BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)

[Rktpwrd]

Quick update.

Installed the speedometer cable tonight, still not sure what was up with the old one, I only found 2 cracks in the outer sheathing on it. That shouldn’t have affected the performance, but regardless it wasn’t working. Pleased to report however, the new one works perfectly. Quiet, no bouncing, rock steady. Not sure I’d buy the same one over again tho, the 100” is about a foot to a foot and a half too long. And the gauge end of it has a plastic end grafted onto the insert for whatever reason. Not sure I trust that long term.
But whatever, this makes it official. ALL the gauges now work perfectly, absolutely no issues with any of them.

Also, I was finally able to fully evaluate the steering upgrade after all of the changes and adjustments with the same road test. We have a total winner here now as well. The steering wheel is perfectly centered, no pull or unpredictable behaviour. Just point it where you wanna go, and she’s happy to oblige. No signs of scuffing on the tires either, so I must’ve got the toe set right too.

Guys, I can’t convey enough how much of a pleasure it is to drive this car now. The power isn’t race car worthy, but she’s got more than enough jam to get up and haul the mail when called upon. The shifts are firm and immediate, the steering a pleasure to pilot. The suspension is firm but comfortable, it goes through moderate corners flat and swiftly. Wheel centered, all gauges reporting back accurately, all power accessories working as they should.

It truly is a beautiful thing.

I rewarded her for her cooperation tonight with a trip to the coin op for a bath and dry, then pulled her in the garage for a final wipe down with Mother’s Instant Detailer. Just HAD to snap a couple of completely unnecessary pictures in the garage because it was already dark out and threatening to thunderstorm.

I’m still not done with the list of things I want to do to it, but damn it feels good to be able to finally start to enjoy it. The list can wait a bit.

D.

 

[Northernregal]

When are you going to start sanding that car behind it?

 

[69hurstolds]

So how did that moon roof hold up to the coin wash?

And did you ever get that envelope in the mail? WTF?

 

[fleming442]

I'm beginning to think he's leaving the bumper fillers out to fvck with me.

 

[Rktpwrd]

When are you going to start sanding that car behind it?

All in good time.
I’m hoping to wrap up the last of the things still left to do on Olds Cool hopefully around the end of October, but the more time I spend driving it now, the less that gets done on it. By around the 3rd week of October we usually have our first snowfall so that’ll signify the official end of cruising in the car, and I’m hoping to get started on The Juggernaut right after that. But if I have to spend an additional month or two to wrap up Olds Cool first, then that’s what’ll happen.

So how did that moon roof hold up to the coin wash?

And did you ever get that envelope in the mail? WTF?

No issues with the AstroRoof, no leaks from it that I was able to tell. But it does have the redundant drain pan below the seal too, so even if it did leak past the seal I wouldn’t be able to tell.

And no, still nothing in the mail from you. I check for it every day and get annoyed every time there’s nothing. It’s taking an exceptionally long time, unusual even for the postal service.
Are you sure you actually mailed it???
😉

I'm beginning to think he's leaving the bumper fillers out to fvck with me.

Not intentionally, no, but I’m ok if it is given all the flak you’ve given me in recent months!
😅
Besides, that’s just added wind resistance right??
😉

There’s definitely been a certain amount of procrastination on them, no question. The material is a PITA to work with and the front filler has to be two toned as well, adding to the workload. I’ve gotta pick up more paint filters first before I can get going on them, I just gotta light a fire under my arse first. In addition, I have plans to put the brushed finish on the better condition set of bumpers I picked up recently, and had planned to install them and the refinished fillers at the same time. It all takes time though unfortunately, and I only have so much I can dedicate to it outside of work.

 

[melloelky]

good for you brother getting out there and reeping the fruits of your labor,what it's all about..

 

[Rktpwrd]

good for you brother getting out there and reeping the fruits of your labor,what it's all about..

Thanks Chris!

 

[LioFR]

like always, you’re work is amazing !!! Here in France,i’ve exactly the same calais than your’s but with the full Black interior !!!continue to work like this,you’re an example for us

 

[Rktpwrd]

What’s up gents?
State of the G body/proof of life update.

Haven’t really been doing much of anything on the car other than put some miles on it lately, but I’ve also had the occasional hankering to do a little puttering around on some small projects for it that won’t entail a major moon launch undertaking. The days are getting shorter, and the nights much longer already, so I’m starting to get that ole “get back out in the shop” twitch.

So with that being said, I decided to have a look at making some new door insulation panels for the car, something that’s been planned for some time now. A couple years back, I got a giant roll of jute padding insulation given to me by a friend that was just gonna throw it out, it seemed just like the stuff GM used and I knew mine were a little worse for wear, so I gladly took it off his hands for him.

