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My dad has always dreamed of getting another 442. He had one before I was born and had to sell her for some reason. When I saw this oldsmobile advertised, I had to go look. While I love the cars of the 60s and older, I can't say that I've actually paid much attention to their specifics. I was thinking that a 455 motor made this similar to his 442 (yeah, I'm kind of an idiot but it makes for a good laugh). When I saw her big ole butt, I almost walked away and left her there. But I kept walking around and running my hands over the lines and fell head over heels. I'm thrilled that she's not a common classic and apprehensive because I don't know what I'm doing. I'm a fast learner and between you all, my husband, and our friends that are already into car restoration, I'm hoping to make her beautiful again.
Somebody probably rivetted sheet metal behind the door skin to hold the door handle on because of the rust. Lots of us will be following your build thread closely and wishing you the best.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Your Cowl Tag (as shown) can tell you a few things about how the car was originally built, and what color it was. This one is pretty bare, but here goes:
ST 69 - 1969 year production
3 - Oldsmobile Division of GM
36 - Car Series: Delta Royale
47 - Body Style: Hardtop Coupe (aka Holiday Coupe)
BC - B body type; Southgate California Fisher Body works production
BDY 02921 - Body number assigned by Fisher Body Works. Not related to VIN
TRM 370 - Black Interior. Std Interior had a split bench seat with center armrest. The A51 Strato Bucket Seats were a 'no charge' option which appears to have been used.
PNT 67 B Burgundy Mist Lower body color; Black Vinyl Roof
06 C - Date build code. Your car body and interior were built by Fisher Body Works at almost the end of 1969 production. Third week (C) of June (06) 1969
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Hard to tell from the pics but it might clean up really nice. Once you get rid of that crud you will see if there are pin holes in the metal or not. Got my fingers crossed for you that it's reasonably solid. If it is, clean it up really well and coat it with rust inhibitor like POR. It will keep it from deteriorating further. Lol, fun stuff will be when you have to clean and coat the bottom of the floor pans and trunk....
You might be lucky too. If you're planning to go all out with this car, you might as well drop the fuel tank and see what condition it's in. AND, here's the money shot - you might even find the build sheet for the car on top of the tank! If you do, handle it carefully and protect it. It'll be fragile and discolored but it will tell you everything about how the car was built as it went down the assembly line.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Before you drop the tank, also check to see if the fuel gage is registering properly. That of course assumes you have fuel in the car. It may be bad fuel though. Reason for this is to see if the sender in the fuel tank is working as it should. There are also rubber connections between the fuel tank and fuel lines that probably need to be replaced; both at the rear and at the front of the car. You have soooo much work ahead of you. The best advice I can give you about this project is treat it like eating an elephant. One bite at a time. Document EVERYTHING you do with before and after pictures to validate your work. In some cases the before pictures will give you the clue to putting things back together when you forget how they were in the first place. I have literally over a thousand pictures of the work I did to my Cutlass, and I'm still not finished with it.
Awesome! The photos I took with the treadle sewing machine I restored were priceless when it came time to put it back together. The fuel gauge is not working and he thinks we might need a whole new gauge cluster. He wants to make sure the engine and transmission are ok before I get too far into shredding things. His dad has a nice shop with a lift just about a quarter mile from us and it will be easier to do the rest of the under car inspection work that you all have suggested on the lift. He just doesn't want to trailer there and back and I don't want to just leave things scattered down there and in my father in law's way.
I have the bottom of the back seat out and the bolts from the bottom of the seat back but couldn't tell which direction to lift to free it. Also, there is a speaker in the middle of the seat back. Is that a game changer?
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
I believe you pull the bottom of the seat forward so it clears the speaker, then push up. The speaker should be bolted to the metal frame underneath. That speaker location is common on a lot of older cars.
Hello I am also working on a project (71 cutlass convertible). Take your time and start with some small easy projects to start with. Just to get your feet wet. Right now I am working slowly on putting patch panels in the quarters. It is going much slower than I thought. To help I hung a sign in my garage that says "This project is 3 years ahead of schedule." I can always look at the sign and keep moving forward. Best of luck.
Bought mine May 2008. 10 years, this will be the first year I haven't driven it due to replacing the quarter panels. I didn't realize it was that long until I looked at my join date but I am still 3 years ahead of schedule.
External lock on the trunk was still there under a small plate of metal riveted in place and bondo over the top. He drilled the lock (no keys) and voila...bunch of kids toys in there, a spare tire and jack but no parts
You need to inspect the area between the trunk floor in the quarter panel and see how much rust you have between those two. Water gets in because the seals is gone or a leak in the back window.
