BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)
- Thread starter Rktpwrd
- Start date
If you’re not planning on stripping off the anodizing, a thorough cleaning and scuffing with ScotchBrite should be sufficient.
If you’re planning on painting over raw aluminum an etching primer should definitely be used. Some etch primers are not compatible to paint directly over tho, so just watch for that.
Which “B” pillar trims are you referring to Garth? I thought yours was an ‘87 and didn’t have trim on the “B” pillars. Did you mean “A” pillar or do you have another car I don’t know about?
On Olds Cool, the cheap cheesy chrome plated “B” pillar plastic trims were held on with two 7mm screws underneath snap in inserts on the trims themselves. You can see the holes for them in this screenshot from when I tore the car down:
HTH,
D.
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No it does not pop off. It has phillips screws . The roof rail seal has to be removed. There's also a screw on very bottom as it rolls under into door jamb
I hit up my favourite car wash and VERY CAREFULLY gave it her first bath in over a year. I used to love that car wash off Macleod but i found that top gear was by the air port is so good! I've lived in yyc for about 5 years but recently moved to Red Deer. When I'm in the city again with my 81 Le Mans we should deftly do a timmies run.
Love the car and build threads.
Love the car and build threads.
PM time for the Olds girl (preventative maintenance).
With the QuadraJet idle issue now mostly sorted out (if you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, check out the thread I started “At My Wits End With This QuadraJet” - https://gbodyforum.com/threads/at-my-wits-end-with-this-quadrajet.69073/), I felt I could finally do the oil change. I’m not overly proud of the fact that I’ve been driving Olds Cool around on the original break-in oil from the cam and engine break in, but with the car running so rich on the primary circuit I had some concerns that it might be washing down the cylinders and contaminating the oil with fuel.
I wasn’t about to change the oil only to risk contaminating the expensive new stuff with an overly rich running carburetor. Besides, it only had maybe a couple hundred miles on it at best since the original fire-up two years ago anyways.
Figuring I was right on top of things, Saturday I went to the local speed shop and grabbed a case of Royal Purple 10w40 HPS synthetic oil. I had a few bucks to spare after an especially tough couple weeks at work, so as a mini treat to myself I also had the counter guy grab me a hi-torque mini starter.
Later that evening, I dropped part of the exhaust and removed the stock style starter and went to install the mini one only to find the counter guy gave me the wrong one.
😡
It turns out he gave me one for a 168 tooth ring gear when I probably need the 153 tooth one. The starter gear was over a finger’s width away from the ring gear!
So now I’m down until at least Monday night at the earliest providing I can find time during work tomorrow to get the starter exchanged.
Irked and frustrated already, I decided I’d at least dump the old oil and filter and get the new stuff in. In digging out the drain pan out of a cabinet I seldom use, I came across 6 qts of brand spanking new unopened Mobil 1 10w30 synthetic!
Wtf??
Turns out, planning ahead 2 years ago, I had already bought the oil for the oil change and then forgot all about it after running into the carb issues.
So by now I’m pissed. Just spent $75 on a case of oil I don’t even need! I decided to cut my losses and called it a night at that point.
Today with a clearer head and less irritated, I crawled back under the car and proceeded with the oil change. Thankfully everything tonight went much smoother. Got the old oil drained, the new Wix filter installed, and the old antifreeze drained, including the stuff in the overflow reservoir. I refilled the rad and the overflow as much as I could without running the engine, and tidied up the shop.
Since I have to exchange the starter for the correct one tomorrow anyways, I’m going to return the Royal Purple for credit and pick up some ZDDP additive to use with the Mobil 1. With the rest of the store credit, I’m going to look at picking up the Edelbrock main jets and secondary metering rods Mark and Christian recommended, and maybe if there’s enough left over, one of those digital MSD modules Turna has a thread on right now.
Hopefully tomorrow night I can get the car all put back together, the new oil and additive in it, and the cooling system burped. THEN, maybe finally I can get to fine tuning the carb a bit more with the new vacuum gauge kit and possibly even the new jets and rods.
That’s it for now, wish me luck!
D.
With the QuadraJet idle issue now mostly sorted out (if you’re not familiar with what I’m talking about, check out the thread I started “At My Wits End With This QuadraJet” - https://gbodyforum.com/threads/at-my-wits-end-with-this-quadrajet.69073/), I felt I could finally do the oil change. I’m not overly proud of the fact that I’ve been driving Olds Cool around on the original break-in oil from the cam and engine break in, but with the car running so rich on the primary circuit I had some concerns that it might be washing down the cylinders and contaminating the oil with fuel.
I wasn’t about to change the oil only to risk contaminating the expensive new stuff with an overly rich running carburetor. Besides, it only had maybe a couple hundred miles on it at best since the original fire-up two years ago anyways.
Figuring I was right on top of things, Saturday I went to the local speed shop and grabbed a case of Royal Purple 10w40 HPS synthetic oil. I had a few bucks to spare after an especially tough couple weeks at work, so as a mini treat to myself I also had the counter guy grab me a hi-torque mini starter.
Later that evening, I dropped part of the exhaust and removed the stock style starter and went to install the mini one only to find the counter guy gave me the wrong one.
😡
It turns out he gave me one for a 168 tooth ring gear when I probably need the 153 tooth one. The starter gear was over a finger’s width away from the ring gear!
So now I’m down until at least Monday night at the earliest providing I can find time during work tomorrow to get the starter exchanged.
Irked and frustrated already, I decided I’d at least dump the old oil and filter and get the new stuff in. In digging out the drain pan out of a cabinet I seldom use, I came across 6 qts of brand spanking new unopened Mobil 1 10w30 synthetic!
Wtf??
Turns out, planning ahead 2 years ago, I had already bought the oil for the oil change and then forgot all about it after running into the carb issues.
So by now I’m pissed. Just spent $75 on a case of oil I don’t even need! I decided to cut my losses and called it a night at that point.
Today with a clearer head and less irritated, I crawled back under the car and proceeded with the oil change. Thankfully everything tonight went much smoother. Got the old oil drained, the new Wix filter installed, and the old antifreeze drained, including the stuff in the overflow reservoir. I refilled the rad and the overflow as much as I could without running the engine, and tidied up the shop.
Since I have to exchange the starter for the correct one tomorrow anyways, I’m going to return the Royal Purple for credit and pick up some ZDDP additive to use with the Mobil 1. With the rest of the store credit, I’m going to look at picking up the Edelbrock main jets and secondary metering rods Mark and Christian recommended, and maybe if there’s enough left over, one of those digital MSD modules Turna has a thread on right now.
Hopefully tomorrow night I can get the car all put back together, the new oil and additive in it, and the cooling system burped. THEN, maybe finally I can get to fine tuning the carb a bit more with the new vacuum gauge kit and possibly even the new jets and rods.
That’s it for now, wish me luck!
D.
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