Seriously your Cutlass went from being the ugliest one out there to one of the best. This restoration is something many dream of.
81 Oldsmopile ( G-body rust repair )
- Thread starter EME_Mack
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Haha that tapioca and brown paint and all the rust really was hideous. I dont know what it was that made me say yes! I want to own that car and spend 1000s of hours wrenching on it.
Lol, I just shot over to page one of your build, I don't really know wtf you were thinking either ?! I figure you must be a guy who likes a challenge or dares or a combo of the two. Did you lose a bet?
I applaud your stickwithitness, great work
I applaud your stickwithitness, great work
Made some big progress these last couple of weeks. I bent up the fuel line in 3/8 and vent line in 5/16. Also remade the rear brake line, I didn't like the way it would have ran beside the driver rear control arm. So I made a new one that follows the factory routing.
After the lines were made and all the holes drilled for the line clamps I top coated the por15 with some satin black tremclad (Canadian rustoleum) thined with xylene. I think it looks great and it appears more oem.
After the tremclad dried I started assembling all the parts I had in the basement and garage. I have the rear completed minus the rear sway bar, I also made a shock brace when I was boxing the rear control arms. Not sure if it will make a difference but it looks cool, painted it charcoal hammered paint.
I got some S10 rotors for the front, they are the same as G rotors but use the larger M12 lug studs. Figured they would be cheaper and more available just had to knock the abs ring off the back of the hub. I was hoping to install moog 5658 springs up front but they need to be ordered and were weeks to be delivered so I grabbed some 5660s I had bought for the Camaro which are short so they might be easy to install right. Nope not with a completely bare frame with no weight up front. So I cut 4 coils of some random springs I had so I could install the front suspension without a spring compressor, cut them too 11" and they fell right in. Front is missing the shocks and front sway bar aswell. I painted the control arms and spindles with POR and the calipers with some clear brake paint that will probably flake off. also painted the centre and fins of the rotors and moog steering stuff with VHT Cassis paint.
I painted the ugly dark green fuel lines with some copper metallic paint I had found to kinda sorta match the Nicopp brake lines. Topped it off with some stolen cushion clamps from work, and the frame is now 90% done just need to get some eastwood internal frame coating.
I set the body down on the frame spaced out with some 4x4's until I get some new body mounts and it gives a little more room to work on the fire wall before its painted.
This is how its gonna sit for a wile. Ill be in Ontario for about 2 months for work. Cant wait to get back to it tho, but this will give me some time to get some more parts. Im hoping to find some better doors, we will see when I get back to it.
After the lines were made and all the holes drilled for the line clamps I top coated the por15 with some satin black tremclad (Canadian rustoleum) thined with xylene. I think it looks great and it appears more oem.
After the tremclad dried I started assembling all the parts I had in the basement and garage. I have the rear completed minus the rear sway bar, I also made a shock brace when I was boxing the rear control arms. Not sure if it will make a difference but it looks cool, painted it charcoal hammered paint.
I got some S10 rotors for the front, they are the same as G rotors but use the larger M12 lug studs. Figured they would be cheaper and more available just had to knock the abs ring off the back of the hub. I was hoping to install moog 5658 springs up front but they need to be ordered and were weeks to be delivered so I grabbed some 5660s I had bought for the Camaro which are short so they might be easy to install right. Nope not with a completely bare frame with no weight up front. So I cut 4 coils of some random springs I had so I could install the front suspension without a spring compressor, cut them too 11" and they fell right in. Front is missing the shocks and front sway bar aswell. I painted the control arms and spindles with POR and the calipers with some clear brake paint that will probably flake off. also painted the centre and fins of the rotors and moog steering stuff with VHT Cassis paint.
I painted the ugly dark green fuel lines with some copper metallic paint I had found to kinda sorta match the Nicopp brake lines. Topped it off with some stolen cushion clamps from work, and the frame is now 90% done just need to get some eastwood internal frame coating.
I set the body down on the frame spaced out with some 4x4's until I get some new body mounts and it gives a little more room to work on the fire wall before its painted.
