Joe I just looked at when you started this thread. 2 weeks before I got mine back from paint and i already had a lot of work done. My engine and rear end and most parts detailed at that point. Looks like you are still going to beat me to the street. After you are done I will pay your plane ticket to come help me finish mine!

 

Very very nice. Great thread

 

No work yesterday or today. Having problems with a knee and looks like I'm going to have to go see a doctor - groan.

However, while being laid up today did order some more goodies from AMK. They have a great deal on grease pencils for reproducing assembly marks, correct electrical tape(s), body caulking strips, butyl rubber rolls, and other misc things. I should try to note for everyone what specific kits and individual fasteners I bought for my car that turned out to be correct, since they do not specifically catalog for Olds, and I have to use the Chevelle listing to look up what I want. I'd say I guessed right on about 85% of what I ordered. The items I have not been able to find are:

A)The fine pitch, self tapping, Phillips pan head screws in black oxide that hold the head lamp retainer rings to the head lamp "buckets" - 12 needed. ILT sells some thing for the application that is close but not exact dimensionally, and are zinc instead of black.

B) The big washers and locknuts that go on the upper control arm shaft ends. Again, ILT has them, but 32.00 for the set is beyond ridiculous.

Hopefully, will be able to begin work again Monday. I was just getting to the fun stuff to do.

 

Did some misc. interior parts today (3 hours)

Knee is still acting up, so I brought some misc parts into the house that just needed to be cleaned and detailed. Did things like the rear view mirror boot and trans hump seat belt bolt covers (cleaned with interior cleaner and toothbrush). These were in excellent condition and came out like NOS with just a good cleaning. Also did the radio *****, cigar lighter, & emerg. flasher *****. These required a cleaning with tooth pick in all the little grooves on the edge of the ***** to get them really clean. I had to go back and repaint the black circle in the groove to get it looking really nice.

Cleaned the OE dual gate neutral safety, headlamp, & stoplight switches.

Tried to clean the accelerator pedal. There was so much crap packed into the grooves I had to use a screwdriver to dig it all out. The finish on it has lost some of its graininess and also some if it's color. The repos are not exact, so I'm going to experiment by painting it.

I am trying to use the original instrument bezel. The chrome is 95% nice and the wood grain on it and the rest of the dash is also in great condition. It cleaned up well - pics below - but another dash oddity came up. On the edge of it farthest to the left, there is a 5 inch piece of black electrical tape stuck to it. I at first thought it had been added, maybe to relieve a dash squeak, at sometime in it's life. I began to remove it, but I noticed that it seems there is a edge in the chroming where it meets the tape. Anyone seen anything like this before?

Hopefully engine will be back this Friday. Getting it back as an assembled short block and will reassemble it myself.

Note: think I just figured it out on the bezel/tape thing. The tape has lifted the "clear" off the chroming as seen in the sticky part of the tape

 

Beautiful weather + on staycation means lots of work (4 hours yesterday, 6 1/2 today)

Been working mostly more interior components. Decided to clean, mask and paint my ash tray, and it came out lot better than expected. The toe kick panel is almost perfect, but you can tell someone at one point put his salt encrusted left foot on the part and slightly discolored it. It is right on the border of needing to be painted, but I still judge it 95% of looking NOS so I am leaving it as is.

Today did things like the headliner welting. All was cleaned with a heavy duty detergent and a medium stiffness brush. All came out excellent and it removed the sticky feeling I had on the long ones that run down the side of the headliner.

Also did the A pillar post covers. I cleaned them with heavy detergent and a soft cloth. I the waxed them with Meguiars Carnuba. Man those things were painted very badly at the factory. Tons of runs and fish eyes. Of course, I left them alone. Also did those pieces that fill the gap between the upper rear seat and the quarter panel. Those were filthy, but had excellent paint underneath so I cleaned with Windex and a toothbrush to get down in the grain.

Got halfway done with cleaning the A/C ductwork. I managed to remove all of it without tearing any of the original ductwork or undoing any of the factory staples. I'm cleaning the cloth/wire ducts with just a soft brush and NO or water to try to preserve the finish. Not perfect, but still OK.

Will start the A/C heater control disassembly and cleaning tomorrow. The front appliqué is really nice and the chroming is smooth/pit free. I found a date code label on it that looks like a postage stamp on the top chassis surface dated 1-17-70. This is another one I have never seen before.

Cleaned the lower valance panel. The ducts themselves came out really nice. I used water only and a Griot's foam pad stick to clean the insides out yet not disturb the mint chrome on the wheels or the painted lines on the fins themselves. Spoke with Patton about the finish on the valance itself. Mine is lightly scuffed in places, and Patton convinced me to wait until the I have to install it it see how it looks. So far, it is the only part that does not meet my 95 % of NOS quality that might go back on the interior of the car.

