Far as I know that Z letter code has not been cracked. It is only the letter Z that appears there. Its location would indicate that it is body and probably interior related, but still not solved.

 

As to the starter, I think I figured out it is incorrect as far as date coding. Looks like it is the right P/N, but too late. OG 6 1 is July 1 1970 - correct? (don't know what the 1 on the end means) Kurt, is there any hope I am somehow misreading this? It really looks like it had never been out - brace was still attached, etc...

 

Earlier on,I thought the Z might have something to do with 4-spds,and modifying the floor or console,but then I started finding the Z on some automatic cars.
Deluxe belts? Optional lighting? Delete something?

 

Here's a pic of that pump. Rats.

 

Wow! Can't say I have ever seen a replacement X-pump,or one with an X on it. The X on yours is in the correct location,but the font is slightly different. The casting number and Julian date would be on the face of the hose runner. The GM pumps don't have that square at the top.My guess is some type of early replacement.What I am wondering is how does it have the same blue paint as the rest of the engine.I know you could get Olds blue at Napa,but that was about 30yrs ago.Was the engine ever rebuilt,thus repainted?

 

Out of the "Z" cars I have, both do not have deluxe belts and 1 has interior lighting (Y60option) and the other doesn't. I have the Canadian docs for these cars.

Maybe delete something???

Also, did the "Z"on the cowl tag only appear on all Lansing built 70 cars or on other cars too?

Happy Holidays!

Sam

 

I have a pump exactly like this one in my pile of water pumps. Here is a thread on it. Sence then I found a W-30 at the nationals in IL. It has a pump like this one and he said he knew it was original to the car. I don't know either way.

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...ater-pump.html

 

I don't think the heads have ever been off the block, but it looks like at some point the intake manifold might have been and the motor/water pump were painted in that yucky blue. I'll know more in the next few weeks when I pull the engine. I'm already working on getting a correct pump. Found one dated 306.

 

That one in your pic is EXACTLY like the one I have. Mine also has the 5741 number on it as well as Made In The USA.

 

Thanks Joe - PM sent.

 

well you have the original trunk weatherstrip too as indicated by the two paint stripes on the top middle of the rubber. looks like a blue/yellow stripe. re-use or duplicate it on new stuff. Most people never knew this.

 

Some more pics after today's session. Is there any chance I am misreading the starter date code? The steering column sticker looks pristine.Too bad no one will ever see it.

 

Thank you for the tip. I never even noticed it, and removed it 2 days ago. I did mark where the meeting line was, about 4 inches to the right of the car centerline.

 

Yay! I went 4 for 4 breaking off header flange to exhaust manifold bolts. This after using PB blaster for a week, trying to tighten first, using an impact, etc.... Thank God I have a good friend who makes his living as a tool & die maker and spends most of his time at work repairing old machining equipment - lots of it featuring broken bolts. This is in addition to one tail pipe to bumper bracket bolt that busted off in the bumper bracket, and three fender well to core support bolts - two of them being the ones that hold the battery tray in. Luckily, my core support itself is in excellent condition.

For some reason I can't get the front e-brake cable to come out of the hole where it goes through the frame. I removed the clip, and got it down outside of the body. Anyone have any ideas?

All that's left is to pull the driveshaft, drop the tank, and pull the motor/tranny out as a unit, and it is off to the painter's. Going to use the same guy that Lance (2x4dcdrvr) is using.

 

Those E brake cables can be a pain. It is just stuck in the frame. I always found it easier to pull it out of the body first them pull it out of the frame. It is hard to pull out at the same time trying to get it to bend. Almost all of them I ever took out took a small hammer to tap it back and forth to brake it loose from the frame.

 

Thanks Eric. I was beginning to think there was another clip (that I could not see) inside the frame holding it in place.

Doing any work today on yours?

 

I wish. It is below 0 outside so nothing out there for me. I am focused on selling parts till it gets a little warmer out. I did fire the wood stove up yesterday. I have been wanting to do that for a while. I am going to try to heat up a 70 442 grill today and see if i can work some of the sag out of the middle.

