Back in 2017 a '58 Dynamic 88 followed me home one day. It seemed to be in fairly good condition and didn't leak (MUCH) so i let it stay in my garage, and drove it from time to time.

I had other plans and projects to finish up first, so I didn't get started on it right away. But now the time has come.

Here is what I am starting with:


I straightened the twisted front bumper end and aligned the front edge of the hood.
The original paint codes are 60 60 10, so the red is a color change. Does anyone know where the 10 Onyx Black would have been on an all white car?
The plan is to reframe, repower, rewire, and repair whatever is left that needs it,
Prior to starting the major teardown for all of that, I spent some time in the trunk. I didn't get any before pics, but it had been lined with a thin carpet like material, glued in place. I wanted to remove it to see if it was hiding anything. No big surprises, just light surface rust in the flat bottom portion only. The sides were good, and I already knew the bottom of the spare tire well had been patched with fiberglass. I wire brushed the rust and sprayed it with rust reformer. A heat gun and putty knife removed all the gobbs of tar-like sealer, revealing a red oxide primer. More wire brushing and sanding and I sprayed everything with self etching primer, then resealed all the seams with 3M seam sealer.

The carpet pieces are there because I was cutting them while waiting for the seam sealer to dry.
I then sprayed everything with Raptor urethane coating.



The original cardboard hinge box covers were laying loose in the trunk when I got the car. They were torn and curled but after laying them flat between some plywood (with weight on top) they stayed flat and were good patterns to make new ones from aluminum flashing.

I first just painted them grey...


But later covered them with carpet.
These open areas under the trunk lid...


Were carpeted as well.

I made some more carpet inserts, but no pics. I take some tomorrow.

I guess working on the back of the car got me thinking about backup lights....

 

Splendor. I'll come to you for photos of what Oldsmobile should look like.

 

The carpet inserts I made for the trunk.

This is what I used.

I glued it to this to help it lay flat.

 

That's a really nice solid car to start with that is quite rare to see in the wild.

 

In the first post I mentioned backup lights.

Background: '58 Dynamic 88s have large vertical backup lights under the tail lights. The Super 88s and 98s replaced that light with an additional tail light and the backup lights were in the bumper. Just the round tail light by itself is not much light area. I think the extra vertical lens is a much more visible arrangement. I think I see a way to convert without having to find Super 88/98 bumper ends.

When I got the car the left side trunk "handle" was missing the plastic emblem.



The right side was cracked and faded. Fusick wanted $65 for a set. I had a '65 Mustang at the time and noticed the backup light lens for it was close to the same size. I could rob them and replace them for $5 each, gaskets and screws included. All it took was a little work with a Dremel to make them fit.

Later, by the time the trunk lid was off to work in the trunk I had hatched a plan to convert them to backup lights.

I drilled holes in the inside and outside panels, made a light housing from aluminum tubing and ABS sheet. Put a light socket on the inside end of the tubing and epoxied the whole thing in the trunk holes.




The light sockets are removable from inside the trunk for bulb replacement.

Painted the area silver



LED bulbs



I checked them at night, they are plenty bright.

I'll change the original sockets to double contact and use red lenses and have more tail light. The left lens was missing and the right one is age cracked, so they had to be replaced anyway.

All this was completed several months ago. I Just started last week taking everything apart.

 

I feel very fortunate to have found such a solid, almost rust free car that age. It was built in Texas and lived in your state before it moved to Arkansas. AFAIK it was stored inside in Arkansas. It was owned by a photographer and used as a backdrop for pictures. I don't think he ever used it as a driver. It was showing 68,000 miles when I bought it. I have no idea if that is 68K or 168K.

I have found only the right rear floorboard rusted bad enough to be replaced. The bottom of the doors are solid. The rockers appear to be solid, but I will remove the paint to be sure. I may have to patch the front fenders in the area between the wheel and door.

I can't believe my good luck!

 

wow thats some nice work i like the trunk hinge boxes and the backup lights look great too...thks for sharing.

 

Thanks for the kind words.

