My 79 Olds Calais Project

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finman04

Greasemonkey
Nov 27, 2011
105
1
18
Roseville Mi.
Hello Guys,

I'm new to the fourm and havent worked on cars in a long time. I have a 79 Calais that i found in Kentucky that i was really interested in. I had a 79 Supreme back in the 80's that i have really missed, so i started looking for another and found this one. I picked the car up for $2500, hope that it was work it. The motor is a 260 that ticks pretty bad, but still runs. The bodys not to bad but the undercarriage is really clean. There is some surface rust on the car from sitting so long in the sun but no rust, even around the rear bumper bolts where this is usually a problem. The interior needs new front and rear seats covers from the dryrot. The b-pillers and the rear of the bucket seats are just falling apart. After i towed the car back i didnt know which way i was going to go, small block or big block. After talking to some friends they said i should put a chevy motor in it, so much cheaper but i didnt want to do this to the olds so i decided to put a olds with the old and found a 69 455 F block with the original C heads and 400 transmission with the long shaft though for $500. The motor sat for over 21 yrs from what i was told, and was seized when i went to look at it, the owner didnt even know it. I was able to unsieze the motor by using half trans fluid and acidtone, which really did work great. Once i started to strip the motor down i thought it was a really bad decision until getting it cleaned up. The only thing that i have done to the car since then is put the rear spoiler on that i found off a 84 Firebird that fits great, used to have one on my supreme back in the 80's. Hope you like the pics.
 

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finman04

Greasemonkey
Nov 27, 2011
105
1
18
Roseville Mi.
Here is a couple more pics of the motor i found. Thanks for looking and hope you enjoy.
 

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Evan11

Royal Smart Person
Apr 17, 2009
1,259
10
38
Southern Indiana
hmm...I thought your car looked familiar. I probably seen it on craigslist, I'm pretty sure I did a while back. Was it on Louisville's?
 

Evan11

Royal Smart Person
Apr 17, 2009
1,259
10
38
Southern Indiana
It's a nice solid car. did they have big wheels on it? I noticed it was lifted some and I remembered that from when I seen it online..also, think it's cool you went with an Olds Engine!
 

finman04

Greasemonkey
Nov 27, 2011
105
1
18
Roseville Mi.
Yes it was Evan, I saw that car sitting on Craigslist for over 2 months and decided to call on it. When i spoke to the owner he didnt tell me some of the things that were wrong until i got down their. He thought he could raise the price more since i drove down there, he was wrong. I was ready to drive home without it then he had a change of heart. One of the reasons for getting the car was everthing was their. Plus i like the color.
 

Evan11

Royal Smart Person
Apr 17, 2009
1,259
10
38
Southern Indiana
finman04 said:
Yes it was Evan, I saw that car sitting on Craigslist for over 2 months and decided to call on it. When i spoke to the owner he didnt tell me some of the things that were wrong until i got down their. He thought he could raise the price more since i drove down there, he was wrong. I was ready to drive home without it then he had a change of heart. One of the reasons for getting the car was everthing was their. Plus i like the color.

Yep, ppl will do that if they know you're coming a long way. I like it too. I recently got me some parts out of a '78 the other day that was the exact color, but was wrecked bad.
 

finman04

Greasemonkey
Nov 27, 2011
105
1
18
Roseville Mi.
I was told by the owner that they were going to put 20's or 22's on the car. When i looked at the front end the springs look like bent banna's. Have to rebuild and put the stock springs back on the car. Just have to look up the difference from the small block to big block weight and see if theirs some difference.
 

Intragration

Master Mechanic
Feb 4, 2012
446
1
16
Chicago
That's a cool looking car, looks like a good one for a project. Needs some work, but it's not a basket case. The 455 is an excellent choice. :D You have options with the springs, the 5658s and 5606s are pretty good choices usually. I'm going with the 5658s, they have just a slightly lower ride height than the 5606s. Look around, you should be able to find pictures of various cars with different springs.
 

finman04

Greasemonkey
Nov 27, 2011
105
1
18
Roseville Mi.
Thanks Mike, I just want to make sure that i'll be able to put 15" rims on but have a good spring for launching also. The only problem that i'm still having is the 7.5 rear, been looking for the 8.5. Since i want to put a 15" 275 i want to go with a 410 gear since i dont plan i driving much on the highway.
 
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