The body guy matched the original over spray amount really well. I have seen some cars with more than this and some with less. This car you could hardly tell just how much was there but there were some places that still give clues. The body guy thought I was crazy to want the over spray. He likes hard lines.

 

As most of you know, My wife had a major surgery and I had been taking care of her for 4 months. She had posted this picture of Facebook so I figured you could see what the 4 month hold up was about. 25 screws installed by one of the top spinal surgeons. At least he is one of the top in my eyes. She was almost 1.5 inches taller after the surgery. She had a 39 degree curve at the top and a 66 degree curve at the bottom and getting worse every year.

 

Should make going thru the airport security interesting. Limited movement?

 

Very limited now. She is learning how to do things different now. Simple things that we all take for granted. Next time you go to the bathroom, try to wipe with your back strait up and do not move it at all. No twist and no bending other than the hips. Not so easy. The great news is that it has only been 4 months and she is already in MUCH less pain than she was before the surgery. She still has pain but nothing like it was. God is good!

 

I'll probably do something about the same with mine. I wish I knew what the factory finish was on the bottom. So little of it is left that I'm not sure. I want something with excellent corrosion resistance and has a matte finish like this. Black is the obvious, usual choice and quite possibly what I'll do, but I wonder about some sort of gray that looks like steel, or possibly a color that looks like factory primer. That's why I wonder what it once was. That would make it easier to copy. All I see now is mud, rust and grease, I will look harder.

I understand your paint guy's point of view. Normally any painter that is any good will work to not get overspray everywhere. That's the sign of a sloppy half assed painter. Kind of like the factory was! I like it. I'll likely do the same. If you're building a brand new 1962 Oldsmobile, that is what it would look like.

 

I'm so glad to hear your wife is doing better. Both my wife and I have had back surgeries, but nothing as involved as this! I totally understand the long road to recovery and I also understand how wonderful it is to finally have the pain diminished. Once you get to that point, trading range of motion for lack of pain is deal well worth doing.

 

According to an "old timer " I know . Who worked at Fisher Body in Lansing from '49 - '84 . The body panels were welded together in a jig , And then the entire body shell was dipped in a giant vat of red primer.
They were sanded on external surfaces that showed , and then went to the paint booth .
The oval shaped holes in the floorpans were there for the primer to drain out of the floor and trunk pan wells .
This primer was known as " Bonderizing "

I sand blasted. my '63 Dynamic 88 . And there was evidence of this red primer .
I painted the bottom of the car with black epoxy primer , for corrosion protection . And then I will give the bottom one coat of "rotten apple red " acrylic primer just for color .

 

If only somebody back then was kind enough to take some nice color photos of the bottom of the car for us!! I wonder if all the body plants used the same exact material, or if things were more locally sourced then? I'll see if I can find anything on Bonderizing.

 

I looked up Bonderizing. It's basically a phosphate coating just like parkerizing on firearms. It is done for corrosion protection and widely used in the automotive industry as Charlie describes above. However it's not a primer. Primer was done afterward and then paint. I don't know if they dipped the primer as well, or sprayed it. I bet it was dipped.

 

That's what I just told you .
Obviously , the bonderizing was done just before it was dipped .
I misinterpreted the term " bonderizing " to mean the primer itself .

Talking with Clyde (the "old timer " ) about his years at Fisher Body was very educational .

 

Started rebuilding the starter and fuel pump today. Just waiting on a set of brushes for the starter before I can put it back together. I had an NOS solenoid for it with the correct part number stamped in it. I didn't plan to replace the solenoid but the original one is bulged in a spot from internal rust. I thought these would be flat black but the paint that was left on it was more of a semi gloss. The nose was not painted and was phosphate. I did not phosphate that part and just leaving the original coating alone.

The fuel pump I have decided to not rebuild. I am going to use my NOS pump. I took the NOS one apart to be sure the rubber was still good in it and it is good as new inside. After taking apart the original one I am not really sure how it was even working at all.

 

It is starting to really sink in just how far behind I am on this car from what the original plans were.... I would not change a thing though because my wife is worth it. In a way I am going to enjoy it more this way because I can do the work in good weather instead of cold weather, I really hate cold weather.

