BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)

[liquidh8]

I love those clean and strip wheels, I went through a ton on the wagon build. And I can certainly attest to the losing of skin [emoji44]

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

 

[Longroof79]

D,
I've used a generic version of the clean and strip wheel. It didn't work that badly, but they wore out quickly. I guess you get what you pay for.
Getting into the window channels is an ideal purpose for that tool.
Keep up the good work, my friend.

 

[1evilregal]

Thanks Darin.
Yeah, the last patch turned out pretty well all things considered. Especially when you consider what I had left to work with. It's been a lot of work already but I feel it's going to be worth it in the long run.

When are you considering repairing The Chief? Do you have any plans in place already with how you're going to go about it? If I may offer my advice, try and find rust free donor sections off of another car. It'll greatly cut down on the fabrication time, and be much easier in the long run.

Good luck!

Donovan,
Grand Prix donors are as rare as an honest politician around here, so just having to try with what I have to work with... good thing I'm pretty decent at redneck engineering!

I actually already started on some of the repair, just a quick pic of where the rust was at on the main part of the roof... have already started welding in new metal, but had some warping due to impatience and experience, so had to make a couple cuts again and start over in a couple spots... will be going back out tomorrow to do some more work on it (car is 25 miles away)...

 

[Wraith]

I read this thread and decide I am lazy. LOL The fact you are doing the work instead of throwing the car away like the vast majority of people would is awesome although it inspires me to buy more G body's and save them much to my wife's chagrin.

 

[Rktpwrd]

Thanks for all the great comments and likes guys. Your support is unparalleled, and I really appreciate it. It helps me push through the rough patches and setbacks.

D,
I've used a generic version of the clean and strip wheel. It didn't work that badly, but they wore out quickly. I guess you get what you pay for.
Getting into the window channels is an ideal purpose for that tool.
Keep up the good work, my friend.

Thanks very much Jack, will do sir!

Yeah, I've used the generic versions in an effort to try and keep materials costs down in the past too, but as you said, you usually get what you pay for.
They do seem to wear faster, and that's the downside. You're not really saving any $$$ if you're buying two generic ones to every one good quality one.
I'm to the point now, I consider myself "pretty serious" about the work I do in the garage, and buy my materials accordingly. I have no issues whatsoever about buying better quality, doesn't matter if it's tools, materials, or whatever.
I've seldom been disappointed in paying for better stuff.

Donovan,
Grand Prix donors are as rare as an honest politician around here, so just having to try with what I have to work with... good thing I'm pretty decent at redneck engineering!

I actually already started on some of the repair, just a quick pic of where the rust was at on the main part of the roof... have already started welding in new metal, but had some warping due to impatience and experience, so had to make a couple cuts again and start over in a couple spots... will be going back out tomorrow to do some more work on it (car is 25 miles away)...

I can appreciate the situation you're in Darin. Grand Prix's are rare as hens teeth around these parts too. I'm really glad to see the lack of available donors isn't holding you back tho. Good on ya!

Sorry to hear about your slight setback with the warping issues, but that's the beauty of steel: if you screw up or things aren't quite right, at least you can cut it out and start over again!

Post up pics of your progress as you go, we're all here to support you, if only in virtual form. I'm sure the others would like to see how you're making out too.
Good luck!

I read this thread and decide I am lazy. LOL The fact you are doing the work instead of throwing the car away like the vast majority of people would is awesome although it inspires me to buy more G body's and save them much to my wife's chagrin.

Wraith, I've been following your thread and progress, and I can honestly say you're anything but lazy. You continually impress me with your work, you're absolutely killing it man!
Keep up the fantastic work you're doing and keep posting on the progress. I'll be following along with you every step of the way.

We can't possibly save every one we come across, we can only do what we can do. It's the fact that we ARE doing it that really counts tho, right?
That's satisfaction enough for me...

D.

 

[ed1948]

You have no idea how I despise the overuse of the words 'Amazing' or "Awesome'...but...I...can't ...resist....

 

[Canon_Mutant]

much to my wife's chagrin.

