I figure I better get this Major Projects thread stated before I'm too far into the project to remember where I started -LOL.
Here's how I found her: all banged up, sitting in a texas cow pasture, open to the elements (god only knows for how long) just wasting away. Engine and tranny were MIA, as were the keys to the ignition. Had to pull the steering wheel and remove the locking ring so we could turn the wheel to load her onto the U-Haul rented tow dolly. The tires were completely shot (dry rotted) so I bought 4 cheap "take-offs" from Discount Tire and mounted them on a spare set of SSIIs I've had in the garage for the past 14 years. After mounting the road-worthy tires and backing off the brake shoes, my buddy & I headed back to Houston (a 5-hour drive, one-way). That was a long day and as we unloaded back in Houston I questioned my sanity; taking on such an ambitious project. To top it all off it was April 1st!

 

I think I have a 442. The drivers side fender has holes drilled for the 442 numbers, but the passenger side fender was bondo'd over where the emblems should be. The hood has the chrome louvers, but the busted-up grilles in the back seat are regular '72 Supremes. The rear control arms are boxed but no sway bar. The "K" in the VIN confirmed the missing motor to be a 350-4v and the body tag says its a Lansing-built car with #26 Viking Blue paint and white bucket seat interior (a very sweet combination IMHO).
First thing I did after getting it home to Houston was drop the gas tank looking for a build sheet, but no such luck. While dropping the tank I noticed the differential cover has this weird indentation. It looked strange to me because most of my previous olds were '71 models with the O-type rear end. I thought someone had installed a Chevy rear end, so I got out a scraper and a wire brush and went looking for more clues. After some internet searching I learned that this is the 8.5" corporate 10-bolt rear and I'm pretty sure it came with the car. SA = 2.73 ratio non posi. LCA bushings in the front are the oval style, doesn't look like there is any rubber left in the bushing.

 

I've been shopping CraigsList for months now looking for good parts close by. I borrowed my buddy's trailer over Memorial Day weekend and bought some parts up in Dallas. Picked up a good front clip with a louvered hood, from great guy named Chris who's restoring a 442 coupe. He had some other odds-n-ends I bought; NOS stone shield, OAI hood locks (repos), 350-4v manifold, windshield bright moldings, etc.
I bought a '76 350 smog motor with #8 heads from a guy in Fort Worth. Casting number 395558-2 with a "6" on the oil filler tube. Didn't want a late model block with the windowed mains. I think this is a good rebuildable block? His brother drove the car it was in with a flat tire and it caught on fire - burned the car to a crisp! I hope the block is OK, the pistons may be melted from the heat of the fire - IDK. But for $75 bucks I thought it was worth the risk and I'll probably rebuild the motor with new pistons anyway.

 

I can relate to searching Craigslist and EBay for parts. I do it daily. Good luck with your build.

 

After much soul-searching, I've decided to part-out the '72 cutlass convertible. There's just too much rust repair in places that would be too difficult to repair. I found substantial rust at the convertible top body mounts and the inner quarter body braces. The good news is there are enough good parts on the car that I think I can recoup my initial investment... if I stop now and sell off the pieces. I'll be posting a list of parts in the coming weeks.

 

So, I've been actively looking for a better project car, as the overwhelming opinion of CO members was to part-out my current car and find a better starting point. As the U2 songs goes, "but I still haven't found what I'm looking for"... So in the mean time I've continued to work on the car I have. I realized that I wanted a project, something that I could say "I did that." If I wanted a perfect car I could go out and buy one already done...but where's the fun in that. I figure if I don't buy a bunch of parts, or spend too much $$$; it's only a little bit of my time and a great opportunity to gain some hands-on experience.

First off, I decided to put the bent frame question behind me. I did some very extensive measuring of the front frame rails and the measurements were consistent; as I criss-crossed the frame everything seemed to "add" up. So the very tip of the left front frame (horns I think they are called) is a bit folded over and will need to be straightened.

Second, I started researching replacement panels for the swiss-cheese that used to be the floor. AMD makes a full floorpan that has the supports underneath and little triangle shaped braces that are under the backseat (mine are rusted thru pretty badly). So I've started drilling out the spot welds along the rocker panels to remove the floorpan. Anybody purchased panels from these guys? Their customer support guy was very helpful and knew what he was talking about.

