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Check it out! Here's a link to my YouTube channel. Read the posts below for pics and info on each of my Oldsmobile YouTube videos. If you want to watch the videos, just follow the link to my YouTube homepage. I've also included a link in my signature.
The first video I shot I decided to change the oil on my 96 98.
Gotta start somewhere, right?
I hope folks learn a little bit about essential tremors through my YouTube videos. While I've condensed my videos to focus on the repairs I do to my 71 & 96 Oldsmobile 98s, and my 1986 Ford F250; I live with essential tremors every day. It effects every task of manual dexterity I preform. Despite my disability, it does not define who I am.
Thanks for the comments gents. I understand 100% about not partaking in social media. I've thought to myself that I might have to rejoin Facebook and sign up for Twitter/Instagram depending on how much I get into YouTube. Definitely a frightening prospect!
I've been considering whether I should do a second video on the 96 or the 71. I want to add a deep cycle battery to my 96 for my ham radio and I need to finish the R/R of the MC/vacuum booster on the 71. Hmmm...
So, the second video I did I broke the passenger's side window switch panel in my 96 98. I actually sourced another one in the salvage yard but I haven't installed it yet.
The guy with the red beard will know!
I'll update this thread with a pic when I get the new panel installed.
The first video I did of my 71 98 I wanted to paint the master cylinder with POR-15. Unfortunately, the POR-15 paint I had was no good. The top wouldn't come off!
I was forced to use some hi-temp Rust-Oleum paint I had on hand to spray paint the master cylinder. I used hammered, black Rust-Oleum brush-on paint (the same paint I used on the fuel tank of my 86 F250) for the master cylinder lid.
Unfortunately, the master cylinder, lid & vacuum booster ALREADY look lousy. So, I'll have to revisit this at a later time.
FWIW, here's the kit I tried to use to paint the master cylinder. I did contact POR-15 and they sent me another kit. Hopefully this would work better than the hi-temp Rus-Oleum since it's designed specifically for brakes.:
Jesse - I had different expectations for the video; yet, I enjoyed watching an honest person document the process they had to go through - i.e. cap couldn't be removed from the can (!), foam paint brush mishap. Hey, video demonstrates the good & bad of the kit & the trials & tribulations of what it takes to get things done. Good job on making the video. Keep it up.
Thanks Norm. Like I said in the debrief, I did get another POR-15 kit on the house. Eventually I hope to do a video where I paint the brake calipers and drums.
After painting the master cylinder & vacuum booster, I decided to bench bleed the MC. If you bench bleed a master cylinder make sure you have Dorman kit 13911 on hand.
One week I had difficulty with other projects I was doing (on my Ford truck, my 96 98 or something dictated by momma), so I decided to replace the front shocks on my 71 98. I figured it would be a quick task I could complete and shoot video of. Little did I know how much of a PITA it would be to remove shocks from a 52 year old car.
I got Monroe 5801s for the front of my 71 (lifetime warranty at the local auto parts store). In the CSM it states that you need special tool BT 6515 (which is manufactured now as Lisle 20400).
The shocks I removed weren't OE but they were lifetime warranty Monroe shocks that were made in the USA (it was stamped on the side).
I didn't take a picture, or put it in my video but the rear shocks were actually worse than the fronts. They are COMPLETELY rusted. I suppose I should replace them soon, but I had considered doing an LS swap into the car. I'm not sure if I would keep the Oldsmobile 9 3/8 rear end or swap it as well...
Before bleeding the brakes on my 71 98, I installed front brake hoses. The brake hoses on the car had been on it for at least 15 years (as long as I've owned it). They had overspray on them from when I painted the car years ago.
I used the house brand brake hoses from the local O'Reilly Auto Parts, Brake Best BH73305. They worked fine. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to remove the old rear brake hose. I bought a replacement, Brake Best BH80965. I actually still have it in the bag next to me as I type this. I need to revisit the brake hoses on my 71 98 and force the brake line off of the rear brake hose, even if I have to bend new brake lines.
Thanks for watching. It is getting easier to shoot videos and edit them. Next week I'll probably bleed the brakes and get the 71 back on the road (video to come).
