Larrys'66

To pass the Winter blues, I have been working to replace the engine in my Olds and upgrade the front drums to disks. A very good friend of mine has the garage and the know-how to teach me along the way.

The 330 came out today without much of a fight and the 455 is almost ready. I need to clean and paint the engine bay then replace the heater core.

I will try to post a few pictures of the progress.

Larry

tru-blue 442

Sweet!

txrob779

Great looking '66...

I am on the same road as you my friend. I am in "the que" to a front disc converstion too.
Please document the swap okay?

Rob

Larrys'66

Will do Rob..

There is certainly a wealth of knowledge on this topic found on the CO forum and well worth your time before you buy any components. I purchased many of the parts required for the disk brake swap from a '67 Olds in the bone yard and I am slowly getting them blasted and painted. With my SSI's, I fear I will need to change my tires and wheels to accommodate the calipers. Unless I get really lucky with a rare set of '69 wheel. I need to investigate that some more...

Larry

tva442

Very nice!

Where in PA are you ?

oldcutlass

Very nice.

RAMBOW

Looking good, and very familiar. I did the same swap into my '66 a few months ago.

txrob779

I have seen several 1967 disc kits at various places OPGI and others. My SS1's are 1970's but I have already decided if I have to change wheels to use disc brakes I am going for American Torque Thrust wheels. I am really excited about the wealth of knowledge and willingness here so far. I really REALLY want 455....actually a bigger displacement 455 and A/C. So, I am not far from being in the position of parts buying LOL.

I was even contemplating swapping from folding bench to buckets and a console. Of course that would men some steering column sheet metal, a hole in the tunnel and all the parts for the swap but yeah, I am jonesing on the thought.
Again, I am gonna follow this thread very close.


Ben, your motor sounds WICKED,,,,,I will HAVE to know some parts/build specs on that engine WOW

gearheads78

Looks like a nice project. 66 is always my personal favorite.

Larrys'66

Thanks guys, with a new polar vortex rolling through every week, I think I am working on the garage heater as much as my car. Time to get back to work...

66luvr

I hear ya! Snowing here in southern Ohio again today and temp in the 20's. I know many have it worse.
Nice 66 project Larry, I luv them.
Mike

Larrys'66

I had plenty of warnings, I read it all over the CO forum. The MAW's came flooding out of the car as if the 330 was some kind of cork, holding them all safely under control. I should have found my own MAW helmet.

Since the engines out, it was a good time to change the control arm bushings, but the better value seemed to be in the bolt on tubular upgrades. The steering box had to come out for proper cleaning, might as well change the seals since it has a small leak. It will be tough the clean up the wiper motor after installing the brake booster, MAW remove it and detail that too...
The gasket kit for the heater box is on back order, so why not tear them all out, and so it goes on.

I have been making some progress on the Cutlass project and wanted to share a few pictures. I will try again in another post.

Larrys'66

Scraping, wire brushing, wiping and painting. I am starting to put parts back on the car which feels like a big milestone.

tru-blue 442

Looking good Larry.

tmaleck

You'll want to use the proper grease on those bushings, even to the point of disassembling and greasing. The bushings on my arms are horribly noisey. I bought the special grease after the fact, but it does not seems to flow very well once the arms have a load on them.
Tim

DLaz70OLDS98

Larry looks like yo are doing great work. Looks real nice!

Larrys'66

Hey TMALeck, thanks for the tip.

Can you specify what type of grease is correct for the new bushings? The control arms did not come with any paperwork ,accept a flyer for more parts.

Thanks guys... The heater box went back in on Wednesday and I expect to have the engine bay ready for the engine this weekend.

I love Winter but now I am starting to get sick of the snow. The third worst Winter in recorded history, so far.

Larry

oldcutlass

Looks great!

tmaleck

The grease is in my truck at the moment. It was referred to as 'marine type multi purpose' grease. It is stiffer and clings more than normal multi purpose grease. Ill post the brand name when I get the truck back from the body shop. I wish I had known ahead of time, the grease the arms had when new was not right and my car sounds like it's a hundred years old going around corners or light bumps.

Tim

DLaz70OLDS98

Tim I would be leery of putting any sort of petroleum basedgrease on rubber bushings as the petroleum hydrocarbons will start to breakdown the rubber. I would think that you would want to put some sort ofsynthetic lubricant on them to avoid degrading the rubber. If you have polybushings silicone is the way to go. Just my opinion.

Larrys'66

I picked up some clear silicon grease and will designate a grease gun for poly bushings only. Thanks for helping me avoid the issues associated with petroleum grease on poly bushings. You guys rock!

Larrys'66

First a question: When attaching the brake booster linkage to the brake pedal arm, do I use the upper or lower hole in the brake pedal arm? I think I have it in the lower hole.
I have pushed the project a little further along. The brake lines are complete up front and will be completed when the rear distribution line arrives.
The rear differential and frame rails are cleaned and painted. Fuel lines and vents are routed.
The engine was on the hoist and ready for planting when we realized we had the wrong flywheel. Well, we almost had the engine in. Maybe this week…

Larrys'66

We got the engine bolted in on Wednesday night, which really felt like a milestone. Today we changed out the lower control arms and got the spindles installed.

Once the car has the wheels back under it, I will get back to setting up the engine wiring, fuel and vacuum lines.