No pictures but I took a load of parts to my friend that does sand blasting. This will likely be his last job for me. He has retired but still has his equipment so does jobs like this for friends. By the time I need something done next time I doubt that he will even do my stuff by then. He lost an eye in Vietnam but that sure don't affect his work. He don't miss anything.

I decided to have some of the parts powder coated instead of paint. Mostly because it is MUCH less money than paint, at least it is for me in my area. I can get an entire car frame done for around $110. I suspect that I will have less than $250 in all I am having done.

This is a picture of his blasting rig. This is from when he sand blasted my W-30 chassis parts.

 

That's awesome to have a friend in the business. I have a local sand blast guy near me that I'll likely use for some big pieces and I'm considering getting a mobile "dustless blaster" out to do the bottom of my car on my lift when the time comes. I just don't have the room, or space for a rotisserie and I just don't think I can afford to pay somebody with a rotisserie, but we'll see.

 

My started brushes come in today so I finished the starter. Also, my buddy already has the blasting done. I had two sets of drums done. I wanted to redo two sets and pick the set that turns out best. All these parts were $175 to blast. I will drop some of this stuff off at the powder coater tomorrow.

 

Looks like you got your money's worth out of that starter brush .
Did you true and undercut the commutator ?

 

All I did was to chuck it up and use emery cloth on it. I didn't cut it. For as bad as the brushes were, it was actually really good. The car only had 44K mils but sure had lots of wear on the brushes. The bushings were really good so I did not replace them.

 

It probably had a difficult time starting up, due to the side-draught carburetor and long intake plumbing

 

Steve Hackel got my wiper motor done.

 

I need to send my wiper motor to be rebuilt .
If you don't mind me asking , how much was it ?
Can you give me contact info on Steve Hackel ?

 

This one was $250. Here is his email. This is the only contact information I have for him.
s.hackel@att.net

 

Wow that’s impressive work! 👍

 

Here is his website with more info and contact options.

http://restorationservice.net

 

Thanks guys , Eckler's wants $500 for a rebuilt motor . Probably rebuilt by Steve .
I'll call him tomorrow .

 

Picked up my parts from being powder coated. Hope to start assembly of the front suspension in the coming days. I know, powder coat does not belong on a true restoration but for me it is so much less money than paint. All this was $300. Well, Some of what I had done is not in these pictures. The front crossbar and extra battery tray parts even.

I also finely got my bumpers back after he had to redo them. They are much better this time. I did not want show chrome but wanted nice. I feel they meet what I wanted really well. Can still see the die marks on the bottom in some places like you could on the original chrome.

 

The front cross bar. I really goofed on this. I had planned to fill the pitting with JB Weld before I took it to be coated. I have no idea what I was thinking because I forgot to do it. Now the pitting is very visible. I am may still fill the pitting and paint it but not sure. I will likely just leave it as is

 

This side faces the engine, no? My logical side says let it go, no one will know, but my OCD side says patch it, and paint it on that side. If you don't you'll grind your teeth about it for years. Likely you'll end up taking it apart and painting it later anyhow.

 

I talked to my powdercoater about a similar situation on my battery tray .
He said it would be OK to put fiberglass , bondo , or paint over the powdercoat .
He told me to " rough up " the powdercoat with Scotchbrite or sandpaper first .

 

Yes, Powder coat is a really good base. I painted over some powder coat on my W-30 when I build it. Does really good.

 

The sideways and upside down pictures really make me mad..... Been doing that for 8 months or so, GRRRR!

I assembled the from A arms today. Used NOS ball joints and the original upper cross shaft and bushings.

 

I am not moving very fast on this build compared to the W-30 I built. I am not in a hurry and lots of summer fun with the family this year that does not involve Oldsmobile. Headed to Colorado for a week or two soon so that will be even less done.

I undercoated one of the rear wheel wells. I replicated the way it was and how our automatic car is. The undercoat is over the paint color over spray but only in the back wheel wheels.

I zinc phosphated a set of brake drums to see if that is what I wanted and turned out really good. I was hopping they would be slightly lighter in color but this will work. Now I will do the original drums at some point. I will press those apart and do the drums only and not the hub or studs.

 

Looks great as usual. What undercoating did you use?