It worked well. However, I had previously bought the Mityvac MV8000 bleeder kit. It's available from your local auto parts store, Amazon, Horrible Freight, etc. DO NOT buy the Mityvac kit. It's good in concept but I've never been able to get it to work well. The best way to bleed your brakes is with help from a buddy.
I actually had difficulty bleeding my brakes because the proportioning valve had bottomed out and shut off the front circuit of my brakes. To overcome this you need to hold down the button on the proportioning valve when you bleed the brakes. I had to do some reading on our website to be reminded of that.
Make sure you wear rubber gloves when working with brake fluid. It's quite caustic. Don't mix DOT 3,4,5 & 6 brake fluid. Our classics Oldsmobiles (even my 96) use DOT 3.
After completing the hydraulic installation and adjustment of the brakes on my 71 98, I wanted to ensure the E-brake was operating correctly. Page 5-4 of the 1971 Chassis Service Manual gives directions on adjusting the E-brake. Unfortunately, The E-brake pedal wasn't ratcheting correctly in my 71.
You can see the E-brake pedal in this pic. Notice the hood latch pull is deteriorated. Eventually, I'll have to get a new pull handle. I think it's the same part for most GM cars.
I adjusted the E-brake cable loose and tight many times before I figured out why the pedal wasn't ratcheting. It turned out that there was just 50+ years of grime in the ratcheting mechanism. After cleaning the mechanism with our favorite penetrant and adjusting the E-brake cable, it worked like a champ. Here's a pic of the adjusted E-brake cable.
Here's a video on bleeding the brakes of the 71 98. This was actually more difficult than the video implies. I had to do some searching on our forum to steer me in the right direction.
Jesse - I installed new Thrush Glasspacks on my '67 4-4-2 in H.S. (1969).
The 455 in my 71 smoked like a locomotive but it didn't have chocolate milk oil or ATF in any of the vacuum fittings. I did a compression test and found out the head gasket was blown. After checking the timing and idle speed I let the car idle in the back yard for 10 minutes. THE RADIATOR EXPLODED!
Here's the parts store cheapie radiator with the remnants of the side tank that blew off.
I guess I have a spare parts store cheapie radiator. There's no way I'm putting it in my 71 after this fiasco. My Bullnose truck has a parts store radiator that needs to be replaced too. I guess I'll run the OE radiator for awhile. It leaks a bit but does an OK job for looking 10 up and 2 down.
Antifreeze smokes like a bandit when it burns off of hot metal. I mean you blew the entire side tank off the radiator. I'd expect a lot of residual antifreeze coolant remains on a lot of metal vaporizing as metal heats up.
So it appears that the aluminum side rail flexed, or bent and then the rest followed catastrophically. I wonder if that is a thing to be evaluated when considering a new aluminum radiator. Maybe some manufacturers use a better method, larger gauge aluminum for the rail or something along those lines which can be seen before paying for one.
Here's a link to the thread I started specifically about the last video I posted. I think the parts store cheapie radiator failed because my head gasket was blown. Then again, I don't know how a head gasket just fails. I guess it was a problem that grew worse with time until the radiator finally failed.
So it appears that the aluminum side rail flexed, or bent and then the rest followed catastrophically. I wonder if that is a thing to be evaluated when considering a new aluminum radiator. Maybe some manufacturers use a better method, larger gauge aluminum for the rail or something along those lines which can be seen before paying for one.
The "aluminum side rail" is referred to as a "header" or a "header plate".
Companies exist which manufacture headers/header plates.
That's cool, I really enjoy watching those kind of programs. It appears that was all old school with brass and lead solder. Maybe some manufacturers are cheezing out on us and taking shortcuts in methods now with the aluminum versions.
I did a video on disassembling the top part of the 455 in my 71 98. After removing all the parts they ended up in the bed of my Bullnose truck.
I included a pic in the video of my 71 from November of 2018. I had to park it out front for a day or two after having it towed home. This is when the tail pipes were scrapped by an incompetent tow truck driver sent by Hagerty.
I did a video on removing the heads from the short block. Folks were giving me a hard time because the project was progressing so slowly. I'm editing this on 3/31/23 and the engine still hasn't started after reassembly (all I have left to do is stab the distributor and start her up)
My goal is to keep my videos to a reasonable length, 20 minutes or so. Plus, you know the way it is with a full-time job. I work full-time for the FAA (that's planes, not cows or flags).
