awesome!!!!! Since you're so detail oriented I'm sure you already know this but the factory assembly manual shows a longer & thinner heater hose insulator for the a/c cars only. I tried all the suppliers,Fusick,Supercars,ILT,etc to try to get something close. I ended up finding a decent looking one at Lowes. It's just pipe insulation but its smooth soft foam with a split seam that comes with double sided tape. I just put the seam on the bottom, but I ended up using glue anyway as the tape that came on it doesn't seem to hold for long. Also my original a/c muffler hose had foam on the rear hose that the replacement from Classic Auto Air didn't have.

costpenn

Very cool car! Thanks for the tip on Lowe's on the hearer hose insulation. I tried doing something similar back in the early 2000's, but the stuff Home Depot had then was way too soft, smooth, and shiny - it just didn't look right. All the A/C lines are original, and the insulation on them is in the last stages of being presentable.

So tell me about that A/C W30. Did you have fun with the hot air adaptor at the RH air cleaner snout? Also, I've heard this debated a lot - the PIM says the compressor pulley guard is for big cars only - what's your take?

Mike H.

Beautiful job. I love a stock looking engine bay. Again, excellent work!

mrolds69

Both cars look excellent under the hood ! Are you looking for input? I see something on both of them......

rob1960

Joe,It's a 1of1 W30/AC 4spd car with pwr brakes,the guy I bought it from on Ebay said so ,so it must be True!!!LOL. I cleaned up & restored all the original stuff(red air clnr,etc)first,then added all the repop W30 stuff. I know it's not correct but those red liners just pop next to my turquoise paint. The Parts Place sells the whole pkg for $1300,I couldn't help myself,I had to have it!!I'm running an old Edelbrock O4B so the carb sits about an inch or so higher than the iron intake, it really helps smooth out the rh OAI hose over the compressor. I bought the complete set of repop A/C hoses from Classic Air & the big suction line was a bit longer than the original so I had to add the pulley guard or the hose would have rubbed on the pulley. It solved the problem nicely,& you're right I only ever seen them on Toros. The heat tube fits fine,being an A/C car mine came with the long curved snorkel adapter so I had to get the shorter adapter, they make them repop now but I got mine from Ron Memmer. I did leave off the 2 screws on the rectangular bottom adapter where it slides in to the shroud,it makes it so much easier to work on that side when you can just pull the whole thing off. Did your H/O still have that '68 A/C only double plug wire bracket for #2 & 4 cyls on it?? I put up a pic,you can just see it at the bottom. Keeps those pics coming,Can't wait to see that W30 finished!!

rob1960

Joe, who did you buy your oil sending unit from? I got mine from ILT but it just doesn't look correct, Plus I don't think the calibration is correct for our cars, it fluctuates a bit at steady speeds. I put a mechanical gauge on it when I first got the car just to see what shape the engine was in. It's got a nice steady 60+ lbs when cruising.

costpenn

Hello, always looking for input. I do have some rad. cap alignment strips and Olive green radiator flap clips on order, oil pressure sending unit is a Delco service replacement piece, the heater hose insulation are all issues.

costpenn

Your engine bay looks great. The red wells against the body color really draws your eyes to them. There is a LONG story on that adaptor elbow for the 68 A/C Hurst cars - you didn't have to deal with it because your manifold sits the carb up that extra inch. (Let me know if you want to hear the whole story) I don't have the RH side metal piece, but the car had a plastic four wire separator. I can't tell if yours has it or not, but mine has a 4 wire divider on the LH side that slides onto the top of the bracket that holds the booster pipe. My 70 does not have this thing. I don't remember where I got that OP sending unit, but I do remember it is a Delco service replacement unit. The correct temp sensor I bought from Ron Memmer - I paid 85.00 and I thought I was being robbed at the time!!!

costpenn

Threw the Repro Delco battery in it and took some pics outside in the sunlight instead of under those awful fluorescent lights. Put the oil filter decal on it and am waiting for a few other goodies from Fusick to arrive. The thing stated right up after finally getting fuel to the carb - this is why I've always loved this car, while the '72 is a temperamental bitch.

Sampson

Joe, you are a busy guy! Increadable looking work. Very nice.

72xw30

Wow!

Hairy Olds

Take the tag off the positive post and toss it. Otherwise it looks good.

