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The rear seat was taken to the upholstery guy right down the road from me to have the PUI covers put on. This job I am sure I could do myself but decided not to risk the possible aggravation and me possibly trying to fit a seat cover that was made wrong! Yes I had a PUI seat cover sewn wrong on the Track Pack and my buddy had a Legendary seat cover with misaligning seams... Well I picked that up today and left 1 bucket there for recover... trying to ease the pain $. I also lit fire to the 400 and let it run for a good 20 minutes at 2800 rpm. Oil pressure was good as well as water temp. Next time will give it another 15 minute run and that should be it as far as break-in goes. Then I can fine tune curb idle, check timing and dwell again.
Last edited by Oldsmaniac; Mar 9, 2021 at 05:16 PM.
Here are a few more pictures of those exhaust tips... I got the repro Z bar.... well if you look at the picture below you will see the 1st one is the new one, the gray one I believe possibly the correct factory one for a 67 and the other one a 68 up. The repro does not have the bushing like factory ones at the top hole. And the hole needed to be opened up a bit for the rod to go thru.... Ok its mounted and will work fine. A slighter angle is still there from the pushrod to the fork but I believe it will be ok. Thanks all for your comments!
I ran the 400 for another 15 minutes at around 2800 rpm and was hearing a tapping sound. I checked a lot of things and thought maybe the balancer was making the noise since when installed it slid all the way on by hand.... Well I tightened the motor mount bolts, checked rocker arm motion, checked plugs, and remembered I had a noisy distributer laying around which I probably installed in the 400. Seems though the balancer was not the source of the noise. So there is more to do here with the 400 but my plan is to continue with the painting and get the car roadworthy for a real roadtest. I am doing little things on the interior that can be done before paint. I installed the PUI rear side panels and need to start fitting the door panels.
The buckets are finished and I bolted in the driver's side for drivability. I found the mechanical oil gauge inside the car was dripping oil so had to redo that and also found some antifreeze on the front floor pan. This should not be because I replaced the heater core with one that came with another project. It looked new. I will test it but in the mean time I bought another one. 2 gallons of pewter lacquer have been ordered now I just need some better warmer weather for spraying outside.
Nice. Did you figure out the tapping sound? Was it the distributor?
More evaluation is necessary, will continue with primer and paint and leave the engine issue for a while. I think it really needs a road test for proper diagnostics....
Made some progress on the interior, carpet done, both buckets and the problematic non console shifter boot. Man these always fight me getting the screws thru the rubber and into the holes in the floor.
Its been a while since I posted an update. I had to do some work on my house and garage before they imploded. The Spring weather also has been cool and damp. The noise I was hearing in the engine has seemed to have gone away. I found the motor mount thru bolts loose and tightened them. I am hoping that is all it was. Today I drove the car out of the shop, bled the brakes and wet sanding the primer on the body. The 1st drive of a car purchased DOA is quite exciting!
I did some masking and hopefully tomorrow I can continue with the primer.
Last edited by Oldsmaniac; May 17, 2021 at 02:05 PM.
Today the weather cooperated and I was able to get 2 coats on paint on the 442. It was hot so I needed to find some shade but luckily the humidity was not bad. So far so good I would say. I like he color a lot but it doesn't pop like the red did, gold on the wagon, white on the TC.
Thanks guys for the support, seems like this project is more work than they used to be...LOL Now if the weather gets right I can continue, nothing good forecast till the weekend. and then I need to do the fenders, hood trunk lid....not over the hurdle yet.
Last edited by Oldsmaniac; Jun 11, 2021 at 04:31 PM.
Reason: pictures
Ok lets try this post again.... Weather has been great the last 2 days for painting. The hood, body, and trunk lid have 3 coats of color on them. The fenders will be next. I am keeping track of paint usage and I should have enough for 5 coats of color on all with a bit left over. I am working on the 1st gallon still and expect to have a least a couple of coats on the fenders before I need to open the second gallon. Progress feels good!
