1987 Olds Pro-touring project build - Now with paint

[FE3X CLONE]

Thanks.

Had to get some longer bolts which arrived today so I bolted the steering wheel down to see how it all looked together. You can tell there is a spacer there but it looks 100 times better than the solution Grant has...

 

[FE3X CLONE]

Dash is back in and hooked up the steering column today. Pulled it back out of the garage again to sit in a sun a little and snapped a few pics.

My friend has the bumper covers in their first coat of primer so hopefully I can get those bolted on before fall. Car still needs a lot of tuning. It's running really rich at the moment. There's also a ton of wiring left to do on the inside but I think the next project will be to trailer it in town and get the alignment done. You can tell from the front pic that I have some serious camber up front at the moment.





And a short video of it idling:

 

[1984 Big Block H/O]

Car's looking really good. Can't wait to see it some day up close!! 😀

 

[88hurstolds]

Did you wind up cutting off the lower flaps on each side of the bumper covers?

 

[FE3X CLONE]

No. They tuck in on the inside of the fiberglass piece. I did cut off the tab for the front license plate though.

 

[instro84]

nice !

 

[Doober]

Checkin' in... lookin' great as usual 😀 Do you already have shims up front for the arms? If you measure the distance to the best you can between the outside of the tires (on the front side and back side), you can get toe set fairly close enough, though driving it a few miles probably won't wear the tires too bad if it's relatively close already, toe is the #1 tire killer, caster/camber are usually more tracking/handling characteristics, and if they're off won't wear the tire enough to worry about. Mine were the opposite direction because I didn't have any shims at all.

 

[FE3X CLONE]

Well, big news. The Olds had her maiden voyage tonight!

Fixed my brake issues from a few weeks back and finished bleeding them today. Alignment is still way off but I tightened everything down just as it was and took it around the country block just to see how it would do.

I wanted a witness so I got my mom to ride shot gun. Her comment after I dropped her off was, "I'm not normally one that likes to wear a seat belt, but I want one in that car." :lol: :lol:

It still has a lot of tuning to do. Tends to pop a little at light throttle and after its been running for a while it wants to die at idle or after the throttle blades snapped closed. But the torque this sucker produces will make a grown man giggle. Leave it in 5th gear at 35-40mph, give it a little gas and it jumps sideways and just starts pulling.
1st gear with the 4.30 rear gears isn't much use other than for fun smoke shows I would imagine.

Also put the front and rear bumper covers on finally. Thanks to Blacksheep for getting these painted and taken care of.

 

[FE3X CLONE]

Checkin' in... lookin' great as usual 😀 Do you already have shims up front for the arms? If you measure the distance to the best you can between the outside of the tires (on the front side and back side), you can get toe set fairly close enough, though driving it a few miles probably won't wear the tires too bad if it's relatively close already, toe is the #1 tire killer, caster/camber are usually more tracking/handling characteristics, and if they're off won't wear the tire enough to worry about. Mine were the opposite direction because I didn't have any shims at all.

I don't have any shims at all at this point. I don't know that I will need any since I'm using the SPC adjustable upper control arms. Should just be a matter of turning the turn buckles in/out to get it set.

It actually seemed to do okay tonight on it's quick little voyage around the block. Didn't notice any pulling issues or anything like that. It does have a very quick on center feel which is likely due to amount of camber it has right now I would think.

 

[xitabl442]

Wow, that's looking great. I am looking forward to seeing it at a show or cruise in some time.