83hurstguy

Impressive! Looks great.

rob1960

Your engine looks great!!!. My '68 has the same wire bracket as yours on the left side. The double one that's on my pass side seems to be a '68 only piece because the '68 only heat tube is so close to the valve cover & the #2-4 wires would rub against the tube without it. I've had a few '68s over the years & while I thought it was only on a/c cars, it looks like all the '68s had it. The assembly manual makes no mention of it. I'll pm you my cell # Always have time to talk Olds

costpenn

Will PM mine back. Where did you get this picture? I think it shows a big car engine bay - there's some interesting things going on like accelerator linkage, heater hose routing, P/S hose routing, voltage regulator location and a whole lot more.

mrolds69

What caught my eye on both cars was the radiator caps. They should be big eared RC 15's. I don't know why that closed system cap is there, maybe it has a tank, I can't see it. The cap doesn't matter for a Lion's show, cruise, or probably even a zone show. But it might matter at the Nats.
The pic is from a shop manual or glove box manual. The best pics come from early magazine articles.

costpenn

Thanks for the tip! Those caps are repos I bought from Fusick. Never have researched this part very well. Anything else you notice?

mrolds69

Sure...actually there are 2 big eared caps, an early + a late. Early has a tubular rivet + late has a solid rivet. Both are reproed. Here is an old pic of my engine. Now has open alt, black eng label, etc. I'll get back......

costpenn

Let me know - I really want to get my cars right as possible. Ordered a couple of correct caps today.
On yours a couple of questions:


1) On my Hurst, I am 99% sure that it had the original high blower relay on the wall (above the booster) and the top cover of it was black. There was no overspray on anything else on it or around it - do you know if 68's should be black or plated like yours?


2) I've seen a few cars have that OK yellow stamp on the A/C compressor, On my 70, it is definitely the original compressor and has never been painted, yet it did not have that stamping or a vestige of it anywhere. Is this something that all cars should have?


3) I've never seen that cool white dot thing on the vac. reservoir. Is that documented somewhere, or was it just on your car? Where was yours built?

mrolds69

My car was built in Lansing. Not sure about the relay on a 68, but 69 not painted. The sticker on the vac can was an inspection sticker that it was tested. Could have been anywhere on the canister, paper...so they fell off fast. The OK stamp pretty much stopped before 70. Never seen one on a 70 up, unless it was added. No question about the rad cap. The stripe I put on magnet paper, cut in 3 pieces. I use it for big shows and then stick it on the inside of my glove box door for storage. My car was on Fusick's back cover maybe 7-8 years ago. It's got all the detailed stuff T-3's, "script" dist cap, green stripe plugs, etc. Underside is the same detailed, Gardner exhaust, some labels but not a lot of paint marks. I drive it, maybe put 30K or so on it, looks as good now as that pic. Probably better! BTW...my understanding is the oil sender like mine is going to be re-proed soon. Maybe out by the end of the year.

costpenn

Pulled the wheels off the LH side to see what will be involved in cleaning and detailing the well, suspension, and undercarriage areas. It's very dusty, and the exposed brake and fuel lines have surface rust. Will clean and polish, but not worth pulling anything to refinish. Wheels and tires just need a dusting. The matte finish on the trim rings has held up nicely for 16 years now. A guy named Chuck Alt in Phoenix did these - they were some nasty bent up pieces.

rob1960

Joe, my 442s engine had been rebuilt sometime before I got it,but the engine compartment was remarkably original. The car was never in salt or nasty winter weather like we have up here in Ohio so everything under the hood was pretty much original with very little corrosion. My blower relay was black also & as you can see from my pic it's a much glossier black than the firewall. It didn't work right so I got a repop but the bracket was different so I took the guts out of it & put them in the original housing. It cleaned up nicely so I just cleared it,but I was planning to paint it back to black. Also the adapter plate on the firewall for the wiper motor had no paint on it,it appeared to be that gray phosphate type coating, kind of like the hood hinges. As far as my car using a round rad cap,I'm running an overflow container with the later GM round cap. Napa has a nice rectangular one for under $10 & while far from correct I just wanted to run one & this one tucks up to the core support nicely(I would never put one on something like your H/O!!). That pic of the big car engine compartment came from the '68 service manual,engine section,pg 6b-33. It showed the a good pic of the '68 only ignition wire routing. The pic of my eng compartment was shortly after I got the car back in Jul '12. I had just done some minor detailing(bat cable,hoses,clamps etc)but the firewall was still untouched.The wiper motor bracket had some light surface rust but underneath the motor it was gray. Everything on the firewall was sealed with an heavy undercoat type sealer.It was sprayed around the edges evap box where it meets the firewall, even the round vac tank was sprayed with sealer at the mounting flange after they bolted it on.It looked like S$#T!! You can still see remnants of it on the tank(since cleaned off). I thought about trying to duplicate it with spray undercoat but they did such a sloppy job I just couldn't bring myself to do it!! Plus the 3M spray on undercoat didn't seem thick enough anyway.maybe that spray on bedliner crap would work better??but I'm not doing it. Your wheels look great by the way! The trim rings were restored? I have the original SS2s came with my car but all the trim rings have curb rash,but I doubt I'll ever put them back on. I like the look of the 15" wheels with 60s all the way around.

