CarCrazyChemist

Hello everybody.
I just moved to Tallahassee from the midwest for school. Have always been into cars, only within the last few years have I learned how to be a (relatively) decent shade-tree mechanic. Although I might curse and bleed, there's something inherently blissful about fixing things in a state of disrepair. Which is what brought me here.
I had to sell my last car, which was almost a mint 2001 Crown Vic Police Interceptor, in order to finance my move here. I always wanted a V8, RWD sedan. But I yearned for something with more potential, something older, something far less common.
I am currently saving up for, and very close to buying, a 1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (which may be just a Cutlass - there are many discrepancies) sedan which has been neglected in its years.
I look forward to reading many of your posts and perhaps getting to know some of you as I take this car from its state of disrepair to a state of glory.
As soon as the car is mine in January, I will have pics. Until then, I will keep reading up on the many different things I will need to do once I own the car.

tru-blue 442

Welcome to CO.
Sounds like a great project.
When you say sedan, is it a 4 dr.
or a 2 dr. post car?

Either way, great save and congrats!
You will find they are a lot easier to
work on than any '01 Crown Vic.

CarCrazyChemist

Thanks.
It is a four door car.
It should be a great project (although very large in scope, the only good part of the interior is the dash lol), definitely more rewarding and potential than any of my previous vehicles.
I might as well throw some pictures up, as I won't be driving it any time in the near future.0922131443_zpsa8633c00.jpg0922131442_zps79d51273.jpg0922131441b_zps8e8b64d5.jpg0922131441a_zps817cd08f.jpg0922131441_zps2ee78d05.jpg

tru-blue 442

That will be nice when finished.
I have got 3 67 Cutlass factory
hub caps if needed.

OLD SKL 69

Welcome to CO! Nice looking project. Start a thread in major builds and projects when you start doing work on it.

jaunty75

Why do you think it's not a Supreme? I do see the "C/S" badging on the trunk lid and on the sail panels on both sides. Is there evidence that those were just stuck on there by a prior owner to make it look like a Supreme?

Mr Top Notch

Nice Car man always good to see a 4 door welcome to CO!!!

Jamesbo

Welcome aboard

oldcutlass

Welcome, thanks for the pictures.

CarCrazyChemist

Thank you everyone.

The reason I am unsure about whether or not it is a Supreme is due to the rear bumper. I read on here and most of the pictures of 67' Supremes have the reverse lights near the license plate. Also, the owner said they are working on the brakes, but swapped the front from discs to drums in order to save money and effort. Also, there is no badging on the intake, but I figure that is due to wear over many years.

Right now I am assuming it is a Supreme, as the seller is a co-worker with my fiance and a really nice older gentleman - I don't think he would intentionally dupe me. I am hoping to check it out again next weekend if he is around - and I will get pictures of the nearly bare interior, as well as get the VIN and badging in the engine bay in order to decode exactly what I am getting myself into.

I will definitely get a project thread started once the car is in my possession. Being a poor college student, I think I will have to start mostly with getting new wheels (Cragar Soft 8's or D Windows) and tires on, a front bumper, and the interior at least bolted down so it is drivable. Besides that, I plan on spending most of my effort and money on taking things apart, cleaning, smoothing out the body, painting, and re-assembly.

Thanks again! Glad to be in this community!

Keegan

I really like the '67s. One day I hope to drop a big block in one and have a nice cruiser. Good luck!

CarCrazyChemist

Thanks Keegan.
That is my plan, down the road. I want to customize the paint, body, suspension, and interior with the limited funds I currently have - and have it run at 100% with the stock motor until I can afford to build up a twin turbo big block build (but that will be many years into the future).