I think the area you mention is the last 2 pics. It's pretty rusty. I've been watching videos today on how to make patch panels. I've got a brother that's pretty handy with a welder (not if you ask him, he nitpicks his work hard but other folks seem to think he's pretty good). I haven't asked him yet, but it looks like it's similar to things I've seen him do in the past. I'm mostly really bummed that the missing trim pieces weren't in there and kind of surprised that there wasn't more rust. We found a pretty good hole along the seam that was fixed with spray foam and bondo and I'm sure that had to have just poured water into the trunk before it was "fixed" and southwestern Oregon at least used to have super wet winters. Also chunked the bondo off of the passenger door. It looks like they fixed a dent by just filling it in with bondo and then when the bondo cracked (thick like cake frosting) he says it held moisture against the metal under the bondo and rotted a big chunk of the door.
Classic industry has a catalog for impalas you can find some sheet metal patch pieces to fix the Lower doors. You may have to massage them some but they be the right gauge.
I think the area you mention is the last 2 pics. It's pretty rusty. I've been watching videos today on how to make patch panels. I've got a brother that's pretty handy with a welder (not if you ask him, he nitpicks his work hard but other folks seem to think he's pretty good). I haven't asked him yet, but it looks like it's similar to things I've seen him do in the past. I'm mostly really bummed that the missing trim pieces weren't in there and kind of surprised that there wasn't more rust. We found a pretty good hole along the seam that was fixed with spray foam and bondo and I'm sure that had to have just poured water into the trunk before it was "fixed" and southwestern Oregon at least used to have super wet winters. Also chunked the bondo off of the passenger door. It looks like they fixed a dent by just filling it in with bondo and then when the bondo cracked (thick like cake frosting) he says it held moisture against the metal under the bondo and rotted a big chunk of the door.
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As other forum members have said you need to get down to core of this car to see if it's worth your time and money .You can find trim pieces later on that's just frosting on top of the cake but if the core is rotten it's going to a long haul.
Classic industry has a catalog for impalas you can find some sheet metal patch pieces to fix the Lower doors. You may have to massage them some but they be the right gauge.
That's awesome! The door was eaten kind of high up though so I'm pretty sure I'm keeping an eye out for a new door.
Is the core the frame? I still haven't gotten her lifted up to check with an awl but what I can see looks pretty good. He had a putty knife with a sharp point on one side that he bounced off of the body all over the place last night. There's a few areas he said sounded "kind of tinny" and a couple where he said "that's bondo there" and also pointed out places where there's rust under the paint.
I'm supposed to find out how to carefully take the current trim pieces off so we can take her down to bare metal and see what we're dealing with (if the frame and engine/transmission check out).
Will I still need to remove the trim later for paint though or will taping it off be ok? Curious because I know we have access to sand equipment but I'm not sure about soda blasting equipment.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Media blasting with sand or even walnut shells can warp the larger areas of the metal panels. Soda blasting is a wet process where baking soda is used to strip the paint and rust. Very effective too. Yes you should remove the trim so the areas can be completely clean. You're also missing a lot of the trim for this car so the search will be interesting. Most of the aftermarket vendors focus on the A body cars since they're so popular. You might look at Fusick Automotive. They have a catalogue for some B body parts. Fusick 88/98 catalogue
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Call a good bodyshop in your area and ask them who they would recommend for soda blasting. Don't sand blast unless you want a disaster in the sheet metal. Even sanding everything would be better than sandblast.
There's only sandblasting available unless I start calling 2 hours away. No one local does anything else but they said they "do quite a few cars including some rare ones." What is the risk if I do the soda blasting? Otherwise I have time and sandpaper's cheap. I've been looking for an arm toning workout anyway I guess.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
There's zero risk with soda blasting. If you have the time and expertise to sand, that's fine too. It's just less complete for getting the areas with pitting. There's also the danger that a learner could over sand some areas and thin out the metal too much.
You can also chemically strip the car. You will need to use aircraft stripper since it is the strongest. It is a nasty job and you need to have plenty of ventilation. I have done cars like that but it has been a long time. Nasty stuff.
You can also chemically strip the car. You will need to use aircraft stripper since it is the strongest. It is a nasty job and you need to have plenty of ventilation. I have done cars like that but it has been a long time. Nasty stuff.
July 31st, 2018, 01:15 PM
