Hello to all. I am new here but certainly not new to these cars as I have owned a few in the past. In fact two of my first cars were w30 convertibles both 70 which I drove everyday late 70’s into 80’s. I recently restored a concours level Buick GSX which I got good money at a Mecum auction a few years back. I also helped a friend with a concourse resto of a 72 Hurst Olds convertible. This same friend owns this car. It’s not mine but I am heavy into it. I get to do all the dirty stuff. We are performing a frame off. It is matching numbers Sunfire Yellow, auto and no AC the way I like it. It had a semi resto around 30 years ago and it wasn’t the greatest. We were less hands on then. Now most work will be done with us. There will be lots of photos to come. Feel free to compliment or criticize. Suggestions welcome. I have thick skin.

 

Here it is before tear down. Color was always a bit off. Too creamy.

 

 

More

 

Good luck, will enjoy following your progress. Aren’t 72 W-30s the Rodney Dangerfield of muscle cars? Even among Oldsmobile fanatics, they don’t get the respect they deserve. And the X VIN might be the best W-30 proof there is.

 

Official garage dog. All garages need one.

Cool as hell decal on bottom of console door. None of the 1970’s I owned with dual gates had them. Anyone ever seen one? I don’t think anyone makes these. Probably just put it back on intact.

 

you are correct sir. Funny how many times some know it all pulls up and says “hey it’s a fake, it doesn’t have red fender wells.” We just say “what year is your w30?” That ends it right there. I actually like the grill and orange numbers on the grill best out of 70-72 models.

 

The X in the VIN is a nice touch with 72. In the Buick community we have a similar situation with Stage-1. Only 72 could be IDd with VIn. At least with a 70 Stage1 records exist. All records for 71 GS have been lost.

 

Some more background on the car. It came from Berejik Olds in Needham, Mass and spent its life in Mass. it even spent several years and winters in our old neighborhood in a suburb of Boston. My friend bought it about 30 years ago from a friend of my brothers after it got keyed while parked on the street. Car is an original 3.73 gear car and was ordered with no gauges?? A 3.73 car with a dual gate and no tach. Who would do that? Anyway we fixed that, the floor boards, frame and fuel tank are amazingly preserved for a New England car due to Berejik heavy use of undercoating. I owned a Rally Red w30 convertible that was the same way. My hobby was peeling it off the red wheel wells.

 

Front end was rebuilt a few years ago with nice control arms and all bushings and ball joints changed. Paint still looks good and might just take a cleaning. Distributor is only matching part of car missing. I found a 71 Olds 455 in a 70 firebird of all things that had a distributor that only has last digit off. It will have to do. I already cleaned it up and it will be recurved.

 

Interior being gutted. Dash removed with wiring attached to dash. This is is how it was installed so that’s how I take them out. Wiring harness was taken out and found to be in nice shape. I rewrap them with correct wide non sticky tape. I’ve done a few of them. Makes them look new.

 

We added power windows to this car years back, we used an original set up. All holes and wires are in correct places. It’s the best option you can have on a convertible. Why it wasn’t standard on rag tops is anyones guess? You can put top and all windows down without ever leaving the drivers seat.

 

Several years ago we took out carpet and sound deadener and went happy with the POR. There really wasn’t much rust but where there was it was only surface. The stuff peels right of virgin metal.

 

Why the factory used fiberglass batting in the vent passage behind the vented kick panel is anyone’s guess. All your cabin air was fiberglass fortified. Not to healthy, anyway it’s in its proper place now. The circular file. It will be replace with modern type sound deadener.

 

Took fuel tank out. Got as much fuel out as we could siphon. I forgot to block of vent holes and got a nice gas shampoo when it came loose and filler neck got caught on the frame. All over the garage too. Floor boards are in great shape and tank has just light surface rust. Unfortunately no build sheet was on top of tank.

 

Welome Big Cat! It's coming along very nicely.

 

Anyone taking off these upper vent tubes on a 71-72 beware the left hose has a small blue restrictor inside of it for some reason. I forgot about it and almost cut through it. It will be inserted in new hose. Must have lessened vacuum?
Think how many of these have been tossed, I find them on Buicks Too.

 

Did some scraping on the frame to find stamping. Parish Pressed steel and part number. Frame was made only a week or so before build date of car.

 

thanks Frank

 

Looks like the car is in good shape w not much rust at all.

its a mystery (to me anyways) why the 72s w X vin arent the most popular of all the years

 

The dashes on these cars just were not meant to come apart. Original had quite a few broken and cracked screw posts on back. We had three to choose from. The best was a saddle colored one from the 72 Vista we stripped years ago stored at our friends house. It still had a broken post where heater control attaches. They always break there. I had some GM interior paint in black laying around so I painted it eliminating all traces of saddle. I fixed the one broken post by cutting it flush with a dremmel then cutting one off spare dash. I then used plastic weld to put together. I used hanging wire to wrap around it the buried the coil inside with multiple layers of plastic weld. I used a nail to keep the holes aligned. I took the nail out after 10 minutes. I almost didn’t get it out! Stuff dries fast.

 

It’s a good idea to coat everyone of the screw post with the plastic weld using a small brush. They often have cracks. The riveted area on top of the ash tray area is cracked 100 percent of the time. Brush on some plastic weld over the crack.

 

Finished products after painting and new wood grain installed. Glove box door is original black with a fresh coat. I think I got the gloss level about right.

 

Still need to get a chrome paint pen to do the lip edge.

this tool is invaluable to remove and install the glove box lock retainer and install, nothing else works quite like it. I think I got it from the Pontiac guys at Ames.

 

The small nuts are not to bad to get out of the small access holes on back of the cover. Trick is to get them stuck in the nut driver.


