Hi, kinda started this on the Newbe forum, but probably should be over here. So will re post some pics and continue here. If your like me I enjoy seeing other peoples projects and hope mine is as entertaining and help full as others i have seen.

Bit of a history, I bought this car in 1984, i was 19 then. I paid 300$ for it. You can see in the pics it was Primer brown, Red top where original vinyl top had been removed, Mopar hood scoop mounted on it backwards, Micky Thompson 50's on the back. Ladder bars on the rear, 4.11 rear end ect. Motor was blown ( don't even know what was wrong with it or if it was the original 400, at that time I didn't care) I was young and strapped for cash and that was all i could afford. It was My first car that I ever bought. So while it's kinda is a POS, ( lots of stuff was done to it and it has been modified so it is not any where close to original) it has some sentimental value i guess. Anyway.. We found a donar delta 88 455 and put that in. !! lots of fun.. drove it for a few years I guess. At some point I had a local guy paint it for me. I was going for the Paint job that i saw in the 442 convertible jumping through the Billboard on the "Stay the Night" video from the band chicago. Kinda have got there except the black stripe was WAY to wide and they used masking tape to make the 442 up front.. LOL.. so looked kinda shitty..I think i paid the guy 500$ to do it back in the day.. but other then the Black stripe.. it looked pretty good. Went off to college. I drove it a bit then at some point my roommate was driving it.. and drove over a curb. This smacked the headers and I think cracked the heads or head gasket as from that point there was lots of steam coming out of the exhaust. I tried to fix it while at college..but didnt have the tools, know how or funds so the car sat.. that was about 1988. I kept dragging the car around from place to place until I finished college and moved down to Detroit MI. I had put the car in storage back up at the college. Eventually we went back up and towed it down to Detroit ( 7 hours drive in winter, towing it behind my blazer with someone ( my wife) sitting in the car with no heat because any time I would try to turn a corner, it wouldn't track right and it would try to go the other way !!! lol) Car continued to sit in my various garages as I moved a couple times. Then in 1997 I moved back to MN. To get the car on the moving Van.. It had to be running, so we rebuilt the motor, got it running , put it in the van, and moved to MN. Car has been sitting in my Garage since then. Finally my 18 year old son has expressed enough interest to get me motivated to get the old gal back on the road.. So here we go.. I will keep trying to post some pics and update things from time to time.. Thanks to all on this forum who have already giving me lots of help in info and advise. I have never undertaken a project of this magnitude. so should be fun !!!

 

some pics from the past.. I still like the look of those wide tires !!

 

My 68 Delta 88 2 door that donated the motor. This was a cool car as well ( should have saved it) 4bb carb 455 with posi rear end. You can see in the one pic the motor that was in the 442 sitting in a little cart. I can see it is blue in color.. SO appears not to be the original motor even at that point.

 

I did some of my own painting on it at first.. Then had it painted by a friend of mine. Also original title. Vin confirms 442

 

Present.. Car was being used as a storage shelf.. LOL.. cleaned it off and got it running again.. No rust on the Hood !!! thats good. LOL about the only place that doesn't have rust..

 

Got the garage reorganized and car is back in. I started dismantling it last night, and did some exploratory sanding of the rear quarters to see how bad things were. Actually not to bad?? Not sure if this can just be repaired with fabrication, or if I will have to get new skins.. You can see where previous repair was done back in the 80's .

 

Pulled the fenders.. As expected the bottom rear is trash.. not much left. So probably new fenders are in order?? I dont know that this can be repaired as the fender support is also gone.. rest of fender is good.

 

Good news.. the part of the car that the fenders bolt to are in good shape ( they look like crap cause i hosed it down with PB blaster to get the old bolts out) Also rest of metal around that area is solid..

 

It looks pretty decent. Yours is in better shape than mine was. My passenger side fender attachment point was gone and my driver's side was OK. I also had lower cowl repair to do on the passenger side. If you get the car off the frame make sure you check the front body mount locations on the cowl. Both my mounts had to be rebuilt


Good luck. Hopefully you can complete it in less than the seven years it took me

 

I hope so.. LOL.. but probably not.. I was talking to a friend about it taking so long and such. His words of wisdom were.. " Well, either way 5 years are going to go by, and you can either have a cool car at the end or have a pile of parts and rust. Stop whining and fix the damn thing !! If you had started when you first moved here.. you would have been done by now"" LOL.. so i have resigned my self to accepting it will take what it takes, and enjoy the process.

 

You are in for some fun now! Document, photo's, bag and tag every nut, bolt, washer and shim. It will be worth it in the long run!

Tom
68 442
70 F85

 

The 68 Olds 88 looked way to nice to rape it for a motor for that Raggie looking Cutlass, you'll find that it's not all about going fast!

