BUILD THREAD 1986 Oldsmobile 442 Build

[CBcutlass8487]

Looks sweet man! Wish mine looked this good lol 😀

From your pictures it sure does!

Haha, thanks man, appreciate it! Its getting there lol 🙂 my interior is the next portion that requires a good bit of attention lol 🙂 but I can wait to see the mods you are getting for your car, its gonna be awesome 🙂

 

[RunAwayNJ]

Well winter is almost here in NJ. Time to get the 442 ready for winter. Back at the end of September the last show we went too we noticed the Olds running hot and the antifreeze turning brown. Guess it's time to change out the radiator and flush everything else. My mechanic friend got me a new radiator and put it in, along with the new hoses, thermostat, and clamps. The radiator we took out was the original one from 1986 with about 175k on it - show me a radiator that will last that long today! We fabricated a new longer coolant reservoir hose as the existing one was not long enough to reach - the nipple for it was in a different location on this new radiator. Once that was all done it was time to fill it up with new coolant, and Lucas Supercool additive to keep the temps a little lower. Put on a new radiator cap direct from GM as well.



Took it for a test drive and I noticed that although it doesn't run 20 degrees cooler than it did as the bottle label said, it did run noticeably cooler. Took it down to get a fresh tank of gas and added the fuel stabilizer for the winter.



I also put on the door handle inserts I had made. They are black with gold 442 lettering. Looks pretty good on the car.



Now it's tucked away for winter in the garage. I'm sure I'll find something to do over the winter to keep me busy!

 

[Judge Mills]

I like those door handle inserts. That'd be a good Ebay side project, if you aren't already.

 

[RunAwayNJ]

I like those door handle inserts. That'd be a good Ebay side project, if you aren't already.

I wish I could make them - however I did have them made by a guy on E-bay. Here is a link to his page:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/442-Custom-...lds-Cutlass-/251704819629?hash=item3a9ac6bfad

He does them in different colors and for other cars too, I just liked the black/gold combo.

 

[RunAwayNJ]

Happy new year (almost)! My wife and I are very excited for what the new year brings - a climate controlled garage! We have a number of projects we just can't do while the car is in the makeshift garage we have now. We were going over the list earlier and although we won't get much done the next 2 months as we get ready to move (locally in NJ - 2 towns south) we are looking forward to working on the car once we get settled. Time to finally finish the blue LED's for the interior and engine bay, headers/exhaust, suspension upgrades, and then a year from now rebuild the 307. We'll finally have the space to do it. I still have new tires on the list as well.

But I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who has helped us on this forum, shared information, sold us parts, ect. Without your help we would not have gotten as far as we did in so little time. Thanks again everyone, and have a happy and healthy new year!

 

[RunAwayNJ]

Finally did our first project of the season - shocks! Got a good deal on front & rear KYB shocks off Amazon. The whole job took about 3 hours. These were the original shocks on the car and were completely done for. With 175k on the car it's what we expected. Bolts stuck on and had to be ground off and such. The difference is a much better ride, the car even sits a bit higher. The KYB's are nice, I really recommend them to anyone looking to install new ones in their car.

While we did this we started sizing up things for the motor swap which will take place this winter. I have a fresh 350 block sitting in my garage already, and we have 75% of what is needed to complete it. Along with that we'll be doing headers, and a new exhaust. As for the rest of the summer, we are going to do some patching and paint work in the trunk lid, and that's probably about all. This winter the magic will happen.

 

[RunAwayNJ]

Today I received back from GM Heritage a copy of the vehicle invoice for my car so my wife and I can start tracing the history for the book we are working on. What's cool is that it lists several options the car has, along with the receiving dealer. Along with my research, here is what we've learned of the car so far:

1. Yes it's a real 442 not a clone (although we knew that all along)
2. It was built the 1st week of May 1986 (5/6/86 to be exact) at the Pontiac Michigan plant.
3. It was delivered to Jenkins Motors on 9th & East St's Frederick Maryland, which was purchased years before in 1983 by Ideal Motors
4. The dealer cost was $16,322 new in 1986
5. The car lived out its life in Maryland until 2010 when it went to Delaware with QS442
6. I got it in 2012 and brought it to NJ

Soon we'll be planning a road trip to Maryland to get some pictures for the start of the journey. I've attached copies of the invoice GM heritage sent me, along with a VIN decoder from 1986, along with a historical photo of Ideal motors (Could not find any of Jenkins Motors).

Here is the contact information for GM Heritage in case you'd like to trace your vehicles history:

GM Media Archive
Vehicle Invoice/Build Record Collection
Managed by Allied Vaughn
11923 Brookfield Street
Livonia, Michigan 48150
E: [email protected]
P: (734) 261-5086
F: (734) 261-5216

Web: www.gmmediarchive.com

 

[RunAwayNJ]

Here is one other resource I found:

http://www.lov2xlr8.no/broch1.html

This is a listing of brochures for almost all car makes - there are many for G-Bodies. I found my Oldsmobile's quickly.

 

[RunAwayNJ]

Had a rare morning off today so I took some time to do 2 small projects. First was to swap out the front amber marker lights. The ones on the car were pretty faded and cracked. I had 2 good quality ones I got from Tobyp here a while back so I finally got around to installing them. The wiring was a little touchy as well so I fixed that too and all 4 marker lights work again. Big difference in color and shine with these new ones.

I also ordered new tail light emblems off Ebay. I can't justify spending $200+ for a set of tail lights when these, while not perfect, are far from terrible. All that they needed were the emblems. They were high quality stickers made to go over the existing and look pretty good.

 

[RunAwayNJ]

Wow - It's been a long time since I've done anything with the 442. It's been resting in the garage for the winter while my wife finishes up her final semester of nursing school which has occupied all of our time. Did a few small things over the past few weeks - fixed some leaks, cleaned it up, stuff like that. Got tires ordered and will get them on the car shortly. My shop recommended I stick with the Cooper Cobra's - not only are they much less costly, but they wear better. Also re-purposed this old insurance display plaque into a collage for the 442. Came out pretty good, just need to clean off some glue residue. Hopefully it warms up here in NJ soon and we can get the car out of the garage.