JCMC64

Installed emerg brake:




Used a front shock bushing for the emerg brake rubber stop...couldnt find a repop anywhere


Cleaned up the relay


Cleaned up the mounting bolts and nuts and wala


Will go good with the powder coated brake and gas pedals

JCMC64

I painted the Dash Satin black

Prep-





After 6 Coats of Satin Black

JCMC64

More:





Came out pretty darn good.

Also redid the VIN tag on dash. Parts of it were not really readable due to too many coats over the years in previous restores. (The top part of dash metal under windshield is very good paint wise, so not painting it. Too difficult with windshield in. PO did this area well enough). I stripped it 3 times, and then used combination of steel wool and sand paper to get the results I wanted. first strip-

JCMC64

How it came out after first strip, you can now see the number definition much better.


After 2nd strip


After 3rd strip and and lots of steel wool and light sanding.
(you got to fab something to get into this tight area due to windshield in the way, I used various MacGyvers to get er done)


Final result- after some more elbow grease, looks lot better. Got a repop surround as mine was dried out and cracked in several places.

JCMC64

Installed the Snubber and rearend bumpers. I put some motor oil on rearend slot and got one side to go in first by pushing down real hard...and then other side I pushed straight down and back a little and they sucked right in, no tools needed.





Also had a machine shop machine the rotors to fit the moser axles. You can see his numbers he used written on the rotor. Gave them my old axle as a pattern to use.

JCMC64

Got the car on the ground and out of the garage which was almost a year to the day when she was put up on the stands. Gave me a chance to really clean the garage floors really well.

As you can see I rigged up my old radiator to use untill I flush engine one more time really good, then I will put new aluminum one in. Rad core support is at Powder coaters for paint and also having it brazed first a little in some spots where metal is thin, filling couple small holes under battery tray, etc.






No more leaning rearend-- which caused front end to lean in opposite direction.


Looks darn clean under there now!

JCMC64

Installed driveshaft with new Extra Strength U joints, and also started installing Hurst ratchet shifter. I have to have machine shop cut a piece of galvanized steel I have to use as a mount for the Hurst ratchet mount, like the original floor shifters used (long base plate). New hurst shifters base plate is too small and doesnt sit on the floor right. (post that project later)

JCMC64

I needed to have a small section of Stainless steel brake line made which held me up a while. I needed a 2 foot section at the front connector where the main rear brakes line to rearend connects up to the M\C. The Right stuff piece had an odd bend in it after I rebent it to clear the headers. It was just a stupid look, so I did it the right way. When I finally started to look for a place to make it after procrastinating too long, It took 2 whole days to find someone that could make a stainless steel line in the right shape and double flare it...It was plain crazy. I went to about 10 places, some serious shops too. I might as well been asking for them to build me a F1 Apollo engine. Finally found some one to make one for $25 but it cost me $25 in gas to find somebody!

Now all Im waiting on is some Epoxy Caliper paint I ordered to paint the rear calipers to match the fronts. Down the road I will be adding some Wilwood D52's to the front.
Till then got some originals from Napa in the front, and the Right Stuff design for the back (Utilizing 79' Caddilac Eldorado calipers). I pieced my set of rear disc kit together on my own using Right Stuff design. Saved almost $200 doing it this way compared to the RS kit.

So I should have the brakes all done in next week or so.
Then I got to have exhaust work done to add ceramic reducers and have the exhaust tweaked to line up with the Hooker headers. The exhaust pipes are a bit too outboard at the moment. They need to come in an inch or so on both sides to line up with new headers.

Then when I get the rad core back from P\C, I can really make some progress. Till then going to install the Hurst shifter, and get the brakes done.

Just been plugging away little bit by little bit. Ive slowed down a bit, as burnout started to kick in a some. Had a real melt down few weeks back over stupid mistake... Thats when I knew I needed to slow down some. I was really hitting it there for 10 months straight,many many hours a day, every day... cooled off a bit last month or so, but still work on her almost every day. I need the break.

JCMC64

Also removed the Heater core box and blower motor\side air vent thing. Im looking into the Vintage Air system for Cutlass's, so this is the prep for that.

Sampson

Just been plugging away little bit by little bit. Ive slowed down a bit, as burnout started to kick in a some. Had a real melt down few weeks back over stupid mistake... Thats when I knew I needed to slow down some. I was really hitting it there for 10 months straight,many many hours a day, every day... cooled off a bit last month or so, but still work on her almost every day. I need the break.


