OK, I'm gonna give this a try. I will do my best to keep this updated as long as there is interest. I do take a lot of pictures anyway as I have friends that like to see the progress.

A little background on what I'm trying to accomplish, I have been a muscle car guy my whole life and Olds exclusively for the most part.

I have restored and showed multiple 442's, W30's, and Hurst Olds (68 & 83) over the years and have won enough trophies to make it a pain really anymore. I say this only because I love the work it takes to make a car nice, and have appreciated how people appreciate my hard work. I just enjoy the drive to the show and to meet other people that appreciate these cars.

So when I need a new project, I quickly realized that the 442/W30 projects were getting pretty expensive and pretty rough and I think I was getting a little bored too. I needed to do something different.

Searched for a traditional Olds hot rod project with no luck. I was at a local show and saw a really nice 55 Chevy sedan with an LS2 in it & thought "I wonder if anyone's done this to a 55 Olds 88?". Still not sure, but after a trip to the Columbus Goodguy's show, I was hooked on the hot rod custom idea.

I found the car you'll be following on Craigslist, and the LS2 on E-bay.

I sold my 83 Hurst Olds and it funded the car, the motor & trans, and a welder. I am doing as much of the work myself as I possibly can. I will/have paid pros to handle the chassis welding, and the final body work and paint.

I am trying desperately to NOT end up with a high dollar show car. Pretty sure I'll fail on the high dollar part (already have actually), but this is meant to be a cruiser. If in the end people like it, great.

This car was destined for the crusher, so please don't ask why I didn't restore it. As I mentioned above, I didn't want another restoration project. I chose LS platform because of it's state of the art power and efficiency, and I wanted to learn something new.

So here goes, I'll load some posts with pictures to get caught up to where I am today. Appreciate the feedback (positive and negative). I figure it'll take another year and a half or so if I'm lucky to finish.

Assuming I can afford to keep it moving forward.

Thanks for the interest,

Joe

 

Here's the car as I found it. It had a Trans-am front stub tacked in place (pretty scary actually). Car was originally from South Dakota. Frame is really solid, floors were shot due to broken glass and sitting outside.

No engine or interior included. Perfect starting point.

 

Started by patching the floors. Taught myself how to weld too! Bought a 110V Hobart Handler and it is a great welder. Floor pans are available on evil-bay and need lots of massaging to fit and look decent. Not the most beautiful welding, but they're solid and started looking smoother the more I did.

 

Removed the old Trans-Am front stub and installed a Fatman set-up. Hired a local professional welder for this..... Came out great! All of the front sheet metal bolted right up including the bumper brackets.

 

Some shots of the LS install. Had a tough time finding headers with clearance for the steering (BBK).

 

Flaming River column & drive by wire pedal mod.

 

90 degree under dash brake assembly install.

 

Well, I'm interested. Cool build, good to see you doing most of the work. Why is the brake booster and master located inside the dashboard?

 

VERY NICE!
I love the booster. I assume that's to clean up the firewall. There goes the idea of a driver rather than a show car

 

A great choice, and great start! Congratulations on "biting the bullet" and learning to weld. I'm beginning to think that may be the best way to learn. So far, all I've learned (in class at the local community college) is how to burn small/large holes, for the most part. Can never be accused of "laying down a perfect bead", but really didn't do enough of it. Once again, congratulations, and keep the posts coming!

 

nice work so far Joe Im liking it and watching the thread

 

Awesome Joe - SUBSCRIBED!

Cool to see where the parts you bought are going! Keep up the posts...love it!

 

I understand the "why", but the "how" is a little confusing - will there be a remote fill for the reservoir, or will you have to climb under the dash to fill the master?

 

this is going to be a cool one to follow, keep us updated

 

Thanks everyone, I still have some more image to load to get caught up to where I'm at today. I'll load some more tonight.

Yeah, the under dash booster assembly has a nice polished remote fill unit that gets mounted wherever you want (just needs to be higher than the MC). I plan to smooth the firewall but will add a few rolled beads to add some character.

Gordon, good to hear from you! Here's a picture of that front header brace all installed. It worked out great! I'm still using the roof sheet metal that came with to patch other areas. The nine coats of paint on it are a pain but it's good steel!

Joe

 

Some fender patching......

 

Replacing the spare tire well. Will center mount the a fuel tank to make the dual exhaust routing easier.

 

Am playing with a forward tilt hood hinge. Not the whole clip, just the hood. I'm using a set-up out of a 89 Buick LeSabre. It looks like it's going to work but am still fabbing up the cross brace. I used the spot welder from our maintenance department at work. That thing is sweet. Easy, and looks so professional.

I will have to push the grill bar back about 3" to make the hood open far enough, but I think it actually looks better that way after we played with it........

The hood will use the original latch, it pops up a few inches when released, then you pull the hood forward a bit, and it releases from the catches at the rear of the hood and then tilts up and rotates over the front of the grill.

As you can see, I moved the Olds emblem from the front of the hood (shaving that) to the center of this brace. I get to mess around with LED's at work so I'm planning on doing some cool RGB (color changing) LED lighting in subtle places around the interior and thought about back lighting the Olds logo when the hood is up. If I can't make it subtle, I'll not do it.

Joe

 

Very nice!

 

Replaced the lower quarter sheet metal (was surprised to find new panels) & they fit up pretty nice.

Sooner or later this thing has to get stripped and in primer......

 

So you are pretty much up to date. I've welded in a bunch of other small patches and other little tasks, but I'm focusing on the hood hinge right now. Hopefully I will actually bolt it up to see how it works this weekend.