CarCrazyChemist

Well, as an update last weekend I went and helped the owner of the car diagnose the brakes. One of the two resevoir chambers was slowly disappearing, and he is an older gentleman so he wasn't getting in there to figure things out brake-wise. Popped off the driver's rear wheel, found a bad cylinder in the brake drum. He replaced it, and the brakes are good. I am buying the car in just a few weeks, I have the money saved up finally. We got the lights all confirmed as working, except the reverse lights. If the weather holds I will be putting down another layer of paint on the interior metal, as well as the trunk, probably removing the a/c system, and hopefully diagnosing/fixing the windshield washer motor.
In my anticipation, I might go ahead and order the wheels and tires I want to put on her, BFG Radial T/A's 245/60SR15 on Jeg's Cragar knockoff D Window wheels in 15X8. Then it'll be on to trying to locate a bumper and some headlight bezels

Here's a couple photos of the interior as it sits:
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Nop

Man that are clean floor pans!

CarCrazyChemist

Thanks lol, they will definitely be even cleaner after tomorrow. The PO is really adamant about keeping everything which could rust freshly coated. Which I can appreciate, the only rust I have found on the car so far was on the tailpipe.

Since there was some issue regarding my wheel and tire selection, my wheels are slated to arrive Monday. I will test fit them and take some measurements, then start making a more informed decision on tire sizing.

CarCrazyChemist

Welp, today was semi-productive. I wanted to get the interior painted today as well, but I did get the trunk. Before:
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After:
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I also managed to remove the windshield wiper motor, as well as the A/C compressor. Double checked, and the brake leak is gone.
Before:
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And after:
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Sorry this is so blurry
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Plugged up where the wiper motor should be until I receive the new one (Monday or Tuesday). Also ordered replacement belts for the alternator and power steering.
A set of Cragar D-Window 15X8's are in the mail, as well as a set of 225/60R15 Falken Ziex ZE-912 tires to keep the wheels balanced all around:
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I am hoping that despite the larger wheel gap in the rear, the handling characteristics should be improved, and the tires should not be quite as low-profile as those pictured.

slantflat

Can't quite tell from the one engine picture, is the build date on the Fisher Body tag 06C? If it is then the car and I are exactly the same age!


Nice car by the way!

CarCrazyChemist

Thank you very much, I am very lucky to have stumbled into the opportunity to possess this car. I thought I had some pictures of the tags/engine stamp the last time I was out there working on it/checking it out. And what do you know?
0105141626_zps0b950bb6.jpg
Our cars are the same age!

slantflat

Ah, I don't have a car that age, I meant ME! I was born June 21, 1967. Do you have the broadcast card that shows the exact date of manufacture?

dc2x4drvr

Clean car, look forward to the transformation..

CarCrazyChemist

I am not sure whether or not I have that documentation. I have yet to pick up all of the documentation and manuals the previous owner has.
Thanks dc2x4drvr. It will be slow, but it will be fun and a learning experience.

CarCrazyChemist

Well, I just got the car home today.
Drove it more just on one trip back home - let alone back with the fiance to get her car and then back home again - than the PO has the entirety of his ownership. He has wayyy to many projects. One less now
We went through and checked all the brakes as I swapped the new wheels and tires on, and bled them in order from closest to furthest from the reservoir. Also replaced the accessory belts, and he put on a new alternator since the last time I saw the car. Bolted down the seats, and seatbelts for myself. Also double checked the suspension while the car was in the air, and differential fluid.
I need to go to the auto parts place tomorrow to pick up some general maintenance items, and give her some updated oil and filter, air filter, get the drum bakes dialed in, and fiddle with tuning the carb. Also probably pick up various bolts for different ones which are missing (IE for the seatbelts for all the seats), and start tracing why my new windshield wiper motor will not work.
Next weekend is a big swap meet in Moultrie, and I will try to find a decently priced front bumper. If one isn't there, I will be ordering a fiberglass bumper from VFW or someplace else if other members have input on a better place. Pics tomorrow.
Also, I have never gotten honked at and people giving the thumbs up in any other car before. Twice today in two trips now. And this car has only seen two trips in it's last few decades.

