JCMC64

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JCMC64

Pinion Shaft Yoke was a rusty mess. Came out righteous-

JCMC64

Back to Diff, Cleaning axle tubes using engine degreaser, brake cleaner, what ever I had on hand:






Then finally the pumpkin...after alot of cleaning nasty old gear oil:


Comparing old 2.56 pinion gear to new 3.42 gear pinion:

JCMC64

Time to remove 2.56 ring gear (what happen to me nice refinished floor I did back on page 1 on this thread?!) :



New Gears- 3:42s



Comparing ring gears:

Allan R

Coming along nicely Jim. Those ring and pinion comparisons are great. Everything you've done with cleaning has come out looking new. Keep up the good work.

JCMC64

Thx as always Allan...You can always count on a nice word from Allan!

Some how a group of photos I thougt I uploaded dissappeared...try again.

Old Ring gear height


New Ring gear Height.


Clearly much thicker. I learned this is to help mesh with smaller pionion gear. As you go numerically higher in gears, the thicker the ring gear will be.


As I gather parts for the Posi rearend upgrade, back to suspension and engine. I stopped on engine because I couldnt decide if I was going to upgrade the cam or not. After doing more research, I decided to put it off for now, so Im going to put the engine completely together. But first, new shocks and 1.25 sway bar and billet mounts.

JCMC64

Your Sway bar mount upgrade path:


I got these Billet UMIs on Christmas.

JCMC64

Sway bar comparison...whoa.





You cannot use these Energy sway bar end link bushings (red) with the tubular arms, between the sway bar beef and the energy bushing beef, you cant get them on. Have to use poly bushings that came with control arms.

Theres the beef!

JCMC64

SO now whole front end suspension is done. Beefier everything, all pro grade center link\ tie rods\sway bar, etc. Got great deals on all of it by scouring the web, got a couple closeout deals too on the Raybesto tie rods which are way beefier than stock.
Used Royal purple on all the grease zert points.

JCMC64

Now back to engine.
Pulleys on, and top Alt bracket and new 100 amp Alt.



Now I need to get new P\S resorvoir and use old pump, or just get both...that is why I didnt put all the brackets back on.

I also plugged up all the intake vacum and water ports not being used, oil and water sender, etc.

JCMC64

Repainted the oil adpater months ago, and did my bolts restore thing...

JCMC64

Another Passion\Hobby of mine...Guitars

98' Peavey Wolfgang

DENT

Nice thread , I'm kinda like'n yellow.

1972-442

Great work on your project. Looks fantastic.

JCMC64

Thx Guys!
The Yellow looks sharp to me too. Its a little deeper and richer than the Olds yellow
you see on so many out there. I always thought the original yellow 442s were at times a little too washed out. So i like it a little deeper and richer. Hot rod yellow is what I call it. Its basically very very close to the GM modern yellow on the new camaros. With nice black stripe w30 accents, she will pop.
Is that yellow in your avatar?

oldsguybry

Nice , I just got back into playing again . I want to eventually get me a Fender Strat , or a Gibson . My first choice would be a Gibson , but I worry about warpage with one piece constructed guitars ... a friend of mine built his own Fender by adding a $600 neck and chafed it ( not sure how to spell that ) and he added a dual humbucker pickup . You should look him up on Youtube , he's an unbelievable guitarist . ( Danny Wendt )

JCMC64

Oldsguy, I will definitely check him out. Thx. I love watching new music\musicians.
I havent been playing much lately, especially since this restoration started.
I pick it up about once\twice a month, and crank it up !
I got allot of axes. At one time I had about 60. Not so much now.
Economy\08' crash and all.
I still got handful of Gibsons, few fenders. But I love vintage Ibanez's.
I'll post a few more gems along the way.


----------
btw - I found Mr. Wendt on Y. Very very talented guy. Ive met so many guitarist like this over the years, just pure naturals.
They make us guys that struggle to get half as good sick to our stomachs!!

JCMC64

Finally got the oil filter back on! (progress after 11 months!)


Next, mocking up the rebuilt original Delco Remy starter to see if any clearence issues


Overall looks good to me.


The starter brace holes line up good too. I just moved it a little bit to get it lined up right after this photo. She lined up perfect.

JCMC64

Ive heard and expected all the horror stories out there on headers and starter fitments. So far, no problems here.

Starter pos cable stud looks scary, but its an optical illusion...2nd pic shows how much clearance there really is.



Time to install the wiring harnesses. Got engine and front harnesses new
for $35 each. Right place, right time.


Old wiring rubbed up against headers and melted in several spots, including battery cable when PO had it. Im going to use the DEI heat shields in these areas. First the starter wires and then the Battery cable. Using the stainless steel locking ties too.

