Ok i have started my restoration on my 71 cutty.i really dont have to much of a long story.I bought the car in april from wakulla county florida which is 8 hours away from miami and yes i did drive to get it was a nice road trip for me.I had it now for 3 going on four months.but i just started working on it at the end of july this is were i've got so far.Now im not a mechanic but i have friends who so i ask em questions on wat to do but i bin doing it myself so far so dats why im moving so slow so bare wit me a lil.and i work in family business so i get off at 9:00 at night

 

just some more pics

 

You picked a heck of a project. I hope you have good body repair skills cause I'm thinking the rust probably goes a lot deeper than what you can see from the pictures. A real challenge that's for sure. Good luck with it.

 

trying to stack em up

 

nope i dont have any body n repair skills i just wanted to do somthing to occupy my off time so i decided to try and build a car but i know a couple of body men

 

I agree with 47 there is going to be quite a lot of patching required so be prepared. One thought would be to take an adult ed class at a local community college or vo tech so you can do the job yourself . A restoration is more than just taking it apart, you need to set your goals and plan ahead, it requires a budget and skills I would also see if there are any holds clubs in your area. Good luck

 

I didn't do the body work on my first restoration but after it was finished, I decided that I wanted to do the body work on my next one. So I took an adult education class in welding and bought a welder and have practiced and learned by doing.That's half the fun.
It's a little more expensive but if you do get a welder, get a gas mig welder instead of a flux core welder.
I see the box of baggies there. That's the best way. Bag and tag every single nut, bolt and bracket and take tons of pictures. You won't remember exactly where all that stuff goes a year from now.
That car does look to need a lot of patching but if that's what you had in mind when you decided to do a car, you'll have a blast. Just take it one repair at a time and you'll eventually get there.

 

Looks like a Fox Body Mustang next to you Olds in the first pic . Is that your Mustang ?

 

[QUOTE=Eddie Hansen;442709]I agree with 47 there is going to be quite a lot of patching required so be prepared. One thought would be to take an adult ed class at a local community college or vo tech so you can do the job yourself . A restoration is more than just taking it apart, you need to set your goals and plan ahead, it requires a budget and skills I would also see if there are any holds clubs in your area. Good luck[/QUOTyea im gona look into that school for body work its just dat im always around guys who are into building race cars.so after sitting n looking at them building cars for so long i figured i would try it i catch on to stuff pretty quick.

 

no its my friends car he is into racing their rebuilding the motor to add a turbo

 

yes dats my mission to do it have fun and learn how to along the way.i kno it might take long but i gave myself a 1 year time limit to do it n yes i have close to 500 pics

 

We all started somewhere on something, remember the object in this is to acually have fun! When it's not fun, walk away, get your head straight, get your attitude adjusted, and press on.

 

im wondering would it be more money to get a cowl panel fabricated or should i give desert valley auto a call.Another thing is have any of u guys heard about making a custom dash from fiber glass is dat good idea???

 

The aftermarket sheet metal companies make a patch panel for this area but, from posts I've read about it, they are for chevelles and need a little tweeking to fit anything else. Might be worth a shot. I'll post a link if I find one. I do recall thinking that it didn't look like it covered very much area. Looked like it was basically for the area right where the windshield rested on the cowl. It didn't reach more than a couple inches back toward the dash. I have the same iissue with a 71 Lemans I'm working on. I cut this section out of a car at the junk yard but haven't put it in yet.

I've seen a lot of 52 or so chevy trucks that have had the dash done in fiberglass. I'd think that you would still need to repair the rusted areas even if you fibergalssed the dash.

 

See the problem wit junk yard here in miami ur not gona find any 71 olds sitting.and yes im gona cut the rust out but once i find a cowl panel from that line by the dash i would start da fiber glass dash from there.just wondering has anyone done this b4.I was looking at another video those guys on V8tv on thier 71olds build and the guy who was doing the welding if recall he was saying that the cowl consist of three pieces the cowl/cowl panel and dash is all welded together and i think i understand wat he mean.the company opgi has a panel for a 68 but they only have the whole cowl for 71

 

I feel bad. I could have taken 2 good cowls out of a 72 and 71 earlier this year. They had no rust anywhere.

Get in touch with one of these guys:
Eric (jensenracing77) - Brazil Indiana
Scott (Oldspackrat) Indianapolis Indiana
John (2blu442) Medford Oregon

They might be able to cut out the needed parts from all the spare cars they part out.

 

Get your mind set-confidence will lead you on. Take it 1 spot at a time. Start at the least noticeable area and work towards the high visibility areas.No fear-bondo sands off and you can work it until you are happy with the results.

 

Correct. They only sell full sections of the front cowl and rear package tray/Buttom window edge. Which stinks if you have a single bad spot and want to fix just it you must cut out the entire area and weld whole new in.

If your like me I didn't want to do this so I cut out the bad rust part. Welded a small piece in from the under side, then I laid a piece of fiberglass mat across the entire area and spread the resin on after. This formed a nice, flat, smooth good looking area that when painted I couldn't tell it from any other car.

Good luck with your build and like previous mentioned take it one step at a time. Don't give up or get discouraged. Anything can be fixed. As Allan said, Scott, Eric here in Indy have a TON of parts and panels laying around. I do believe Scott has exactly what you need(or did have) as I needed that same cowl panel myself. Just PM him and I'm sure he will let you know asap.

 

Thanks for the info guys and trust me i wont get discourage at all.I look at everyone else pics n threads and get it up lift me to push on so i could put my progress up i'll get there im in no rush...and thank u guy for inspiring me to push on.

 

 

jus some papers i thought were cool to find...[ATTACH][ATTACH]book.jpg[/ATTACH][/ATTACH]

 

Don't lose those inspections. They have documentation of the cars mileage and road worthiness on specific dates

 

I just started my little 71 Cutlass. Started by purchasing from OPGI Body by Fisher book and the actual assembly manual from factory on disk.
Both were worth every penny

 

Your doing great and good luck with the restoration. Many folks can also help you on this website.

 

thnks..I'm glad i did find dis website i mean everyone on here makes u feel like ur right at home asking one of ur friends a question.I MUST SAY THANK YOU TO WHO EVER MADE THIS SITE...LOL

 

 

 

Internet Brands owns the site. They don't administrate it though. Scroll to the very bottom of the page and you will see their Ownership logo. They also own many other sites. The advertising $$ is what makes the site free for us to use.

If you want to see what other brands and sites they own/sponsor, click on the 'advertising' link.....Surprise!

 

Ooohhhh.....I thought one of da guys on here created dis site.....but im glad they did anyway..

 

If you ever run into site problems or have suggestions on how to better use the site, the fellow who manages the IT questions is Paul. He goes by OMICRON. Might not get back to you right away, but he's a straight and fair shooter.

 

Hey guys can someone tell me were im suppose to turn now im kinda lost.I have remove all the body mounts i did not lift da body off the frame yet because im kinda confused.direct me please should i do the body work b4 i sandblast??? Should i sandblast da body or just sand it off with a d8.the rust on the body is around the front and back window seal on the cowl panel and dash i know im going to replace those parts.the only place that i could sand with a d8 is the outside of the fire wall were the water sits in the corner on both side is a lil rusted.wat should i do or just leave dis part to the pro's

 

 

 

wow i finally got my own work bay after a month im too happy i can start working on my car again.I'll upload a pic of my little box later on wen i leave work..

 

 

ok ill check into them

 

and thnks

 

 

finally i can start to move forward on my project i got most of all the tools i need to make alot of progress