Third, I welded up some bracing to support the door openings (as I've seen others do) and started breaking loose the body mount bolts; and I mean breaking in the literal sense. So we'll see how it goes, I may keep going (in spite of all the great advice) if it all goes well. I wanted a project, and everyone who has seen the cars has said, "that's a project!"

 

Can't wait to see it finished

 

Wow, our cowl tags are almost identical !

Your car was built in the 1st week of March and mine was built in the 5th week of march. Besides that, they appear to be the same.

My 72' has the same rear end. It's a GM 10bolt 8.5" Corporate. The cars that were built in Lansing have that different looking diff cover.

Good Luck ! Hope you can bring her back from the dead...

 

Jimmy, thanks for the encouragement! That's so cool that our cars were built so close together. I checked out your youtube video - man your car is sweeet! I really love the #26 Viking Blue color on these cars, and yours wears the blue and white really well. Is it originally a 442, or did you do the tribute/clone thing? I think my car is an original 442, but alas, I have no paperwork to back up my claims. It has the louvered hood, boxed rear control arms and one of the fenders is drilled for the numbers, but no other clues. I was hoping to find a build sheet or broadcast card to verify the options, but no such luck. I hope to do some more work this weekend. I'm almost ready to separate the body from the frame. That's the first major milestone on this project.

 

You have one heck of a project there.

Of course i don't know for sure either, but just going by your pictures, i'd say your car wasn't originally equipped with the W-29 "442" option. For starters, the body side moldings that are on your car, both halfway down from the beltline and along the rocker panel areas, would've been "deleted" with the 442 option. Also, there should be an 'Oldsmobile' emblem at the left front of your louvered hood. Of course, now that you know this, you can make all of those changes and more, restore it, and present it as a 442 like thousands of others are nowadays.

 

From the looks of things, the car has been repainted once, and the body side moldings were an add on after the 2nd paint job - the rivets kind of gives it away. You're right about the rocker chrome, that definitely is not a 442 molding. When I bought the car, I saw the louvers, fender holes and the boxed control arms and thought just maybe I had a "find." But probably not. Then again, in '72 you could equip any Cutlass with "442" options, even the Supreme.
I'm actually kinda torn about which way to go with the car; 442 or Supreme. I think they both look good. I like the rocker chrome and the lettering across the trunk, but I also think the OAI hood is the best looking ram air hood on the planet. My goal is to keep everything as close to original, stock appearance as possible, but stop short of building a trailer queen. I don't want to be afraid to drive this car. Thanks for your comments.

 

Good luck with it. Someday when you are out cruising it you will think to yourself "Man, remember when I almost parted this out?" and have a good laugh.

 

I ordered a new AMD complete floor pan with braces from Tamraz; he had the best internet price $629 with free shipping. I chose the AMD part because it already had the seat belt bracing and bench seat mounts (I still have to weld in the extra bucket seat mounts). It also has the factory correct brace for the rear quarters. It's a trapezoid shaped piece welded on top of the rear floor brace, and seem to be a critical reinforcement for convertibles. After drilling out all the spot welds that hold the floor pan to the top of the outer rocker panels, i was finally ready to separate the body from the frame. I've been waiting for this moment for months! Definately some kind of milestone on the project! Now I have about 200 spot welds to drill out between the inner and out rocker panels and the rear wheel houses. I know, it probably would have been less involved to replace the whole pan with inner and outer rockers, but I wasn't comfortable splitting the car into 2 pieces. I had nightmares about putting it back together and finding 1" gaps around the doors - LOL.

I needed to lift the body high enough to allow access to the spot welds at the bottom of the rockers panels, so I cut eight 10" long pieces of 4x4 and lag bolted them to the frame. The body tub rests on the 4x4s with my engine hoist as a safety restraint. I've read stories about welding floors with the body on a rotisserie and the body wouldn't bolt up to the frame at reassembly time. The blocks should keep the body indexed to the frame as I weld up the new panels. Any thoughts about my lift system? Now's the time to hear from those that have gone before me. From a safety perspective, I figure worst case scenario, if the body slips off the 4x4s the frame will stop it short of hitting the floor. Once I get the old pan out of the way, I'll need to weld in the patch panels for the LH and RH toe boards. I got some good salvaged pieces from a guy named AZ-Chevy out in Arizona.

