BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)

[Rktpwrd]

The thinner denser jute will work just fine attenuating the high frequency road noise. That said, if it were mine I would double it up because ocd.

And nice job on the headliner btw! You’ve completed the easy step - installing it without fvcking it up is the real challenge.

Thank you, I’m happy with how it turned out. This actually isn’t my first go-round with headliners, last year I covered and installed the AstroRoof slider board part of it, and back in the day I R&R’d a black junkyard Grand Prix headliner into The Juggernaut. So I know what a pain they can sometimes be to install.

Thanks for the feedback on the jute insulation, that’s kinda where my head is at right now too. I have it, it was free, yes it takes a bit of time to pattern, but what the hell. It’s certainly not going to hurt anything to try. Plus I have the spray adhesive on the go right now too.

Nice job on both projects, Donovan, they look great. Put me down for doubling up the sound deadener, the less road noise in the cabin the better. Imho

Nice that you got to take your dad out in the Olds and hang around with him a while. my folks are in their early 70’s as well and I need to knuckle down and start getting something going with my 80’. I bought it from my dad back in 1986(?) I think.

Thanks for your input on the sound deadening as well Mike. The general consensus seems to be “double it up”, so that’s what I’m gonna do.

And don’t wait on your ‘80, our time with our parents grows shorter each day. I’m sure your folks would love to see you bring their old car back to life!

As far as the headliner...yours has reclining buckets, right? Recline them!! Not sure how flexible the ABS is, but the factory foam isn't THAT flexible when it's old, and I managed to get the headliner out and back in the 87 by taking out the passenger seat because it didn't have reclining seats and going out and in from the passenger side. It had way too many sagging bubbles in it and something needed to be done. Still a PITA because foam only flexes so far before it just breaks and folds.

Factory didn't have any issues since they went in through the windshield hole.

Makes sense, it didn’t really occur to me that the headliner would’ve gone in before the windshield.
Duh.

Yes, the buckets recline, it was the only way I was able to get the old headliner, and then subsequently the large AstroRoof assembly out. Very handy indeed. They’re also useful to support the headliner near the roof once it’s back in the car too.
I know exactly what you mean about the old foam headliner flexing only so much before it breaks, I’ll take and post up some pictures of the old headliner soon, it didn’t fair well coming out of the car.
😔

For myself it's always a battle between keeping things quiet and keeping heat out against weight savings
Donovan I don't think you have those issues so I vote double it up.
Excellent work and writeup per usual 👏

Thanks, and agreed Tony, rattles and road noise drive me crazy, but I’m also not willing to add a ton of weight to the car just for that sake. I’ve got quite a bit of DynaMat type sound deadening in the car already, I think these bits in the doors will help with that but possibly moreso add insulation “R” value to the interior.
Not that I really need it in a summertime cruiser, but whatever.

Nice job & exceeds what they did with the OE's. GM never folded over the edges like that which gives a better finished look. 👍

Thank you! It’s actually recommended to wrap the edges in the “destructions”, so that’s just what I did.

Nice work. You’ll probably be OK but if you didn’t know, the S in ABS is Styrene.

I didn’t know that actually, but I also didn’t see ABS on the list of incompatible materials on the can, so I went for it. And I can definitely confirm after completing the entire glueing process, it doesn’t adversely affect the plastic.

Great job as always. I have an abs headliner and want to add fabric to it. So thanks for showing me how to glue some s#:+ to some other s#:+.

My pleasure man. It was a bit out of my traditional comfort zone, but I’m always willing to learn a new skill. Makes me more versatile. I figured it was just material and glue, how hard can it be??

Hey D, if you can get the door open to the first stop you "should" be able to install the headliner in the garage. I did mine that way, with the factory foam, had to get the right angle but it went in with no damage.

Good to know Scott, thanks. It was over 3 years ago when the old headliner came out of the car, and I honestly don’t remember how far I was able to open the doors at the time.
This ABS piece is quite a bit more flexible and forgiving than the old foam originals, so it’s possible that I might be able to get it in there that way in the garage.

nice job getting your pop outta the house like that,sounds like you wore him down just enough and he ended up actually enjoying himself.
Good work on the liner,they can get away from you sometimes.

