New guy here with hibernating 67 442 Convert
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 51
New guy here with hibernating 67 442 Convert
Hi, I just found this place and it looks like a great place for Olds info!
I'm from Minnesota and am here because I have a 67 442 Convert that I bought back in 1980. At the time it was a neglegted old muscle car with a torn up top, rotted interior, and cracked and baked out original paint. But it was a California car with a completely rust free body, power windows, tilt wheel, power seat on the drivers side, and it still had the build sheet tucked into the seat springs. The original 400 and muncie 4 speed was still there, it had headers, a holly, and an isky cam.
Here it is the day I had it towed home:
442onhook.jpg
Working in my dark little dirt floor garage, and out in the driveway, I took the car apart and stripped it down to bare metal then had it painted in the original color:
sratingtoteardown2.jpg
startingtoteardown1.jpg
naked442front.jpg
naked442passside.jpg
422freshpaint.jpg
Then I borrowed a sewing machine and make a new custom tuck and roll interior from crushed velvet. It didn't turn out too bad for my first ever interior job. Back then, there were no interior kits available. But there was plenty of NOS stuff still in stock at the Olds dealer and I bought a bunch of stuff for it new.
442driversidetopdown.jpg
I street raced it, and wrecked the 400, so I threw in a boneyard 425, then when I destroyed that, I bought a race built 455 from Brian Gill in California, and dropped that in with a 5 speed Doug Nash trans and a 3.23 12 bolt chev rear end. Back then, I figured anything I could undo with a socket set was fair game, but thank God that I was wise enuff not to modify the body! I intended to keep all the original driveline parts, but they got left behind during a very hasty change of residence back in the eighties. When I went back looking for them later, the new property owner owner had thrown everything away.
Here it is getting the 425 dropped into it:
425motoer.jpg
I street raced it, daily drove it, and used it to pull my camper, and drove it on a cross country trip to Arizona, California, Idaho.
442camperpuller1986.jpg
Here it is in 1986:
rightsideindriveway.jpg
At the end of 1987, the motor was getting pretty tired, had a lot of blow by, and broke a valve spring. The 455 was 12.8 to 1 compression, and they had stopped selling gas of sufficient octane at the local stations. So I pulled the motor out of the car with the plan of de-tuning it to run on pump gas. Well, life got in the way, and 23 years later the motor is still out.
It has sat long enuff! So I recently a snagged a low mileage 455 out of a an old mans '76 98 that I am planning to drop into the 442 and have it back on the road next spring. I stuck a hot cam in it with a new chain and oil pump, and got a edelbrock intake, but I really would like to find a set of big valve C heads to bolt on before I drop it in.
I also got a new interior kit to restore the insides back to original, and have been collecting some other stuff like a trunk finish panel and tail lights that are in better shape than the originals.
I'll probably get the hood and front fenders touched up, since they have a lot of rock chips from all the miles I put on it. The top I put on in 1980 was a Crown from JC whitney, and it got torn. They sent me a free new one under the terms of the lifetime warranty, so I have a new top ready to install. I need to fiure out how to improve the head light bezels, they are old and faded looking.
Once I get the huge mess in my barn cleaned up, I am going to pull the 442 out of the back corner and get busy on it.
Wish me luck! Joel
I'm from Minnesota and am here because I have a 67 442 Convert that I bought back in 1980. At the time it was a neglegted old muscle car with a torn up top, rotted interior, and cracked and baked out original paint. But it was a California car with a completely rust free body, power windows, tilt wheel, power seat on the drivers side, and it still had the build sheet tucked into the seat springs. The original 400 and muncie 4 speed was still there, it had headers, a holly, and an isky cam.
Here it is the day I had it towed home:
442onhook.jpg
Working in my dark little dirt floor garage, and out in the driveway, I took the car apart and stripped it down to bare metal then had it painted in the original color:
sratingtoteardown2.jpg
startingtoteardown1.jpg
naked442front.jpg
naked442passside.jpg
422freshpaint.jpg
Then I borrowed a sewing machine and make a new custom tuck and roll interior from crushed velvet. It didn't turn out too bad for my first ever interior job. Back then, there were no interior kits available. But there was plenty of NOS stuff still in stock at the Olds dealer and I bought a bunch of stuff for it new.
442driversidetopdown.jpg
I street raced it, and wrecked the 400, so I threw in a boneyard 425, then when I destroyed that, I bought a race built 455 from Brian Gill in California, and dropped that in with a 5 speed Doug Nash trans and a 3.23 12 bolt chev rear end. Back then, I figured anything I could undo with a socket set was fair game, but thank God that I was wise enuff not to modify the body! I intended to keep all the original driveline parts, but they got left behind during a very hasty change of residence back in the eighties. When I went back looking for them later, the new property owner owner had thrown everything away.
Here it is getting the 425 dropped into it:
425motoer.jpg
I street raced it, daily drove it, and used it to pull my camper, and drove it on a cross country trip to Arizona, California, Idaho.
442camperpuller1986.jpg
Here it is in 1986:
rightsideindriveway.jpg
At the end of 1987, the motor was getting pretty tired, had a lot of blow by, and broke a valve spring. The 455 was 12.8 to 1 compression, and they had stopped selling gas of sufficient octane at the local stations. So I pulled the motor out of the car with the plan of de-tuning it to run on pump gas. Well, life got in the way, and 23 years later the motor is still out.
It has sat long enuff! So I recently a snagged a low mileage 455 out of a an old mans '76 98 that I am planning to drop into the 442 and have it back on the road next spring. I stuck a hot cam in it with a new chain and oil pump, and got a edelbrock intake, but I really would like to find a set of big valve C heads to bolt on before I drop it in.
I also got a new interior kit to restore the insides back to original, and have been collecting some other stuff like a trunk finish panel and tail lights that are in better shape than the originals.
I'll probably get the hood and front fenders touched up, since they have a lot of rock chips from all the miles I put on it. The top I put on in 1980 was a Crown from JC whitney, and it got torn. They sent me a free new one under the terms of the lifetime warranty, so I have a new top ready to install. I need to fiure out how to improve the head light bezels, they are old and faded looking.
Once I get the huge mess in my barn cleaned up, I am going to pull the 442 out of the back corner and get busy on it.
Wish me luck! Joel
Last edited by Joel; Nov 6, 2010 at 01:08 PM.
Thread Starter
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 51
Thanks for the nice welcome!
I'll keep you up to date as the project gets rolling. Part of me says "hurry up, get busy, don't worry about perfection, just use the heads and other stuff that you already have and get it on the road fast and cheap" But then I keep dreaming of everything I could do like Aluminum heads, oil restrictors, paint the whole car, rechome the instrument bezel, take the body off and detail the frame..... It could be another 23 years. I better stick to plan A and just get it on the road.
I'll keep you up to date as the project gets rolling. Part of me says "hurry up, get busy, don't worry about perfection, just use the heads and other stuff that you already have and get it on the road fast and cheap" But then I keep dreaming of everything I could do like Aluminum heads, oil restrictors, paint the whole car, rechome the instrument bezel, take the body off and detail the frame..... It could be another 23 years. I better stick to plan A and just get it on the road.
"me somebody" site member
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,612
Cool car, great story. I like the factory color combo too, though that may be because my own car is a dead ringer for yours, down to the colors and how its equipped (minus the tilt-wheel and power driver's seat). Welcome to the site!
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,580
From: Las Vegas, NV
after a quick search - YES, back on the road - but no posts since August 2011
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