BUILD THREAD Project Olds Cool (Recognition!!)

Rktpwrd

Builder of Cool Shjt
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Feb 2, 2015
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What great work! The patience is unbelievable! One question... From the above, it sounds as if the parts are stainless, but I thought they were aluminum. Would you be doing it the same way if it was aluminum?

Thank you!
Slight miscommunication, the stainless parts I referred to were my custom made fuel, air, brake lines and stainless steel fasteners on my other G body. The MAJORITY of the trim on our cars is indeed clear anodized aluminum. The only exceptions I can think of off the top of my head is the wiper cowl piece and the lower rocker panel trim. Those pieces are stainless to the best of my knowledge.

Regardless, the procedure should work on both types of materials. I plan on installing only the rocker panel trim below my doors on this car, and both of them are a little beat up. So I’ll also be attempting the same repair procedure on those when the time comes.

We’ll see how it works out.
 
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Kiko

Master Mechanic
Apr 14, 2009
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Ottawa, Canada
Thanks! That's what I thought. You're correct in that the windshield wiper cowl piece is indeed stainless. I sanded and polished mine -- very time consuming. However, I think that the lower rocker panels are aluminum (clear anodized). The reason for my assumption is that (at least on my 83 GP) I started polishing one of these panels when I was rebuilding my car and it was a pain in the butt. I first had to strip the anodization layer and only then was able to polish. Some job! I'm pretty sure that those panels were aluminum -- at least that's how they felt to me. I'm glad I decided to remove them because it would have been a nightmare to polish them all.
 
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TURNA

Rocket Powered Basset Hound
Jul 24, 2009
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Come on slacker

CHOP CHOP

Lets see some progress!!!!!!
 
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Rktpwrd

Builder of Cool Shjt
Supporting Member
Feb 2, 2015
4,151
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Come on slacker

CHOP CHOP

Lets see some progress!!!!!!

Yeah, slacker I guess, but certainly not by choice. Life has been doing a wonderful job of keeping me occupied, and unfortunately very little of it has had anything to do with the cars.

Now that being said, I’ve tried to squeeze in whatever time I can on it, but it’s been mostly an hour or two here, 20 minutes there kinda thing. I have some progress and pics for you guys, just nothing terribly interesting or exciting. It’s all continuing to be on the trim pieces.

Further to the conversation Kiko and I had previously, my curiosity got the better of me and I decided the lower rocker panel trim pieces we were discussing bore further investigation. I can’t speak for the GP’s, but unlike the ‘81-‘88 Cutlasses, the ‘78-‘80 Cutlass models have a lower trim piece on each side BELOW the wider upper door and fender pieces.

Kiko seemed to think that his were clear anodized aluminum on his GP, so I chucked one of my rocker trims up in the vise and proceeded to investigate:

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What I found was actually quite interesting and puzzling. There is definitely no clear anodized layer on them, which leads me immediately to believe they’re stainless as I thought. However, upon testing the iron content with a magnet, I found that they’re also definitely not 100% stainless. The magnet pulls quite strongly on them, yet they don’t rust in their natural “exposed” state.

The only answer to this riddle I can think of, is that they’re a low grade of stainless steel, probably 304 or less. Just enough stainless content not to oxidize without a coating, but not enough to be too costly to mass produce.

As you can see in the following pictures, mine have seen better days and are pretty dented up, to be expected for unrestored 39 year old pieces.

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After applying my restoration techniques to this one tho, it looks like they should be able to be restored.

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The downside to this however, is that it’s EXTREMELY time consuming and harder to work with than the aluminum pieces, by a factor of about 50%. Repairing the tiny little section shown above took approximately 4 hours to do, and it’s still not 100% in my opinion. I’ll have to revisit these pieces at a later date in the future.

What I’ve been consistently trying to work on lately though, are the two door belt mouldings and the two proper upper drip rail pieces I snagged at the JY last fall. The drip rail trims I have on the car now are cut down Malibu hardtop ones as I couldn’t locate the proper Cutlass ones before then, and they don’t exactly fit the way they’re supposed to.

As part of my restoration process, after I get the dents and damage levelled out on them, I scuff up the pieces with sandpaper and then hit them several times with a heavy duty oven cleaner application and cold water rinse. Scott (Injectedcutty) asked me recently if this process really works, and I can say that it definitely does. It doesn’t remove all the anodizing, but it definitely breaks it down and significantly reduces the amount of effort required to sand the rest of it off.

