I haven't posted anything since March but have done a lot. Pulled the motor but had decided not to do much of anything to it. The motor and transmission did well for the three months or so that I drove it before starting the restoration. Compression was good and very similar across all cylinders. I also know this motor was rebuilt (the heads are on the opposite sides) and is probably not original to this car. Color should be green but it's blue. It's actually pretty clean as I had it steamed.

 

Other than the heads being reversed, i didn't find anything amiss from the PO's work. There were some bolts missing and a lack of lockwashers in many places but not bad. Not sure what year the 394's were blue but that seems to be what's in here. I'm just cleaning and painting the block and heads, etc. The peripherals, gen, starter, dist, etc will be rebuilt and detailed.

 

I used Bill Hirsch paint. They recommended using a foam brush and I tried that but wasn't happy with the result. I ended up spraying with a Preval spray gun using about a three to one ratio of paint to reducer. I think it ended up much better.

 

The transmission seemed to perform well. Because of some bolt differences I determined it had been worked on at some point. All I did was drop the pan to clean it,replace the pan gasket and clean and paint it.

I should point out that I am not trying to end up with a "new" car or a perfectly faithful restoration. It's gonna be my fun driver and it will look a lot like an original 59 Olds but not exactly. I'm not a purist but I do want a reliable great looking car with no rust and protected from future rust.

So, my transmission is a nice clean aluminum and black, similar to what Olds did but not exact. I cleaned up the aluminum and clearcoated it.

 

The frame was in really great condition. Rust was minimal. There were a few bent areas from improper jacking but not serious. There was one area that was torn, again from a poorly placed jack but not bad. These are the before pics. It was mostly sandblasted before the body was removed so it's pretty clean.

 

That sure looks mighty nice~! After I get a few under hood projects done, I'm going to sandblast the underbody and coat it for salt and such. keep up the good work =) cant wait til you're finished, love seeing a project complete, also kinda sad at the same time, but enjoying something you've worked hard on is just priceless and pure.

 

Very nice.

I must say, I hadn't realized that the X-frames had those side rails.

Keep up the good work!

- Eric

 

Thanks bdub and MD. I am continually inspired by seeing all of the fine work on this site!

My garage is so small I have to work on the frame in stages, first the back, then the front. The first couple pics are after wire wheel and Marine Clean, the rest are after using Prep and Ready, rinsing and drying. Note the trick with the caster. Worked well!

 

I decided to go with gloss POR15. I hope it will clean easier and I like the look of gloss although the surface imperfections certainly show. Won't be an issue once the body's back on!

 

I replaced all of the seals and gaskets in the rear end and put in new outer bearings. Everything else looked great.

Question: Note the number lightly stamped on the diff housing. Is it a six or a nine?? A six would be 3.64 to 1, a nine would be 3.23 to 1. Not sure of the intended orientation.

Everything black is POR15. Had to turn the frame around so I can work on the front.

 

Finished the front of the frame. The light green in a few of the photos is the parts of the frame I couldn't get into. I used Eastwoods Internal Frame Coating. The sandblasters cleaned as much of the internal frame as their equipment would allow. I prepped the same as for POR15. It seems to have gotten good uniform coverage with the wand they include.

 

Jeez.

Nice job!

- Eric

 

I have just tripped over this thread and read it start to finish and checked out the pics!!
NICE work, keep it coming.
when your done i could use a hand lol

 

I think there are more 59 Olds' down there than there are up here!
Beautiful car lazy! How long have you had it and what shape was it in when you got it? Any pics of the motor?

Thanks for your kind comments! Be glad to lend a hand when I'm done. I'll send my availability dates so you can buy the plane tix and make the hotel res!

John

 

John I only have Before pics as im still working my way through all her ills.
The car was in great shape when i bought her but a poor taste resto and any number of missing bits has made my hunt " Character building"
Very little worked when I got her , brakes were shot, 1st gear AWOL, 90% of the electrics out to lunch and motor barely running.
Most things are working again ( even the AC!! ) and Its an amazing cruiser, and being the only 59 Olds in the state it draws attention lol.

 

I'm still posting stuff from last spring trying to get caught up.

I decided to replace/rebuild the entire brake system. Although they seemed to work ok, the fluid was pretty dirty. I want to go to DOT 5 synthetic fluid. I live in Oregon where it gets a bit wet and wanted to go to a rust free brake system, inside and out.

All the brake lines have been pulled and ordered new from Inline Tubing. Three of the wheel cylinders were leaking (one was new). The shoes looked pretty good so I decided to save them and put them back on.

 

The front end of this car seemed tight and steered nicely. So all I really wanted to do here was clean and paint the front springs, control arms, etc. but the more I stared at them the easier it seemed to take everything apart and get it all sand blasted, cleaned and painted part by part.

Never worked on coil springs before and it scared the heck out of me. A lot of energy stored there. I borrowed a spring compressor but these springs are so big and the compressor so small I don't think it helped that much. Managed to compress the springs only 3 or 4 inches but I got em out!

 

After cleaning and painting, I reassembled everything. When I got to the springs, I tried using the compressor again but it didn't do anything for me. The manual showed a picture of an Olds tool that holds the bottom of the spring on the lower control arm while the top is inserted in the upper arm. I made one from a piece of 2 inch id pipe. It was 2 1/4 inches od. Worked beautifully. Used the floor jack and chain to close up the control arms and spring a bit, smacked the spring with a mallet and it seated perfectly. Closed the arms more with the jack and bolted up the ball joint and it was done. Safe too.

Pics show the spring and the tool. Probably there are better ways but this one worked pretty well for me.

 

Cleaned and painted all the front brake parts including the new wheel cylinders and put it all back together. Managed to get new Delco cylinders for the front. Everything black is POR 15'd. You can see some silver around some of the bolts and nuts and that's anti-sieze. I'm a big believer in it.

 

Same story on the back brakes. Interestingly, the original color of the springs was very close to the 59 Olds engine color so I used the same paint.