Bad news today. I leak checked the condenser before I repainted it. It is the first part that I restored. I brought the nitrogen home and leak checked the system today and found that somehow during storage I have poked a hole in it. I would bet it was during the basement flood. I just got another one out and pressure tested it and is good. I capped it off and finished bead blasting it. Now I just need to paint it and replace the one in the car.

 

I replaced the condenser Friday night and pressurized the system with 150 PSI of Nitrogen. I bumped it to 175 yesterday and is still on 175 now so I don't have any leaks. I will not charge it till the car is closer to done.

Added antifreeze, hooked up the wiring to the horn relay, I temporarley installed the shifter and battery, now i just need to add gas and it will start. I need it to move under it's own power to get it on the alignment rack next month and I planed to leave the inner fenders out till after that.

I installed the speedometer and gauges. I do not have a good original speedometer cable so I have one from Inline Tube. Turned out that the ILT cable is made wrong. The housing is the correct length but the internal cable was to long. It would bottom out at both the transmission and the speedometer and not let the housing go on far enough to latch. I had to cut off 1/4 inch of the cable.

I am heading to Ron Memmers house this morning to get a rechromed original back bumper and some other parts. I had a back bumper set aside for this car and would have been fine for my original vision of how this car would turn out. Now the car is a little nicer than the bumper so I have to get another one.

 

Very impressive progress. Will you be using R12 or R134a refrigerant?

Strange on the ILT speedo cable, you would think they would have discovered and corrected a problem like that.

Say hello to Ron for me. Ask him to bring my (Brian's) part to Carlisle.

 

Eric, Sorry I didn't have an NOS rear bumper as well for you, that would be the icing on the cake. Thanks again for the hood pull grommet! Your car is looking Fantastic.

 

Thanks guys.
It will be R12. I have around 38 lbs of it left.

I will be installing your front bumper in another couple weeks.

 

I picked up the back bumper from Ron Memmer. It is an excellent bumper and very pleased with it. He took the one I was going to use on trade to help offset the cost. I installed the light housings and now ready to install on the car. I was considering a repop but glad I went with a rechromed original.

 

I got the back bumper mounted. It fits very nice and much better than the one I was going to use.

I wish I had more time to work on it but I mostly only have Saturdays. This Saturday I plan to finish my A/C duct work and 8 track radio and then put it on the lift and adjust my exhaust system and install my exhaust tips. I will also add some gas and fire it up to move it to the lift. Will be the first time for it to move under its own power since 1981.

 

I was getting bored working on this car and have lost some of my motivation over the past month. I was still working on it but slower than normal. I just wasn't into it for some reason. Well, tonight I put gas in the tank and sit in it cranking it over with the key. Feeling the engine cranking and shaking the car just from cranking got my heart pounding. I have already had it running but to feel it cranking while sitting in it was another thing. I cranked it for about 10 seconds without giving any gas. It got some gas to the carb and just barely tried to start when I let off. I double checked everything and triple checked everything and then got back in and started it up. Boy does it feel good to use the key and the throttle pedal. All the gauges worked as they should and even the factory clock works.

If you can't tell, I have my motivation back and very excited to finish it up!

 

I had the fan hitting the bottom of the shroud just a little but I found that I had the wrong speed nuts on the bottom side of the shroud. It was not letting the shroud adjust far enough down. I fixed that and a small brake fluid leak. Installed the tail light lenses and got the exhaust adjusted where it needs to go. It is the first exhaust system that I ever got that fits like they said it would. I have not mounted the tips yet but they also fit very nice. The exhaust system is from Inline Tube.
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Wow It is looking great. Almost to nice to drive.

Larry

 

Very, very, nice.

 

Nice indeed. I'm also impressed on how you've been keeping this project moving along at a pretty good rate.

 

Wow! Very nice!

 

Oh, man that looks so nice

 

Looks Great!! Can't wait to see the finished results!!! I went with ILTs exhaust pipes also & found the fit was excellent. I wasn't going for the total factory resto look & I liked that they offered oversized tailpipes in 2 1/4" instead of 2" I didn't want to go with the hassle of headers on a BBO/4spd but I figured the o/s tailpipes & the Thrush turbo mufflers I went with would be an improvement.It has a nice "Olds" sound to it!! Keep those pics coming!!!!!!

 

Beautiful Eric. Nice work!

 

Beautiful Car!

Are the tips just tack welded on or welded all the way around the tailpipes?

Believe the distance from the bumper to the top end of the tip is 1 1/4" Is this correct?

Thanks for any info.
Dick

 

Thanks for all the comments guys.

The assembly manual calls for a 1/2 inch gap between the bumper and the tip. I just slid it out till I had that 1/2 inch gap. It looks closer in the picture than it is. I have not welded them yet but I will just tack them on a couple sides. I think original had 3 welds on them about 3/4 inch each?

Most tips I see are to far out.

 

Took the car to my body guys house. He had the front end parts lined up very nice in less than an hour. I just don't have enough experience with this to be worth my time or risking scratches. I helped mount the hood but have a problem with it latching. The latch on the core support needs moved up about 1/8 of an inch. I do not know how to do this without bending something.

I left the car there because he said he could aline the side glass in less than an hour.

 

Got the car back today. I would like to start on the front grill and bumper parts this weekend.