Last shot until more work is done. Late last year with the W30 looking on.........

Thanks for looking!

Joe

 

Love it. Some time in my furture I have a build for one of these coming. I am torn between a traditional hot rod and a retro-rod with LS. I'll be watching every post you make.

 

Joe - Where did you find those patch panels? My sedan needs them as well.

Thanks -

 

By the way, I remember that at one time you were looking for one of these...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI...:B:WNA:US:1123

 

hey Joe

curiosity question what are you using to cut your sheet metal ?

 

Gordon, I'll try to dig that contact info up on the quarter patches. He sold them on E-bay. Think they were about $100.00 each.

Also, I won that radio delete plate....... First one I've seen for sale since I started this project.

RetroRanger, I use a 4" Dewalt angle grinder to cut and fit all of my patches. I'm getting to be pretty good at fitting the patches with little gap. Makes the welding easier too.

Joe

 

Thanks Joe

im just starting welding and patching (using my friends truck bed to get up to speed) I was using a 4.5" angle grinder w the thinner cutting wheel. I found that the gap was too wide when I layed (screwed) the patch panel over the the area to be cut and cut them both at once (any tips?)

yours look good tho, but are you cutting the patch to fit the hole ie 2 separate cuts on two separate peices ?

 

Incredible work ! I could use some welding lessons , by any chance do you live near WI

 

Retro,

I cut out the bad metal making sure I have solid metal to weld to. If I can get the patch piece in place from behind, I trace it out that way. If not, I get a patch piece made slightly larger then trace the patch, and cut the hole a second time. Then I use an 80 grit flap disc to fit it up perfectly. If you can make sure both sides of both pieces are clean metal for about an inch from the weld line.

oldsguybry, Thanks for the compliments. If I was close I'd be happy to help. I get a better feel for the welding each time I do it. Get the pieces fit tight and keep practicing

I'm also helping my Dad restore an old VW Bug so I've run about a mile of butt weld in the last year or so.

Joe

 

nice thanks

I will try that next time out (next weekend)

 

I REALLY like where this is going...

 

Got to spend a couple of hours on the 55 today. I welded the hood brace in, it came out pretty nice. I put 1/4" plate behind the bolt locations & tacked nuts to that. Should be pretty strong.

Joe

 

Bolted the hood to the hinge assembly and opened the hood. It works! Still have lots of work to do like re-inforce the front hinge mount & fab up the rear catch assembly. That's gonna take a bit of thinking (& fab work), but it looks like there's enough room for everything.

 

After losing a week to the flu, I was able to get a couple of hours in the garage this weekend. Beautiful day today, 77 degrees and sunny all day......

I worked on the front support for the hinge assembly. Had to modify the Buick bracket to clear the fender. I welded in a wedge shaped support piece onto the core support cross beam. I also relocated the forward bracket bolt.

I still need to fab up a "gusset" to give it more rigidity, but that should be pretty easy.

I also picked up a power trunk pull-down set-up from a 1998 Cadillac DeVille. I'm gonna try to use this in the rear center of the hood. It should fit in the recess for the old windshield wiper motor (I'm converting to the SPW electric wiper motor assembly).

My plan is that the hood will swing back to the fender, I'll have guides outboard keeping the hood about a 1/2" above the fender until it gets all the way back, then it "falls" straight down, onto the Caddy trunk latch and the motor pulls it down flush and onto the cowl seal.

That's the plan anyway......... Haven't messed with it yet as I need the front rotating assembly solid first to figure out where the hood would contact the fender when closing.

Joe

 

How has the car been going?

 

Have been traveling a bit for work and very busy in general. I've put a few hours in on the rear part of the front tilt hood assembly. I should get some more visible progress this weekend and I'll post some pictures.

I've just about got the motorized pull down lift geometry figured out. Gonna have to cut into the cowl to make it work so I'm trying to really think it through.

Joe

 

Update Update Update!!!!! LOL

 

Have the front tilt hood 90% complete. It was trickier than I thought, but it works great.

I installed the caddy trunk motor onto the firewall but inside under the dash (had to fit it in front of the under dash brake booster) so that if the motor ever craps out, I can pull the motor free and open the hood.

I fabbed up an adjustable catch and the bird mouth in the rear center of the hood slides onto it nicely.

Once I smooth the firewall all you will see is the slotted opening for the hood catch.

 

So hopefully the next few posts make sense and show how this thing works;

First pic is hood in open position.

Second pic shows how close the front lip is to the center grill bar which is still pushed back a couple inches (everyone that has seen it thinks it look better tan the stock position).

Third pic shows the hood rotated onto the tracks.

Fourth pic shows the track wheel arrangement at the rear corners. Wheels from Home Depot, they have bearings and are for sliding doors.

 

The hood is then slid straight back until the track wheels "fall" off the horizontal part of the track. A the same time the bird mouth bracket in the rear center of the hood engages the hoop on the motor.

The front of the hood is allowed to drop onto the front spring & catch. Once the front of the hood is pushed down into the catch, a switch is depressed retracting the motor and pulling the rear of the hood down onto the hood to cowl seal.

First two pics show the hood sitting on the motor hoop just as the front of the hood is being latched.

Third pic shows the hood after the motor has retracted.

I have this wired so that to open the hood, I will push a button on the dash, the motor will raise (the motor automatically shuts off when it reaches the full up position). Next, simply pop the front latch pull up to get the track wheels up onto the horizontal track, pull forward until it stops, go around the side of the car and rotate the hood froward onto the rubber stops.

Piece of cake!