Slowly progress is being made, I am at the stage of sanding and buffing however something didn't go quite right while laying down the paint. I started sanding and buffing the fenders. There are some spots that are kinda blotchy with possibly a bit more metallic than others or perhaps a slightly darker area. The process was done as before and although this is my 3rd metallic lacquer job I have not experienced this issue. As before I initially open the 2 gallons of paint, empty into a larger container, mix well and then refill the original cans. I stir well for mixing and thinner dilution and before each paint cup fill. Perhaps silver is trickier to spray, don't know. So this is a bit of a disappointment, only noticeable upon close inspection, and so far only on the one fender. I have found a lighter sand with the 800, 1000, and 1500 before buffing reduces/eliminates my issue with the paint so that is what I will do. I think the final product will be ok overall, am putting together a driver car and not a show piece anyway... and I am my own worst critic.
Last edited by Oldsmaniac; Jul 16, 2021 at 03:58 AM.
Reason: spelling
Made some progress on the interior, carpet done, both buckets and the problematic non console shifter boot. Man these always fight me getting the screws thru the rubber and into the holes in the floor.
Joe - I haven't looked at your progress in awhile and I'm catching up. You have serious skills man! I am envious! Your new seat covers look fantastic! I have a question about the style of the seat covers though, and I'm sure you'll know the answer. When I bought my '67 4-4-2 I was told the seat covers were actually original to the car. They looked too new for it to be true, but I just went with it because the entire car was so nice and I didn't care if they were repro's. In any case, the pleating on my covers are parallel to the dash, and your new ones have pleats perpendicular to the dash. Just wondering if you can tell me if mine look OEM correct, or should they look like yours? I've included a couple pics when you have time to respond. Please forgive me for hijacking your thread a little, but your beautiful new covers got me thinking, and that's a dangerous thing.
I'm excited to keep reading on in the thread and see how far you've gotten. Keep up the great work, your gonna have a real beauty!!!
Joe - I finished catching up, and I absolutely love that color, just stunning!
Thanks! As for seat covers my car is a Supreme post car or Sport Coupe. They used a different pattern seat cover than the Supreme non post cars. Yours are correct if you don't have a post car. The plain Cutlass, non Supreme cars also used the seat cover pattern as the Supreme Sports Coupes.
Last edited by Oldsmaniac; Jul 16, 2021 at 04:02 AM.
Thanks! As for seat covers my car is a Supreme post car or Sport Coupe. They used a different pattern seat cover than the Supreme non post cars. Yours are correct if you don't have a post car. The plain Cutlass, non Supreme cars also used the seat cover pattern as the Supreme Sports Coupes.
Joe - Thanks for the response. Well that explains it perfectly, mine is a Holiday Coupe. I do find it odd though that they used different seat cover patterns on the Supreme Holiday Coupe vs. Supreme Sports Coupe. I can easily understand a difference between the F-85 and Base Cutlass covers from those on the Supremes, but a difference between sub-models within the Supreme model line just seems odd. I think I actually like the pattern on your car better!
I'm really glad your odd motor knock/tapping seems to have disappeared. Also very glad you have found an application technique to alleviate the color matching issue you had on the fenders. Like you said, you may be your own worst critic, because the pics look fantastic! I can't wait to see the finished car. Man I sure do love the '67's, and a 4-speed Sport Coupe to boot, it's gonna be a real gem!
Joe - Thanks for the response. Well that explains it perfectly, mine is a Holiday Coupe. I do find it odd though that they used different seat cover patterns on the Supreme Holiday Coupe vs. Supreme Sports Coupe. I can easily understand a difference between the F-85 and Base Cutlass covers from those on the Supremes, but a difference between sub-models within the Supreme model line just seems odd.
I cant explain it either, the 2 different seat patterns for a Supreme. I cant say which one I prefer... This is my second Post 442, somehow they find me I guess.... the last one was a one belter, power nothing and bench seat 4spd, this one has the buckets and only power steering and was a radio delete car....
I cant explain it either, the 2 different seat patterns for a Supreme. I cant say which one I prefer... This is my second Post 442, somehow they find me I guess.... the last one was a one belter, power nothing and bench seat 4spd, this one has the buckets and only power steering and was a radio delete car....
Cool combo's on both cars. My 442 is a little odd too, or most casual observers think it is, TH400 with shift on the tree and strato buckets. Always a topic of discussion at cruise-ins or shows, especially with folks who don't know Oldsmobiles and what did/didn't come with various options/packages.
