Nice. I want I want.

Are you going to complete the rest of the parking brake? I went with S/S lines from ILT myself.

I also noticed the A/C brackets look nothing like mine. I am assuming 455 and 350's are diff.

 

Just out of curiosity, how much have you got in it so far for parts and farmed out labor for the stuff you didnt do yourself.
I have a bracket that looks like your A/C one. I never knew what it was for. I thought that all the a/c brackets were the same for the 350's and 455's.

 

The A/C brackets came with the 455, but it came out of a 1975 Delta 88. They're quite different from the A/C brackets on the 350 that's original to my car. I'm hoping it's all going to fit under the hood and between the fenders in the end...

I left the remainder of the parking brake (and a number of other systems) for a time after the body gets on the frame. I didn't want to take a chance on damaging/losing pieces in the mean time.

As for the cost, let's just say I could have bought myself a decent new car for what I've spent so far on this project. And it's not done yet...

 

very impressed with your build. its been fun reading about your progress and seeing pictures. its going to be an amazing car.

cant wait to start my own.

 

I say go for the original glossy air cleaner with 'Oldsmobile Rocket 455' on it.

 

Body on!

 

Wow, nice car!

 

always a good sign.

 

Well it's been a while since I've updated this thread. I took a couple weeks vacation last month and kinda lost my restoration mojo, but it's slowly coming back to me. No real progress at the body shop, they got onto other projects while I was on vacation. I've been tinkering with the HVAC stuff lately as the evaporator and heater cases will have to get installed before the fenders can go on the car, and the body shop won't get into the serious work until they can hang & align all the body panels.

This week I took my radiator to a local shop to get a new core installed. The original 3-row core was fine for the original 350 engine, but I want plenty of cooling for the new 455. After doing some research it appeared that any stock replacement 4-row radiator or aluminum radiator would require modifications to the existing supports, and I didn't want to get into that. So the shop installed a new 4-row core that fit my original side tanks. They pressure tested it to 25 psi then painted it, now it's good to go. I want to check the upper support plate to make sure it still fits correctly, but I need to get some new rubber insulators first.

 

did not know they could do that.

 

Well the body shop got busy on my car last week: they painted the core support, the firewall, the door jambs, and inside the fenders! Then they hung the doors and loosely attached the core support and fenders to see what the gaps look like. I brought in the refurbished HVAC components and attached them to the firewall while I still had easy access, along with a few other items. I've got a lot more to do before they paint the rest of the car, guess I'll have to take some more days off from work!

 

You've probably noticed that I had the firewall painted body color instead of factory black... I know that's not "correct", but I've already strayed from a factory original restoration, so I went with a more custom look. For full disclosure, the underside of the body got coated with Line-X in body color as well... I like the look, and I think it will make my otherwise run-of-the-mill Cutlass stand out just a little bit.

 

Lots of things going on with this project, so much that I haven't taken the time to snap pictures. I go to the body shop every day I can after work to get things re-installed in the engine compartment. Progress is slow because there's only about an hour between the time I get off from work and the time the shop closes. I can't take any vacation time at the moment so I'm stuck with this schedule.

I'm trying to get as much work done in the engine compartment as I can before they install the fenders for the final time. Here's what I've done so far:

- installed a new front parking brake cable between the frame and body
- installed the parking brake pedal assembly to the firewall and dash panel
- installed the transmission shift linkage between the steering column and frame
- installed the transmission downshift cable to the firewall
- installed a new throttle cable between the firewall and carburetor
- installed the A/C vacuum canister to the firewall
- installed a new A/C wire harness to the blower motor, resistor, and relay (also new), attached relay to firewall, and routed harness thru the firewall with a new grommet
- installed a new heater control valve to the engine and ran new hoses between the valve, heater core, and water pump
- installed the wiper motor to the firewall and the wiper transmission assembly to the cowl
- installed a new engine wire harness to the wiper motor/washer pump and routed it for later connections
- installed a new fan belt for the A/C compressor (took a lot of trial-and-error to find the right length for this aftermarket compressor installation)

I've also been doing lots of parts preparation work at home, getting things cleaned and prepped for installation.

I did take pictures of the wiper motor/washer pump refurbish I did. The washer pump hasn't worked for over 20 years - turns out the actuator arm was stuck in place by a wad of dried up/gunked up old grease. I cleaned and re-lubed everything, put it back together, tested it on the bench, and now it works! The wiper motor has hi and low speeds and goes to the park position like it should too. It felt kinda good to have one complete success on this project. The before, during, and after pics are below.

 

Looking nice! Isnt it great when clean parts start going ON?

 

I finally brought my camera to the body shop and took lots of pictures. Here's a bunch showing the progress to date.

 

More pictures. The underside is so clean!

 

Even more pictures.

 

And still more pictures. Those pesky details like the starter and the transmission cooling lines, go in a lot easier when you have access to a lift and a shop full of tools. A bunch of experienced mechanics doesn't hurt either!