All of that work was when I was still undecided how just how deep I was going to get into this. So I just took small bites while trying to decide. I knew I wanted to update the front suspension and swap to an LS engine, but I was trying to convince myself not to repaint. The side window weatherstripping was 75% gone so I replaced that while trying to make up my mind. While replacing the L vent window rubber I found this:


That's the vent window crank gearbox with the bottom cap missing. It's not only a cap to keep out dirt and keep grease in, it supports the center gear with a protrusion into the center of the gear. You can see the wear mark in the center recess. The cap was not inside the door.
After some time making aluminum shavings on the lathe:


I had a reasonable substitute.

There is an index on one side of the gearbox, I suppose to keep the plug from rotating.


I filed a notch to fit the index:


It was a press fit, so I forced it in with some epoxy:


Peened it in place:


And added more epoxy just to be sure it stays in place:


It's not pretty, but I think it will hold.

 

So while doing the weatherstripping and trunk repair I finally decided I couldn't live with the crappy orangish/redish paint. The paint is peeling at the lead joints on top of the quarter panels, there is a gash in the R door and I think there is filler on the bottom rear of the front fenders. The body was coming off the frame anyway, so now is the best time to repaint.
I removed all the front clip piece by piece but left the radiator so I could drive it from the 4 post lift to the 2 post for the body lift.



Removed the doors, the interior and stripped the dash



When I pulled out the carpet I found the R rear floor is the only area rusted through



I can't find a replacement floor for a 88, but have found this one for a 98. I know the 98 wheelbase is 4" longer but have no idea where they added the 4". Does anyone know where the difference is and if this floor won't fit exactly, maybe it could be modified to fit. Even if it had to be trimmed or added to it might be better than starting from scratch. The embossed lines in that piece look to be the same as in my floor. I called c2c Fabrication and the guy on the phone had on clue.

Any help/advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

What a cool cool car. 58's don't get enough love. Did I miss anything about what color it will be? Keeping the red?

 

Color is undecided, but I am leaning toward a brighter red with white top and side accents. Others under consideration would be an original 50s color combination.

I will remove the "OLDSMOBILE" letters from the hood and the "Eighty Eight" script from the front fenders, just to clean it up a bit. I like all the other chrome and the hood rocket stays.

 

I removed the windshield and back glass. I wasn't expecting any major rust and there was none around the windshield.



Only one dime sized hole in the back glass pinchweld where the quarter panel was leaded in. All the chrome retainer clips were rusted away on the bottom, but the ones along the top were mostly OK. I marked all their locations. I know they don't have to go back exactly where they were but at least I will have something to guide me.



The package shelf is not rusty, that is dried glue.



I have ordered a rotisserie so I decided to add some bracing to the door openings and from side to side. I cut and drilled 1/4" plates to fit the hinge mounts and the striker location.




I welded 1" sq tubing to the plates. Anywhere the tubing intersects is bolted so it is all removable when I need working room and replaceable when I feel I need the bracing.





Probably overkill since it is not a convertible and I don't need to cut out a major portion of the floor. But I am pretty sure nothing will move out of place while it is rotating.

 

Wow! You're doing a great job. Thanks for the updates.

 

Thanks. Not much shop time today, and no pictures. I removed the drip rails, or I suppose they are drip rail mouldings since there is still a welded in drip rail. They're not chrome, they're painted. Does anyone know if those mouldings are chrome on the 98 or even the Supper 88? I have a 1958 sales brochure, but the pictures are not clear enough to be sure, but it looks that way. If it is I might try to find a set.

No one responded to my question about 88 vs 98 floor pans, so I decided to take a chance on the one for a 98 from c2c Fabrication. It arrived today and I think it will work. It's not much more than a flat piece of metal with slight breaks that need to be bent further and a corner welded together to get the final shape. It's definitely not a stamped piece, more handmade. But it will be better than starting from scratch.

 

Wow! Neat project and cool car, looking forward to this progressing.

