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Thought I'd share a few pics of the restoration work I'm doing on my '70 W30 Auto. The car had been given a cosmetic resto in 2013-14 I believe (but I'm not sure who by). I bought it in Spring of '16 in Kansas City but it had gone through a few hands in a few short years and had sat undriven for 22 years prior to that. I've been an Olds Nut for close to 50 years and always wanted a '70 W30 but it took me a while to find the right car for me and get it across the Pacific to Australia.
The body is pretty nice and exceptionally solid but the frame, underbody etc had never been touched. I started a year ago lifting the body off to do all the work that it still needed.
There have been some challenges along the way as some of the original unique items had been replaced over the years but I've been able to track down the correct carb, alternator and rear axle (as it had been fitted with a 3.91 out of a '67 W30 at some point in the late '70s).
Chassis was blasted & etch primed but I then went down the path of painting it with POR15. Some photos here are just with the POR Rust paint but its since been painted with the semi gloss chassis black which seems much closer to the original gloss level from spots of original paint that I could compare to.
I'm now assembling the chassis and the engine will go back together over the Christmas break. More photos over the weeks ahead.
Thanks for sharing pictures, looks very nice. Sent PM with a question.
Hi Chris, got your question about the fender markings. The car has had a accident in the left front at some point (as I had to have the frame straightened because the nose in front of the steering gear was bent). I'm pretty sure that at least the left fender was replaced and probably the right also as both the inner fenders had been replaced with regular black ones and then painted over red. There was none of the chalk markings on the inside of the fenders unfortunately and the only original marking was on the firewall behind the A/C unit.
The fenders are probably the worst part of the car and have been poorly repaired in the dog-leg area. With time I'd like to find 2 better ones as even the rear bracing has been cut off 3/4 the way down.
By the way, are you the one looking for a St. Louis dealership license plate frame? If so, I can hook you up.
Mike
Hi Mike, yes that was me looking for a St Louis plate frame. I don't know exactly what dealer it originated from as I only have the Broadcast sheet but it definitely originated from St Louis. I'll shoot you a PM. Thanks.
A couple more pics. I was missing the original 7040258 carb which one of our good members was able to help me out with. It went to Sparky in Millwaukee for restoration and what a great job he did.
Thanks everyone for your positive feedback. Without another '70 nearby to compare things to its quite a challenging restoration. So I'm sure there will be aspects that aren't quite right but many threads on Classic Olds & Dr. Google have been a fantastic help.
Will keep you updated over the the coming months but looking forward to heaps of progress in the next 3 weeks.
Ended up stripping the heads & sump off to see what the engine was like and found some positive & negative news. Its been bored, rods resized, crank ground and new pistons fitted not all that long ago, but the down side is that its +0.060". I won't be drag racing so again I'm fixing up the short cuts that they have taken - or cost that were cut on the heads & valve gear. Seems crazy but they replaced 4 push rods and 3 valve springs and a non original grind cam - that's all being fixed now.
A few more steps forward since Christmas. Got my heads back from the machine shop after they had to replace a few worn guides and reseat the valves. Got it back together and today the paint went on the assembled engine. Unfortunately you can't ship paint overseas these days so I ended up having the paint matched to the valve covers which had been done in the cosmetic resto it had in the US and was the correct color. The photo doesn't really show quite the true color but I'm pretty happy with how its come up.
Not trying to be overly negative, but if the heads/valvetrain were rebuilt that poorly, do you have confidence the rods were resized right, bearing clearances set correctly, piston clearances, etc?
I went through a round of bad machine shops a decade ago, and found that one shop didn't hone the rods correctly, it ate bearings, the next shop shrugged and blamed detonation, just said to replace them... didn't trust them and finally ended up at shop 3 that I use to this day... so I've been there...
Not trying to be overly negative, but if the heads/valvetrain were rebuilt that poorly, do you have confidence the rods were resized right, bearing clearances set correctly, piston clearances, etc?
I went through a round of bad machine shops a decade ago, and found that one shop didn't hone the rods correctly, it ate bearings, the next shop shrugged and blamed detonation, just said to replace them... didn't trust them and finally ended up at shop 3 that I use to this day... so I've been there...
Hi Luke,
I should have mentioned that my brother & I actually pulled the engine down and found that in the very recent passed that the engine had been bored, rods resized, and new pistons fitted. That was done because a skirt had broken off a piston and scored the bore. The previous 2 owners bought the car at auctions and it had turned over quickly, so I don't know all the details. I'm pretty sure thats why the car had sat for 22 years undriven by the 2nd owner.