 

LOL i was 19.. fast was where it was at... And ya.. a 2DR 88 was kinda a rarity i think.. BUT you cant see the other side.. Passenger side was toast from an accident.. so at that time the car was totaled. I think i paid 350.00 for it.. I also had a 4dr 88.. Motor went in the 442.. I kept the posi rear end parts.. and scavenged what i could for future needs. and for the 4dr 88 ...

 

HI guys.. not to much new.. just in the taking it apart process but a few more pics.. Frame looks good so far..I was a little worried.

 

Was trying to figure out what Rear end was in this car.. Looks like a 10 bolt cover with 12 bolt inside ?? The carrier is out of a Delta 88.. but i used the guts of it to fix my rear end back in the day.. so I assume there the same.. Anyway.. looks like a 70's 8.5 inch.. you can tell by the cover.. and stamping .

 

and some pics of the engine and tranny pull.. went well.. ( You will notice floor dry all over.. Note to self, Drain all fluids before pulling stuff apart. LOL) now I'm starting on the interior.. I think that is where I will find some not so great surprises with the rust.. lol. well see.. Will post pics as i get the seats and such out..

PS you can see in the one pic the cheap 1000lb dolly's Harbor Fright sells.. I think there like 5 bucks.. come in handy.. I picked up a few of them.. makes moving stuff around in the garage easy.. Had the motor sitting on one at one point before i got it on the motor stand.. Highly recommend picking up a few.. !!

 

Got a little more work done. Finding the " taking apart" process to be more time consuming then I thought. LOL.. oh well.. I got the seats Front seats out ( Still trying to figure out how to get the backs out ??) and and started on the interior.. Pulling carpet, Found some interesting things. A note from some girl that wanted to date me back in 84 .!!! lol, dont even remember who she was.. I found a wooden homemade weed pipe !! Don't think that was mine.. but who knows. .LOL.. Anyway on to some pics..

I spent quite a bit of time removing and disassembling the console. My car has what I think is a Hurst Dual Gate and console from probably a 70's car.. I dont believe it was ever in a 68.. I kinda like it though.. so not sure if I will try to put this back to original or not.. Maybe some one has some pics of what shoudl be in this car? Was a Dual gate offered in 68? and if so. what did the console look like.

 

some more pics of the console and mounting.. I guess the wiring harness is the same for the dual gate vs others ? or Maybe they swapped them out.. but the harness has all the proper connections.. looks stock? maybe not idk.

 

Some pics of how the thing is mounted.. I dont think that big cut out in the floor is stock ?? Also found what looks like some brackets that were cut out.. not sure what whose would have been for ?? Any ideas ?? See the last pic .. i circled them in black..
thanks

 

That's not a factory cut out but 68 442's didn't come with a dual gate either so that was added. The factory shifter doesn't look anything like that. The brackets you see are probably from the original auto console. The console you have is a 70-72

 

Looks like fun project, keep up the good work.

 

Maybe you should do two one for you one for the son.I have 1968 parts as well as a 1968 442 numbers matching car that needs rebuilt forsale. Good luck on your project.

 

LOL well, my kid has a 92 Mitsubishi 3000 GT that is his baby.. We have been doing some work on that as well. I must say I appreciate the open spaces and room to work that the 68 442 offers.. Also the simplicity of it. The Mits of course has a zillion wires and sensors and computers in it as well as having everything stuffed in a small space. But it is a cool car too.

If you have a parts car.. do you have parts you want to sell ?? I might need some ..

 

Well. we got all the interior out last night.. Figured out how to remove the back seats.. Amazing how dirty and how much crap was under the seats and carpets.. As expected found some rust and holes in the floor.. Looking like new floor pans will be in order. Will post some pics when I get a chance to get some opinions and what to do.. Going to work on the Dash tonight to see if we can get that out..

 

Good luck! I just finished my '68 Cutlass that I bought in HS in 1990. It has been a lot of "put it together, and take it apart" type work. I learned a LOT, and the regulars on this site are fantastic in their advice and support.

I second the notion that extra care must be taken when taking things apart. Place all the nuts and bolts in clearly marked ZipLock baggies, and take plenty of pictures. I did not do this in 1999 when I started on my '68 project, and I paid the price.

Also, visit this invaluable website...

http://wildaboutcarsonline.com/cgi-b...=9950340732039

I attached a picture of my '68.

