colby

Very nice! You make me envious.

we jeep inn

I've been able to get a few things done.

I cleaned up the trunk, put on a new coat of spatter paint, new weatherstrip, the jack decals, and I covered all the nice paint work up with a mat . Gotta clean up the jack and the spare before they go back in.

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I removed the cracked headlight bezels and stone shield. The right bezel was good, I replaced the left one (thanks Paul), and I repaired the stone shield with fiberglass. Primed and painted everything and its ready to go back in. My grille was in terrible condition, complete with baling wire holding it in, kinda. I have a good used one on the way.

Stone Shield (Medium).jpg

Door panels came in from Legendary. I opted for the pre-assembled ones. The quality, as expected, is excellent. The holes for the door handle/armrest were die cut and already removed. The hole for the window crank, chrome trim, mirror control, etc were cut but not removed. Sweeps were installed. There were no cuts or marking for the pull strap so I transferred the location from my old panel.

What are the "correct" screws for the bottom of the door panels? (chrome/black)

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I sent my top plastic rails to Legendary and they assembled the new rear panels.

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I'm in the process of recovering the ashwell/piston covers for the back. When I get done with those I'll start the panel install. Pics to follow...

1969w3155

Very nice.

Lady72nRob71

Nice progress! I remember going through all that... Glad it is done now.
The chrome mid trim on the door panels shine up nicely with polish.

Can you see how they assembled the metal top rails with the wood panel? I am curious to see their method....

we jeep inn

Rob,
The metal top rail is stapled on top of the wood panel from the front. Might be some glue there, but hard to tell. Attached are a couple of pics I had on my camera. Let me know if you need any more detail and I'll get some more pics/info when I get home tonight.

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Lady72nRob71

Thanks - thats all I wanted to know and see.
I called them to inquire what it would cost for them to tranfer the rails and felts to the new panels. For $140 and a lot of shipping costs, i could have sent my panels to Legendary and have them install the rails and felts like that with the industrial stapler.
I was able to replicate (close enough) how the factory did it for just a little time and engineering skills.

It looks like the assembled panels cost 110 more, and is better to have them done there before there are even shipped.

Not sure why the rear panels are so much costlier to come preassembled - 150 more! Luckily they screwed up on my rear panels enough times that they paid everything to have my panels shipped to them, the rails transferred to the new, and send the assembled panels back to me!

rcorrigan5

Great car, and a great state, too! I had the opportunity to live in Charleston for two years and enjoyed it immensely! I'd go back there in a pair of seconds if the situation presented itself. Have fun and enjoy!
Randy C.

we jeep inn

Thanks Randy, looking forward to getting her on the road.

Charleston is a great place, tons of history and plenty to do. I'm guessing you were military only being there a couple of years??? My family spends as much time as we can on Edisto Island (just south of Charleston), one of last few non-commercialized beaches on the coast. No hotels/motels, water parks, rides, buffets, etc.... just sand, surf and sun.

72_NUPE

Do you got any pics of the stone shield repair

we jeep inn

Finally got the door panels ready to install. Swapped over the chrome strips on the fronts, opened up the holes for the window cranks and the mirror control.

After determining the position of my rear speakers in the piston/ashwell covers, I relocated and enlarged the previous holes. I recovered the covers with the kit from Legendary. Again, not hard just takes time and patience. Stereo thread... https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...o-install.html

Before the panels went on I adjusted all with the windows so they raised and lowered to the same height and the fit tight and square all the way around. The procedures are in the Fisher Body Manual.

I lubed all internals and installed the watershields (although I,m not sure they do much).

The panels went on followed by all of the hardware. All of that is pretty straight forward, so I won't bore you with in process pics. Here are pics of the finished (almost) interior.

Sorry for the pollen in the pics. We've had a 4-6" accumualation and I couldn't wipe fast enough to keep it off. I heard schools are on a 2 hr delay and the pollen plows are working overtime

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we jeep inn

Unfortunately I don't, the card in my camera became corrupted and I lost those pics

But, my stone shield was cracked right along the bottom left(looking at it) where it makes the 90. It also was worn through in two places where it had rubbed on the bumper because all the tabs on the grill were broken off and the whole thing was flopping around.

