Car taking on weight (3 1/2 hours)

This morning I installed headlight bucket frames, big block fender reinforcements, front fender to core support braces, wiper transmission and motor, hood pop up spring, horns and hood release mechanism. Also cleaned more primer dust out of more undercar nooks and crannies.

Now is when having every fastener cleaned, bagged, and labeled pays off. The way I'm determining what to install is to go to the fastener box for the area I'm wanting to work in, selecting the fastener bag for the part I want to do, and then finding the part itself. It saves time because the part is always easier to find than the individual bolt baggie.

 

I hate everything to do with quarter windows (5 hours)

In addition to the window installation and weatherstrip sash channel attaching woes, today I installed all the outer window fuzzies. Bought the set from Fusick and got the PUI branded product. The door ones went on perfectly - even all the mounting homes lines up - but the quarter ones were another story - this took up 3 of my 5 work hours I put in today.

Out of the box, I thought they were wrong. Laying them on the sill they just would not sit on the edge correctly, and stuck out over half an inch into the door opening at the fronts. Called Fusick, and they confirmed they were the right ones. So I started trimming off the rear a little at a time with a bench grinder. I wound up taking off almost a complete inch of overall length before they were even close. Had to drill almost all new holes. I still think they are wrong - or a generic piece intended to fit several A body cars.

Other work today involved redoing some incorrect finishes I had on the condenser assembly installed yesterday, and installing the exterior mirrors.

 

Looks like a original Calif. car first. your doing great keep it up.
NIKOLDS

 

My quarter fuzzies were not so great either but don't think I had as much trouble. I got mine from Fusick also but were Repops brand. I had to trim on mine also. I made a couple cuts on the back bottom side and heated it up to mold it a little better.

 

So, Joe, where's your Drydock????? It's floodin' down in Texas, y'all! Keep the posts/pictures/documentation coming, hope you make your deadline. Did you have to buy a new diesel pick-em-up-truck to pull that new MAW trailer?

 

Aron, I'm still above the waterline - barely. Going to use Sheri's old car, the 07 Expedition EL , to pull the rig. Seems to be handling it OK.

 

Done with doors and windows (7 1/2 hours)

Finished installing the LH remote mirror. Putting the cable ends back into the **** adjuster is a lot harder than it looks - really helps to have a second set of hands here. Forgot how cool the '70 mirrors look. Also found and installed my inside door release mechanisms. I had filed them in the "junk hold" box.

Next moved onto masking off and painting the trunk hinges. They forgot to paint those body color at the paint shop so Brian mixed me up some paint, added the hardener, and loaded it in a Preval sprayer. Sprayed 5 very light coats and you can't tell it from the other painted surfaces around it. Like always, the masking/prep part took almost an hour, the painting all of 5 minutes. (Also resprayed the RH door striker post - looked a little thin.

Got around to installing both door glasses. Adjusted the door glasses first, and then the quarter glasses. This was at least 3 hours total, but towards the end I think I began to get the hang if it. The next car will be a lot easier. See pics - think the gaps/alignment came out pretty well. Used lithium grease with a brush to lube all the tracks and guides. Shot silicone spray in the door release and regulator mechanisms.

Installed the door vents and u-shaped door jamb seals. The ILT ones are completely wrong, and everyone else's has the mounting hole that points to the center of the car in the wrong spot. On this car and the convertible, I have had to drill another hole almost 1/2 inch towards the front of the car to match up with the mounting hole in the seal. Also installed those 4 flap weatherstripping things in the bottom of the doors. Bought these from Fusick and they fit very well.

Tomorrow is trunk spatter finish out day, and then will begin to install more front end body parts and trim.

 

Longest session yet (10 1/2 hours in two segments)

Trunk day. Cleaned the trunk to get all the primer dust out of it, and shot 2 1/2 cans of Eastwood's Black Aqua around in it. Caught the lower part of the hinge boxes and about halfway up the trunk latch receiver. Let it dry, and them shot a coat of satin clear all over it. Later on in the day, laid in the trunk mat, installed the jack handle brackets, ran the trunk harness, installed the trunk lid stickers and loaded in the jack equipment and spare.

Also throught out the day installed the drip rail moldings, lower windsheid molding, lower back glass molding (I'm missing the clips for the front window trim and the two big rear window trim sections). Also installed the side marker lights and some more stuff I can't remember.

 

Now I remember why I do this (8 hours)

Wheel well day.

Today I began by pulling all the roller wheels off the car and painstakingly cleaning every surface I could get to in the wheel wells and under car areas. I'm getting really weird about being fully under cars - I have two sets of jackstands on each side of tge car together with trolley jacks being under the differential and front x member.

Next installed the forward e- brake cable, starter cable tube, master cyl lines, and blower motor lead from the A/C harness - much easier now than after the wells are in.

Next installed the wheel well trim moldings, and all the holes lined up. I had my drill at the ready and never used it.

Moved onto installing the red wells. Again, everything lined up but these needed some persuasion. Did not shoot any undercoater in the rear wells - jury is still out if this correct. Have several different opinions on this.

Next, what made the last 19 months worth of work all worth it - the SS11 wheels.