Lifted body 10" off the frame with 4x4 blocks






Rusty Toeboard


Toeboard Patch

 

Looking good Rod.
Slow and steady will win the race.

 

I've drilled out all 150+ spot welds on the rocker panels and the rotted floor is finally history! I feel like Fred Flintstone when I stand in the middle of the car, feet on the floor - LOL. I need to straighten a small dent in the LH rocker seam, probably from a poorly placed jack. The replacement floor has the inner rockers and braces already welded in place, so I'm gonna drill small pilot holes through the outer rockers to plug weld to the new metal of the inner rockers.
I have a welding question for the more experienced member. The new panels have an EDP primer coat; is this the same as a weldable primer? Do I need to remove this primer before welding?

Birds-eye View


Rocker-cowl connection point.


Dent in outer rocker panel


Drivers side quarter - need to fix some major rust here!


Rear view

 

Nice! Your'e getting there.

 

X2!....keep it up!

Ted

 

Everything I've read about EDP coating and welding suggests the best possible results will be if you remove the coating prior to welding.

 

Man, that's one heckuva project. Keep the pics coming, we all love seeing the progress! Good luck

 

You're going down the same road I am with mine but you have already cut out the floor and I haven't. I will definitely stay tuned with this build, and please keep posting pics for my sake!

 

Yes. I think Rodney took this car
as a challenge after some of us said
whoa, wait...what?

The man was unfased, determined,
and it shows!

 

You make it sound like I gave the big middle finger to everyone and went my own way – LOL. I really did take to heart all of the wise advice I received from CO members. Many of you guys advised me that it would cost more to “build” a car than it would to “buy” one in better condition. So I decided to part it out but continued to disassemble and tag all the parts while I searched for a suitable replacement. My original goal was to do a frame off restoration to “just off the assembly line” brand-new condition; which really wasn’t very feasible given the number of missing pieces. But it was my 9-year old daughter that helped me turn the corner on this project. She was very upset to learn that the “Blue Car” (as she calls it) would be sold off in pieces and she wouldn’t get to ride in a convertible. How could I say no to such a pretty girl!
It was this conversation that made me realize I wanted a daily driver, not a trailer queen. So with that in mind (and the realization that it could take years to collect all the date-correct parts to put this car back together) I decided to build it into a resto-mod car and not be too concerned with numbers-matching stuff. I plan to update and modernize the car during the restoration. I’m installing 12” Vette disc brakes on the front and 12” Camaro LS1 disc brakes on the rear, so it can safely stop in Houston stop-and-go traffic (gotta watch out for those damn Cooper Minis). I’ve selected some 17” tires and aluminum rims that look like factory SS1 wheels; now I have a few more tire choices instead of just Cooper and BFGoodrich. I plan to stay with a well-built Olds 350 coupled to a TH200-4R 4-speed automatic to keep the freeway cruising to a more economical RPM range. And a few suspension tweaks to the front-end geometry for better handling (so I can keep up with those Cooper Minis on freeway ramps – LOL).
I know I will spend more money “saving” this car, but I’m comparing my restoration cost to the price of a new car and I have a lot of room to work with if you look at it from this perspective. I’m also checking off several of my bucket list items; I’ve always wanted to do a frame-off restoration, and I’ve always wanted to learn how to weld. It looks like I’m about to put those dreams to the test!

 

After doing some welding with a flux-core welder I've learned that you can't make pretty welds with flux-core wire. So I bought a little MIG 135 welder with shielding gas attachment and my welds look much better (although I'm still quite a novice). With my new MIG welder, I've started patching my rusty floors with some salvaged floor pans for the toe board area and started fitting a complete floor pan. How do my welds look?

New Floor pan - not welded in yet.


Tacked in the toe boards on drivers and passenger sides.

 

Wow Rod! This is quite an undertaking. Looks good!