 

Would you happen to have an excellent used 70 442 A/C auto trans engine wiring harness or a 1108389 starter close to my build date?

 

I can't help on this. I will need an engine wire harness myself. I think the engine harness and rear tail light harness are the only things that were really trashed on my car. The A/C harness is separate than the engine harness. I may be able to come up with an A/C harness but i will have to look to be sure. I don't have any extra 1108389 starters.

 

Notes from today's session (about 3 hours work)

Dropped gas tank. Like all Lansing cars, no build sheet on top of tank, but it did have a "309" or "809" written on top of the tank in something that looks like pencil. Mat was in OK condition, but will replace. The tank straps are junk, but all 4 bolts came out OK - I was really surprised considering how oxidized they looked. Still has that plastic vent thing (cracked) with two hoses running to it from the rank, and one of them has "Swan" printed on it. That weird 70 neck to trunk floor brace I might be able to save if is survives bead blasting.

Driveshaft came out rather easily. The rear U-joint has something in the middle of it that looks like a sheild. I'll post some pics tomorrow. Could not definitively see the original stripes, but saw something around the middle of the shaft that might have been the markings. They seem wider than what I've seen people reproduce in their restos.

Drained the tranny of fluid to avoid a ATF bath when I pull the combo. Bottom of the pan looked great with no junk/shavings, and the fluid smells OK.

Passenger side x-member bolts came out easily, but drivers side are stuck solid. It seems in general there is more corrosion on the driver's side of the car - have no idea why.

 

I've always heard that this is because DS gets more splash from passing vehicles.
Steve

 

I have parted several cars out and every one of them were worse on the driver side. I have always wondered if this could be the deal.

 

Tonite's report (about 2 1/2 hours worth of work)

Pulled all the side glass, regulators, guides, stops etc. The stuff is all in excellent condition - rust free and not worn out. There is very little play due to the rollers being seldom used. The windows are all coded VY-4 on the side glasses and "VV" on the back glass which I believe translates to Dec 69.

The front glass I believe gas been replaced. It reads Shaded Safe-Ray, Safe Lite, AS1, 85E, laminated, M32 DOT-65. Can anyone translate this?

I was able to confirm the doors are both original, but the RH was re-skinned at one time with a GM replacement. The RH fender was also replaced with a GM product. These had to occur sometime prior to 1987 since the guy I bought the car from has had it since then and he didn't do the repairs to it. The GM door skin sticker is hiding behind the door reinforcement beam. I can just see the top of it - wish I could see if it had some kind of date coding on it.

Drilled out those two &?@! trans crossmember to frame bolts.

Installed the wheels back on the car after getting some cheapie 25.00 per tire 185/65R15's installed on the 15x7 rims the car came with. Those 33 year old Goodyear Polyglass L60's RWL were junk. I could not save even one for a decoration.

Got my engine hoist back. Dreiling is bringing over his heavy duty engine stand. Tomorrow the engine & trans come out, and Monday the body is off to the paint shop.

Talked to a local powder coating company. Think I'm going to take the plunge and after the body comes off the frame, I'm going to have them do the blasting and powder coat it the correct shade/gloss - 400.00. Heck, you can have 200.00 in supplies doing it yourself. Will also have them do all control arms, bumper brackets and braces, trans cross member, and probably the rear end housing. I also have three totes full of other misc parts to bead blast. I wish I had space and a good enough compressor to have my own bead blast cabinet.

Wiper motor was sent off to the Wiper Restore guy, carb was sent to Carb Junky's, master cylinder was sent to White Post. Windshield, back glass and drip rail trim was sent to Al's plating in Ft.Worth who is also rechroming my hockey sticks, eyebrow moldings, fender peak moldings (all pit free!) along with the Dual Gate bezel. Waiting to see how KJR442's bumpers come out at Morales before deciding where it send them.

 

You are moving along very fast. You will pass me soon.