 

I have been making slow progress on the teardown. I have discovered my wiper transmissions shafts are frozen (probably rusted) and will not tension the cables. The shafts will rotate but will not push in from the outside to let the pulleys tension the cables. Normally you push the outside hub (where the wiper arm mounts) in while someone inside the car pulls slack in the cables. The slack allows the cables to be unhooked from the center drive pulleys. I was able to unhook my cables only after removing the outside spanner nut and the inside mounting screw, which loosened the transmission enough to slacken the cables.

This is the L side transmission.



The central drive pulleys:



I found someone who repairs these things, but he has never worked on ones from an Oldsmobile before. He is doing some research before he commits to trying to repair these.

Also the bushing for the center drive pulley shaft is worn, so hopefully he can repair that as well.

I have also purchased a donor vehicle that will contribute front bucket seats and possibly a dash assembly. The seats won't be hard to adapt, the dash is a question mark. It is slightly wider than the Olds dash, but the plan is to see if I can trim it to fit and not lose the AC vents on each end. Wish me luck!



It's a 2005 Chevy TrailBlazer. I chose it because the complete three point seat belt is built into the seat. It's not the only vehicle with that design, several convertibles are that way. I will reinforce under the floor when I mount the seats.

 

How are you going to get the seats out of the Blazer to tilt forward when you put them in the Olds?

 

I am hoping there is enough front to rear travel in the seat adjustment combined with how much the seat back will tilt to give enough room for rear seat access. I have been working on the dash swap and haven't spent any time on the seats. My main objective with the TrailBlazer was the dash, if I can use the seats that will be a bonus. It was cheap (bad transmission) and has all good body panels and a running engine that I can sell to recoup some of my money.

I started by removing the dash from the TrailBlazer. Everything is bolted in, so it was just a matter of finding and removing a bunch of bolts and screws. There are two main parts, the plastic cover and trim and a metal frame behind that.

This is the plastic cover:


After lots of measurements I decided it would fit, so I removed the Olds dash. It is spot welded only at each end. It does not go all the way to the windshield across the middle.
A few welds at the top:




And lots of welds under the bottom in the door opening:



My dashless Oldsmobile!




I made a template of the Olds shape at the base of the windshield. I first cut a half template, then used it to make a full width template. I used the inside windshield trim to double check the curve.




The template on top of the TrailBlazer dash. Above it is extra plastic that needs to be cut away. The dash is hard plastic covered with about 1/4" to 3/8" of foam, covered with vinyl. I wasn't sure how to cut it...



Using masking tape to keep the Sharpie ink off the vinyl. The vertical blue tape is the center line.


It cut easily with a metal cut-off wheel on a 4 1/2" grinder.


On this first cut I did not cut all the way to the line on each end. At this point I am still concerned about cutting into the end air conditioner vents. I test fit and trimmed a little at a time until it would fit in between the A pillars.

During the cutting and test fitting I discovered the lower portions of each end did not need to be trimmed at all. Below the wrap around of the windshield the car widens out.
I know that looks like a hatchet job next to the air conditioner vent, but I plan to cover that area with a trim panel.



The trim panel will cover this whole area that was the wrap around portion of the old dash.



The driver's side is similar, but the new dash has a different shape on each end.



I cut less from the driver's end because the trim that surrounds the gauge cluster and air conditioner vent was closer to the end.



Now I am ready to start trimming the metal frame that supports the plastic so that it fits in the right place between the car and the new dash.

 

Nice work. Please upgrade your brakes.........................don'd ask me. Be interesting in your LS swap. Thinking of doing my 58 also.

 

The brakes will be taken care of with the Corvette suspension on the new frame. The master cyl moves from under the floor to the firewall with a kit from Battle Born Brakes.

 

The dash frame needed quite a bit of trimming to fit.



That's most of the scraps, but not all. The right 2/3rd is welded steel bolted to a cast aluminium section that supports the instrument cluster and steering column. In the center is the chain I used to hold it in place in the car with an engine hoist, through the windshield opening.



