Napoleon Solo

A little shameless self promotion....

Napoleon Solo

I just got my body and chassis hardware kits from AMK and I am thoroughly impressed. This weekend I expect to begin basic reassembly of the chassis. My disc brake kit from MBM should be arriving in the next few days so that should expedite things a little too. Just have to get my diff blated, reassembled and painted.
I also picked up my carb today from the Canadian Carburetor Company, a local shop that rebuilds carbs for customers worldwide. I opted for the basic package - disassemble,clean, rebuild. I supplied the gasket kit and it came in just under 500 bones. Apparently a concours level resto can be around $4k. Wow.
I even got my fenders back from Terry at TLC today, they're perfeck - ready for priming. He's going to start working on my ugly core support next. Then finally the hood.
More real updates coming soon..

therobski

Solo replying to your May 19th-the rims are 15x7 big car GM Steelies, blasted and painted. FYI if your radiator core is shot and your considering finding a replacement, get a 65 than you can put in bigger radiator. 65's are 3 inches taller.

Napoleon Solo

Reheheheallyyyy.... You just helped me figure out why my core was butchered...I must stop my metal guy!

Napoleon Solo

My buddy who will be painting the coupe laid a red pinstripe on my wheels today. This kind of little stuff is what makes a car stand out. He Sez he'll shoot some clear on the wheels to really make them pop.

therobski

Thats what I had in mind on mine, paint the steelies black and put a red stripe around like yours. Looks great.

therobski

Solo consider this if your not trying to keep the totally car original- a 64-65 GTO radiator is the same size with the lower outlet on the passenger side. I put an aluminum radiator in my 64 with an upper flexible hose and a few slight mods. That's it.

Napoleon Solo

That looks great. I'm not super concerned about having things look completely stock so I was looking at putting in an aluminium unit. I talked to my metal work guy and he was already well into restoring my core support so we figured it was best to carry on. So, a '65 core will fit without issue. It feels like momentum is starting to build...

therobski

Reminder if you don't already know, the 64 330 water pump is a one year only the outlet is on the drivers side, 65 and up all is good, the outlet is the passenger side

Napoleon Solo

Yeah - I just painted my new '64 only water pump today. I have a customer who builds radiators so worst case I can get his shop to pressure test my current one or build me one.

therobski

It maybe less cost to buy a 65 on up water pump, and get an aluminum radiator -64-65 GTO/ Lemans/tempest, other than have a special one built with the outlet on the drivers side. My-two-cents.

therobski

The motor in the 64 is a fresh 67 442 400 CI BB with 65 BB heads.

Napoleon Solo

I hear ya. BUT my radiator guy and I swap work all the time so there is really nothing out of pocket if I go that route. We'll see how it shakes out.
On a different note, I started the chassis reassembly today...

therobski

Send us an update when you have a chance or if you need help with anything-been there done that!

Napoleon Solo

Since starting to put stuff together I came across some issues early. First off, my new Moog idler arm doesn't fit. So, does anyone have the Moog part number for one that works?
Secondly - novice question - does bushing insertion orientation matter? Flange in or out? Is there a need for the rubber 'washer' supplied?

Thanks gang.

therobski

Solo, double check the part number on the idler arm, the end that bolts to the frame, (with the two holes)-turn it 180 degrees then should fit. The bushings for the control arms-never saw a two piece. Anyway those bushings are a press fit and machine shop can do those. That's what I did on my 67. On the 64 I have a Hothkis suspension-tubular control arms. Here some pictures that may help you with assembly. Good luck.

Napoleon Solo

Awesome Rob - but boy is my face red...I'm going to go bolt it in right now.

therobski

Thats what were here for is to learn, enjoy and spend your kids inheritance on the hobby!

Napoleon Solo

I picked up my disc brake kit from MBM over the weekend. I have just about everything I need to go full on with the chassis reassembly. There are a few parts that need to be painted to match the rest of the suspension. The only missing link is the rear diff which I am painting today and will subsequently go back to my buddy's shop for reassembly. I just have to get all my new bushings pressed in and it's all wrenching from there. More to come.

therobski

I love putting the new pieces together, especially the "sweat equity" that we put in these old cars. That's the big reason why when I can is I buy the best parts. It's cheap compared to the labor $$$ you would pay a quality shop in install. Love your progress.

oldcutlass

Looking good

oldstata

Wow great progress! At this rate you will be cruising by next spring!