Last week I went down into the basement where I had it stored, and hacked off a big piece to play with and brought it out to the Skunkworks. One piece long enough for the panels was wide enough to get 2 out of width-wise:

So, I measured, marked and cut it in half lengthwise.

Next was to lay the better of the two original panels (from the passenger side) over the new stuff and start tracing it out:

As you can see in this next pic, the new stuff is about half the thickness of the originals, but it also seems a lot more dense. So I’m currently undecided if one thinner piece will suffice, or if I should make 2 per side, and glue them together to get to the same thickness as the originals.

All the funky shapes traced out and ready to cut:

This stuff can be kind of hard to mark and then actually FIND your marks afterwards, so these tiny little holes for the retaining clips I had to highlight with arrows so they wouldn’t get missed. These clips are what actually hang it on the inside of the door.

First one almost done...

Gasket hole punch was just the ticket for making the retaining clip holes!

First one done now, used this as the template for the second one:

Lather, rinse and repeat, two made now, but like I said, I’m undecided if I should glue these two together to make one, or if they’ll be adequate on their own.

Thoughts on this anyone??

Along the lines of interior work and upholstery, I decided to take advantage of the additional day off this long weekend, and have a look at tackling the headliner. I’ve had the (very expensive) ABS headliner board tucked safely away in the basement for a couple of months now, and the material to cover it with for just over a year. Time to marry the two.

I pulled the car out into the alley to give me some room to work, and set up an old piece of chipboard on some saw horses to make a temporary work table that I’d have 360 degree access to. Once that was done, I cut the plastic bag it was shipped in apart to cover the chipboard and keep everything clean. Then laid the board and the material on it:

Before starting, I took Fleming442’s advice and checked the spray adhesive’s compatibility with the ABS plastic. The adhesive doesn’t play well with polystyrene, polypropylene, and a couple others, but absolutely no issue with ABS. The glue I’m using is 3M’s Super Trim Adhesive, made especially for bonding heavy weight materials like headliners:

Pretty simple stuff at first, make sure your material is evenly centered on the board with generous overlap around all the edges. My particular roll of material had some ugly wrinkles in the middle of it due to being poorly wrapped on the roll, but I was lucky enough to be able to position them in the middle of the AstroRoof opening. Once the material is positioned where you want it, fold half of it over and work from the middle out. Spray both the board and the material, but be sure to give it a minute or two to tack up before mating the two.

Here I’ve already glued the back half on, and am set to start on the front half:

Both halves now done, the trickiest part was covering the switch hump without any wrinkles. This particular material is very stretchy and forgiving, so it really wasn’t that bad. Just go slow and steady, never let the material touch the glue before you’re ready, and always work from inside to out.

That was the easy part. The more PITA is once it gets flipped over. I began by trimming all the edges down to 6” of extra material, but soon realized that even this was too much.

Completely unnecessary. So I took an additional 3” off of that all around, and that seemed a lot better. The only areas I had to make it even less was along the sides of the AstroRoof opening, it had to be 2” to leave enough room for both sides of the edges to attach to.

Unfortunately by now the temperature outside had dropped like a stone and it started raining, so I had to move the whole operation to the hood of The Juggernaut so I could pull Olds Cool back in. It was the only other wide flat area that I could use with Olds Cool back in the garage.

Anyways, next I addressed the perimeter first...

...then cut out the AstroRoof opening and started attaching the edges here too.

Then I finished up the opening and cut out the dome light hole. And voilà! A covered headliner.

Now I’m no seamstress, but I figured I could probably glue some sh*t to some other sh*t, so this wasn’t that hard. Just set aside a couple hours if you’re gonna attempt this yourself.

I may need to be able to open both of the car doors to properly install this, and with rain all day in the forecast today, that probably won’t happen. Or maybe it will. I’ll see how feasible it is to try and manipulate it in through one door without wrecking anything. If I can get it in, then I’m away to the races. Just a simple matter of reinstalling all the interior trim and panels.

One other thing, last week I talked the old man into going for a ride in his kid’s “hawt rod”. I took him down to a local mid-week cruise night and we wandered around checking out all the rides.
Even got him to stand still for a picture!

He celebrated his 71st birthday the following day, and I’m so grateful to still have him in my life. Because family.
It must’ve been a success, because HE suggested we go again next week!

Anyways, that’s all I’ve got for now guys, hope y’all are enjoying your Labor Day long weekend and staying safe!

Cheers, D.

 

[O. D. Showtime]

Nice progress Donovan!

I've always been partial to the thicker jute pads on the doors...had a nice pair here for one of the projects but they never got used.