442craig

Been A while since I've updated this thread. The car was not running right and it seemed to be carburetor related. I had the carb and distributor rebuilt to the specs of the new engine. I felt it just needed some TCL to get it running right. It had a horrible bog at WOT. Turns out it was the fuel pump not keeping up with the demand. We blocked off the vapor return and the bog went away. The car was very rich at idol. He added some air to it and replaced a accelerator pump. She is running great now! I replaced the gas tank and found I had a crack in the hard fuel line above the rear axel. Boy that was fun to replace. I ended up unbolting the body and jacking it up about 3" to get the fuel line in. The fuel sender that I bought from OPGI reads 3/4 when full. I had to pull the tank when I replaced the hard line so I bent the sending unit down a bit to see if that fixed the problem. It is better now it is at about 7/8 full now. I got to thinking, I wonder if there is an access panel in the trunk to get to that so you don't have to drop the tank. Anybody know?

The other few annoying things (there are always a few!) is it has an oil leak in the back of the engine. I see oil dripping from the oil filter. Seems to be coming from up above. It is also dripping on the starter motor. It's driving me nuts! I'm wondering if there is a galley plug or something open. The other thing is I am getting a coolant leak when I step on it. It drips down to the front of the oil pan. I have tightened every bolt possible on the water pump.

On a better note, I broke down and bought a retrosound 2 radio and a set of kick panel speakers. I opted to get the shells and fill them with speakers of my choosing. I went with Alpine SPR-60c's They are a 6.5" component system. The tweeters are separate. I mounted the woofers in the kick panels and then tried to decide where to mount the tweeters. I came up with and an awesome solution (at least I thought so) I'm sure I am not the only one to think of it. I mounted the tweeters in the stock under dash speaker bracket. They almost fit perfect! I had to, ever so gently, file it a bit to fit. The tweeters are on a swivel so you can tune them. They reflect off the windshield and sound awesome! I had an old amp from the 80's and thought I'd hook it up. Red light but no sound! I just hooked it up old school, straight from the head unit and it sounds great! That little radio is great. It has everything you could ask for, usb outs so you can connect and control an iPod and bluetooth capability. You can even talk on a cell phone on it. It fit great. The really have done there homework!

Anyways, that's were I'm at these days!

Happy Oldsmobiling!

Craig

patmac

Hey Craig,

Looks good. Did that faceplate come with the retrosound radio? I ordered one this summer and it doesn't look like that. Your's seem to fit much nicer.

Thanks,
pat

442craig

Hi Pat,

The faceplate is the stock Olds one. The bezel that fits through it came with the radio. There is an option for what type of bezel and ***** you want. I wanted it as close to original as possible so I chose the chrome bezel. I am going to see if I can make the stock ***** fit at some point.

Craig

patmac

Thanks. I think part of the problem is someone had cut the stock opening at some point. I'm new to oldsmobiles and was wondering if you knew anything about the antenna location. I noticed on your car it's on the rear fender, mine is on the front fender and when I looked at some others online it seemed to be a mix. My car started life as a cutlass s but I wonder why antennas would be in different locations?

442craig

The faceplate bolts in, maybe you can find another so it fits better.

My antenna is an electric one. I am not sure of the location for the front. I'm sure someone can chime in around here!

Good luck!

Craig

Eddie Hansen

Well craig that is awesome, radio and speakers in a vert without cutting things is always a challenge...is the retroradio black until you turn it on? Just wondering tge possibility of using a factory faceplate say an am one that would look stock till you turn it on? I was looking for solutions although I am a long way away from needing it

442craig

Hi Eddie,

Yeah it is black when off. I wrested around with the idea of keeping the stock stereo in and the 8 track, love the nostalgia! In the end it is so cool having all the modern amenities! I just took the family out to dinner in it blasting the beach boys and everyone singing and my girls giggling all the way! Is there anything better than that? I'm one happy dad! I absolutely love this set up!
I know you can have a stock radio modernized, that is an option too. In the end I have the old radio in a box and it can easily be put back to stock (that's really all that matters!) I will probably put the 8 track player in cause it is so cool. I get so many comments about it. I'd like to see if I can hook it up independently.

Anyways, music makes the driving experience awesome!

Craig

Eddie Hansen

Cool beans craig thanks, nothing better than crusin with your ladies....

442craig

Enjoying the fruits of my labor. What a day for a cruise. This car is so much fun to drive! I love the disk brake upgrade the Grand Cherokee steering box and my $800 Coy rims and Goodyear Eagle GT craig's list rims.

Thanks again for everyones input, couldn't have done it without you!

Craig

rob1960

Nice to see your car on the road,Craig!! Looks Great!!,love the wheels! Boy you sure went through some tough times with it!! Enjoy!!

allyolds68

It came out great Craig. It's fun working on them but nothing beats driving it. One of my next tweaks is going to be the steering box. Mine's worn out anyway. I'll be going on my 5th summer since mine was done and it still feels like I just finished it.

442craig

Tough times makes it all that much sweeter!

Like I said the steering box was one of the best upgrades I did, feels like a "new" car!

Thanks guys!