Appreciate it Chris, thanks.
As for my dad, he usually comes down once a week on Wednesdays to have a coffee and shoot the sh*t with me when the weather’s nice, but this time I asked him to come over a little earlier than usual. He was immediately suspicious and asked a ton of questions, and had already pretty much figured out why before he got here.
Lol
I think he initially went with just to humour me, but ended up having a really good time by proxy. It was pretty cool watching him reminisce over all the old cars.
😊

 

[Burning]

Again the awesome attention to detail and steps for us all! Taking notes for later on.

 

[Rktpwrd]

Ok guys, I’m due to do an update on the headliner install, but first I’d like to ask everybody’s opinion on something.

It’s been bothering me since I got the car painted and started driving it that it doesn’t have any badging on it that says what it actually is beyond being an Oldsmobile. It wasn’t much of a concern 30 years ago when these cars were still commonplace around every street corner and everyone knew what a Oldsmobile Cutlass was, but nowadays that’s not the case anymore. There’s several generations that don’t have a clue and may have never seen one before, not to mention the uneducated masses.

In fact I had one numbskull at a recent cruise-in ask me if it was an “SS”. I tried to politely inform him that no, the “SS” designation referred to the Monte Carlo SS package, a Chevrolet offering. This is an Oldsmobile Cutlass. He shot me this indignant look like “yeah, so what, they’re the same thing, Monte Carlo, Cutlass, whatever”. Again I tried to explain that yes, they were built on the same G body platform, but they were entirely different makes and models.
“So yeah, it’s an SS then” was his response.

Smack my damn head, I give up. Yeah whatever buddy, it’s an SS.

Anyways, I’d like to put some Cutlass badging somewhere on the car, but there’s a couple of issues with that. First, almost all of the Cutlass Calais’ I’ve been able to find pictures of are with vinyl roofs, part of the Calais “luxury” package I would imagine. I’ve tried placing the Cutlass emblems I have in the factory location on the sail panels behind the quarter windows, but they look horribly out of place without the vinyl roof. Second issue is, the “Calais” crests that went with the Cutlass emblems are no more. They were terribly faded and beyond restoring and ended up in the circular file when the vinyl was removed.
Stock, it would’ve looked like this:

So now, all I’m left with are the original “Cutlass” script emblems, and I’ll be dammed if I’m paying some exorbitant price for somebody’s used junk off of eBay to replace the Calais crests.

Tonight I repainted the rocket emblems that go on the front fenders behind the wheels, and was about to install them when I had a thought: What if I moved the rocket emblems over a bit and added the Cutlass sail panel ones beside them?

These are just mocked up in place with some masking tape, the flat black around the outside of the Cutlass script would have to be redone, but what do y’all think about the placement?

I know it’s not “factory correct” (I can hear 69HurstOlds gnashing his teeth from here 😅) but then again, several other parts of the car aren’t either. So what do y’all think, yay or nay? Go or no go? Personally I think I like it and don’t think it looks out of place, but that’s just me. At least it identifies what the car is in a fairly common area, and somewhat looks like something the factory could’ve done.

Looking to get some opinions on this, so let me know what y’all think!

D.

 

[old80cs]

It’s a compromise, but a nice compromise, I like the idea. With the omission of the wheel opening molding the badges look good together in that spot.

 

[64nailhead]

This might sound somewhat simple, but you ought to do what you want. Please don't base your decision on some zero at a cruise in.

Personally, I'd put on plenty.

Good luck 😀

 

[Injectedcutty]

I like the layout you have now with the rocket emblem and script. It's not overkill, would look stupid imo on the sail panels or anywhere else. Originally I would say what Jim did and not worry about others, but the placement just works. I approve sir!

 

[Pc3]

you asked. Definitely add a badge looks good. But two so close to one another looks a little congested

 

[Flyers9928]

It’s custom like most of your car but subtle enough that the uneducated would think it’s stock while the people who know about these would go hmmm that’s different. I like it, makes you wonder, kinda one of those is that stock things.

 

[Streetbu]

I like it Donovan. Go for it

 

[69hurstolds]

If I gnashed my teeth every time you did anything away from stock, I'd have no teeth left.

I actually think it looks good there. The only other option I could see is placing it just like that only on the sail panel, a la 1980 442 style. Only put both the rocket and Cutlass up there. POSSIBLY move it back onto the door instead of fender maybe. Other than that, that's about the limit of where I would potentially put them. But where you have it looks good, too.

It may take away from the smooth, clean look above the beltline, though.

👍 👍