69442C

The side rail reinforcements were fitted and measurements were taken from the original frame to make sure they were positioned front-to-back correctly since the trans crossmember sits on these reinforcements. Didn't want to have any trans mount alignment issues. The small metal brace that holds the upper and lower sections of the HT side rails apart needs to be removed in order t install the conv reinforcements. I hired a welder to do the side rail reinforcements as I didn't want to take any chances.
The frame was sprayed with PPG DP90 epoxy primer. Also is a photo showing the original conv rear crossmember installed. I also did a little skim coating with filler to smooth out any pits and imperfections.

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The frame was sprayed with a filler primer and sanded to smooth a little more. I didn't make it completely perfect but I did get it pretty nice. Sorry, no photos of the frame with the filler primer. The frame was then sprayed with eastwood Ceramic Chassis Black. I think that is what it was called. The paint was still a little wet in these photos and the shine did flatten out a little to a semi gloss sheen.

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A few more of the painted frame. Also, since the wife does sewing, I asked her if she could make me a cover for the frame to keep it clean while I was putting things together. She asked if I had anything in mind and I told her to surprise me. So she did. She said it was picnic table material...vinyl on top and a thin fabric on the underside.

442craig

Looks great! I just sprayed the front chassis with the mid grade stuff came out beautiful! BTW your wife is a keeper!

Craig

70olds455

That looks like a pretty extensive project. It looks like you have put a lot of work into this car. I noticed you are from Maryland. I have a complete convertible top for sale off a 68 cutlass S if you need one.

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Thanks Craig. And yes, she's great.

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Thank you for the offer but I'm in good shape on the top. And I think 68 is a little different than the 69's.

zippy

Here is the 69 I did. the proud day i bought her... it was originally a saffron car, but it was red when I got her. Never bothered to paint the body, just did a full interior and chassis resto. She had 2 bent pushrods. That is why i got her on the cheap!! What an easy fix to get her on the road, but I took the block apart and went 30 over with it. It ended up in texas also! Just before 9/11. Options... Power bench, speedminder speedo, rear defrost, trunk release, am/fm, map light mirror, A/C, front disc brakes, rear bumper rubber insert, remote side mirror and ... roll up widows lol. Never understood that. Freemont built. George Zimmerman was on the protect-o-plate.
Where are you george? Looked for you for a while!

69442C

Nice looking 69. Those SS Cragars were the way it was back then.
Hmmm, George Zimmerman, seems there is one in Florida with some legal problems.

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With the frame painted, I installed all of the chassis components. The front control arms were powder coated. All bushings were replaced and all the brake and fuel lines are new SS. The rear differential was rebuilt by a local shop including the posi unit. Gears are stock 3:23. I found reproduction stickers and decided to give them a try. The rubber caps on the top rear shock bolts were there to keep the cover from snagging on those bolts.

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More..

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Engine was painted and detailed as was the trans. I had a local shop rebuild the trans.

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Here's the trans. A new pan was installed a day or two after these photos were taken.

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The original steering column had collapsed internally due to the frame damage. I guess the box moved back with the frame which collapsed a few items in the column. One of the photos will show how the bottom spring in the column is compressed. I had a column shift column from the 69 parts car I had purchased so a few parts were used from it. Mainly, the solid shaft. The shaft is a 2 piece unit and there are plastic pins that hold them in place. In an impact, the plastic pins sheer and the smaller section of the shaft can slide into the larger section. The column inner tube, which is the long bare metal piece also collapsed. This one is specific to a floor shift column so I used the column shift tube for a measurement and pulled the pieces of this tube apart until it was the correct length. I put one small tack weld on the halves to hold them in place and if a wreck should ever occur, that weld will break off. All parts of the column were cleaned and those that needed painting got a coat of epoxy primer and then paint.

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Here's the finished column. A new key switch and ignition switch were installed along with a new turn signal lever. I also used the intermediate shaft from the parts car as the stock one was also collapsed.
The spring at the bottom is now as it should be. I also installed a new piece of foam in the bottom of the column as I found original worn out foam down there. It's barely visible in the photo that shows the spring. I guess it acts as an air seal to keep air and underhood fumes from going up through the column and inside the car.

Allan R

Nice update. Looking at the suspension - no FE2?

Beautiful job. I have skills envy....

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Thanks Allan. If memory serves me correctly, I don't think the FE2 code was used in 1969. I think it appeared first in 1970. Aside from that, the 69 442 received heavy duty springs and shocks, larger front sway bar, a rear sway bar and boxed lower control arms.

pitfield1

I'm doing a 69 442 convert also . I'm not as far along as you so I'll be watching your posts closely. Fantastic job and clearly talented.

PIT 69 442 Convert

69442C

Thanks. You should start a thread and post some of the photos of your car and your progress.