 

that looks nice

 

Beautiful.

Is that a rusty banjo bolt though I see there? Say it aint so.

 

Also... I am really starting to like the body color underneath more and more. It really contrasts the other parts nicely and you can see things much better/clearer. ie frame, exhaust, suspension.

 

Yes, I slacked off on the banjo bolts... At first I thought I would buy new ones, but correct ones were a bit expensive so I re-used the originals - there didn't appear to be anything wrong with them anyway. I should have painted them but I didn't.

Now it's going to bug me...

 

How much are the correct ones? I don't think I have seen them yet. I was going to get a pair from ILT a while back, and there was a note that said not correct like original or something. Can't recall if AMK has the correct ones. I am assuming they are zinc plated.

Right now, I have ones that came with the powdercoated caliper kit from the Right Stuff (until I get my 'assuming' original set of calipers rebuilt).

What kind of rotors are those? Are they plain or zinc coated? They are purty.

 

Uh oh... I just noticed rusty front upper control arm shaft shims as well.

I shouldn't say that though, that not nice. You should see some of my NEW bolts n stuff that are rusted already. Good example is the 4 x t-bolts on the rear end. The tips are all rusted. My Moser axles and drums as well, all from just sitting there. Need to take apart again and paint, and touch up some small rust spots with POR15 or similar.

 

Well now those I figure will get replaced when I take it in for an alignment. They're just place holders for now.

 

Wow, 6 months since my last update! Unfortunately work on my car kind of ground to a halt at the shop, they got tied up on other projects. Back in November the new vinyl top got installed: the body shop guy wanted it on the car before paint (he didn't want the installers rubbing against a newly painted body). In case you're wondering, he did prime and paint the sheet metal under the top before install. Since then not much was done to the car, but last week they got busy with the body work. Shimmed the fenders, aligned the doors, set the gaps, and worked the body filler so that everything was nice and straight. Early this week they sprayed the final coat of primer, and today they completed the block sanding. The color coats are supposed to start going on tomorrow...

Here's the new vinyl top back in November...

 

Here's the end of the body work last Friday. They had to build up some body filler at the front edge of the door to make it flush with the fender - it had been way off originally.

 

Here's the final coat of primer on Monday. Man that is one straight and smooth body!

 

Today my Cutlass had her day in the paint booth - the Green Machine is green once again!!

 

A few teaser shots from yesterday's activity. Too bad the paint booth windows were so blurry...

 

Are you using base clear or single stage?

 

The Green Machine is finally back in my garage! Now I just have to put it all back together again and get it running...

It's base/clear. Sikkens was the brand they used.

 

WOW , thats looking good.

 

Very nice project, and the paint looks awesome!

 

The car is looking great.

 

Nice car! When I read you were going with green as the color, I'll admit, I said to myself, 'Why, of all colors, is he going with green?'

Now I have to say, 'Excellent choice. I'm green with envy.' The car looks great. I also like the painted firewall and Line-X underside.

 

Well I haven't had much to write about lately, but I've slowly been putting my Cutlass back together. Since my last post I've installed a new fuel tank and plumbed the fuel system, installed the re-cored radiator and plumbed the cooling system, bled the brakes with one of those pressurized bottle kits, installed new wire harnesses and hooked up some aftermarket engine gauges, and filled up all the fluids and primed the engine oil system with a drill.

Last Saturday I started the rebuilt Olds 455 for the first time - took a few attempts and some fiddling with the distributor, but it fired right up and purred like a kitten! We quickly set it at around 2000 rpm and held it there for 20 minutes to break in the cam and lifters, then idled down to around 900 rpm in park. Oil pressure started at around 60 psi and settled at 45 psi once it warmed up. Water temperature never got above 195, and that was sitting in a hot garage. There was no smoke from the engine or the exhaust pipes, no funny smells, no visible oil or water leaks. Unfortunately the transmission was bleeding fluid like crazy from the front seal and the accumulator piston cover, so there's some work to be done there.

Overall I'm really happy I finally got the engine running, now I've got some motivation to keep going!

By the way, thanks for all the compliments!

 

Hey Oskar Did you have a thread a while back about installing a Classic Auto Air upgrade kit? I was following it and it just stopped. The sticky note said not to post to that catagory anymore so maybe it was moved? Im still trying to get the hang of the site so If it wasn't you that had that thread I apolegize. Thanks.

 

Greg - I'm sorry I haven't replied to your post until now, I haven't been back here in a long time. I do have the thread you mentioned, but there hasn't been anything to update since my last post. I don't think the thread has been moved yet, here's a link to it as of today:

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...2-cutlass.html

When I get back to working on the A/C system I'll update that thread, wherever it is. Thanks for your interest!

 

Oskar thanks for your reply, just saw it, I'm glad your back on. You have done great work. We all know how life gets in the way of our projects. I go back and look at yours and Rob's a/c threads as I am doing my car now. Check out 71 Cutlass a/c restoration under major builds/restorations if you like. Thanks Greg.