Great work

Napoleon Solo

Thanks! The plan is to have it finished by spring. Possibly sooner - I am hoping to be blowing Midnight Mist on it by September. Once that happens, the body comes home and final reassembly begins. Fingers crossed...

Napoleon Solo

Ok, work has been crazy busy lately but over this long weekend (in BC anyway) I did manage to get a little work done. I painted my transmission and began final prep to spray the block too. When this is done I'm going to clear coat the whole works so it will be shiny shiny! A fellow member on CO had posted a pic of a hot rod with an Olds drivetrain which was all painted gold. I thought it looked pretty slick.

When I was draining my trans I spilled a little on the floor. I had my daughter take that pic so I could send it to my bro in law - he nearly had a coronary!! My wife too for that matter....

The plymouth in that last pic is a documented hemi 4speed Superbird. That my friends is what a million dollars looks like....getting a full resto starting with me.

randyw30

which size of exhaust pipe and kind of mufflers should I run on a 64 442 with stock 330 v8.

Napoleon Solo

I am pondering that very question these days. I'll be running Thornton manifolds and probably 2-1/2" exhaust. I haven't decided on a vendor for the system yet but there's a lot to choose from.

Lots more happening right now. There will be big updates coming.

Napoleon Solo

I haven't done much on the car for a long time for multiple reasons but it looks like I'll be back on track soon enough. I bought a home electroplating kit and finally put it to use this weekend.
I didn't want to install all of my suspension parts with uncoated hardware because they'd end up getting all rusty eventually. I'm well impressed with the results of the kit for a first go at it. The hardware looks store bought plated.
Now I can move forward with the assembly of the rest of the chassis and engine.

Napoleon Solo

I picked up my manifolds on Saturday and gave them a test fitting. Looks sweet. I am sending them out for ceramic coating this week.

oldsmobiledave

Are these re-po Thornton manifolds?

bigin1978

where did you get the plating kit from?

Napoleon Solo

Dave! The Manifolds are Thornton repros and they fit reeeaalll nice. The plating kit is from a company called Caswell. All in, the plating kit cost me around 500 bones with all of the little bits you need to get going. Well worth it.

Napoleon Solo

Now that I can plate all of my hardware the rear assembly went quickly. A few hours and blam. Done. Over the next few days I can finish the front brakes and make it a roller.
A customer of mine is giving me an engine run up stand so in a week or so after my engine is finally put back together I can see if it grenades on me...

stan 65 cutlass

that frame looks amazing, i hope you dont plan on ever getting it dirty. of course it never rains out here right napoleon ??

mauricer

Looking good Napolean, I finally got settled in my new place and starting the build of the 65, frame went for blasting yesterday and I should be painting it next week then start the reassembly process

malibru

Unbelievable. What progress you've made in such a short time. My car will be hardly as professional. That is some outstanding work there, thank you for posting and sharing all of this. You will help keep me motivated! Hell your engine stand alone is nicer than my car

therobski

That's coming along, I'm going to jump back on mine real soon.

Napoleon Solo

Gentlemen,
I give you the 1964 cutlass rolling chassis....
I am happy with the disc brake fitment and how most of the parts went together. I still have a bunch of stuff to do including intalling the brake lines and fuel line but simple stuff like torqueing bolts and securing cotter pins.
Time to focus on the engine and trans. Hopefully I get my ebgine run up stand this week.

And thanks for the wonderful input and comments everyone!

RROLDSX

That's a pretty classy chassis. Hope to see it on the road soon.

I still have those spring and they still look great.

I went with my original rear spring that I re-conditioned and some drag bags
to get the height I wanted.

Randy

Napoleon Solo

A minor update but an update none the less. While waiting for the engine run-up stand to touch down I am moving on to some of the smaller stuff that I can work on. I reassembled most of my shifter assembly after painting the base and cad plating all of the bits. While fiddling with it I managed to break a tab off the shift indicator - so if anyone has one to spare let me know - I'll need it.

therobski

Looks great, your paying attention to detail-I like that!