Painting the accelerator pedal is not going to work. It does not look right to me, so NOS here I come.

Pics below, and I will probably put more on a second post shortly

 

More pics. One is the before and after of the brushing on the OE cloth tubes

 

Cloth tubes look great Joe...don't do anything else to them.

I'll give you a call....the cellphone connection gods weren't smiling on the airwaves this afternoon!

 

Another nice day in ole Tejas, so another good day for resto work (5 hours, but there was beer involved so maybe the output was a little off)

Finished the last of the under dash duct work. Anyone else notice the liberties the factory took with installing the defroster ducts to the firewall? They don't use the mounting holes molded into duct, this is the third car I've taken apart that the screws are run through another part of the duct surface next to the mount holes.

Disassembled and cleaned the rest of the dash ducts. Below are some before and after pics. The chroming on the center wheels was good, but I had to use the paint pen thing on the grille edges. The outside ones I judged the factory chroming still good enough to reinstall.

Disassembled and cleaned up A/C control unit. Polished and re painted the black line on all three *****, polished the chrome housing, GENTLY cleaned the appliqué, cleaned all the switch contacts, cleaned the one cable I left on it, and removed the blower switch to clean the chroming on the switch stalk. I also wire wheeled the ends of the main control stalks that stick out and show.

Started to work on the arm rest bases. One pad will have to be replaced, but the bases themselves, along with the stainless trims will be OK with cleaning/polishing.

 

Seeing real progress with today's session (4 1/2 hours)

Finished up the armrest bases. Was able to reuse the originals by deep cleaning the grain on exterior with a toothbrush and medium pressure. Trims polished out OK , and none of the tabs broke off. The dirtiest and scratched up part was the pocket where your fingers go when you grab the base but it polished up with plastic cleaner. The LH pad is junk, and I never have had good luck with the replacements.

Next was the dash lower steering column cover. A good gentle cleaning was all it needed so I left it in the original paint.

Next was the package tray corners. They were intact, but definetly needed to be refinished. Cleaned with a strong detergent and roughed it up with some 400 grit paper. I used the steering column cover mentioned above as a comparison to get the right sheen. I used Krylon "Camoflauge"black paint, then shot a very light layer of satin black on it - got pretty close.

Next was the console floor. It is the two parts that are flocked. These were OK, but at one time it looks like a shake had spilled in there. I brushed out the flocking as best as possible, then painted the two pieces with the Camoflauge paint. At first it looked like butt, but after it dried it turned out OK. The only way to make it better would have been to reflock. Cleaned and detail the inside console lens and light switch.

Door reflectors were next. Cleaned with Windex, the used Meguairs clear plastic polish on the lenses. Then used the buffing wheel to polish the chrome on the outer edges. Lastly, taped off the red part of the lens and used the paint pen on the two raised ribs. One reflector came out OK, the other has some serious pitting on one of the outer edges. I might have to replace this.

Moved onto the steering column disassembly. I am at another decision point on the 95% of NOS appearance before restoring a part, and that is on the dreaded steering column tube. The column finish that shows is in excellent shape except for some key swing marks on the tube. It is not scratched, but kind of scuffed. I am wondering if waxing this would make it look better, or should I just leave it alone. Opinions welcome. Would be great to just clean and polish the column pieces and reassemble. Have to find the bushing that goes on the crank for the lock out rod.

Pics in a minute

 

Column pics.

 

I have seen the defrost duct both in the slots and out of the slots. Almost every one that was in the slots were cracked. My opinion is that they were cracking at the factory when installed correct so they started using there own hole.

Your parts look great as always.

 

Very Nice resto job. I m right down the road from you. Euless, actually. What are your plans for the a/c box and the rest of the a/c under the hood?

 

Welcome to CO. There's lots of us here in the Metroplex.

Actually, today I was planning on beginning the evap case resto. All the clamps, straps and markings are still on it along with the original POA and expansion valves. The rest of the underhood A/C parts will be refurbed and refinished on an as needed basis.

 

Ive done plenty of these a/c boxes. if you need any tips, just lmk

 

It was steering column day (3 hours)

Did a lot of detailling on this unit. First used air to blow off the surface rust, them went over it with a moist rag.

The lower end that sticks into the engine compartment was filthy and I spent a lot of time cleaning the gunk out of the tube. I had to paint that part of the tube only and shot it with semi flat - it seemed to match the inside part well.

I had already removed the retainer, spring and shaft out which helped a lot. I wire wheeled the spring and retainer and clear coated both.

Removed the ignition switch and cleaned the body and contacts and attaching screws. Was careful to not mess up the ink stampings on the original switch.

