BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)

[69hurstolds]

Coopers....no. Just no. When I bought my gray 85 from the PO, he had JUST put new Cooper Cobras on the car. Win for me as I saw it, although I'd never had them before. Lord those tires sucked. Seemed like the sidewalls were 1 ply. Some people may like them, but I was not impressed. BFGs are better than Coops all around. JMO.

 

[Texas82GP]

Anybody remember this car?

Went over to the neighbor’s garage this morning and pulled the cover off it. Removed all the strategically placed dryer sheets to keep the rodents out, then drug my air hose across the alley and filled up the flat left front tire. Jumped in, pumped the pedal four times, then cautiously hit the key. It caught on the 4th revolution and sprang to life!

After letting it warm up sufficiently, I pulled it out and checked and adjusted the pressures in the other 3 tires. Had to dust it off a little bit even though it was covered, but that ain’t too bad for sitting in cold storage for 8 months.

I’ll take it.

D Gilliham on Instagram

45 likes, 10 comments - rktpwrd5June 2, 2022 on

www.instagram.com

After emptying out the trunk and giving it a thorough visual inspection, I took it over to the local auto parts place and grabbed 6 qts of Lucas Hot Rod 10W 40 oil and an extra capacity Wix filter. Damn I forgot how nice it drives.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent doing the oil change, tweaking the carb a bit, and generally fussing around with it. Not much to do though, as it seems to be running extremely well.

View attachment 199784

Tomorrow I have a set of the thick fender support braces that I want to swap out, then I was thinking about getting the rear tires changed as well as I have a relatively long distance drive to a show I want to go to on Saturday. Don’t particularly need a flat out in the middle of the boonies.

Which brings me to a question for y’all, and a bit of a dilemma:

Being off work because of my knee this week, my company has taken my work truck in for a few repairs. I have a spare set of mint matching rear BFG tires identical to the ones that are already on the car, and normally I would pull the wheels off and just throw them and the replacement tires in the truck to take down to the tire shop.
But now having no truck, if I want the tires swapped it means that I’d have to bring the car and the tires down and trust some greasy tire monkey with the car to pull the rear wheels off and change them out.

What do you guys think? Should I trust them with this simple mundane task after all the hard work and effort I’ve put into restoring the car? I’m just nervous about anyone doing anything on the car because I know they won’t have the same respect for it as we all would. I’m just picturing impact guns on my chrome lug nuts and scarred up wheels with hammered on weights.
😖😖😖

Whadda y’all think??

D.

No way I'd take that car to the tire shop.

There just isn't much attention to detail out there. When I had the tires installed on the truck I had to adjust the tire pressures and had to break all the lugs loose and retorque them.

I trusted the local Discount Tire with the Roadmaster when I first got it. Big mistake. They had it teetering on the in floor lift and bent the lower section of one of the frame rails. It's too old. They don't know how to work on it, don't appreciate it for what it is a most of them lack common sense. It's sad. When we build the shop I'll be buying the machines so I can mount and balance my own tires.

 

[Clutch]

My biggest worry would be the center caps because I have a whole bunch of broken ones from tire guys.

 

[motorheadmike]

Anybody remember this car?

Went over to the neighbor’s garage this morning and pulled the cover off it. Removed all the strategically placed dryer sheets to keep the rodents out, then drug my air hose across the alley and filled up the flat left front tire. Jumped in, pumped the pedal four times, then cautiously hit the key. It caught on the 4th revolution and sprang to life!

After letting it warm up sufficiently, I pulled it out and checked and adjusted the pressures in the other 3 tires. Had to dust it off a little bit even though it was covered, but that ain’t too bad for sitting in cold storage for 8 months.

I’ll take it.

D Gilliham on Instagram

45 likes, 10 comments - rktpwrd5June 2, 2022 on

www.instagram.com

After emptying out the trunk and giving it a thorough visual inspection, I took it over to the local auto parts place and grabbed 6 qts of Lucas Hot Rod 10W 40 oil and an extra capacity Wix filter. Damn I forgot how nice it drives.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent doing the oil change, tweaking the carb a bit, and generally fussing around with it. Not much to do though, as it seems to be running extremely well.

View attachment 199784

Tomorrow I have a set of the thick fender support braces that I want to swap out, then I was thinking about getting the rear tires changed as well as I have a relatively long distance drive to a show I want to go to on Saturday. Don’t particularly need a flat out in the middle of the boonies.