I am enjoying this thread. Great attention to detail and your project is looking good. Sometimes you gotta walk away though. I have been working night and day on mine since Dec. I had to really hustle to get it to the point I could get it back on the frame to go to paint. It left 2 weeks ago. I am really enjoying the break. Amazing how wrapped up we can get in these things

JCMC64

Thx Sampson.
Yes, I got to admit, this project doing it pretty much completely solo is one of the hardest things Ive ever done. Physically, mentally, the works.
Ive gotten a college education worth of everything cars in the past year.
Thats no exaggeration!

Backup Light restore-

After I restored the pods, the wiring needed to be replaced. Was pretty much garbage wiring wise. Too much moisture and corrosion, one wire was completely rotted in half. I tried several wiring ideas. This was the first way using just the wiring and spring out of new socket set.

JCMC64

But then I wanted to try a oem version. So I cut some clean green wire off old wiring harness I had left over that was still fresh in sections:



Solder the old ends back on after I cleaned them up very well, then used heat shrink on them.




Cleaned up the rubber boots, put bulbs in, and done:

JCMC64

Tail Light harnesses, another mess:



Cut more good wire from old harnesses and soldered them in :



Heat shrink, waiting till later to shrink it

JCMC64

Had to swap out one of the insulators too:




Back in business


Other housing harness was better, so I just did the socket wire tips the same way as above...I then finished painting back side of housings

jj1965

Looking great like how you have repaired some of the light sockets, taking notes for my wiring rebuild.

oldsguybry

Great job ! It's really coming along .

JCMC64

Thx guys.

Brakes will be done by tomorrow. Painted the rear calipers with G2 epoxy caliper paint. Good stuff but Tedious.
I will Install complete brake system tonight and bleed it tomorrow.

HDMANSPK

Looking for 455 block

JCMC64

About a month behind on updates here...

Brakes are done, installed, and bled. Painted calipers with G2 Epoxy paint.
Hard as rock.



Also painted the hubs on rear rotors. Will do fronts later.

JCMC64

Got another load back from powder coater. I P\C the brake and gas pedal arms too along with the gas pedal retainer bracket.



Got a gas pedal arm retainer gasket from a 70' 442 at local junkyard. Mine was missing. (got lots off the 70' before they scrapped it)

Also cleaned and polished metal brake pedal arm bushing, greased it and greased new plastic bushings. Reassembled, all 3 asm's done now, looks good.

JCMC64

Bench bled the M\C and finished connecting all the SS lines.

Cheap *** OPGI brake pedal pad so thin and cheasy, just split at corners in 2 seconds when putting on. Went back to cheap new one, 10 times better.



Crazy difference in quality. OPGI uno es crapola

But in the end I got brakes again!

JCMC64

Put rims back on, going to need bigger rims in back, but for no calipers clear enough to roll in and out of garage. So I got power brakes and steering again and both work great.

I got the rad core back from P\C and installed it. I also braced it with some aluminum angle metal as fenders wont be going back on for some time still.






I left old radiator on until I flush block again.

JCMC64

Braces -




P\C headlight mounts and cups

JCMC64

After flushing block again for the umpteenth time, installed new radiator and top plate



Mock up with the bottom radiator mounts with rubber cusions on bottom of rad core. Have to align it all and figure how to
attach them later.

JCMC64

New hood bumper installed


Installed all the hood latch and hood release, all powder coated in satin black.

JCMC64

While I still had the old radiator in, I decided to deal with the nasty left overs of the AC delete on firewall. Prepped side of firewall and hit with close as match as I could. Still need to do some light feathering to get it right, but good enough for now.



Installed new 1" original look rear sway bar




Installed and ran wiring to both Headlights, All new hardware and retaining rings.

oldcutlass

Looking great!

JCMC64

After assembling and deassembling the entire rad setup many times, and thinking about how to over come the shroud tabs on bottom of rad core not matching up with radiator installed (due to aftermarket radiator thinkness increase over stock 4 core rad setup), I decided to do a modified version of the way the CSM shows for Toronado:




I needed to pull the shroud down some to clear the fan. I aligned the shroud right, and drilled two holes in the bottom of rad core, and into shroud. Then used nylon nuts and bolted it up. Now got almost 1\2 inch + clearence all the way around.


Cleaned up Air deflector, and restapled the seal as some staples were rusty and snapped...besides factory didnt staples these very well anyways. MAW...used galvanized staples, it aint ever coming off.

JCMC64

Installed radiator again for dozenth time, and bolted it all up.
It took allot of time installing and uninstalling over and over to make sure its right, but it was worth it to get it done right.





Installed Air deflector...new ILT bolts for it as old ones werent too good. I also got a bag of ILT 5\16 sheet metal screws for all the front end bolts that uses them. I counted about 50 going through Sec 11 of ASM.