costpenn

Thanks for the tip in the wiper motor backing plate. I did not know that and will definately get it right on the '70 - and if I ever pull the wiper motor off the 68 again. The fellow who is painting my '70 has some spray bomb body "schutz" stuff he is going to give me to replicate that look you mention because you are right - undercoater doesn't look correct. My vacuum tank has that stuff all over it as well as the accelerator cable where it goes through the wall.
Also, thanks for confirming about the relay cover. I did this car back in 99 and it was also a time capsule under the hood, but I did not know then what I should have been looking for. I did note and replicate the firewall markings - it had a "C" and "E" handwritten in white mostly covered by the evap box. The W-46 is something I put on later when I wasn't thinking very well....
I'm the 5th owner of this car, but I know every previous owner. It was originally consigned to a dealer in Ft. Worth where it sat until traded to Meador Olds, who sold it to an engineer for General Dynamics. The car was driven for about 7 years until parked with 62,000 miles. It was bought in the early 90's by a NTOC club member, who got it started, and put the exhaust in it. He sold it to another local club member who fixed the brakes installed carpeting and new front seat covers and got the right wheels back on the car. He sold it to a car restoration shop in Ft. Worth who put the paint job it currently has on it, but ran into financial problems and I was Johnny on the spot to buy it. I had known about the car for years - it was a dream come true.
The engine compartment had never been into. It still had a couple of original belts on the engine - I wish I had taken more pictures. The car has the original born on this car block, (original pistons and bearings) heads, intake dist, alternator, OW trans, rear end (it has never been out or apart) red wells, master cyl, radiator, wiper motor, evaporator and POA valve, air cleaner housing, dash pad, headliner, all door panels rear upper and lower seat panels. It has all the original sheet metal and not a hint of rust anywhere. I haven't been able to find any body repair anywhere on it. I really lucked out but I wonder if I might not have recognized that RH spark plug wire separator thing and thrown it out!!!

mrolds69

Right...the wiper motor adaptor...dove grey on mine also, you can see it in the pic. Things like the black relay could have been different in 68, all those relays were different than 69. I've never seen a notched washer tank like that. That's a different look.

costpenn

More work cleaning the underside. Not bad for 16 years on. I used a lot of that semi flat bumper paint on it. The finish has held up OK for spray bomb painting.

Trans is still relatively clean, and realized I had never confirmed the trans VIN match so I looked, and no surprises. Will have to talk with the Hairy One about getting the sticker for the tag. All the color is completely gone from it.

Lastly, is this the masking tape people talk about on the body bushings? I did not do a frame off on this one - I just remember spending two weeks on my back cleaning, sanding, and painting under the body and don't remember if I masked these off myself and forgot to pull the tape off.

Funkwagon455

This is a really nice example, my personal favorite of the "Hurst" cars....slick and understated but ferocious! I am very happy that you are taking the time and effort to give this car some love'n for our local event. I am sure that it will be a stand out example for our modest and easy going show. Thanks for sharing it.

rob1960

Joe,The car looks really nice underneath!! I'm trying to forget all the hours I spent on my back scrubbing mine!! What a miserable freaking job!! I sent you the page from the assembly manual on the speedo cable routing,looks like your cable doesn't go over the top of the e-brake cable like they show.I'm not sure about the wiper motor plate for your W30. The parts suppliers only seem to show them for '68 & '69 only. The '70 & up might be welded to the firewall. mrolds69, that notch in the washer bottle isn't there on the originals,as you know,but that's the way the repops are made,they just used the later '70 & up style that were white & molded them in black. I've since moved it to the pass side when I added the OAI setup but the three tabs weren't even close to the originals when I first put it on the drivers side.

costpenn

Looking forward to seeing you and the family, and of course hearing about the wagon is coming along!!

costpenn

Finished cleaning up the underside. All that's left is a good wash, 3 or 4 coats of wax, and an interior cleaning.
Funny now how wrong the drive shaft stripe widths and locations are. In 99 I just started sanding away on the shaft not even trying to find remnants of where the stripes originally were. Live and learn.