Removed the U bracket, the aluminum sliding blocks and shims. Painted the bracket gloss black, wirewheeled those cool copper looking bolts, and cleaned the blocks with aluminum cleaner.

Cleaned with a tiny wire brush the connectors in that "smile" connector from the turn signal harness

Decided to leave the inside finish on the steering column alone. The original finish is unlike anything else I've encountered and I would not know how to replicate it. It has some key swing marks on the tube, so I waxed it which helped a little bit.

Reinstalled the shaft and the other components I had removed. Was able to keep the Z mark and the "SL" factory P/N label.

Then moved onto the evap case. Was able to tear it down and get ready for tomorrow, which will include finally dropping the plating off to be done, and a trip to the media blaster for a bunch of stuff.

 

Evap case teardown pics

 

Just a note... Make sure the blower's ground wire is really, really attached well before putting everything back in, especially the fender liner.

Don't ask



Enjoying this thread a lot!

 

Thanks Nop. That would suck to rework the connection after the well and fender are on.

 

Banny, are most of the original blower wheels you see plastic or metal? Mine is rusted to hell. (see pic above)

 

I'd say about 50-50. As long as its not pitted it can be beadblasted and repainted. I get looking like that all the time. That's what I do or replace with a plastic. The plastic ones come in black or white

 

Three hours and a evap case. (3 hours)

Began today by cleaning the case halves. I was surprised to find some black overspray around the edges, and some light blue overspray on the pass side case from when the RH side of the car was painted in the mid 80's. All of it came off with just a light scrubbing with Tuff Stuff interior cleaner, and a little Brake Cleen on the more troublesome spots. The biggest PITA was getting all the weatherstripping and body schutz/undercoater(?) off the surfaces where the two halves meet.

Was able to save the "Olds" marking and the red paint dot on the outer case, and the yellow 5 on the inner case. I detailed out the POA clamp and the resistor, but I think I'm going to have to replace or repair it since one of the spades is a little loose in the red insulator, and don't want to have any shorting out issues between the different elements.

The big lower drain nipple is soaking overnight to see if the undercoater will come off without damaging it. It is very thin, fragile material.

Wire wheeled the three rivets that hold the POA bracket to the case. I will clear, then mask off and paint the bracket in gloss with a little bit of satin over it.

Thanks to Lance and Patton about the Texas Precision Plating referral - dropped stuff off today. Great guys and really were sincere about wanting to get the colors right.

Also dropped all the stuff I need to have bead blasted off at Quality Powder Coating here in Carrollton. They will blast without coating for a very reasonable price.

Will try to finish evap case tomorrow, then on to the under dash heater\plenum assy.

 

I am going to be tearing my EVAP housing down soon as well and sending out the POA, expansion valve and evaporator to Classic Car Air. The question I have for you is what are you going to do about the finish of the fiberglass? mine is a little rough in spots.

Sean

 

Could you show some pics of the housing and those rough spots? I usually beadblast the housing but if its a little too rough to begin with I will sand the spots with 36 grit and progressing up to 180 then beadblasting to blend it the work area to the rest of the housing. how much does classic charge to do your evap, poa , and exp valves, if you mind me asking?

 

Banny,

In reality the housing probably is not that bad just some minor surface wear and I think you are right in the sanding idea. As for Classic Car Air pricing, this is what I have:

Compressor: $375
Condensor: $200
Drier: $99
Hoses: $250
Evap: $400-800 (depending on the work)
POA: $100
Exp Valve: $60

It is not cheap but, to get these 45yo parts to modern levels with R134 or R12 it costs between $1200-1600

Sean

 

Sean, I think my case halves are OK to install after the cleaning I gave them. There are a few scuffs on them where they seemed to rub on the fenderwell, but I don't think they will be noticeable.


My A/C still has the original POA valve (with ink stamped date code) and Frigidaire short tube expansion valve. It was charged and actually was cooling when I disassembled it, so I'm trying to keep it sealed while I clean/recondition the outer surfaces, replace the drier and O-Rings and reassemble & charge.

 

Banny do you have a good red A/C case resistor you would like to sell? And BoilerZ25 asked a question about the case halves you answered. Do you think mine is OK to reinstall as it now appears in the pics?

 

I was under the impression that in order to convert the system to modern refrigerant, you need to replace the POA, Expansion Valve and Hoses. This is due to the different density of the newer refrigerants and the likelihood of leaking without the proper conversion. I realize the value of keeping all components but, for a Houston car, a cold AC is more valuable to me.

Let me know how your system runs once completed. I am still a few weeks away from sending anything to Classic Car Air.

Thanks
Sean

 

Sean, it might be more like a few months before I'm even close to reassembly, but will let you know. I'm not converting over to the modern refrigerent - I have a stash of R-12 still available.