Also fixed the trunk lid's front edge misalignment (lid sitting up almost 3/16 higher than the quarters where it meets the backglass) by adding a shim to the rearward trunk lid bolt. It is magic - you would think adding a shim would have made the problem worse.

Will take a day or two off - this is going quicker than expected.

 

Not well lit, but I like the pic

 

Joe check your messages. Looking great when do we go for a drive?

 

Chris, tried responding yesterday - your mailbox was full.

 

My car never had any and I know it came that way new. I have seen 70 W-30s both ways that were untouched in that area.

Your car looks great! I would have been a nervous wreck assembling that fast. I know I would miss something. Great job.

 

I can sympathize... I've gotten the same way. Maybe it's my wife yelling at me all the time to be careful. I do use race ramps a lot now when the car is rolling.

Looks stunning. Putting on the SSII's just transformed it!

 

Miscellanous reassembly (5 1/2 hours)

Back to work after a day off. Still trying to go in an order that makes the most sense to me in keeping things as "roomy" as possible.

Began by reinstalling dash speaker, defroster diffusers and duct work, and getting the glove box liner in before the dash goes in.

Moved onto installing the T-3's and head lamp surrounds, front lamp harness (including reusing the original harness straps). Again, I am being careful to scrape all paint away from everywhere a electrical ground occurs to eliminate future hassles. Installed those little clips that are often missing that hold the side marker and parking lamp wires to the cord support.

Next switched out the water pump studs and some power steering bracket nuts to the proper phosphate finish. Mounted the Delco "OW" fan clutch I stole off the Hurst to the original ERX fan and installed on the pump - afterwards setting all the belt tensions. Next the radiator, top plate and fan shroud after installing the top and bottom core weatherstrips and side seals. Also reused the original radiator insulator/saddle things - these things all fit so well.

Tomorrow finish the front grille area and more engine bay stuff.

 

Sure is looking nice! It's great to see that paint in daylight, too.

 

Mostly Engine Stuff (6 hours total)

Installed radiator and heater hoses. Those overgrown fuel line clamps that ILT sells are correct for A/C cars even though they catalog them for non C60 applications only. They were a lot easier to install than I thought they would be. I don't like the lower hose however - fully installed it seems about 1/2 inch too long and actually has a small kink in it because if it. I think I'll pull it back off and trim it a bit.

Also installed the A/C liquid and suction lines. They look great for original pieces and like how it still has a little of the green/gold plating on the big nut.

Installed the washer tank and main hose. All but the tank itself was original - it had shattered into a bunch of very yellowed pieces.

Put the horn, CAC, and high blower relays on along with the battery, tray and batt. cables. Ran and connected up all but one of the engine bay harnesses using all the original clips and retainers. Spent a lot of time on wire routing exactly as per the PIM.

Stamped the firewall markings

Lastly put the grilles and headlight bezels on. Have I mentioned recently How nice it is to work with original pieces off the car they came from? On the vert it took me two days to get everything lined up - I did this on this car in 45 minutes.

P.S. - total reassembly tine - 72 hours over 12 days - averaging 6 hours per day on it.

 

A few pics from yesterday's work

 

Simply OUTSTANDING!!!

 

When you are done with yours you are more than welcome to come to Florida to do mine

 

I was hoping the same thing, but I'm right here in Texas.
Joe you have come such a long way on this car in a short amount of time.
You are a talented man.

 

^^^X10! I wonder if he wants to do a 69 442 next.

 

I'm closer, back off buddy !! Lol

 

Stuff flying onto the car - with a few exceptions (14 hours total yesterday afternoon and today)

So much stuff went back on it I cannot remember it all, but the main items were discharge A/C line, engine harness, e-brake cables and pedal assy, speedo cable and grommet, trans kickdown cabling, rag joint, booster line, and some other miscellaneous stuff in the dash. Also went through and corrected some minor routing and cable wrap length issues on the previously installed harness, got the suction/dscharge hose angles correct on the back of the compressor, added some caulking sealant to various firewall locations as per the PIM, ran the vac. tank to manifold hose with a good used wide white stripe hose I had in inventory. Also fixed a finish I got wrong.....

The bummers were:

1) Installing the starter - what a pain. No room, heavy as Hell, and worried sick about cables/wires touching something they shouldn't.

2) Windshield trim. The repro front clips are JUNK. They do not hold the proper shape and tension against the trim. I had to individually custom bend each clip to get it to hold the trim properly. So glad I used lots of masking tape to protect the paint or it would have been scratch city. I test fit one rear backglass clip before I called it a day - those will work much better.

Tomorrow steering column and spark plug wire routing.

Also thanks for the kind words. Seriously,I have though about doing resto work for others as a sideline biz. Would not be what the high end resto shops charge, but it is still about 60 to 75K to do one turn key if it is not rust riddled.

 

Took it easy today (3 hours)

Installed rear window trim. Like I said in the previous post, these trim retaining clips are very well made, but the glass installation had a little of the sealant protrude into where the clip goes, so I had to trim the excess out.

