BUILD THREAD 81 Buick/Olds Turbo Wagon 02/15/2024 More Parts!

[liquidh8]

Jim,
Wow!! Those boots, or bellows are brand spanking new. You wonder where Scott finds this stuff...😎 I'm glad you guys were able to help each other out.

That '32 five window coupe is nice. Is that one of your dad's treasures? Man, I always had a thing for '32 coupes since I was a young boy at the tender age of 9yrs old starting to read Hot Rod Magazine, Rod & Custom, Car Craft, etc.

I know, they are great, I just have to get the rears to clean up like the fronts now.

The deuce is one of my dads treasures, he bought it way back in the 80's. I have helped with the restoration as much as I could growing up. The car has been done for over 20 years, and has 900 miles on it. The car is showing its age, but he don't drive it anymore and turned it over to me. So I have been going over some things that were never finished or need to be tweaked, I have already put 200 miles on it.

It's a very fun car.

 

[Longroof79]

Jim,
I'll bet it's a fun car to tool around in. I like that it's all there...and full fendered car. When he picked it up back in the '80's, they were still somewhat affordable. Not so much today, unless you have deep pockets and money is no object. Even the fiberglass replicars aren't cheap. I've seen them done nicely.
But, steel is the real deal..
It's a nice coupe. I like the vintage wire wheels. Any upgrades to the suspension ?...and what engine is in it?

 

[liquidh8]

Jack, you are right about that. The wheels are Wheel Vintiques with custom offsets to fit the car a bit better. The frame is from Total Cost Involved, the original 32 rails were long gone. The front suspension has a 4" drop I beam, 4 link, chevelle rotors and calipers. The rear is a 9" with 4 link and coil overs. Power brakes, vega steering box. I want to change the front axle and bring the car up some, PA roads suck. I also order a brand new Vega steering box from Speedway, the used box my dad used all those years ago has god a bad sloppy deal spot in it, and all the adjustments in the world is not helping it.

So, the wagon got some love this weekend. I picked up another set of wheels and more importantly the tires I want to run. The rears are 17x10.5", the fronts stay at 17x8 (though they are almost 9" between the bead). The tires for the rear are Nitto 555 315-35-17" They are 12" wide. The fronts have 245-45-17s, Nittos here also. They have some wicked camber wear though so they will get replaced when the car is done. All the rims will get repainted a semi black to match the trim and scoop stripes. The kid who had the wheels before painted them with rattle can black, poorly.

Here is a comparison of the 275-45-17s and the 315-35-17s



Here is the lip, which I love!



Here it is mounted on the car. The frame notch and rolled quarter lips give me room, not a ton, but they should be fine. The passenger side inner wheel well, towards the rear, may need some further massaging or modification. I plan on yanking the rear coils while the car is on stands to jack up the rear and find any potential rub areas. I wanted to do the tires before the car ever went to paint so I can finish whatever modifications I needed. I hate doing sh*t twice though🙁



I also order a rear sway bar, and front upper and lower control arms from Spohn. The rear bar is the pro-touring bar. I order it with the bushing saddles since mine were welded on already, and with the backbrace you can't use the u clamps. It is a nice piece, with beafy end links and brackets.





I went to mount the damn thing, and it looks like my saddles may be too close together, or not wide enough. I originally was modding a blazer/S-10 bar, and welded the saddles for that. I may have to yank the rear, and make new saddles so they are right at the bend of the bar. Man I hate doing sh*t twice (seems be a trend lately)



I don't know what effect this saddles location will have on the performance of the bar if I left it like that.

 

[liquidh8]

Since I love doing sh*t twice, I decided to upgrade the front control arms to units from Spohn. I was gonna run the stock arms I spend all sorts of time blasting, rust removing, painting, and rebuilding. But, after the car went together, I started to see where my downpipe would kiss the right upper arm, and then I got to thinking, I should just put the suspension I want on the now.

I got the upper control arms for the tall spindles, and got the lower with new pro-forged 1/2" taller lowers, since I didn't want to take out the ones in my current arms. I got the poly bushings all around. The pics on the website, and Chophead has some nice pics of these arms. I never took pictures of them before I installed them.