If you do similar work don't forget PPE. Notice I'm wearing gloves, safety glasses, an N95 mask and hearing protection. C'mon all the cool kids are doing it.
Here's a pic of the passenger's side deck after cleaning the surface. Of course, I thoroughly cleaned the bolt holes and chased the threads.
Well when you got some chemical spray in your eye near the beginning of the video I thought that's nothing! I knew a Chief on the Ike that got hydrochloric acid sprayed in his eye and he just grabbed his coffee cup and used the coffee to rinse it out like easy peasy. Not a big deal.
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just kidding.
Truly the absolute worse substances to get in your eyes are basic substances i.e. NaOH (sodium hydroxide = lye), e.g. drain openers (all are basic), oven cleaners, etc. Acids (in the eyes) will sting wildly but less damage will occur (if any) when washed immediately. Bases are far more dangerous to the eyes.
Most of my videos are published at about 20 minutes long. I've started publishing shorts videos every week, and full-length videos every other week. Even though my full-length videos are only 20 minutes long I crop that down from several hours worth of video. The most footage I've gotten so far is the video I did on removing and painting the headers. I had well over 10 hours of video to start with. While most of it would never be worth publishing because it's just me turning a wrench or painting, I've thought I need to start saving all of that cut-out video and use it somehow.
Hopefully the paint I put on the headers is durable. I already scrapped it up a bit reassembling the engine. We'll see how long it lasts once I start her up.
If you watch the videos I do on my Bullnose Ford truck you might remember the video I did on repairing the taillights. In that video I mentioned to never use wire nuts in 12VDC automotive electronics. I've seen cars at car shows that use wire nuts extensively. Maybe they were wired by an electrician? Well, I found a use for wire nuts when painting the intake manifold of my 71 98.
I've found that posting videos on YouTube isn't an easy task. It's definitely a full-time job for professional YouTubers! Life happens and sometimes a Friday rolls around and I don't have a new video to post. Thankfully, I've been able to stay ahead of the game and I generally have spare footage I shot previously that I can use to publish a video. One time I did this I was waiting on parts to do a video on my Bullnose truck. So, I posted a "backup" video I had on chaining the oil in my 71 98. It's funny watching the older videos because hindsight is of course 20-20. So many things come up that change our plans and things end up working out anyways...
I'm convinced the Wix 51258 is the BEST oil filter for our Oldsmobile engines. Of course, you can save money by buying a store brand filter. Little did I know at the time I shot this video that I would only use this filter for about 10 minutes of idle time.
Posting these videos I see how slowly I progress on my projects. However, before posting the videos I rarely turned a wrench. I've made more progress on all 3 of my projects than I ever have. The last time I made this much progress was on my 64 98 before I was married... don't tell momma.
Here's a shot from a video I did on installing the headers. Even though I used the blanket I still scrapped them a bit. Oh well, the guy with the red beard is going to know.
Oldsguy helped me install the heads on my 71 98. My daughter; Bit64, was also on hand and can be heard during the video. I guess she's learning from the best.
A truly EPIC FAIL! If you only watch one of my YouTube videos make sue it's my Misadventures video. I dropped my 9/16" socket into the distributor hole of my 455 and it ended up in the oil pan. I guess it's staying there until I remove the engine. Maybe I should do that LS swap after all...
It seems like it's been awhile since I posted about updates to my 71. Posting these videos to YouTube has been the best thing to do to motivate me to get work done on my projects.
I have the engine assembled now, the only thing left to do is stab the distributor.
Bit64 is showing us 3 different header fasteners in this pic the Percy's VibeLock bolts, Stage 8 bolts and ARP studs.
Here's the ARP headers stud kit I got (180-1401). I had to get a few 6 point nuts to use with the studs (so I could use an open end wrench). The studs worked well, but I couldn't use them on the front & back of the driver's side head. The alternator bracket attaches on the front and there's not enough room under the headers for the rear stud.
Ultimately, I think headers are just a PITA. Only use headers if you intend to race your classic Oldsmobile. Plus, if you have to use a BFH to massage the headers to get them to fit then I hope you got them on the cheap.
June 18th, 2022, 06:10 AM
So, I'll have to revisit this at a later time.