Cruising season is fast approaching, I gotta keep this project rolling...

rroth01

Rob I have your Sister car here in Detroit,I restore Instrument Panels If I can help let me know.Ron
586-556-1234

DLaz70OLDS98

Looks like you are moving right along Larry.

archeryshooter

I swaped mine from a 69 pontiac lemans everything fit great the a-body GM cars from 66 to 69 for sure will swap out I even went to power brakes as well you can save alot on calipers and routers also right from Oreilleys. My calipers were under 30 bucks each

Larrys'66

Tony,

You are right, I do need to list the rebuild details a little better. I removed the disk brake system from a '67 442 in the junkyard, though I think much of it originally came from a 70-72 GM car. The calipers and master cylinder were a little far gone to restore so they were used as cores. The brake booster, spindles, and proportioning valve were cleaned and reused. I have been replacing the brake lines with a kit from Fine Lines.

The new bearings and rotors are from the local Autozone. OPGI has been very helpful with the parts that can't be found in the typical auto stores. The real test will should be in a couple of weeks when I can actually test drive the car, if all goes well.

Larry

archeryshooter

Good deal I found on mine I needed to go with the smaller dia booster because it hit my valvecover just thought I would give you a heads up if you havent got to that yet

Larrys'66

Archeryshooter,

Thanks for the tip, I may need to move to a smaller diameter booster as well. I have about a half inch and I expect the motor will torque right into it. I scrapped against it while placing the motor in too.

What size did you go with?

Larry

Larrys'66

A.S.

Great videos by the way, I really like the color choice. Your valve covers are much taller than mine, maybe I will squeeze by, maybe...

Larry

Larrys'66

Still moving ahead, one step forward, two steps back. I am so close it's tough to focus on the days I am not able to work on it.

The brake lines are all in and fortunately the distribution block clears the exhaust manifold with an inch to spare. Archeryshooter mentioned the tight clearance between the booster and the valve covers. I think I will look into a smaller diameter booster before bleeding the hydraulics. The control arms and steering linkages are bolted together. I will finish torquing the bottom bolts once the car is on the ground. Exhaust pipes are bolted up; the drivers side needed a little tweaking with a torch and mondo pliers to line up. I am glad they were that close. I had to grab the steering linkage from the boneyard to clear the oil pan while turning far left and right.

The engine wiring is under way and all of the bolts needed for the accessories were painted so they are ready for the next trip to the garage. I am going to read up on setting the timing for the next visit.

Spring is here and it's almost time to cruise...

halffast

Looks great Larry - Light at the end of the tunnel!

archeryshooter

I think it is a 8" its the smaller stock size got it from oreillys parts store wasnt priced bad if I remember with the master cyl.

archeryshooter

Thanks Larry
Candy red That was the color I always wanted it since I was 17 years old. I couldnt get my engine in the car with the bigger booster even scratched the cover a bit plenty room now

Larrys'66

Still making some progress on the build. I updated the brake lines between the master cylinder / proportioning valve using a line kit from Fine Lines. Replaced the flare nut for the front line at the distribution block and bleed out all of the lines, The car is finally off the lift and back on it's wheels again.
The engine compartment is coming together. Wiring is under way, throttle linkage is hooked up, alternator and power steering systems are ready to go, and the cooling system is almost done. The radiator support and fan shroud brackets needed some "adjustment" to fit the three pass radiator in place.

With any luck, I hope to be working on setting the timing later this week. I am gonna read up on the forum to get some ideas on setting the timing using an Accel points replacement kit. I still need to get the new oil pressure and temperature gauge lines routed out from the interior. I should have done this earlier but I didn't realize the temperature probe nut was so badly stripped. This was one MAW that slipped past me. I will get some pictures up later this week. I hope to hear it growl to life later this week..

archeryshooter

Just in time for the nice weather

DLaz70OLDS98

Sounds like you are making some great progress. You will be crusing in no time! Keep it up!

txrob779

Awsome Larry...AWE SOME!!! I am excited for you.

Hey btw,

I have part of my throttle linkage apart right now. I have a Jetaway and there seems to be a bind somewhere...not back just a 1/2" or so. I was thinking new return springs, a cleaning and lubing would solve the problem. What all did you do to yours?

Larrys'66

Mine was operating when I choose to tear everything apart. I did stick the throttle linkage into the glass beader to clean it up, painted it with alumi bright paint, and bolted it back in place. For kicks, I started test fitting the Rochester linkage and found it to fit and operate perfectly with the new Edelbrock carb, at least in a pre-run range test. The run test might happen tomorrow night if time will allow.

I suggest you take it out, clean and lubricate the pivot points. See it you see something binding. During some previous searches, I did see that a few members has these things available. Try Leoldsnut, he has a lot of parts available for our cars.

Larrys'66

After topping off the fluids in the pre-test inspection, I found the three pass radiator to have a leak. It was promptly swapped with the original single pass to allow our rocket test firing to continue.

Once rehydrated, the ignition countdown commenced. She turned over easily, and gas became visible in the fuel filter promptly. A few tweaks on the timing and she was alive. A good friend was setting up the timing and carb adjustments, and the engine sound was incredible, I still have a silly grin plastered on my face.

After a few minutes we lost spark, and both of us suspect the wiring to the accel point replacement set. The wires and the molex plug were cheesy, maybe it's just a fuse. I will get back to troubleshooting tonight, but it ran and sounded very healthy. Life is good...