These are brackets I made from 1/2" square tubing that will attach to existing factory brackets in the car. The two on each side of the chain go to brackets that I think were used to support the back of the radio and the speaker. The closer one in the aluminium casting attaches where a support rod went to the steering column.



These are the two center brackets with rivnuts added and marked for trimming.



And after they were trimmed. I figured I could use the room for defroster and dash vent hoses.



I didn't get any pictures of them but I also removed two welded in dash supports from the TrailBlazer and bolted them to the Olds on each side. Each end of the dash frame bolts to them much like they did originally. So the dash is well supported on each end and in the middle.

Now... will I have room for an air conditioner????

I purchased a mock up unit from Vintage Air for their Gen IV Magnum system. There appears to be just one portion of the dash frame that will interfere with it fitting, but that portion can be cut away if I add a reinforcement first. The vertical portion of this bracket is in the way.



After bracing it and cutting it the mock up box fits behind it.



Same bracket from the other side.



At this point the frame clears, but the hinge for the glove box goes right where the bottom corner of the AC box is. I can move it up by trimming the firewall mounting bracket, so I will try that tomorrow and see how much clearance that adds.

 

interesting thread thread thanks for posting stuff we dont see everyday

 

Getting the air conditioner to fit was a three step process. First I trimmed the top of the AC mounting bracket to move the box up. That brought the bottom of the box above where the hinge mounts.



But it moved the defroster outlets up against the dash frame, so I had to weld in another brace so I could cut away the interfering metal. So now the box fits behind the dash. But, will the glove box close? NO!

The third step is to trim the glove box (which is part of the glove box door) so it will close.



I cut it along the black line and it closed with a little room to spare. I am now closing up the hole with new plastic and epoxy.

 

I notched out the lower back side of the glove box and glued in some flat plastic. This is what I used. It's leftover from making the back up light sockets.


Compare the above picture to the last picture of the previous post and you can see I didn't lose much volume since it was already smaller on that side.

It looks pretty messy from the outside.



But the inside looks much better.



This turned out to be the easiest modification of the whole dash swap.

 

Now that I am satisfied I can use the TrailBlazer dash it's time to continue on with disassembly. The rotisserie I ordered came in a couple of weeks ago but had a leaking jack. I got the replacement jack yesterday so I am all set to remove the body from the frame.


I had left the radiator and enough wiring so it would run. I had a battery strapped to the frame where those 2X4 scraps are so I drove it to the 2 post lift and started taking all of that off and anything else that connected the body to the frame.

I put the door bracing back in and it's ready to lift.



The gas tank was easier to remove than I thought it would be. I was concerned the long filler neck would get hung up somewhere up in the quarter panel, but it just sorta unscrewed out. The gas tank jack made it an easy one man job. Some people calls it a transmission jack, I calls it a gas tank jack... hummm.



With the tank out ot the way and all the body bolts out it lifted right up without a hitch.



The only problem was the lift arms were almost too long for the rocker panels. I had to jack each end of the car up and move it side ways (front to the right, rear to the left) to get it to fit and the lift pads were right on the ends of the rockers. That's a 12,000 # lift, sometimes bigger isn't better.



And on the rotisserie.



That's an AutoTwirler Pro, my first rotisserie. I am impressed with the design and build quality. But the hydraulic jacks appear to be the cheapest Chinese junk they could find. One was leaking on arrival, then today the other one would not jack up. I put a full 12 oz bottle of jack oil in it, then it would jack up but not come down. I had to remove the release screw and reposition the seal off of the threaded portion of the screw. Seems to work OK now.



I haven't tried to rotate or balance it yet, I'll wait till I can move it from between the lift columns.

Next step is to strip the frame down to just a rolling chassis for a trip to the frame shop.


When the frame shop is finished all that will be for sale. I am unsure of the mileage on the drive train but it starts and runs good. 2 barrel 371 CI, Jetaway trans (minor leak at the shift shaft), 3.71 rear axle, manual steering and brakes

 

Stripped down, cleaned up and ready to go.



But the gas situation is crazy so I think I will wait till at least Monday.