It appears they took short cuts and ran out of money on the engine build and thats why the heads were never touched - although the short motor was done properly including hot tanked. The only downside is that the engine is now at +.060" so its approaching the point of sleeving, however I'm not planning on racing it and it ran fine when we drove it from Kansas City to San Francisco so hopefully it stays that way. I've replaced all of the rocker gear, oil pump, lifters and gone back to the original grind cam which I know some may question, but I've opted to go with the original "feel". Cheers Rohan
Progress hasn't been quite as fast as I'd hoped recently. Had the exhaust manifolds coated in a HPC coating (high performance ceramic coating) which took a while with the holiday season here in Australia, and then found the intake bolts that I ordered 2 years ago were incorrect so I've kept moving and got the engine & trans in and the Intake will be bolted on shortly.
Whoever did the cosmetic resto previously cut so many corners its unbelievable. I found that the bolt hole in the intake that the A/C bracket mounts to had been stripped. Rather than fix it, they put a bolt in and held it in the bracket with silicone just to make it look the part. Have now fixed that stripped thread so just waiting for bolts to arrive from ILT.
Currently stripping and painting the fan brackets & other hardware so next weekend we should move a lot further forward.
Well unfortunately I'm well behind where I hoped to be right now but the wait for parts or more so the long postage time to Australia can sure delay things. I've finally got the engine & drive line pretty much finished but need to alter the exhaust alignment just to finish things off. Have started to progress the bucket seats (using the original trim) but the plastic backs etc were damaged so time to replace them and the seat springs that were really rusty and collapsed. I'm off for 3 weeks vacation from now and hope to make lots of progress very quickly. We are in Fall here in Aus so need to make the most of the warm weather before it breaks.
Well winter here in Australia has slowed down my progress a lot. Finding a few missing pieces to make everything come together has also made things drag out much longer than expected but that all part of the challenge in a restoration. Had hoped to put the body back on the chassis back at Easter but that just wasn't going to happen after I found some bog that someone put straight over a rust hole at the bottom corner under the front windshield. Took the windshield out, cut the rust out and have repainted the dash. Now just waiting an eternity for a new windshield to be shipped (via sea) from the US. Meanwhile with the cold weather I've been attacking the interior. Dash came out, and the instruments went to Scott Winn in Indianapolis who did a great job of restoring them and my mirror. Thanks also to JoesW31 on the site who helped out when we found that my tachometer needed to be replaced. This weekend should be Fun !! as I'll be putting the new wiring loom into the dash and progressively getting everything hooked back up again. Hopefully as we head toward Spring in September the progress will start to speed up again.
How did you get that under dash airbox to look that like-new?
To be completely honest it was actually that good in the first place. It was covered in dust but a good wash brought it up like new. I stripped it completely and the doors were all rusty but I was amazed that using Phosphoric Acid (KBS Coatings - Rust Blast) cleaned the rust off perfectly and didn't damage or effect the moulded rubber seals on the doors at all. Fitted a new radiator core and put it all back together in a weekend.
Well, it's been very slow going for a while. Detected a poor rust repair in the lower right corner of the dash and ended up pulling the windshield out to fix it properly (without impacting on the exterior paint. Gave me an opportunity to repaint the dash and although we got the original windshield out safely, I opted to replace it as the original one was quite "sand blasted". The down side to that decision was that there were no windshields available here in Australia so after a 6 month wait both the windshield and also the exhaust system that I ordered from ILT arrived via sea - 4 months longer than I hoped but that's just one of the challenges of a restoration 13,000 miles from where the cars were made.
A bad batch of the black semi gloss paint that I used on the firewall resulted in having to completely strip the firewall again but got the right result in the end. The photo here where the rust in the windshield rebate shows how bad the black paint was - but it looks great now.
I could have had an exhaust system made here but I'm so pleased with the fit of the system from ILT it was well worth the wait. Just hope the sound is the same.
Dash had a few cracks behind the instruments which I had to glue & brace from behind - luckily all that is hidden. The timber woodgrain from Jeff at H&H Classic Auto has come up really nicely too. The dash should start going together real soon - just waiting on the radio at the moment. Big changes in the next instalment
Well its Spring here in Australia so lots of progress happening daily. This weekend the body finally went back on, it was a little more tricky than taking it off with no weight in the front after the seats, column, dash, windshield etc came out after it came off the body. 3 trolley jacks and 5"x5" timber blocks with a slot cut to sit the seam of the floor and sill worked well and a tall axle stand at the back to get the balance right. It might not sound the safest way to do it but my brother and I took no risks and lots of time. A 2 post hoist hoist would have been ideal but I don't have the space or height for that.
The body had a perfect landing and there were no dramas at all. I've got 2 weeks of vacation leave ahead just to work on the car so hope to advance things significantly.
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