 

You have really stepped up to the plate with your build, very nice job..

 

I have to say I'm both surprised and very impressed with your dedication to restoring this car. From where it started to where it is now is just amazing, and you're obviously learning some great skills and developing your abilities. Well Done!

 

x2!

 

You have a lot more guts than I my friend. Great thread, keep it up!

 

+3, keep up the good work sir!

 

442 or not ,it will get a lot of attention. People love those cars. While I had my interior out I put in a rust converter and then encapsulating coating to prevent future problems. Got it from Eastwood.com . Good luck on your build.

 

In the spirit of Thanksgiving Day I want to say "Thank You" to everyone for all the encouragement. I have to say this site is the coolest; the community and support that is freely shared here is uncommon in today's "don't bother me I'm busy" world. I am truly enjoying my time with this car and trying my hand at new skills (which is also a poorly veiled excuse to buy new tools).

 

After what seems like a thousand "trial" fits, I have finally installed the new floor pan in my car. I'm also trying my hand at inserting larger photos in my posts. As for the floor pan, I've welded the front seam at the tranny tunnel and the rocker panels at the front cowl (beneath the A-pillar). The rear of the pan in currently attached with a few sheet metal screws. The next step is to remove the 10" blocks that holding the body off the frame. With the body (and new pan) back on the frame on new body mounts, I will plug weld all the pinch welds on the bottom of the rocker panels and rear wheel houses. I've heard stories of guys who installed new floors with the body off the frame and somehow the body twisted, so it sat crooked when they reattached to the frame.


Before


After

 

Great job Rodney! You are catching on quickly with your welding!

 

X2.....!keep at it!

 

Houston, we have separation!! Today is a big day in the life of this project - the body and the frame have been separated and are now sitting side by side in my workshop. It's a rather strange sight to see them apart, even thought it has been a major milestone on my calendar for over a year. I made a nifty little cart out of some 2x6s, 4x4s and lots of lag bolts. It has 5" casters for rolling the body out of my way as I start dismantling the chassis.

I found some cancer on the frame at the front body mounts. I bought some large washers to weld into these spots, which leads me to a question for the more experienced guys on this site. The center hole in the washers is about 1/8" larger than the body bushings so the bushing is a little loose. The bushings fit very tightly in all of the other frame mount holes. Will this be a problem? I don't want the body shifting on the frame, but I think once the bolts are tightened and the rubber bushings compress it shouldn't move around. I plan to send the frame out to be hot-dip galvanized to prevent future rust. I'll paint it before reassembling the suspension parts.








I've got some cancer to fix - these frame mounting holes are rusted out.


I'll weld in these large washers to repair the mounting holes.

 

I cut away the rusty metal and welded in the large washers to repair the front body mounting holes. How do my welds look? My MIG135 can weld up to 3/16" steel with .030 wire and gas, but I'm not sure of the weld penetration. I may weld them again from the other side when I can flip the frame upside down.

 

Looks great!

 

I subscribed, saved this link as a reference to embrace for my upcoming resto/drive build.

 

Took the differential out last weekend, and removed the control arms and tagged & bagged all the hardware. I've purchased new gears and a Detroit TrueTrac posi from Jim at JD Race (Monzaz). He was great to work with and very prompt in shipping my parts. I plan to install a 200-4r OD tranny so I'm replacing the factory 2.73 gears with a set of 3.42 gears. I'm hoping the new gear ratio combined with the overdrive will make for a fun daily driver that can cruise comfortably at 80MPH on the freeway. Haven't decided yet if I will set-up the new gears myself or farm this out so I can work on other things, like tear down the factory front suspension and trial fit the new SPC upper control arms to check for fitment and clearance issues.





Upper Rear Control Arms


Lower Rear Control Arms - the bolts look pretty rusty

 

These are the lower rear control arm bolts after some wire brushing and cleaning in a vibrating polisher. Gotta love Harbor Freight - $50 on sale with a coupon! What do you guys think about the condition of these bolts? Should I buy new hardware or are these OK to reinstall? I plan to replate the nuts and bolts with a black oxide kit from Caswell.

Before Clean-up


After Clean-up