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The frame was removed off of the rotisserie and the engine, trans, driveshaft and exhaust was installed. I sanded the driveshaft using finer and finer paper as I went along and I think I ended up at either 600 or 800 grit. Took it to shop and had the balance checked and then I cleared it and painted the stripes. I found traces of the stripes when I sanded it.

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The cowl was painted and I sprayed the floors with epoxy primer after sanding them with 180.

501Paratrooper

WOW nice work I'm jealous. I just did my th400 too, I found the original OG marking and it was blue.

Good luck with your project.

69442C

Thanks. Interesting on the blue letters you found on your trans. Mine were green and looked to be the original markings. Odd . I wonder if different colors were used based on the plant location? Where was your car built?

Jamesbo

Beautiful work,

Here's a pic on mine, I've owned for 40 years

501Paratrooper

Mine was built in Lansing. It also had what looked like a smaller 8 in front of it? The vin derivative matches.

I used POR15 on mine. I did eventually put the OG stencil on mine.

69442C

Thanks Jamesbo and great looking car. I doubt there are many of us that can say they have owned the same car for 40 years or more. But I'm sure there are a significant number of us who wish we still had a car from our past.

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Interesting. This conv is also a Lansing car and it is the original trans. Hard to say why the colors were different or maybe what I though was green wasn't really green after all.

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To install the body back on the chassis, I built another jig that would bolt to the same base assembly I have been using for the other jigs. I used 2 come-alongs with small pieces of chain looped around the top cross bar and others installed to one of the upper door hinge bolts. The engine crane was used to pick up the rear of the body using chain bolted to the rear body mount bolts. This worked out very well and I wished I had removed the body this way. My son helped with this process and a wide garage worked well to allow it to be done inside since it was raining that day.

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A few more...

dancutlass

Very nice work! I really enjoy the thread
Keep the pics coming please

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With the body back on the chassis, I turned my attention to the fenders as I wanted to fit the front end so I could do a little block sanding. I had previously repaired the driver's fender which needed quite a bit of work. Sorry, I didn't take any photos of that repair. That fender had been hit ahead of the wheel and the previous shop created more issues when they welded the holes from the side molding that went around the wheel. This wass not the wheel opening molding. I cut out the metal from all of those holes and welded in new pieces. The rear lower section was also repaired with a patch welded in to repair the small amount of rot. The nice thing was the rear brace was solid. Some time after repairing that fender, I was buying a few parts for the interior from Ebay and in talking with the seller I found he had 2 fenders as well as other parts that came from a fairly low mile 4 door car that was wrecked in the rear. The fenders had some rust on the lower sections from the car sitting but they were straight. And I got them for dirt cheap. The drivers fender was much nicer than what I had for everything except the back lower area as the brace was rotted badly. The pass fender was not as nice as the one I had but I decided to fix it so I could sell it. I used the car to test fit it as it was being repaired. In the end, I did sell the passenger fender for a nice profit. Here is the passenger fender repair. It had a crease behind the wheel, rot in the brace and lower skin and a few small dents near the front.

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I removed the rear brace so I could fix the rot on it and it also allowed me finish the back side of the patch to the lower panel. When that was done, it was epoxy primed before the repaired and epoxy primed brace was re-installed.

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For the driver's side fender, I decided to use and repair the one that came from the Ebay guy in TX. It would need the rear brace and lower section from the fender I had already repaired. So I decided to cut up the previously repaired fender. It was more work but in the end, I ended up with a much nicer fender.

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The front end was assembled on the car and aligned. The body was block sanded and the outer panels received another coat of primer. Prior to installing the front sheetmetal, I lifted each side of the body and slid plastic between the body and chassis so I could seal off the chassis in plastic. It was taped to the plastic covered floor. Concrete can get damp and I didn't want any moisture sitting under the car. With the plastic down, that was no longer an issue.

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Thanks Dan and I'm glad you are enjoying the thread. I was looking at your thread on your 66 Cutlass conv and it looks like you are doing a nice job with your car. It's been many years since those 2 high school German classes I took but I'll take a shot at something in German. Es ist sehr schon. I'm sure I probably screwed it up and hopefully you'll get the idea.
Guten Tag mein freund.

Oldsmaniac

Wow, I could have used your skills on my project.... beautiful!

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With the body work and primering done, it was time to spray some color in the jams, underside of the deck lid and inside the rear body. I needed to get the top assembly back on and wanted paint back there. This car was special ordered with Nugget Gold which is code 03. Very rare I believe to see this color on a 69 Cutlass/442. Attached is a picture of the cowl tag before I started working on the car and after it was cleaned up. I removed the tag to clean up rust on the cowl and then installed it with new OEM rivets.

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A few more...

After the inside was done I sprayed the door jams and sides of the cowl. I didn't do all of this at one time as I would have ben dragging the air hose over the rocker when spraying inside the back of the car. Paint was PPG Delton Base with 2021 clear.