CarCrazyChemist

Been meaning to add some pictures.
I have been working on figuring out how to tune my carburetor, as the car acts as if it has no power. Always smells like fuel, spark plugs that came out of it were...well it looks as though they were made of grime and soot. I think I may have gotten the carb tuned correctly now. It doesn't die when sitting at a stop/idling, and it no longer smells as heavy of fuel. I had to get a new air breather and filter for it, since it was hard to find the right size filter, plus the old breather was rusted out in a few places. I also removed the battery tray which was about 50% rust.
Here she sits in my driveway. You can see where I need to smooth the body out. I may remove all of the chrome trim, and eventually paint it a black or gunmetal gray color.
0130141631_zps8141e6b9.jpg
The rear:
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The interior:
0127141451_zps560f1b20.jpg
The motor with A/C removed and new Mr Gasket breather and filter added:
0127141110_zpsac2a1e0a.jpg
4/8 of the dirty plugs which came out, and made me think the carb was tuned very rich:
0126141236_zpsdbacb3ee.jpg
The major things I need to figure out are how to get the windshield wiper motor (which I replaced with a new unit) working, what to do with two hoses which exit right above the license plate, which dump fuel after I have parked the car after driving, I need to have the front and rear windshields resealed as they leak in the rain, and a few other things which slip my mind right now.

I have lots of small mechanical things which I need to fix, which I will be posting in the appropriate sections for help. I have the CD which has the entire chassis and body service manual, but I think some explanation or guidance from forum members would give me a lot more confidence when it comes to actually fixing these things.

CarCrazyChemist

Well, just an update to my thread:
My car started leaking fuel out of the sides of the carburetor, so I took it off, put my car out of service, and ordered a rebuild kit. As well as a new air breather from Mr. Gasket, as the old unit was rusting apart and had a filter size which was very difficult to find.
As I decomissioned the car, I decided to start taking apart the engine bay and wiring - I figured this would be as good of a time as any to redo all of the gaskets, timing, clean what I can, and try to do some rewiring.
I posted in another thread that as soon as I took off my valve covers, I found a major issue - valve stem seals being chewed and burnt up, clogging the ports allowing oil to circulate. This makes me realize I must dig even deeper to ensure that things aren't worse further into the motor.
Well, I pulled the intake manifold, and this is the surprise I found (the pic is after I started pulling solid gunk out):
0210141655_zps770821ed.jpg
(The coolant was from a sloppy job of disconnecting the entire cooling system, it was not there originally, fortunately)
Taking the tray off, I was met with even more of a surprise:
0210141734a_zps6ef32868.jpg
Welp, now I have to dig even further into the motor to ensure that the valves and the rest of the internal components are fine.
In the meantime, I have been collecting parts to fix the crap I have fallen into:
A new gasket set from Fel-Pro (with gaskets from Mr Gasket for the intake manifold), Comp Cams connecting rods and rocker arms - plus all the bolts and required materials for those, a new distributor cap and rotor from MSD, more electrical goodies from Accel and MSD, a new thermostat, new valve stem seals, and (non pictured) new spark plug wires:
0212142255_zps175044f8.jpg
Still in the mail is a Comp Cams timing kit, as well as hopefully soon, a new fiberglass front bumper from RRP.
I'm torn between hoping for more damage in order to have to dig deeper and replace more old parts with performance parts, or to save money and have everything else be fine. I may end up just replacing the valve springs and related hardware just because, and am considering a P/S system delete.

CarCrazyChemist

It has been a while since I did any updates. Mostly because it was taking me forever to get the heads cleaned/lightly ported, as well as a nuinsance trying to break the crank pulley bolt free. I have the heads cleaned up, and finally this weekend got the crank pulley bolt off. Busted a screwdriver in two in the process, and bent a wrench. But, that's insignificant compared to the relief of making it this far.

With the heads off, I was happy to find that my pistons and chambers looked pretty much solid. I spilled a bit of coolant when I removed the intake, so I wasn't surprised to find the puddle:
0216141645_zps420c061e.jpg

The state of the old heads:
0216141657_zps1bc5447e.jpg
Turns out besides the bent pushrod I found, it also had a few stuck valves.