I used fiberglass mat and resin on the back side to reinforce it. A little dab of resin in the cracks on the front. I sanded the front smooth, used a little spot filler, sanded again, primed, painted and cleared. Came out nice.

oldsdroptop

Let's see what I did this week.....Put a new drive belt on my 2007 lt1050 Cub Cadet riding lawn tractor. Me and my stout neighbor had to flip it up horizontal and back down on the ground 3 times before we managed to get the belt on every pulley and pulled the engine back up into place and bolted it back down (it has 3 nice fingers stamped into the frame so the belt doesn't slip off. So the motor has be unbolted to get the stupid belt on) Next on my lovely list was the rear shocks on my 1986 Goldwing Aspencade. I discovered a puddle under the rear tire the last Monday. I thought it was the rearend differential, and it ended up being the left shock seal blew out. So I ordered 2 used 1's from evilbay with the air lines attached to the junction block under the left side cover. All the saddlebags came off to get these ones on and to top it off 1 of the shocks had an insert in it that I beat half to death trying to drive the stud back in it that holds the bottom of the shock on the differential housing on the drivers side. Once I removed the insert it slid in like a champ. Lesson learned, some things are better left to the professionals. The last and best one was deciding to rebuild my 98 Sea Doo GTX Limited 951CC 130HP top end. I sent it off to a guy in Florida and had the cylinders punched out and the RAVE valves releived. When I tried to get the pistons in to fit. I discovered because there are so many ports around the cylinder walls they put small pins to hold the pins ring in 1 certain place to keep them from turning and getting caught in the ports this is the small crack where the rings are split and have a small notch cut in them to set on this pin.. I tried with both pistons in the cylinder bores and couldn't get them to slide but about an inch or 2 and that meant the rings were on top of the pins that line them up. So I pulled them out of the bores and tried to slide them up with a mirror lining up those pins. No Go there either. Finally I once again put them in the bores and finally got them to slide up and down very nicely. I fully understand now why they charge $85 an hour. I Love the work you ar doing on the Olds there Jeepster. Love it here in South Carolina, I hang out on Lake Greenwood alot if you ever get yourself up in these parts stop by and set a spell and shoot the $HIT I have been where you're at with your car more than once. I have a pair of Olds convertibles that I have basically frame up restoed. Good luck with the Cutlass. Happy Trails and keep it between the Ditches. Oldsdroptop

Lady72nRob71

Looks great - you are ready to rock and roll down the highway now! (pun intended)
The water shields do not doo anything, unless the bottoms are tucked into the bottom slots in the doors and that they are glued (I use 3M strip caulk) all around correctly and edges taped.
Tucking them in the slot is the most important part. If you don't, water flows right inside the car. Many modern 'mechanics' (including those in the modern Cadillac body shop) still do not understand this and I see more door panels ruined because of that... Luckily I found out about my caddy's issue before it took on too much water.

we jeep inn

ODT Agreed, hard to beat SC. Looks like you keep a ton of projects like I do. My brother lives on the other side of the pond from you near the Fuji plant. I'm on Hartwell so if your ever up this way look me up. When I get the car roadworthy I'll head that way so you can critique my work and I can check out your cars.


Thanks Rob, when I get the front end back together I'm going to sport her around a little. Gotta get new tires before she goes too far...

Lady72nRob71

Remember to finish off the tires the 'correct' way before replacing them.

boondocker

...can you enlighten me?

I used the super secret "$6.50" Sharpie trick I learned on CO (cost me $6.99 + tax) on my dash vents, glove box door , etc.

we jeep inn

OK, hope I don't lose my CO priviledges...

the Sharpie is metallic, not chrome, not sure if it's "correct" or not but it looks good, easy, cheap, and touch ups will be a breeze.