 

Wow Joe, Great progress. I did not check the price for blasting and powder coating my frame but now wish I had. $400.00 seems very reasonable to me. Especially after the many hours I spent scraping and wire brushing mine! It sounds like the deeper you dive into this project the better the car becomes.

 

I have a place here that can blast the frames,then get them to the coater,as they work together often. The coater must have the item within 8hrs of being blasted,or he won't do it.It's good that the two companies can work out their schedules because I would be leaving work a lot more. It costs me $85.00 to have the frame blasted,and $350.00 to have it coated.One of those costs has the transportation of the frame between companies worked in.I did a few frames this summer,and they turned-out great.One thing I did do is go over the whole frame,looking to smooth-out anything unwanted,like welding slag or metal burrs.
When I went to pick up the frames,and placed towels down,so it didn't scuff anything.
I then started to collect anything & everything that I had loose at the time,as I get a better deal with the more I do at one time.I did 4 radiator supports,a few outer heater boxes,engine brackets & pullies,a whole pile of bumper brackets,a pile of front A-arms,rear control arms,70 brake drums,fender braces,axle housings,etc.It is just less that I will have to do later. However,it is little more of a challenge to store all of the parts without marking them up.It's different when you can just cram & pile them up,but not when they are finished.My core supports take up a lot more room now because I don't have anything touching each of them.There will be other parts that I will do in different gloss levels of black.We found when we did Nate's car,that there were at least 4 different blacks used under the car,or in the engine compartment.
Sounds like you are making some quick progress.Might as well document the date on the steering box,rearend,lower brake valve,and anything else,while it's apart.

 

Joe,
Do you still have that guy near you that rechromed your 70 front bumper? His work looked real nice.

 

Oops. Two Joes in Texas.
I meant you,JoesW31.

 

Hey Joe will send that "package" on Monday. I'm beginning to think I may have the car ready for the OCA Nats this year. Post below on today's progress.

 

Brian, will do on the dates and P/N's. I started thinking about it - I used 6 different black spray bomb shades on the 72.

 

Today's action (about 4 hours)

Pulled the engine & tranny. It is pretty obvious they had never been out before. All went well, but got ridiculously dirty doing it mostly due to the transmission. Found some cool looking marks and numbers on the flex plate and converter. Is there anything special about the OW trans converter?
Also today pulled the evaporator case and under dash heater box/core thing. One of those speed nuts - the hardest one to access - would just turn and not come off. Finally, I put a prybar between the case and the firewall and pried forwards. That made the nut catch a new part of the thread on the stud and it off it went. Had to cut all the lines except for those going to the master cylinder at the proportioning valve. They were almost welded in. I'll see if I can get them off the block after I chuck it up in the vise and give it the old "What For"

 

No work, but had a lot more fun today.

Patton (70Post), Lance (2X4dcdrver), and Chris D. came over this afternoon to look over the car before it goes off to the painter on Monday. Had a lot of fun talking Oldsmobiles and learning why things are the way they are on our beloved cars. A great way to spend a great day.

 

I will take some pics tonight. No firewall markings I can readily see, but I'll wipe it down and document if anything emerges.

Read up on water outlets - you guys are right again. I was sure the 70-72's 455's had the cast iron ones, and the 68-69's had the aluminum short nipple ones. Some checking here on CO and Blackgold's thread set me straight.

 

Last work on the car before sending it off to paint - (about one hour)

Pulled the power steering gearbox. Left pitman arm attached, and broke it loose at the tie rod end. One frame to box bolt came out like new (see pic- it has yellow marking paint on the threads) one bolt was corroded but still came out, but one bolt was severely corroded and just snapped.I am sending the box and pump to the power steering resto guy in Springfield - hopefully he can get that stub bolt out.

JoeW31 suggested looking for firewall markings. Had not seen any till now, but thought since it is going to be stripped, give it a shot. Tried using simple green first - nothing. Then tried a little bit of carb cleaner and voila, the markings appeared. A yellow G, and a blue Z - see pics. Also took reference pic of the W30 marking on the inside of the front driver's side fender. Looks like a doodle more than anything else to me.