Here’s what it looks like when it’s applied, make sure to do it outside to reduce the risk of premature death from the wife. (She definitely won’t like the smell, not to mention it’s extremely caustic stuff).

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I lay on a thick coat of the stuff, then let sit and work for 20-30 minutes:

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Rinse with cold water afterwards, then reapply and repeat as necessary. When the coating is sufficiently weakened, they’ll look something like this:

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At this point they obviously need to be sanded again, but now the anodizing comes off a helluva lot easier. I can vouch for this personally.

So far, I’ve completed straightening, stripping and sanding both upper drip rail pieces, the entire passenger door belt moulding, and am approximately halfway through the final sanding of the driver’s side one.

Here’s where I stand as of right now:

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Although I’m almost done with sanding the last of the weakened anodizing off, all the pieces will need to be mounted up either on the car or in the vise, as the very last step before clear coating them will be to carefully sand them in long linear lines from one end to the other to eliminate all the starting and stopping marks. From then on it’ll be handling them with latex gloves for the final wipe down.

That’s all I’ve got for y’all for now, hopefully this post was somewhat educational and interesting. But I won’t be offended if y’all found it about as interesting as watching flies f*ck.
😅

Thanks everyone for continuing to show interest in the build, until next time friends.

D.
 
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fleming442

Captain Tenneal
Dec 26, 2013
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Shouldn't a "wife" be used to the fumes from oven cleaner? I mean, you never buy a woman a watch because there's a clock on the stove, right? :banana:

And, I am a just twisted enough to watch flies get it on, too. Looking awesome as always, Donovan! Keep making me feel like a hack!
 
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Kiko

Master Mechanic
Apr 14, 2009
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Ottawa, Canada
Donovan,

I'm glad you had the patience to "investigate" the make-up of those lower panels. Very informative! My life (whatever is still left) is too short to invest so much time in refinishing those parts. Many-many kudos to you for undertaking such a gruelling project!!

As far as the door trim, etc., I had all the pieces re-chromed. Yes its was expensive, but it preserved my sanity. I just would not be able to labour for days like you do. You must have some patience! Truly commendable. Good luck with the rest of it!
 
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Rktpwrd

Builder of Cool Shjt
Supporting Member
Feb 2, 2015
4,151
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Donovan,

I'm glad you had the patience to "investigate" the make-up of those lower panels. Very informative! My life (whatever is still left) is too short to invest so much time in refinishing those parts. Many-many kudos to you for undertaking such a gruelling project!!

As far as the door trim, etc., I had all the pieces re-chromed. Yes its was expensive, but it preserved my sanity. I just would not be able to labour for days like you do. You must have some patience! Truly commendable. Good luck with the rest of it!

Thanks very much man.
It’s not even that I’m any more patient than the next guy, it’s more so now that I’m really tired of paying for what you think are good quality parts and services, and continually being disappointed.

When I built The Juggernaut the first time, I had paid a highly touted local chrome place to “refurbish and restore” all the bright trim on the car. The results were mediocre at best IMO, and it still cost me a pretty penny. I think I still have one of the door belt mouldings around here somewhere that they “restored”, I should post up pics of their version vs mine. Especially now that I’ve seen what it takes firsthand to straighten them out and restore them properly. I think everyone would be shocked.

Long story short, like the old adage says, “if you want something done right, do it yourself “. That’s where I’m at in this stage in my life, I’m just tired of wasting good money on poor quality. I’ll gladly put in some extra time on something I care about and have people appreciate it, than to farm it out and get a half-assed product or service in return that no one will notice.

I’m glad the chrome plating of all your trim worked out for you, but with me wanting a brushed finish on mine this time around, that’s not an option for me anyways.
 
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Kiko

Master Mechanic
Apr 14, 2009
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Ottawa, Canada
I understand that you wanted that nice brushed finish. It will look unique and great -- especially with all the work you put in. In my case, I found a local shop that did the chroming -- a car enthusiast in his spare time -- so he understood what I wanted. Also, it helped that my trim was all straight and had no dings. BTW, he also did the bumpers. What are your plans for bumpers (if I may ask)?
 
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Canon_Mutant

Royal Smart Person
Aug 15, 2015
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Oh, hey, of everyone on here . . . I clearly deserve the "slacker award". But, suddenly there is even hope for the hopeless . . .

You know, D, I was skeptical on the brushed look but it's really growing on me. (y)
 
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