JCMC64

Before I started the rad job, I flushed engine again real good. So I tightened everything up in cooling system, added fresh cooling fluid (cheap stuff as Im going to flush again in few weeks), started car and got engine up to temp, opened up the thermostat, and topped off fluid again. Rad shroud is good, everything good so far.

So I got brakes, power steering, cooling again!

SOOOOO....this marks pretty much the end of the first phase of this project. Time to turn towards the body and interior now (though Ive been tinkering all along on interior...nothing on the body yet to date)

A little over a year to do entire frame, suspension, plumbing, rearend, engine, and some of the interior.

I still got to get headers lined up with rest of exhaust which will require a pro to do.
I got Hooker Titanium collector reducers to get welded on. Then got to get rims and tires picked out. Till then, just going to find some cheap 15" rims to throw on the back to clear the bigger rotors.

JCMC64

Oops...forgot to mention two Last things I got to do mechanical are ...e-brakes and run ss tranny cooling lines. Right now i have the tran cooling ports 180'd returned back/looped since it isnt being driven. Now that I have the new radiator finally in, I can tackle that. Got braided stainless and 6AN fittings with a TCI Oil cooler.

JCMC64

Thx man.

ziff396

Hey, your car is looking great! Nice detail. I did mine in about 14 months along with working everyday. Including body and paint myself. Wife was not happy and had to take a break about 6 mos in for a couple of weeks. I agree with the burn out period. You just have to walk away once in awile and take a break. She actually set a curfiew for me @ 10 pm. Anyways, once it was finished she loves it. However, rushing to a complete date in my head has also caused me to re-do things over. And also the dreaded maw syndrome while I am at it! I guess that it would get boring if nothing was left to do to the car. New ideas are already way ahead of my pocket. I have a new vintage air system sitting in boxes since last November. By the time I got ready to install it, it was cruising time. Maybe this coming winter. At least it's paid for.

sammy

Thanks for all the updates!
I just might be learning something,
You are making a lot of progress...a ton of work!


Ted

drjr56

Great job on everything..including posting pics and progress. You are the man.

JCMC64

Thx guys. Re pics- give the audience what they want, right!

Ziff- After 10 p.m. is when I just start rocking! No kidding though I stayed up to three, four, five, o'clock a.m. so many times working on this car. And Ive pulled more than a dozen all nighters too.
Your wife and I would never work out, Hah!

For the first 6 months I was an animal, Its all I did in my spare time. Then a few months went by when the funds were short and I had to really stretch projects out do to cash flow. Then I hit burnout phase after I restarted again... but truth be told I never really rested. Just switched to low budget projects. I've eventually hit meltdown stage. So funds did slow me down a lot but I still might hit burnout if I had the money.

The body on car needs hardly any work at all, just doors and trunk lid... tiny bit of floor pan work.

Btw- I planned on taking a little break, but that didnt even last a day... started on the transmission cooling lines, and all the fun of working with braided stainless lines. Got her halfway there, will finish tomorrow.

Thanks again for all the comments.

JCMC64

Time to update:

Finished the Tranny cooler lines:

JCMC64

Temporary string bracket till I get the condenser from Vintage Air.

JCMC64

Stainless braided line to 6AN fittings and tranny cooler done. One small leak that needed tightening and on to the next job.

Had to partially cut off the old crap collectors...the don't line up and are too far forward. Couldn't drive it like this to the shop... Needs to go to muffler shop to finish and get new collectors welded on. Also want to have pipes in this area pushed upward a bit more into the Tranny Crossmember cutouts. There is too much room on the old setup in the x-member pockets, sitting too low for my taste.





At least I got one side that fits into the old flange, and the other side half way cover. I can drive it to the shop on my first maiden voyage in the next few weeks. Got a temporary bumper\Tail lights rigged up for the journey.

JCMC64

Now if Im going to drive this contraption somewhere, going to need a shifter and a seat!
Throwing the original bench seat back in temporarily. Easy to take back out.
I have to rig up some brackets though as I cannot drive it the way it is. Im 6"6"
and I cannot even get into it. We just bought a new Kia Sportage Turbo CUV that
I can get into with ease, tons of room...little Asians make cars that fit better than American muscle??

First the shifter:
Need to fab up a baseplate as this was a column shift car, and Im not going with oem stock floor shifter but rather a Hurst ratchet shifter...


Creating the template:



I already mocked this up once before, so just needs the final tweaking. I temporarily rigged the seat back up to know where to setup the ratchet comfortably...wait till you see how far back I set the seat.



Now just need to mount the bracket, and then the shifter to the bracket.