I mocked up the front fiberglass bumper I had gotten from RRP. Fits pretty decent, but I will definitely need to have a shop install it once the CS (now named Gloria) is rolling:
0222141419a_zps45cf0830.jpg

Here are the heads, finally done well enough for me (though I did hit the exhaust side more before calling it good):
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I cleaned up the valves, installed new umbrella style stem seals, and installed the old springs retainers and clips. I wanted to install the new dual valve springs from Comp, but I want to replace the retainers and clips and break in my new cam first.


I cleaned the distributor, and installed new points, rewired it (the old was spliced and connected by tape), as well as a new cap and rotor. I should have taken photos of it before cleaning lol, it was nasty:
0321141935_zps09c8adf9.jpg

Since I got the crank pulley bolt off, and the harmonic balancer and pulleys out of the way, I got into my timing finally. It looks worn out, me thinks:
0322141548_zpsa8c3ea20.jpg

Had to remove the hood latch and part of the grille to get the old cam and sprocket out:
0322141622a_zpscb9bf603.jpg
0322141622b_zpsae8ef942.jpg

New cam, double roller gears and chain, as well as hydraulic lifters were installed today:
0323141458_zpsf2ad4b6d.jpg
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(I did reinstall the gears with both notches at 12' oclock.)

That went pretty smoothly. Now, I am stuck cleaning up the timing cover, mating surfaces on the block(mostly around the dist and one head), and cleaning the nasty intake manifold:
downsized_0309141829b_zpsbd6eadca.jpg
0321141900_zpsc82e1bbd.jpg

archeryshooter

Welcome
Boy you are getting busy car looks really solid trunk looks real good

CarCrazyChemist

Thanks archeryshooter. I think that's the only part I am happy with so far...
I really want it running! (The sooner I can drive it, plus then I can get the windshields resealed and the bumper installed)
Today, while cleaning the timing cover, pieces around the seal just broke off. So, I am now searching for a new timing cover/seal.

archeryshooter

Yup the deeper you go the more you will find! When its all do you will know its right

CarCrazyChemist

Went a little bit deeper over the weekend.
Got the new seals on my timing cover. Had some real trouble getting it to fit onto the motor with the new rubber seal along the bottom- the seal had extra tabs which I had to cut off with a razor blade. It fits very tightly now!
I went to rewire my distributor before installing my 2nd head, since it would be more accessible that way (or so I thought). By hooking up the exhaust to the first head, I blocked off my access to the wires. I got an extension, and somehow managed to get all the wiring unhooked. I rewired the harness, but when I went to reinstall the most difficult wire - the threaded bolt on the starter just snapped off.
I will be ordering a Powermaster XS starter Friday.
The pushrods in the kit I had purchased were too long. Summit was very kind, and sent me the right ones at a $15 rebate (they have two kits for this year Olds - rocker arms and installation parts and pushrods - one for the 455 only and one for the rest which differ only by the length of the pushrods. Of course I got the ones which fit the 455. But I got the new ones in the mail yesterday, and got the valvetrain installed on the first head and test fit. I need to go through and torque everything down right, then adjust as necessary. Also, need to remove the distributor as I forgot to install my new condenser.
Timing cover and oil pump installed:
0330141615_zps70d70767.jpg
Valvetrain test fit:
0331141912a_zpscf6e2fba.jpg
If I get done with research soon enough, I should be either cleaning the intake manifold and crank pulleys/balancer to get those ready for installation - or I will be installing the 2nd head and hopefully some of the valvetrain on that side. As well as adding the condensor to the dist.

69 holiday

tallanasty my home town..... if you ever go for a cruise and drive thru lanark village ( on the coast before carrabelle and st george island) there is a almost perfect i think its a 70 442. its white all it needs is a front end. its the car that made me a sucker for anything oldsmobile. btw dont buy my car ill be back for it one day.... lol. its just sitting in the apartments. good luck with the project there is a ton of information here on basically anything you need