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jeffreyalman

OLD SKL 69

Thanks Robert for the tip. I have a couple of spots I need to touch up on mine too. The interior looks great! Keep the pictures coming!

oldsdroptop

Glad to see somebody close by with a droptop....I drive mine to the lake about every decent weekend during the summertime. I keep a camper there at the lake and spend every weekend at the lake on my wing or in my droptop. I hav always been a "lake" person, hence all the water toys. And lots of friends with water toys also so I'm always out there or finding out whats going on with the fishing. I just love Oldsmobiles and always have since I was around 18. Me and my buddies put a lot of miles in 70-72 442's but we never could afford convertibles, so I promised myself when I could get the means I would have a convertible. Now I have 2 of them. Both 455 cars and 1 has every available option but 8 track. The other is all the good performance stuff dual gate shifter OAI hood. rear wing spoiler. I went more free style on this car since it wasn't numbers matching I added intake, carb and aftermarket ignition system. It sounds like a real beast with that blueprinted W-30 cam in it. It walks loudly and carries a big stick. Would love to meet you sometime and hang out. Oldsdroptop

we jeep inn

The front of the car had a few issues including a cracked headlight surround, cracked stone shield, cracked parking light lenses, the grilles were cracked, missing almost every tab, missing chrome and the bumper had a small golfball sized dent in it. So I removed everything. I repaired and repainted the stone shield and one surround, bought a good used one to replace the one that was beyond repair (Thanks ros6872). I straightened out the bumper. Found a great take-off grille to replace mine(Thanks 70post) Replaced the parking light lenses with some perfect used ones.(ros6872 again)

SD1000 441 (Medium).jpg

Then I put it all back together...

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cutlassgal

Purdy!!!!

MJAKS462

You are doing an A plus job. I wish I would have went with Legendary interior , Pui is a pain.
Do you know if kick panels are the same for convert and hard top ? I am installing my door panels and the panels hit the kick panels towards the bottom. The only way to close the door with out them hitting is remove the kick panels. I have kick panels from a hardtop on the car.

Destructor

Nice

My 70 Cutlass came from SC. I bought it about 11 years ago with a nearly perfect body. It was built in Mass and now lives here year round.

we jeep inn

Thanks! One of these years I'll get around to the engine bay and try to imitate how well yours looks

Someone else may chime in, but I would think the kick panels are the same although there is a difference between them on cars with or w/o air. How is the door panel hitting the kick panel? Is the kick panel pushed all the way forward to it's correct location?

Thanks! The south east is relatively kind to cars due to the lack of salt in the winter and alot of dry days throughout the year. And the red clay frame coating doesn't hurt either....

Lady72nRob71

You sure make it sound easy. How did the panel alignment go? That seems like the trickiest part...

I have the same issue with the new Legendary door panels. The windlace that goes up to the carpeted are is doubled up, making it thicker than stock. That thicker area hits the edge of the kick panel. The kick is pushed up as far as it will go, and I even put a wood shim in behind so it is away from the door panel as possible. After a while it will mush down. Too bad it took the new paint off the kick though.

How DOES one remove that red clay coating? It makes Lady's underbody so rusty and nasty looking... Scrubbing with a degreaser and a brass brush is too time consuming.

we jeep inn

Alignment was not difficult. I put everything back on "hand tight" and got it all positiioned correctly and then tightened.

My door panels clear the kick panels fine. May be a difference between the partially assembled and pre assembled ones???. Or, they may have rectified the problem, mine are dated March 22, 2010 and I'm guessing yours are a good bit older.

Red clay is hard to get out of anything, clothes, carpet, people, etc. As far as your frame goes wire brushing works, but like you said it is time consuming. You may also try degreaser and pressure washing, I'm thinking about doing that to my 3 yo next time he finds a mud puddle...

Barry Jones

When i replaced my door panels they were pui assembled and i had to peel back the vinyl and trim the door panel cardboard. Once i did this everything worked well. It is somewhat discouraging modifying brand new pieces,but it all worked out in the end.

we jeep inn

I was not able to find the small black buckles for the front(cut out by the PO) to match the ones in the rear. I bought a set of nice used "deluxe" belts for the front (Thanks MJAKS462) and made the rears match the front.

While plundering around my in-laws farm I looked inside an '86 Buick Riviera that was parked years ago and noticed that it had the "deluxe" buckles. I popped the small silver covers off, took the innards and I was in business. A little buffing with some 000 steel wool and now I have a full set of matching belts!

The originals

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Prying the old cover off

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The old guts

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The new guts

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Matching "new" seatbelts!