 

@ rvandeven I agree... i have been bagging everything and labeling stuff, Then I have plastic bins that I am putting the related things into and labeling them. That way everything needed for a specific thing ( Example door trim and pads and arm rests) should all be in the same bin. Also taking notes and such on what i find that will need to be replaced as I go. So when it comes time I can figure out what extra screw nuts and bolts I might need, and what parts I will need to order. Figured this would be easier then trying to figure that out later when trying to put it back together LOL This car has been worked on before so there are a lot of odd size bolts and stuff.. Some from me when i was younger and just wanted it to work.. anyway.. Thanks for the pic.. I LIKE IT looks good.. I may hit you up for some advice along the way if you dont mind..

 

Some pics and updates. I got the shop vac out and cleaned out a lot of the interior floors.. lost of rust and dust.. 2 mummified mice .. ect.. lol. Didn't find any original documentation though. Lots of rust holes .. more then i had hoped, but kinda what i expected i guess. At this point I am asking myself what have i got myself into.. LOL. oh well, I suppose some would say to trash the car and start with a better one.. But.. for now I will keep on and see what I find. Being in MN i don't think i will find one in much better shape. I guess the question is cost of finding a different car that needs less work vs fixing this one. I guess I dont know.. plus this one is the one i owned since i was 18.. so some sentimental value i guess.. Some pics to follow..

 

Here are some shots of the front floor area.. Driver side has lots of holes, passenger side seem pretty solid. One question I had is what is with all the thing black crap all over the floor.. and some stuff that seem like tar soaked sheets of stuff. Is that sound deadening stuff and seam sealer? It now is quite brittle and breaks off easily.. Is that stuff replaced after repair work is done?

 

Here are some pic of the stuff im talking about. You can see where they obviously sprayed this stuff on before painting the floor..

 

Here are some shots of the door panels. I suppose these will be replaced.. They are not in to bad of shape actually.. just along the bottoms.. Possibly this is fixable ? anybody had any luck repairing these ? The chrome plated armrest base is toast.

 

Here is how to remove the rear panels.. there is a screw near the front.. and then one in the back up near the rear deck... then just pop the body fasteners.. and pull up ..

 

Here is a cool tool I found at Napa by chance... Door handle retainer clip tool. This was the best $6 i have spent in a long time. Just slides behind the handle and pushes the clip out. I have used screw drivers and such in the past, but it is really hard to get behind and get to the clip and doing that way can damage the door panel material.. This tool just slides behind and that's it

 

I was curious to see how the rear panel material just kinda overlaps the wheel house.. I supposed this gets hidden by the seat.. so maybe these can be reused as well. the bottoms are kinda messed up from moister and such.. but again.. don't think you will see that.. you can also see how the original moister barrier was supposed to be installed .. down into that slot at the bottom to direct water back into the inside of the quarter panel. This is supposed to keep it out of the inside of the car.. Not sure how well that worked though looking at the rust ..lol.

 

More Rust holes.. ugh...

 

Finally a tool report... As you saw before i picked up that door handle removal tool.. I give it a A+ on the other hand I also picked up a Harmonic balancer removal tool made by Evercraft. ( Some line of tools Napa Sells) I figured it could also be used to pull the steering wheel. So.. i pulled the nut off the shaft and attempted to use this puller tool. Heard a cracking noise.. WTF.. pulled it back off.. thought i was damaging the steering wheel some how.. Nope.. so put it back on.. started applying pressure and the fricken bolt heads broke. First one broke i figured was a fluke.. ( See pic 2 ) so tried another.. Same thing.. How the hell can they sell this stuff.. These bolts must be welded together or some ****.. IDK.. I was dumb founded.. anyway.. this will be going back to napa.. Or maybe Ill just get some Grade 8 bolts for it as that is what it should have come with.. not this chepo crap.. IDK.. I dont think there is anything else to pulling a steering wheel that im missing ?? lol.

 

The way I understand it, build sheets were not supposed to be left under the back seat. I know a lot of people who will say to look for a build sheet under the back seat. If you find a build sheet under your back seat, it was placed there by mistake. I guess the factories made a lot of mistakes.

I never found a build sheet under my back seat either.

 

The one thing that I have found out about NAPA is that you can find better, you just can't find more expensive....

 

And one final question. Is there some trick to getting the chrome plated plastic armrest back panel off the door panels? It is held on by some metal clip.. I cant seem to get these off with out breaking the plastic part that sticks thru from the plastic plate ? You can see a broken one in pic 2 ( i didn't do this .. it was already broken)
Thanks

 

Not a parts car a roller numbers matching 442 car!! I do have extra 1968 parts.

 

I cut them off with side cut pliers on the plates that I wanted to re-use. I found that they were impossible to get off without breaking them. I had a bunch of parts panels that I broke the plastic off and then I was able to reuse those clips. Pretty much one or the other is going to break.


Hopefully maybe someone else has a better idea