JCMC64

Cut back the SS ties with Dremel tool... Leave a long enough stub to bend back.

JCMC64

Starter 3

I put starter in, but realized the SS engine oil dipstick which needs some further modification, that I cant do it like I thought I could with starter in the way. Will modifiy the dipstick tube and then finish off starter install.

JCMC64

Also installed a new braided SS Tranny dipstick. Ive been looking around at different tranny dipsticks since PO threw a Chevy TH400 dipstick in tranny. I found a closeout on some Braided SS. Check them out. Took a flyer on one and they are really nice, well made. The dipstick itself is harden Teflon. I took the old chevy TH400 dipstick, cut it off, cleaned it up with steel wool, measured it to exact proper length and installed into the billet tip. I still might use Teflon one, but I have both. Install at the case went in great.
Had to drop the pan though to get it fully seated right. My pan has been off few times, so no oil in there. I paid $25. Lokar runs $75 up.

JCMC64

My first attempt...no matter how I tried, the combination of tightening the pan bolts and maneuvering the dipstick tube,
it kept popping up a tad bit. I had to shave a little metal of the bottom of the tube that goes into well of the pan. The thick
ness of the dipstick tube bottom and pan was just too much. Shaving the the tube fix the gap.

Allan R

Jim,
Great info and pics of the header clearance. I also have heard plenty of horror stories about that. I like what you've done to insulate those starter wires - very creative and hopefully just as effective.

More than anything though I'd like to see how the engine diptube clearance is with those headers. Any chance you could post a pic of that?

Gee, the way you're going you should be able to drive it by next weekend.....

JCMC64

Thx Al...I will post pics of all that coming up. I had to cut the SS tubing to get the oil level indicator right on dipstick.

Actually, I got everything back together engine wise, minus the Pwr Str pump. Did the minimal wiring yesterday, tidy things up tonight, filled her with some oil and ZDDP additive, tranny fluid, hooked up battery, filled her with gas, and turned her over just to get engine turning and starter engaged. But nothing. No power at all to anything, not even interior lights. This is no big deal, as I have interior completely out of it, incuding dash, and now no lighting harness installed as I didnt think I needed that. So I got to post what is the minimum wiring to install, with dash out of car, and all gauges out, just to get the starter to engage and turn the flywheel. Not even trying to actually get her started yet, just want motor to turn some. Only thing left is to find an 12v IGN power for HEI.

So need to figure out what wiring do I need minimally to turn her over.

In the meantime, I was able to, with a lot manipulation, to get the original battery cable tube to work with the headers.


Finally got to reroute the rear main brake line. I will either rebend the rest of the line the right way up towards the MC, or remake a new one. The funny bend is because the way it was formed originally for different route up to MC. But it was too close to the headers for my comfort.


Now to the crappy *** reman power steering pump industry Ive discovered. Ive ordered 3 of them so far and all 3 have had issues with crappy paint peeling off due to the pwr steering fluid pouring out of it during shipping. I talked to a friend that works for Adv Auto who said many are like this at his warehouse. i decided to just strip down the third one and paint it. It wasnt hard to strip as the steering fluid acted as a stripper and paint just peeled off. I tried an AC Delco, a Cardone, and some other reman, all 3 reman paint jobs on the resrvoir were garbage.
The AC delco had bad dent in the tube, and the Cardone had a bent filler neck. What the hell has happend to us in the USA to allow such crap from China, and lousy QA here from our manuf base. (I talked to an old timer at Bennett that has been in the biz for 40 years who says A1 Cardone is US reman and is one of the best reman there are )

Allan R

Jim,
I'm thinking that as long as you have the front engine harness connected to the fuse panel and the column (ignition) is also hooked up, you should be able to fire that puppy. Double check your connections there, and also check to see that your battery isn't dead. In fact if you're not even getting a click from the solenoid the battery would be my first point of interest.

Sampson

Jim check the wiring at the alternator hot side. I had the same problem recently with my dash out. I can not remember exactly but somehow the ign feeds from the hots IDE of the alt.

JCMC64

Thx Guys...checkout this thread chasing down the wiring issue that I started in engine section: https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...otor-over.html

In the end it was several issues all at once, including an iffy solenoid which I forgot to mention above. It took a day of tightening up stuff before start, then another day chasing down the issues. In the end it was mainly the ignition power thru the lighting harness (via horn relay) that was main culprit.

Here is a vid of the grand moment... feels good!:

"Damn, that thing is beastly..."