Which brings me to a question for y’all, and a bit of a dilemma:

Being off work because of my knee this week, my company has taken my work truck in for a few repairs. I have a spare set of mint matching rear BFG tires identical to the ones that are already on the car, and normally I would pull the wheels off and just throw them and the replacement tires in the truck to take down to the tire shop.
But now having no truck, if I want the tires swapped it means that I’d have to bring the car and the tires down and trust some greasy tire monkey with the car to pull the rear wheels off and change them out.

What do you guys think? Should I trust them with this simple mundane task after all the hard work and effort I’ve put into restoring the car? I’m just nervous about anyone doing anything on the car because I know they won’t have the same respect for it as we all would. I’m just picturing impact guns on my chrome lug nuts and scarred up wheels with hammered on weights.
😖😖😖

Whadda y’all think??

D.

Don't you have a trustworthy speed shop or at least a tire/wheel place that does the expensive stuff? Usually a wheel refinishing shop gets the stuff re and re'd without damaging anything.

You can probably just grab Mike, a jack and some stands, and the preferred tools - and take them off the car in the parking lot.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Rktpwrd]

Well, everyone that was concerned can now rest easy.

After a little more thought and heeding your suggestions, I got the rear skins successfully changed out today without any damage.
The wife’s car needed her right rear tire on her daily looked at anyways because it kept leaking, so I used that as leverage.

“Honey, I’ll make you a deal: You know your tire that keeps leaking down? Let me use your car to get my tires changed over, and I’ll get it fixed for you while I’m there.”

Done deal, all the persuasion she needed.

So I put the car up on stands over at the neighbors, and pulled the wheels myself. Removed the chrome valve stem caps, center caps, and anything else that could go missing or get damaged, then pulled the replacement skins down from the storage rack. Had to use a fair amount of elbow grease, lacquer thinner and ScotchBrite to remove all the old rust and dried tire snot from the sealing surfaces, but they cleaned up nicely.

Loaded them and the wheels into her car and took them to the tire shop. I didn’t use the shop we usually use for work, one of the benefits of being a mobile service tech is that I always know of other options. I instead took everything to another shop I occasionally look after, and to my surprise they said they couldn’t do it. Booking next Wednesday, sorry.

Well shjt. Now what to do? Turns out, a different shop two doors down was more than happy to take my money. Once I explained what the wheels were off of and showed him the video of the car I took yesterday, he completely understood the need to be respectful and delicate with them.

So yeah, all fixed up now. Avoided the potential conflict with the work associated tire shop, didn’t have to trust a tire monkey to R&R the wheels, and still got tires on that I know I can trust on the highway tomorrow.

Nice to see tread on these rear wheels again!

Also, I got the new (to me) beefier fender support bars I got from O. D. Showtime restored and painted last night so I could install them today.

From wimpy…

…to beefy. MUCH better.

Old girl still looks pretty respectable under the hood.

So now, the wheels are torqued and the detailing supplies are loaded, as well as the portable camp chairs. Tank is topped off with premium dino juice, and that should be it. We’ll be heading out probably around 5:30 - 6:00 tomorrow morning to try and get a decent spot on Main Street, so that should be it.
Nothing to do now but hit the open road and enjoy the trip.

Thanks for everyone’s input. It’s appreciated as always guys.

D.

 

[Streetbu]

Glad it all worked out Donovan! Enjoy the show and the trip

 

[scoti]

So I put the car up on stands over at the neighbors, and pulled the wheels myself. Removed the chrome valve stem caps, center caps, and anything else that could go missing or get damaged, then pulled the replacement skins down from the storage rack. Had to use a fair amount of elbow grease, lacquer thinner and ScotchBrite to remove all the old rust and dried tire snot from the sealing surfaces, but they cleaned up nicely.

That never would have been done via a shop unless there was a true enthusiast doing the work.

 

[melloelky]

it's not easy finding some place that will treat your stuff like it was theirs.su*ks

 

[Rktpwrd]

That never would have been done via a shop unless there was a true enthusiast doing the work.

Yep. Hence all the problems with bead leaks when getting new tires installed. I’ve had my work truck in countless times to have the bead leaks “fixed” and they just keep coming back again. Granted, these modern factory alloy rims aren’t the greatest at holding the air in and not corroding, but still. A little preventative work ahead of time and some attention to detail would probably alleviate 99% of the problems.

 

[Texas82GP]

Have a safe trip. I hope the weather is nice and your car gets the attention it deserves.