This is how its gonna sit for a wile. Ill be in Ontario for about 2 months for work. Cant wait to get back to it tho, but this will give me some time to get some more parts. Im hoping to find some better doors, we will see when I get back to it.
Fantastic progress! It will be hard waiting for several months for another update. 
It's hard to believe you don't plan to keep this car, or have you changed your mind?
It's hard to believe you don't plan to keep this car, or have you changed your mind?
I'm not gonna lie the more I make progress and work on it, the more I wanna drive it. Im sure I will sell it eventually but only to fund another project and that will be along way don the road. I may have changed my mind about selling it
Back at it, I've been itching to sink my claws back into this thing since I left. Wile I was way I managed to pick up some parts In Ontario tho. Scored some new door seals on kijiji as well as a cheep regal door that I might try and save. Found some other odds and ends and a near mint header emblem for 10 bucks, still has all the red in it. Also been working on the daily hooptie, like lowering the front end 4" (soon to lower the rear 4" aswell) and installing a unity spotlight in the door, you know typical winterizing stuff. Any way here some stuff I managed to accomplish on the cutty
Said hooptie turned snowplow
I finally removed the front windshield. I knew it had some rust in the corner but was kinda putting it off.
Melted out the factory lead, and yes I wore a mask.
Cut, Weld and grind.
I should have cut a piece of cardboard to the shape of the radius aswell, now ill have to dig out the trim when I fill in the spot to so it fallows the curve of the glass. Im gonna look into alternatives to lead for the seam, If any of you guys have used a product for this please share. I would like to avoid welding it up since it might crack and don think filler would work either.
Said hooptie turned snowplow
I finally removed the front windshield. I knew it had some rust in the corner but was kinda putting it off.
Melted out the factory lead, and yes I wore a mask.
Cut, Weld and grind.
I should have cut a piece of cardboard to the shape of the radius aswell, now ill have to dig out the trim when I fill in the spot to so it fallows the curve of the glass. Im gonna look into alternatives to lead for the seam, If any of you guys have used a product for this please share. I would like to avoid welding it up since it might crack and don think filler would work either.
Going to be following you closely on this one Mack.
Once I'm done with all the work on my hood, I have plans to revisit this area on mine as well.
When I restored my car the first time, I did the same as you, replacing the rusted sheetmetal in the upper corners. Also like you, I didn't template the shape beforehand. Hence my now needing to revisit it because the shape isn't right.
You're on the right track, dig out all your windshield trim and dry fit it to the car with no glass. That'll tell you exactly what the proper shape should be.
I plan on removing all the lead as well, but haven't decided on the best way to replace/refinish it yet. At this point I'm thinking of welding it up solid, but I'm with you, scared of it cracking in the future.
Re-leading it may be the only option, but I refuse to lay out a bunch of $$$ for the specialty leading tools just to use them in 4 places.
Hopefully between you and I, we can hit upon a great alternative.
Donovan
Once I'm done with all the work on my hood, I have plans to revisit this area on mine as well.
When I restored my car the first time, I did the same as you, replacing the rusted sheetmetal in the upper corners. Also like you, I didn't template the shape beforehand. Hence my now needing to revisit it because the shape isn't right.
You're on the right track, dig out all your windshield trim and dry fit it to the car with no glass. That'll tell you exactly what the proper shape should be.
I plan on removing all the lead as well, but haven't decided on the best way to replace/refinish it yet. At this point I'm thinking of welding it up solid, but I'm with you, scared of it cracking in the future.
Re-leading it may be the only option, but I refuse to lay out a bunch of $$$ for the specialty leading tools just to use them in 4 places.
Hopefully between you and I, we can hit upon a great alternative.
Donovan
Really pleased to see an update. I really enjoy following along with your project. You do awesome work. For the filler, check out "All-Metal". It was recommended to us when we did the quarters on my brother's 78 Z28. We used it to fill the seam between the sail panel and the roof. It is supposed to be the right substitute for the lead. It's a little harder to work than regular filler but we had a good experience with it. You just fill the seam with it to get the repair to 90-95% then do final body work over it with traditional filler.
http://uschem.com/index.cfm?page=productDetail&id=54
http://uschem.com/index.cfm?page=productDetail&id=54
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