JCMC64

Tweaked a couple things wiring wise...havent touched timing\tune or idle yet. Better vid:


I developed small leak at the water pump where the cheap *** timing bolt kit I got from Inline Tube , top pwr steering pump bracket bolt snapped in half as I was torquing it to spec few months ago...I had to quickly take pump off, get broken bolt out (thank goodness it came right out by hand), then slap it back together. Well it leaks right where that friggin bolt snapped off .
So got to redo water pump gasket. Shouldnt take long to fix.

oldsguybry

OMG dude ! That is sweet ! I can't friken wait to get rid of this situation I'm in , and put 100% of my time toward this kind of stuff !

JCMC64

Thx Oldsguy.

Well its been well over a month since Ive updated progress. Done a ton of tinkering, and started on the interior some. Initial stuff.
- redid water pump gasket
- begin prep and painting of the dash metal,
- rebuilding steering column internals on interior side, new turn signal cam, turn signal, removed column shifter
- got a aftermarket Hurst floor shifter
- wiring electrical stuff- cleaned all Dash harness connection points, cleaned all Dash light bulb housings, fixing couple dash wiring issues, etc,
- replaced all fuses with proper Amps and SFE\ AGC ones
- installed new ignition key switch,
- top coating a lot of parts - Tail lights\rev\parking\tag light housings, sport steering wheel hub (which now is going to cause to paint rest of steering column in interior side under the MAW rule),
- Having Posi installed, rearend rebuilt locally by BPT
- More parts media blasted and powder coated.
- many other things as Im getting closer and closer to getting her back on the ground again. Should be (knock on wood) just a couple weeks away.
Pics below:

sammy

Wow!, great build.....and very informative ! Thanks.
I do not think I own one part that is as clean as your build. Like Allan said, keep going!
Ted

JCMC64

Thx Sammy. Its a marathon, not a sprint man!
It took more than you can imagine to get this clean.

Got the Moser 30 spline axles, paired with the Eaton 30 spine Posi. Sent them and the 3.42 gears to local shop the specializes in rearends.



Comapison, original axle in the middle-everything is beefier on the Mosers:




The originals are tapered...thin at the splines, thicker at the hub. Mosers are same thickness all the way through. Here are the measurements using digital caliper. (update them tomorrow)

Originals:
Spline end-
Hub end-

Mosers:
Spline end-
Hub end-

JCMC64

More Moser pics:

JCMC64

New Eaton 30 spline 8.5 Posi 2013 (right) unit vs same model Eaton 2004 unit left. I think the 2004 unit looks beefier...but I dont know.

JCMC64

Like I said, after I finally got the engine started I jumped into the interior some. I'll setup initial timing on engine later.

Going to spruce up the dash before I put it all back together. Paint the dash metal, steering column (maybe), etc. I removed the steering wheel that came with car, and then started my usual MAWs and did the ingnition switch, new turn signal cam, cleaned up all the internals and re-dielectric grease, painted SW hub, etc.

Here is original SW -



Old Grant steering wheel guts + some of the original Str wheel internals-


Check this out...the turn signal cancel cam has sprung a leak! wth???
I had to use some epoxy and shape the spring cylinder again...show you that when I put it all back together.

The old SW removal tool...



Once you depress the spring with the tool, its much easier to remove the o-ring then the plate behind it.

JCMC64

Self explanatory:





Pull out cam asm to get to area to release the ignition switch tab

JCMC64

Got to remove the horn buzzer thingy...very careful here. The little plastic horn buzzer thingy is very brittle plastic, mine was cracked already, and just came out in pieces. Scott help me get another one...THX!!

Once you get the horn buzzer relay thing out of the way, you can then get to the slot to release the ignition switch. Follow my screwdriver. Its not the other slot to the left which can be mistaken in some write ups on this.


It helps to bust out the 2nd bigger slot to the left to help shine some light in there. I had a dickens of a time getting it out, until I got the light in there, and turned old switch on and off and could finally see the tab to push. Once you see it, and understand how to depress it, it comes right out. The 73' on style is much easier with the screw instead of the silly tab method.


Here is the tab clearly seen


My thumb turn mechanism was missing. No likey that


Here is the keyway you got to match up. Fumble around with it, follow the CSM, Chiltons, whatever, it goes right in.

JCMC64

Done


Now Im on hold till the replacement horn buzzer gets here. Also doing the steering wheel horn contact, Painting SW internals cover, new TS cam, etc. The SW horn contact is a rusty mess, easy cleanup with steel wool:

JCMC64

Here is the SW hub sanded down to bare metal, prime\etched it, 5-6 coats of Krylon satin black.



This is the 4 spoke wheel that is getting a face lift and hub above will get attached too. It has worn grain, but not as bad as many. It looks blotchy cause I just wiped it cleaned with special stuff and its wet in some spots still. It was a bit sticky, but not too bad at all now that Ive looked at a few to compare. A bit Lucky on this one. But how long is the question...