car_designer

Just got back from working on the Cutlass.

Today I started filling the fluids. Filled the oil and antifreeze today.

Also checked the dash wiring to make sure there were no bare wires.

car_designer

Time to post a few more pictures.

Here is the car how it currently sits. And if you look very close, you might be able to see the colour the car is going to be. The painter did the door jambs, but not the frames around the windows on the doors.

CutlassAtRM002.jpg

Since the following picture was taken, I have cleaned up the spark plug wires and installed the belts.

CutlassAtRM001.jpg


The dash was painted before I took it away from the body shop. It looks good, except for the paint that peeled off when I took the masking off.

CutlassAtRM004.jpg

442_Mustang

You musta been ticked off to pull your car before they finished unmasking it. Looks good so far.

gearheads78

Foil to mask odd shaped parts is a great idea. I will be stealing that.

car_designer

I never would have thought of it.

car_designer

Today was a big day.

Over the last few days, we put the driveshaft back in the car and finished filling the rest of the fluids. Then double checked the wiring.

Tried turning it over, but nothing. After playing with the starter wires a bit, tried again.

After sitting for 10 months, the engine started.

There is a lot of work left to do, but I am so happy the car started and seemed to run well today.

car_designer

Since the last update, I have started the car up a few more time. Yesterday I swapped carburetors. The one that was on it was rough and would not idle the best. I had one in stock I had had rebuilt, but when I tried it last summer it would stay at full throttle even though the throttle cable was not attached. So I took it to a local carb rebuilder and he found that the first place that worked on it forgot a small part inside. The car idles even better now.

The last 3 days I have worked on painting a dash I bought in Sturbridge at the OCA Nats. Took it all apart and cleaned it. Then painted it black.

I am having trouble finding a radio that fits. I always thought that a GM radio was a GM radio, but I guess I was wrong. I never knew Olds spaced the radio posts farther apart.

Today I put the dash parts back together and re-installed a few components.

I didn't take any pics of the dash pad before I painted it, but here is the other part before paint.

DashBeforePaint-1.jpg

And here is an after shot of it back together.

Dash01.jpg

And finally, I decided to put the painted airbreather assembly on the engine.

Engine001.jpg

442_Mustang

Nice work:-)

Econow

Good job on the car. will be ready for the Ottawa shows next year. I think I saw your newer cutlass parked at the Father's Day shoe close to the arena???
Did you make it to Merrickville - was a good show. Keep it up it looks good!

car_designer

Newer Cutlass? Do you mean the Delta? I had the Delta at the Father's Day show in Kemptville.

I did not make it to Merrickville this summer, but have in the past.

flatblack

just thought i would add that the coupe did NOT have a permanent chrome post behind the door glass.. while the sport sedan came with the two posts and trim going from wheel to wheel.
that is just what i have always known but if i am wrong feel free to correct me, the more knowledge the better

car_designer

Over 2 weeks ago, the Cutlass was brought to the new body shop. He spent most of the time so far going over the body work the previous guy did, trying to get things to line up better.

The car is looking better already.

This is how it arrived at the new shop.

CutlassAtCPShop001.jpg

Here it is as of yesterday.

CutlassAtCPShop002.jpg

CutlassAtCPShop005.jpg

CutlassAtCPShop003.jpg

CutlassAtCPShop004.jpg

car_designer

Just a quick update on the Cutlass. It is almost finished at the body shop. The shell, doors, fenders, hood and trunk are painted, and some have been wet sanded/buffed. Only a few small parts are left to be painted.

The car should be home soon and then I have lots of work left to do including putting back on all the trim and lights and putting the interior back in.

How much longer until the snow hits?

Tom442

Hey P! Snow is just around the corner up there isn't it? Snow is already flying in the mountains here. Your car is looking great and you will be ready for all the spring shows in know it...do like I say and not like I do!

Tom442

cutlassgal

Good job, Paul!

car_designer

I guess I haven't updated this thread in a while.

The car has been home for almost 2 months. I am really happy with the paint job. I had a picture in my mind of what the car would look like but was nervous until I finally saw it finished. It was exactly what I expected. I will post pics once the car is completely finished, but that probably won't be until spring.

One thing I noticed when moving the car to and from the shop was the starter seems to getting old. It getting slow.

When I was in Ohio in August, I visited the Summit store and bought a new mini-starter for the car. Unfortunately it does not have the second small terminal for the points coil. So instead of adding a relay, I decided to switch to HEI. I already had one from a 307 in stock (it is from a Canadian car, so no computer to worry about, it has a vacuum advance).

After installing the starter, the HEI and doing a bit of wiring for the HEI finally it was ready to test yesterday morning. The car started a lot better than before. I still need to adjust the timing, but at least it now starts easily.

When switching to HEI, do I need to use different spark plugs? I checked the AC Delco website to see what the '72 350 takes stock, and it shows R45S gapped to 0.040.

Would I use these same plugs with the same gap, or, would I use something different?

car_designer

Since winter is coming, it is time to clean up a little so wanted to put some of the Cutlass parts in it for winter storage.

While I had it out, I decided to take a short video of the car running.

CQR

Cruel. .

cutlassgal

Paul..... I couldn't hear it!! Is it just me, lol??

car_designer

I don't know Sandy. It worked fine for me (sorry it took so long to reply to this).