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OLD SKL 69

Nice work on the belts. Were they difficult to take apart and get back together correctly?

oldsdroptop

you got it lookin good there Jeep.....I just got my Seadoo GTX Limited top en rebuilt now (after many bad words and thrown wrenches) Give us a holler when you get it right we'll show what your face looks like in the rear view mirrors at 60+MPH.....nothing but another beautiful weekend here in paradise....we'll throw on extra steak on for you Sat night......just let me know and we'll head down the street to paradise and have some fun on the water.....Bring the family along (the more the merrier) Your not far from me and you look like you need a weekend off with all that work your doing on that fine looking machine you got there....Fairplay is not far from Cross Hill and you can enjoy the top down and enjoy the ride through the beautiful countryside here...If I'm not in my droptops I'm on my goldwing enjoying the view aroundthese parts. Shoot me a PM if you decide to come. Love to have you and yours.. I have 2 kids and a wife here (kids are 7 and 9) boy and girl. `Weathers starting to get right around here. Good luck with your project. Oldsdroptop

we jeep inn

Darrell, not hard at all. I was concerned with the 1st one because I wasn't sure what all would come flying out when I got it apart. Wonderful thing about these cars is for the most part they were designed to be simple. New car buckles prolly have 10 times as many parts and need two special tools to get them apart.

To get it apart I put a small screwdriver blade under the tab (2nd pic) on one side and flexed it up so it would clear the chrome housing. You don't want to bend it, just flex it up enough to clear. Do the same on the other and the cover will come off. The button falls out with the cover. The latch then slides out of the housing. A little steel wool treatment and reverse order puts it back together. The cover snaps right back in place.
Really quick and easy...

we jeep inn

Thanks ODT,
I'll give you a yell when we (wife and 3 yo) get headed that way, I like my steak medium rare.

If I had a hitch on the Cutlass I'd drag the Scarab and show you what 502ci/502hp feels/sounds like on the water at 70 . Spring is here!

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Lady72nRob71

Great work on the belts - I never knew they came apart so easily!
I am gonna try taking apart my left front one to clean up inside so maybe it fastens easier. It is very hard to buckle and it will bite me when it does.

Wow - steaks, boating, and good hospitality - I'll be there (and bring the beer)!!!

Oh, wait - you are in SC - looks like I need to revisit there with Lady! I enjoyed the short time I was there....

we jeep inn

When you get done with your Left coast tour this year make plans to head back East. Pick up Jamesbo on your way through Hotlanta and we would have the makings of a CO Southeast rendezvous...

we jeep inn

The tires on my car were dated 35th week of 2000 . They "had" about 90% tread, but the sidewalls were dry rotted to the point you could see cords. Needless to say I did not drive her far on those. But, now, I've got her ready to ride and it's time for new rubber. The wheels were painted with the car a few years ago and are in great shape.

Old tires

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Centers before

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Centers polished (I put a buffing wheel on my bench grinder and it made pretty quick work of the polishing)

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New Rocket emblems on the center caps

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I went with 225/70/14 BFG's.(It had 215's on it) Dropped the wheels off yesterday and picked them up this afternoon and put all the chrome back on.

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Should get them on the car tomorrow and be able to burn some gas this weekend if the weather holds out

Lady72nRob71

New shoes look good! Same tires I used - glad you replaced them, as seeing cords are bad...
I can't believe you bypassed all the fun of repainting the argent (or grey) insets in the sides of your center caps.
I had so much fun with mine, I never want to do it again... I kinda like them all chrome anyway.

citcapp

Wheels and tires look great. Really sets the car off

we jeep inn

Ahhhh, I figured I'd get busted. I've had so much fun with so many other details that that regular people won't notice, I left that one out. I thought they looked good all chrome too

Thanks!

we jeep inn

I put the tires/wheels on and finished up the seatbelt install this afternoon hoping the weather holds out and be able to ride a little tomorrow. I was washing the final layer of polen off (hopefully) and my wife and 3 yo son pulled up in the yard. My son comes over and said "Can we wide in Gwandaddy's conbertible". I told him that's the plan for Saturday. Looks like the weather may cooperate...

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