Getting them back on is the trick. I use small needle nose to get them started. Drop them and you need to chase them out with a magnet. Did that twice.

 

The body mounts are an interesting study. I think someone at Olds was sniffing glue when the decided on colors. I mean they are green. Everything is damn green. And not exactly what they call for. This is my take on them after examining the originals off the 72 Hurst Olds we did a few years ago. The few that we took of this car appears to have the same pattern, What they call dark green is kind of a bright Aqua color. The light green I guess is light but kind of lime. The assembly manual calls for dark green lower mounts on all areas except under the doors which are number 3 area which are light green. That one was originally a smaller center to fit the smaller steel kit. The new kits like Fusick give you all the same ones. I painted two light green anyway. The mounts at location 3 sandwiched between the body is also listed as light green. Area 3 is only area with light green. Area 2 under firewall used the Aqua on small lower mount. The one sandwiched in between body and frame at location 2 call for dark green stripes. Originals looked more like Aqua blobs or streaks so that’s how I did them. These were a bit different style but the new kits they are no different than the others in reality. The 4 rubber plugs all were listed as dark green too but looked Aqua. This is all based on 50 year old originals that I compared to assembly manual. 71 assembly manual shows identical as 72.

 

The square core support mounts are a mystery, they are listed as just green. Both friends 72s have been changed so we have nothing to go by. I’m pretty sure I got them too dark green. Anyone have some originals they can post?

 

Anyone have an original core support bolt they can post? All the other areas of body mounts used the phosphate flange headed bolts of various lengths. AMK has two sizes that the smaller one will work. I’m guessing since the core support bolt uses a washer under the head and fits against tre core support it has no flange and is a plain black hex head? Anyone know? I have no idea why Fusick insists on including those stupid gold hardware store bolts. What a waste.

 

no problem, glad to help. I discovered this changing those hoses on my 71 Stage 1 years ago. I have checked cars in junkyards with rusted out floors and they are always there. A friend who was an Olds mechanic since 1965 knew about them but says he has no idea why they are there. Think how many guys tossed them!

 

[QUOTE=Vintage Chief;1314599]My '71 CS convertible is very nearly the same shade of yellow/cream as your 4-4-2 Sunfire Yellow. Mine is not the original paint but is numbers matching with nearly every item OEM. My interior is the 1971 model year only Sienna or Sierra - I can't recall what they called it. You have a very nice '72 W30 convertible! I replaced my carpet with the correct shade and the rear passenger seat & seat back upholstery from Legendary. I replaced the entire suspension last winter.

QUESTION: Thank you for the description of the body mounts. Are you replacing the body mounts with the body raised off of the frame or are you removing the entire body from the frame to replace the body mounts? I'm considering replacing the body mounts, but since I've had the seats and carpet out a couple of times I was hoping I might be able to R&R the body mounts via jacking the body off the frame enough to perform this operation. Thanks for an excellent write up!

Thoughts on the body mounts when you get the chance?

[/QUOTE
Real nice car you have. We will be taking the body off to change the mounts. I know guys that have done it without taking the body off by jacking it in various places. The ones under the firewall you will have to get fender wells out of the way as you need to get a wrench on the nuts and that’s not easy. We use an offset box end. All the bolts can be tough after 50 years. I snapped off a cage nut on one under the doors one time. Just be careful to not get your hand stuck. Have help. Use two jacks one on each side.

You can see the one at firewall if you blow this up.

 

My thought exactly

 

By the way your interior color was Sienna. It’s a region in Italy. Olds had an exterior color also called Sienna. Both are 71 only. Exterior Sienna is called Burnished Cinnamon by Buick and maybe classic copper by Chevy. My 71 Stage 1 exterior was that color.

 

Frame looks clean. Cool project. Good luck with it!

 

Hello, good work. Carry on.

I'm not sure why the 72 gets less respect than the 71. I think it's because of the change of the horsepower measuring from gross to net, and because the 442 is now an options package again, as opposed to it being a model for the previous 4 years. The engine ID in the vin certainly helps, especially the W-30's X. I would rather have a 72 442 (W-30 or not) over a 71, or a 68, or a 69. I'd only prefer a 70 over it for that model lifespan 68-72.

 

I think the 72 has the most refinement. It’s a car that should not exist that makes it special. 73 models got pushed back a year because of strike. Pretty funny how they changed the tail lights almost as an afterthought and just painted the same grill opposite from 71. I’m betting they just ran out of red wheel wells too.

 

Nice project!!! I remember reading an article years ago, might have been a late '70s or early '80s issue of JWO, it said something about just the first few, maybe 10 or so?? '72 W30s did have the red fender wells until they ran out & had to switch to black. Anyone know for sure???

 

I’ve heard both ways that late 71’s having black and early 72 red as you mentioned. I’ve never seen a 71 with black or a 72 as red and I have seen a lot. Until I see one I’ll remain skeptical.

 

JungleCat - Cool car and a cool color as well.

QUESTION: In your posting #12 above you posted a pic of the D side rear inside shell - showing the routing of the power window switch wire and the orientation of the switch receptacle (appears to be with the TWO holes up and single hole down).

Do you have a pic of the other side showing the same thing? Looking to see where the wires ran there and if the receptacle orientation is a mirror image of the P side.

Here's the pic you posted above (D side):

 

Patton, I think Dave and the owner installed the power windows years ago. I've seen this car many times over the years, it's local to me.

 

Frank, 90 percent chance we did it correctly as I copied my 71 GS which should be the same. The position of the connector is not too relevant. You always need to twist those things to connect to door switch. They are pretty flexible. I’ll hunt my pictures and see if I have the other side.