 

Hello Joe - how are things in Houston?


Not even close to starting on them - still don't have the rolling frame back from the painter to get started on the suspension components. Still have plenty to at home do including the wiring harnesses, driveshaft, various underhood components, some trim polishing, windows and related hardware etc, etc, etc........

 

Your evap housing looks very nice. The resistor is probably ok, the connectors are a little loose when new. If a change is made to R134, the poa valve can be recalibrated at home, do a search on CO, Rob has a good post on his procedure.
I'm with you Joe on using R-12, if it ain't broke,don't fix it.

 

Are these prices for new or rebuilding your parts. If for rebuilding, I guess there prices have gone up. But $400-800 for an evaporator? I take it that's including the housing also because if not that could be highway robbery. A new evap costs like$275. The drier, hoses, and compressor seem ok for todays prices, if those are your parts that you will be getting back rebuilt. I use to work for them so im pretty familiar with them and their rebuilding procedures. Unless things have changed, which I doubt, $200 for reconditioning a condenser is too much.

 

I have pretty much all the parts including the resistors so yes I could sell one. If you are interested, I could sell it like it is or replated.

 

Thanks Banny. I 'm going to try to see if I can better secure that one loose spade terminal tomorrow on mine. If I can't I'll take one off your hands.

 

when I have one that has a loose connector, I use some jb quick weld on the back side works great for me.

 

Today's report - no pics (2 1/2 hours)

More evap unit work. Reconditioned all the fasteners and misc clamps, and cleaned up the vent tube pipe and outlet fitting. Lightly wire brushed the POA valve which came out looking great. The big drain nipple cleaned up as well after the overnight soak in Purple Power.

The big heater hose clamp went flying somewhere in the garage when the wire wheel grabbed it. I HATE it when I lose things like that because it is always the one I don't have a spare for.

Was looking over the evaporator itself. I left the expansion valve attached, so I am going to try to detail both as a unit. Hoping to not go through the outside plating on the capillary tubes. They are dirty, but in solid shape.

Tomorrow it is paint the POA bracket, finishing the evaporator cleaning/detail and begin reassembling.

Joe

 

Banny,

Good to know. I thought the same about the Evap and condensor. I need to talk with them again to determine exactly what is included.

Sean

 

Did a little work this morning (1 1/2 hours)

Sanded and painted the POA to case bracket. It was humid today, and it came out looking like butt - will reshoot tomorrow.

Changed my mind and separated the expansion valve from the evap. The valve is going to need some work to make it look right. The upper capillary tube had lost all the zinc plating, but the lower one is fine. Also, don't think I can make the valve body look good and still save the ink stamped part number on it.

Received today the 4 Firestone G70x14 RWL used Wide Ovals I got on Epay. Almost brand new and saved almost 300.00 on a new set

Chip from Power Steering Services called. He mistakenly built my gearbox to the fast ratio specs. He 's going to put it back stock and ship to me next week.

Tinker's Machine also called. Heads are done but will wind up having to bore the block. Going to use the Federal Mogul 369P pistons to get as close to stock as possible.

 

oh yea, rattle can painting never comes out good for me in humid weather unless I let the parts dry inside. Are you just gonna let the expansion valve stay the way it is? I always replate them. of course, most of the ones I get have seen better days.

 

Can you post some pictures of the AC system progress? I am rethinking just restoring it to R12 and trying to limit the expense of paying Classic Car Air.

Thanks

 

It's not bad refurb-ing the case, there are several sources for ideas on cleaning the case, and most use a matte/semi-gloss clear paint to get the sheen back. Repairs aren't too bad either, depending on how bad the damage is. New cases are available for about $250. (Parts Place has them for $230)

A local radiator shop or A/C shop can flush/pressure test evap cores and condensers. New dryers are available, as are new expansion valves. Neither are worth trying to reuse since you run the risk of them failing/not performing up to par.

You can have a dryer rebuilt, but it's not cheap.

I know NOS expansion valves are available, not sure they are worth restoring, they're like $50. You can make a stencil to redo the markings or see if they are available with the OE stampings.

Depending on the POA you have, they can be rebuilt, calibrated, or OE replacements are available (NOS). If you take a chance here, even if it worked perfectly before, you run the risk of having to redo it. (Ask me how I know)

OE type barrier line is available, can also have OE style ends put on if you're pushing for the OE look. If not, a local hydraulic shop can do the ends.

These days, it's more expensive to stay R12 than it is to convert, or so close, it's a wash. This to a degree depends on your system's current condition, but if is inoperative, or has been open for any length of time, it's cheaper to go 134.

Do it right, do it once. More than once costs more, and this is one area where that's very true.

.