Wife's chagrin? Is that when she doesn't talk to you for like a month?
Damn it . . . I thought it was just a phase of life thing but now I'm worried it could actually be me [??]!

 

[Rktpwrd]

Well our long weekend has now come to a close, just in time for my Southern friends to start their celebrations. Happy Fourth of July everyone!

My weekend was productive, not as much so on the car, but just overall.
After spotting a thread titled "Cutlass in Calgary" Saturday night, my curiosity was peaked as the car being referred to appeared to be a 1980 442!
After a near sleepless night I was in the wrecking yard parking lot the next morning at ten minutes to opening, and was the first one in the door.

Sure enough the car actually was a real gen-u-wine 1980 442, not a clone!

I immediately inquired about purchasing the entire car outright, and was answered with flatout denial. The only way I could purchase the car was if I bought the whole thing in parts only.
Ridiculous.

Cursing and swearing under my breath, I headed back to the car and began to pull what I needed. A few minutes in, another guy appeared and notified me that he was going to continue pulling the exhaust he had started yesterday. No problem, I had no interest in the exhaust.

A casual conversation was started up, and in doing so, I found he had four G bodies, including an '84 Hurst Olds! We carried on about our work, and after I had unbolted everything I could, I began sizing up the passenger's side sail panel. It was rust free, and would provide the ideal patch to repair the rust damage on Olds Cool.

This gentleman noticed me doing so, and mentioned that he had a cordless sawzall that I could borrow. I have a sawzall too, but mine is NOT cordless. Agreeing to his offer, I come to find out it's not in his truck, but actually at his house.
Believe it or not, he went home, grabbed the saw, stopped at Home Depot and bought metal cutting blades, and came all the way back. Just for me!!! I couldn't believe it.

People and random acts of kindness like that restore my faith in humanity!

After cutting out what I needed, we exchanged numbers, and I tried to convince him to join the forum. I paid for his admission, bought him a bottle of water (it was hotter than blazes), but he wouldn't accept anything further. After agreeing to contact each other and possibly hook him up with some parts from me in trade for using his saw, we went our individual ways.

Patrick, if you're reading this, THANK YOU again. You're a saviour.

This is the haul from the junkyard:

Cutlass radiator top plate:

The crown jewel.
The sail panel that will save me so much work replacing the rust on the passenger's side:

I also grabbed the carb off it. Should flow good CFM being already sized for a 350, and it's pre-CCC like I need. The center fuel inlet isn't an issue, I'll bend up a new line from my fuel pump if need be.

Today I did a much needed cleanup and organization of my shop. I contacted my friend that tinted the windows, he swung by and grabbed all three back windows to clean up and retint. This needs to be done before the glass guys return to install the new windshield and the back window in a couple weeks.

After the shop was tidied a bit, I dove into the back window channel again. It took a long time and was very meticulous work, but I got the last of the seam sealer, paint, urethane etc stripped from all the nooks and crannies.

Once that was done, I turned my attention to the rusty spots. Wherever I could I ground out the rust pits down to clean bare metal, hammer and dollied the pinch weld straight, and flushed up the edges.

Even with the rust holes still present, it looks way better:

Continued >>>

 

[Rktpwrd]

Another angle of the window channel all cleaned up ready to go. I hadn't started any of the welding yet, the trim hole in the foreground still needed welding up. It is now gone.

Time to cut out the rot. This is the smaller of the two holes that need patches, only the underside needs replacing on this one:

This is the bigger one. This one needs the entire section replaced:

After marking them out as shown above, I cut the offending areas out:

Using what was left of the old piece, I made a new patch out of some fresh metal:

Already test fit and clamped in place, ready for some welding action after work tomorrow!
🙂

I'm well on my way to completing this area already, a couple more hours and one more patch, I should be able to call it done on the metal work back here.

Thanks for checking back everyone.
Til tomorrow, drive angry my friends!

D.

 

[malibujustin]

Great find at the junkyard! Wish I could find them like that around here. Or any g body at the pic and pull for that matter. The sail panel looks like it will be a real time saver for you. Great story on the nice guy you met. There are a few good people left in this crazy old world. Keep up the great work your doing.