 

Wow!! Does that look nice!! I wondered if you would keep us in
suspense for big reveal, before we would see daylight pictures

 

keep going eric the end is in sight, looking very good

 

wow looking good!

 

Thanks guy,

Today has been a frustrating day. Never installed an 8 track in an A/C car before but that is not so easy. Took me over an hour to do what would take 5 minutes in a non A/C car. Tested it and works great. Moved onto the pillar seals for the side glass. These are from Inline Tube and not even remotely close to the same as originals and will not work. Then moved onto the window fuzzies and Had to ream the holes in them to get them to work. I wanted to just drill new holes in the doors but the holes were close enough that I couldn't. Installed the Metro door weather Strip and it is not even close to being correct at the front. I will not be able to use it. Then moved onto adjusting the shift cable and back drive adjustments. At least this went very good. I am frustrated and walking away from it today. I bet I am well over $1000 in junk repop parts that will not work. Most from Inline Tube but not all. I think Inline Tube hits a home run with a nice part or it is completely junk. There is no inbetween with them.

 

same here eric after reading your problems with the fuzzes I went out to ck the fit on mine they are not even close 3 inch's short. they must be for a post car and they are not from inline tube but from legendary, will have to call them monday for a return code box them up and get them to a shipper what a hassle all these eras and poor parts is sure frustrating but we just have to deal with it as best we can. sure with the general still had all the parts we need.

 

Have you guys tried Fusick as a supplier? It may be a few bucks more (or maybe not), but their only business is Oldsmobiles. (The reason I'm asking is, I've got all of this nonsense ahead of me.)

 

Yes, Fusick is very good on most things. I have found that Inline Tube has a couple parts that are better than they have and also found that Fusick has some parts that are better. This is one thing that is good about Ron Memmer. He will get one of the same thing from every supplier and see what one is best. After that he mostly stocks the best of them all. I just get extremely Pi$$ed when a company sells a part that is not even usable and than most time not willing to take it back after 30 days.

 

I talked to Ron Thursday and Friday at Carlisle. He was pretty impressed on how your car was turning out Eric.

 

He had come over three or so months back to buy some 69 H/O wheels from me. He may be biased because it has some of his parts on it.

 

That's the first I've heard of Ron Memmer. I need to pay closer attention... And yeah, I share your bodily function when the purchased parts are junk.

 

He is in Monticello Indiana and carries a huge amount of NOS and used parts. Also carries a huge amount of reproduction parts. He is not normaly the lowest price but it is very rare to have a problem with what you get from him.

 

Very good. North of me by a couple hundred, but within striking distance. Thanks!

 

Eric, Glad I'm Event Head Judge at the Nats this year and won't have to judge any cars. Your's is gonna be a contender for sure.

 

This is a project that I was dreading very bad. My original carpet was not saveable and got a reproduction when I ordered my Legendary interior parts. It is called Trim Parts Molded Carpet and made in the USA. I got it out of the box a month or two ago and let it start resting into its molded shape. Sunday I set it in the car and found right off that something was wrong, or so I thought... The center did not lay down on the hump correct and was popping up to much. I did very little after that Sunday and walked away from it. Monday I looked at it again and cut off an inch from the front of the carpet to get it to straddle the hump better. It was still off and then I noticed what I thought was the back part of the front carpet was molded wrong. I walked away from it again. Tonight I had a third look and all made much more since. I ended up cutting a total of almost 5 inches off the front before I got it to fit correct. Now it fits so well I would not be able to tell it apart from original. Looking back at my Rallye 350 now I know why the carpet didn't fit well in it. I needed to cut more off the front of it.

This is one of the things I was not looking forward to but now am VERY pleased with it.

 

This just looks awesome!

 

Looks great, I'm glad you wrote about this, as I have the same carpet I got from Legendary and will be installing mine in a month or so. I was a little concerned about what you were saying, until I got to the end of your write up. So you have to cut a nearly five inches across the carpet going under the firewall pad? Why would they not put a note in the box as a heads up? That would be too easy. Thanks.

 

thanks for the info. on the carpet eric as I also got my carpet from legendary. good to know these things, looking good

 

I cut it all the way across the front edge one inch at a time. I don't think it will be the same amount on all carpets. On the back side of the front carpet you will be able to see where it is molded to drop down to the floor from the seat mounts. You will have to cut a little at a time till this area drops down to the floor like it should. I will add more pictures tonight of other details. I am glad I had 3 parts cars to look at because I couldn't figure out where it tucked under and over the firewall pad.
I had to cut so much off the front that I only have about one inch of overlap with the back carpet.

I wish I had the ability to make a youtube video for doing this. I could not find a single video that helped me.

 

I used the carpet from Trim Parts also,I ended up taking the padding from the original carpet and glueing it to the new carpet,then I laid the old carpet on top of the new carpet and trimmed it just a bit larger than the old,after that the carpet fit good and I was able to do final triming as nessesary in the car. I wasnt overly impressed with the Trim Parts carpet. Its been a while since but Ive used ACC in the past and its more correct. The heal pad is bonded just like the original not stitched around the perimeter like the Trim parts and fits better.

 

We just put ACC carpet in a '72 Monte last weekend, and the trans tunnel was molded WAY too high. It was a bench seat/4 speed setup with no console, so it was hard as heck to tighten that area up, we ended up having to take out 3/4" to 1" strip of material and butt seam it back together. Everything else was great, just that area killed us.