This off season, I will be pulling my 330 (and possibly/probably the TH-350 trans as well) to do some minor work to it...replacing freeze/expansion plugs (I replaced one already that was slowly leaking), replacing any gaskets and/or seals, cleaning up the engine bay (rerouting wires, painting the firewall and inner fenders), repaint the engine, etc. This is something that I wanted to do last winter but we had just bought our "new to us" house so I had to wait until I had my shop built.

Here she is, ready for the compression test.

 

Here's a quick little video of her warming up prior to the compression test.

 

And a little longer video of warming her up on a 30 deg F day. (It was on the high idle for both videos)

 

Here's the results from the compression test

 

And here is what the spark plugs look like after about 2,800 miles on them. The car itself is at 128,428 miles.

 

That's a beautiful blue. Is it viper blue pearl?

 

Thank you! Honestly, I wish I knew what blue it was because it has been a pain in the a$$ to find touch up paint for it and one of the previous owners never documented what color they painted it. It is more on the darker blue spectrum, with some metallics and possibly some pearl too.

 

Russ, sounds great, runs great, looks great.

Compression numbers are excellent for low comp. Plugs look very good for 2800 miles of usage within a total of 128,500 miles, on the engine.

Here are high compression numbers for lower and higher mileage.

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...on-test-79166/

 

I happened to take some pics of my fuel filter yesterday and was reviewing them for a future post. And just realized your fuel filter appears to be backwards. Went back to this thread / your vid to confirm what I thought I saw.



And here is mine.

 

Thanks for the compliment and the info, Phil!

 

Hi Phil. I just double checked mine. It is correct. What I didn't show in the video is how I have the fuel line routed. It goes from the pump, over the alternator bracket, to the fuel filter, fuel pressure regulator (mounted on the inner fender), back over the alternator bracket again and then to the carb.

 

I haven't started on the project yet. I told my wife that I would do it after the new year. Today I replaced the 3 spark plug wire terminals that came off of when I did the compression test. And just to make sure they were done correctly, I "had" to fire her up and listen to the Magna-Flows...

 

Have you replaced the timing chain and gears yet? Last year my 330 killed itself when the timing slipped about 10 teeth. Just a heads up.

 

Yes sir, that's on my list. With the miles that are on my car, I figured that they were on "borrowed time". I have been slowly adding to my Google Document since I bought this car in Jan 2024.

 

Russ, thanks for pointing me to this thread…now remember seeing this thread. As I re-read the first post, you said you had trouble finding the correct paint to match what the previous owner used. If you look at my pic, our two colors look very similar. The shop who did the bodywork and paint said they found the original GM paint code for 1966 as that was the color of my first 66-442 back when I was younger. I have about a quart of that paint leftover. I could send the color code or a small sample if you thought it might help. Let me know.

 

Hey Tom, if you could send over the paint code, that would be great. I'm not 100% positive that my paint is the exact same as a 66 paint code because, besides the metallic in the paint, mine has a pearl in it as well. But if nothing else, it might get me going in the right direction. Thanks again!

 

Glad I put the word appears in there...

Nice work, I noticed it sat in a different location but couldn't make out the interesting rerouting. Neatens it up beautifully.

TOC and Fleming442 made great suggestions on color, I've been working on it since Fleming mentioned it. But very difficult to match, definitely close to viper pearl blue. But your color seems to have a touch more purple to it...

This is the closest to a match I have come across. Chevrolet Targa Blue Metallic | 979 / 927 / 4282 | 1972-1973 | OEM Bas

Here is a picture off of computer screen image, your car is on top. Its the door pic from the above website. That picture in particular seems to have similar lighting to your pic. Unfortunately the pic is not downloadable, this was the only way I could capture it.

The door is open, I'm sure that alters lighting slightly... Also the reflection of photographer is darkening the blue a bit.

 

Thanks Phil. It took a little while of staring at things to figure how to route it.

That blue you linked looks pretty close. I agree mine does seem to have a little purple (or red shade blue) in it and it seems to be a touch darker than the link but still that's pretty close. When I take in my part to get matched, I will have to tell them about that paint code. Thank you again.

 

In the interest of full disclosure, I only know the Viper color from Donovan's G body build up in Canadia.
BUILD THREAD - “The Juggernaut” | Page 259 | GBodyForum - 1978-1988 GM A/G-Body Community https://share.google/ubwjCDYRPaa0wXeyu

 

I was reviewing the Chassis Service Manual for my car and it shows that when pulling the engine, there are 3 (not 4) anchor points on the engine. Granted I'm nowhere near an expert but that seems odd, and possibly not safe, as I was planning on pulling the engine and trans together. Any thoughts / opinions / experience with lifting it at 3 points instead of 4? I'll have to take a closer look at my engine, maybe there is a 4th anchor point where the alternator bolts to the engine?

 

3? 4? I've only ever used 2- 1 on each head with a chain diagonal across the intake.

 

Yeah, that's right out of the manual. 1 in the front (driver's side) and 2 in the back. I was looking at using an engine load leveler for this project.

 

Russ, here’s a pic of the leftover paint from my body shop………looking at it, says it’s a Subaru color……hmmm!

 

Thanks, Tom. That doesn't surprise me because in a previous life, I used to work for a local paint store and I would color match paints for body shops. Sometimes having to look through DuPont books to find a color that a customer wanted that wasn't the same that was on their car/truck.
Earlier this year, I was helping to color match my car and the closest we got was a BMW blue.