Also installed plug wires, package tray and a few other items. Test fit the OAI air cleaner and adaptor, and the master cyl. and cap. Decals will be the last thing going on after all the fluids are added.

For real, steering column will go in tomorrow.

 

Tying up some loose ends (7 hours)

Got steering column and shaft installed with the shaft firmly attached to the rag joint. Also installed package tray, body harness, back drive linkage, disc brake prop. valve and many other misc. parts. Tomorrow will be bumper install day, and after that I'm done until I get my dash bezel section back to reinstall the dash.

Also today I had a visit a fellow CO member - Magna86 (Chris). He's traveling cross country in a '71 455 equipped Cutlass towing another Olds on a trailer - wow!!

 

Rear Bumper Only (2 1/2 hours)

Despite how much I brag about having all the bolts ready to go and how much it speeds up reassembly blah, blah, somehow I missed a few along the way. Front bumper to bracket bolts MIA - have to get more, so just did the rear bumper today. I think the fit came out well and best of all nothing got scratched. Messed with the trumpet fit by sliding the tailpipes in almost all the way into the mufflers. Are there specs anywhere for the trumpet to bumper clearances?

The car is finally beginning to set down to something close to the correct ride height. Still have to install the complete interior, hood, front bumper and all fluids. Hopefully will have the right stance by the Nats.

 

Trumpet alignment pic.

 

The assmebly mnual has .50 inch clearance all the way around.

 

It is looking awesome Joe! Can't wait to see it up close.
Stewart

 

This thread is going to help me a ton! Thanks for posting such a detailed step-by-step of your restoration project.

 

Thanks Eric!!

 

No work today but...(0 hours)

Last week went by a trophy shop to see about making up a dealer trunk tag for my car. I have been looking for 20 months for one with zero luck - have searched ebay, put ads in Chicago area Craigslists, even reached out to Illinois CO members - no luck in a Ladendorf Olds original. A few months ago, I found a completed ebay auction from a few years ago that had a Ladendorf tag in the grouping - and the picture was still with the listing, so I knew what one would look like. Printed it out, and took it to the trophy place. They got the font to appear very close to the original - I'm pretty happy with the result - all for 18.00! I know there is mixed feelings among the resto community on whether to add this to a fresh resto, but I like it.

 

Front Bumper prep. (2 1/2 hours)

Loaded the frame brackets along with the the strut tubes to the front bumper. Will install on the car tomorrow along with loading the hood with washer hoses, squirters, factory markings, OAI pins, etc... Also, fixed a couple of other minor things.

 

Front bumper in place (2 hours)

Had my brother and his sons come over to help me get it on the car without scratching the hell out of something. Got it in place and close - looks like I need to get it up another .100 on the RH and .150 on the LH. Left/right spacing looks good, but will have to draw in the upper corners a bit.

Got the hood laid out, and installed wiper hoses, safety latch, hockey sticks. OAI plates. Will have the "509 X" mark applied by my wife to the LH underside edge by the hinge - pic of the original.

 

Cowl area day (4 hours total)

Installed today the original cowl screen using the original hex head screws. This is always something I see wrong on most cars. Also was able to save and reuse the original cowl weatherstrip. I've had so many problems with the repros not being the right height of density - plus the OE has a unique pebbly surface to it.
Installed the wiper arms and blades, and spent some time getting the rear bumper and RH exhaust trumpet fit dialed in.

Got the hood on, but have a LH hockey stick fit issue. Will be getting with the paint guy in the AM to formulate a plan of attack.

 

Just beautiful, you must be pleased with how it's all coming together. How much work is it to put the inner fenders in after the fenders are on? It's obviously doable, and solves the problem of attaching the 442 numerals after the fender is painted. Thanks.

 

Thanks. It is pretty easy to do - just take your time snaking them in to not scratch them up. I planned around doing it before I installed the master cyl/booster and A/C lines for a little additional room, and obviously the batt tray has to be out. Before you do put the wells in, install the big block reinforcing bars, blower motor lead and ground.

Even with the wells out, you still have to deal with very little clearance between the fender and the body cowl when installing the emblems. Little hands, along with a ratcheting box end wrench will help.

 

Starting On The Interior (total 9 1/2 hours today)

After getting back my dash bezel yesterday, first thing was to reassemble it to pad and run the dash harness along with all the switches, lighter parts, center and LH A/C registers etc... Surprisingly the dash went on with no trouble at all had no issues with broken studs, poor alignment etc. Next ran the console harness how it should be routed before installing the A/C controls along with the hoses and cable. Again, something that went better than I expected, but that extra harness length on console cars you have to "ball up" and clamp to the brake pedal support is spectacularly cheesy.

Next was the radio and unlike my younger days, I installed the plastic strap and metal bracket that supports the back of the unit. Lastly I laid in the main plenum off the heater box.

Tomorrow more under dash work, but it is going much quicker than I expected.

Most importantly, yesterday I spent pretty much the whole day at my place with some visitors who are CO members. I had a great time guys AND learned a lot!

 

Can I ask you what reference materials you are using to do this project? Manuals, etc. What has been the most helpful to you so far? Or do you just have a good memory and organization system for the parts?