 

I used a ruberized undercoat that I have had for several years. I tested it on a junk hood to see if it was even any good still and was fine. I was told it is not even available still. It was from a company called Mar-Hyde. I would like for it to have been a little thicker like original but it will work ok.

 

Black-painted metal dissipates heat best. That's why motorcycle engines and car radiators are painted black

 

Hey Eric. I have never spent much time on this site and just read through your entire post. You are doing a fab job of doing a complete detailed story on your resto here. Decided this is the best place to be posting my restoration too to help others in the future. I don't get much feedback from 'the other web site' and worry about whether the site will be 'lost' in the future. Anyway, you certainly are doing an amazing restoration for someone who starts out by saying.... and I quote: "Our goal on this car is not a 1000 point restoration."!

Anyway, now that I am done teasing you like I'm your older PIA sister: you posted something that totally got my attention! Both Steve & I 'did not' remove a grommet from the lid. We got out our assembly manual and realized there is a line that goes to the carb, then we checked the turbo set up and Jim's note about 'outlet to air cleaner'.

SO what is this all about: why is there a line to the carb on the 4 speed only and how big is that line? It looks like it is around a 1/8" line? Your explanation and comments will be greatly appreciated!

Sandy ~

 

Hi Eric, I have not spent much time on this site, just found your post on your current project and see you are posting a far more in-depth documentation of the restoration here. Excellent!

The above post got my attention. I do not remember removing any rubber grommet from my air can for my 4 speed car, nor does Steve. Got out my assembly manual and I see there is a hard line that goes from this to the carb. Went and checked my turbo Jim N restored for me and he has a hanging tag stating 'line to air cleaner'. This is all new to me so I searched all my photos and there was no line in any of my photos (taken before disassembly). Of course I am wondering why my 4 speed no longer had that?!

So what is this line all about? There is no reference as to its purpose that I could find in the assembly manual. There is a reference to a solid 'plug for certain cars and a grommet for the 'HT only' - which now I assume refers to the 4 speed? Based on the size of the hole in your photo, it looks to be about a 1/8" line? I have not removed my turbo assembly from the crate Jim shipped it in yet. Is it a flare fitting at the carb? How long is the line and is there anything on the end of line inside the air can? Your wisdom on this will be greatly appreciated!

Sandy

 

Thanks for the comments on my restoration. When I get farther along in my restoration you will see why it will not be a 1000 point car. There are going to be flaws because I am reusing many things that would normally be replaced. Some of these things are weathered, like weatherstrip, cracked like the steering wheel, and radial tires. Also upgrades like power steering and automatic adjust brakes that did not start till 63. All the upgrades are original Oldsmobile parts at least.

As for the rubber grommet in the air cleaner, The one int he picture is a solid plug and would only be on manual transmission cars. An automatic car has an automatic choke and requires hot air from the exhaust manifold to heat the automatic choke. The air is supplied to the exhaust manifold from a pipe that would be in this hole so that it gets clean filtered air. The HT is Hydramatic Transmission and is the only cars that will have the pipe in this hole. Since our manual cars have a manual choke then the hole was just plugged off.

 

I zinc phosphated more brake drums and other parts yesterday. I finely picked out the best 4 drums and took them to be turned today. They called and said they were able to take less than .010 off of three of them to get them true but the 4th one is to far out of round. I will take another one tomorrow and see if it is good. three of them are original from this car but one, the bad one, is from another car. Sadly I goofed up the other original one trying to get the studs out of it.

I also picked up an NOS set of brake shoes from Fusick. Paid a little more for them than I wanted but they are GM parts and riveted.

 

Looks great Eric. Are the drums front and rear interchangeable? I'm still looking for all the hardware to do the self adjust upgrade like you did too.

 

No, the backs are narrower. Most all my brake hardware I have left for the front is not very good. I still have not started digging into the back brakes. I hope I have a good set of rear for my car. The springs and everything are different between the two years. I can't remember but the hold down springs may be the same for the primary shoe.

 

I got the front suspension and brakes done. I installed it in the car for now. I will need to roll the car around some before I am ready to install the engine. I will pull the suspension back out when I am ready to install the engine. Added a before and after picture. Looking back, I should have replace my front cross bar. Lots of pitting I did not fix.