I used the 1/2" taller uppers I already had in my stock upper arms.

Here is the drivers side done. The front sway bar I have is a 34mm holy unit from and F-body. I just need to repaint it red to match the other crap.



Here is the passenger side.



Stock replacement control arm bushing heatshield from Kirban's. I had to massage this a bit for clearance, but even with the suspension loaded up, there is more room than with the stock arms.



Side view to show all the newly gained clearance.



I have to get a few more zerk fitting caps, repaint and mount the front sway bar, and grease everything, then the front suspension is together. After the car is in paint and the glass and interior and all go in I can finalize the ride height.

 

[Rktpwrd]

Looking good Jim!
That sure is a lot of work you've done in a very short period of time. Or maybe it's just been a while since your last update?
At any rate, I love these ProTouring RestoMod or whatever you want to call them builds. Yours especially, you've previously mentioned some of the cool "smaller" modifications that I've had rolling around in my head to do on mine eventually.
Glad to see progress and thanks for the pics! Keep up the good work.
So envious of those 315's over my 295's... Wonder if I could fit a set on my 18x10's...??

 

[ssn696]

Nice score on the used footwear. I dig the rims. I am going with the same front arm idea on my coupe. I have an older set of Hotchkis control arms for the B-body spindle, but I'm going with the Blazer setup, so I picked up the half-inch taller upper and lower ball joints to make up the difference. Buys me just a little more rake.

 

[liquidh8]

Looking good Jim!
That sure is a lot of work you've done in a very short period of time. Or maybe it's just been a while since your last update?
At any rate, I love these ProTouring RestoMod or whatever you want to call them builds. Yours especially, you've previously mentioned some of the cool "smaller" modifications that I've had rolling around in my head to do on mine eventually.
Glad to see progress and thanks for the pics! Keep up the good work.
So envious of those 315's over my 295's... Wonder if I could fit a set on my 18x10's...??

Thank you. I have been getting sidetracked a lot lately, but I check the forums often for builds like yours to keep me motivated! I think the term is pro-touring anymore. I do plan on whipping around the auto-x and jersey motorsports park. Try and hit a few events with it just to see what it can do. I bet you could run that size on the 18x10. That size tire, 315, just looks huge. I am waiting for some more updates on your thread!

Nice score on the used footwear. I dig the rims. I am going with the same front arm idea on my coupe. I have an older set of Hotchkis control arms for the B-body spindle, but I'm going with the Blazer setup, so I picked up the half-inch taller upper and lower ball joints to make up the difference. Buys me just a little more rake.

Thanks, I have been looking around for a while now and couldn't pass it up, they are like new with the little t*tties still on them and the same tread depth as a new tire. The rears anyhow. That tire is 210ish new. I am using the blazer spindles also, and running the 1/2" taller upper and lowers also.

 

[liquidh8]

Yay, I got a sticker. Haha, I plan on getting all replacement decals for under the hood.

 

[Rktpwrd]

Yay, I got a sticker. Haha, I plan on getting all replacement decals for under the hood.

View attachment 42980

That's really cool. I love it when it can be made to look like something the General might've done!
Once mines completed, I want to get a decal made up to go on the filler panel by the gas cap. But instead of saying "Use Unleaded Fuel Only", I want mine to say "Use Rocket Fuel Only".... Sometimes it's the tiniest of details that can be really fun.
😉
Oh, and more updates are in the very near future. Just having too damn much fun in the garage right now!

 

[liquidh8]

That's really cool. I love it when it can be made to look like something the General might've done!
Once mines completed, I want to get a decal made up to go on the filler panel by the gas cap. But instead of saying "Use Unleaded Fuel Only", I want mine to say "Use Rocket Fuel Only".... Sometimes it's the tiniest of details that can be really fun.
😉
Oh, and more updates are in the very near future. Just having too damn much fun in the garage right now!

That is what I have been going for, making it like it may have came from the factory. Most things may go un noticed, but that is the point in a way. Those tiny details...

Can't wait to see the updates!