 

Not sure I know about this one. The one on my manifold I feel sure was original to the car. Even has the correct date to work with the car. Mine is just like this one. I tried to find the thread about it but as always, I can't find anything in the search.

 

very interesting. Mine must have been replaced at some point. I just assumed with the date being correct and on my original manifold it was original. I have a pile of aluminum ones. Maybe I have a correct date aluminum one. Now my next question is should it be painted when on an aluminum manifold like the 71-72 outlet was?

 

Heading to the bodyshop

 

Lance, thanks for the pic.

Lance and I trailered the body over to Vastine's Paint & Body today. Lance's car is there being painted and is about 75% done - it looks great!

Brian decided on mine to NOT soda blast it, but is going to sand/strip all the paint off due to him saying the paint is thin enough to make it economically feasible, which will also make it easier to save the headliner and the original VIN sticker. Lots of guys have cautioned me about not soda blasting due to the neutralization issues, so I'm glad it worked out.

Took a while to get the remote sport mirror cables separated from the lever assy. Thank God for CO this morning - sure enough, there was a thread on this that helped me get it done.

Probably going to be about six months before it comes home. Lots to do between now and then. Going to begin by sending off everything else that needs to farmed out:

P/S pump & gear - power steering guy in Springfield, Mo.
Booster, m/c cap and bail - Steve Gregori
Misc plating items - Texas Precision
Radiator recoring - Centennial
Engine work -TBD
Exhaust manifolds, calipers & wheel cylinders - Chris Dreiling
Transmission resealing - Sean Knight
Frame stripping, powder coating of undercar items - Quality Powder Coating
Bumpers -TBD

Will begin the homework with fastener reconditioning after engine disassembly - there's probably about 50 hours in all those nuts, bolts, washers, screws and fittings.

Thanks again to Lance & Patton.

 

Engine disassembly day (about 2 1/2 hours)

I was curious about whether the engine had ever been into. I could not understand why the intake manifold had been off at one time, but the exhaust manifolds had obviously never been off the heads. Now I know.

First of all, good news on all the basic parts. The intake is in excellent condition 406115 with a date code of 11 13 69 and a 5562 below it. The heads are in good shape - center exhaust dividers have little erosion and have the same date code of 336. The 402294 & 402295 manifolds both have a Julian date of either 6 or 9 and have little pitting. Notched covers are dent free and relatively clean. Timing cover is good, threaded holes OK with little erosion. Bad news is I broke a water outlet bolt, and the LH center exhaust manifold bolt. The stumps are both sticking above the casting - more for Chris Dreiling to do.

And it is confirmed - the motor has been into. The rocker arms were replaced, 13 of the 16 pushrods were changed out, and the camshaft sprocket was replaced with a Cloyes S360 dated Nov. 1979. The crank sprocket is still the GM original - it is stamped GM SP. The intake gasket was made by McCord which has been out of biz for over 15 years. Did not pull the camshaft and lifters, but they look original. Will confirm tomorrow on this.

Engine is not using any oil, and cylinders have zero ridge. Piston crown shape/ depth looks to be high compression. Head gaskets were the original steel shim with a PN of 404896 on them.

So it looks like at some time between November 1979 and April 1985, someone changed out the cam sprocket and chain, most of the push rods, and all the rocker arms. They did not mess with the rest of engine, and it looks like they did all this without dropping the pan because the front lip seal was missing, and someone had made caulking type gasket out of blue RTV to seal the gap - quite comical.

The original motor mounts with GM part numbers on them were in horrible shape, and disposed of.

Will pull a main and rod cap off tomorrow and see the journal condition. I'm hoping to not have to rebuild the lower end if the crank is OK and the water jackets are not full of junk. I'll completely rebuild the heads with all new pushrods, rockers, springs, guides, seals, keepers and valves.

 

I will suspect the cam has been changed as well..........Sounds like it is going phenomenally well for 44 years of maintenance.