Since it is winter, I have not been able to work on the car much.

But I picked up some new parts for it today so, I can now work on some stuff indoors. What could it be...

Interior001.jpg

There was a pair of these in one box.

Interior002.jpg

The other one has the rear panels.

Now I can work on a few ideas I have for the dash and door panels.

deejai35

Sounds good... familiar. Did I miss the paint job pictures?

Diego

For what it's worth, I believe it is "sport coupe," singular. That's how Olds and Pontiac referred to their post coupes. Olds' hardtops were "Holiday hardtop coupe"

Allan R

I used the same ones in my car when I switched it to HEI. You can keep the same gap - I did and don't have any firing issues. Only thing you need to change (and I see it's done already) is change the plug wires. I'm pulling my HEI this spring though. Main problem is its got a wierd advance curve; and second I can't put my dual snorkel air cleaner on. So I'm going back to the stock disty, but installing a pertronix unit for the same HEI effect.

From the hints of blue I could see around the door jambs, I'm guessing you went with something like a twilight blue?

BTW, nice job on the dash painting. You use a SEM product?

car_designer

deejai35, there haven't been any paint pics to miss yet. I'm probably going to wait to post pictures of the painted car until it is completely back together in the spring.

Diego, what I have seen has shown Sports Coupe.

Allan, thanks for the compliment on the dash. I think I used SEM, but can't remember for sure.

Diego

Well, I checked the brochure in WAC and they say it's Sports Coupe. Thinking it may be a typo, I checked it for 1970, '69, and '68. Sure enough, it was Sports, plural. How did I never notice that before?

So then I thought, "Probably because Pontiac calls it "Sport Coupe." So I checked out the GTO brochure and looked at the coupe. Would you believe it says "Sports Coupe" too?

I'm red in the face . . . . all these years!

Allan R

Those door panels look absolutely spot on. I have a set waiting to go in my car too. Not going to re-use my stock OEMs unless I can find a way to patch the holes where the window crank went. The car is being converted to PW and PDL.

Did you buy them during the Christmas sale?

car_designer

No, I actually ordered them at the end of September or early October.

Hmm... just realised I am going to have to make holes for the window cranks.

Allan R

Yup, and for the S badges that go on the wood grain, and the reflectors at the bottom. Tell you what. I'll trade mine straight across for yours. Mine have all the necessary holes and they are the same color! I need to cut holes for power options. Good deal huh?

car_designer

Interesting offer Allan, but yours won't fit my car and mine won't fit yours. Sports Coupe panels are shaped a little different at the back of the door compared to the hardtop ones. The top, back corner on the hardtop curves forward, for the post coupe they curve back.

Allan R

Well I'll be darned. Just went and looked; you're 100% right. I actually got some new door panels a while back, but the grain is not right and I'll prolly have to redo them. Thanks for adding to my knowledge base! Looking forward to when you unveil the car now that it's painted. That was a horrible tease masking down that vid so we can't see the body!!

fozz71

Great looking restoration! Thanks for keeping us posted. One odd question; I have a Pontiac that needs the steering wheel that was stuck on your column when you bought the car. Any chance I could buy it off of you if you are gonna use an Olds one to match the car?

Thanks,
Jim Chochole

car_designer

First time in months I have had the time, and the weather was nice enough, to work on the Cutlass.

After a few hours today, working (or maybe fighting) I managed to get the grille/stoneshield assembly mounted onto the car. Afterwards it was time to install the headlight assemblies and related trim.

The car is finally starting to look like an Olds again! Back at it again tomorrow.

GAOldsman

Sounds good Paul, I know your proud. Any new pics?

car_designer

After a good weekend of working on the Cutlass, I've decided to post a pic of some of my progress. I am so happy to finally have the front end assembled.

I had actually had it installed yesterday, but ended up redoing some of it today to get things aligned better. It was worth the extra work.

CutlassAtHome012.jpg

Allan R

Paul. You're a $hit sometimes ya know? I see you've discovered the 'tease' side of posting in B&W to avoid letting us see the new (blue) paint job. Yes, I have filters that work on B&W. Looks nice!

I like the Oldsmobile script in the grilles. Did you have much difficulty getting those grills into the stone shield without shaving a whole bunch of stuff?

BTW - your headlight bezels are on the wrong sides and are upside down. The little headlight adjustment openings give that away.

cutlassgal

Lookin good, Paul!!

GAOldsman

Looking GREAT Paul Keep them pics coming!

car_designer

Allan, you're starting to sounds like Sandy!

I had a real hard time getting the grilles into the stoneshield. I had to remove some of the trim tabs, sand other down. I had to modify some of the bolt holes for the bolts into the stoneshield. Then once all of that was together, I still needed to use some spacers to push the grille brackets forward enough for the grilles to line up with the hood.

I am just happy to be done with that stuff.

Oh, and I swapped the headlight bezels tonite.

Thanks for the compliments Sandy and Scot.

Allan R

Well, I best smarten up then. You know all we want is to see some color pics of that car. It looks like it's coming along nicely. Now maybe post some black and whites of the rest of it. I love that new paint smell.....

car_designer

I know, I know. But I would really like to wait until the car is completely back together before showing a picture of the whole car.