BUILD THREAD Sweet Johnny & Gina: A Love "Two Large" To Fail

[69hurstolds]

I do admire your enthusiasm toward taking on a huge azz project as this.

In light of that, I am going to gift to you your first NOS GM part for this project. An "Oldsmobile" trunk emblem that is correct for your car year (78-84).

GM p/n 555735. Peel and stick. It ain't much, but they usually push close to $50 or more if you can find one. Wait until you paint it first!

All I need is your snail mail addy. PM me your info.

 

[Sweet_Johnny]

Thank you so much!

 

[Sweet_Johnny]

The following day I once again set out to get this car running somewhat smoothly and take it around the block. I had already managed to keep it running long enough to spew bright green coolant all over the passenger floorboard, though, so I first removed the heater hoses and replaced them with rubber caps at all 4 holes.

I grabbed my water bottle of gas and got Gina fired up, which made me feel feel very happy. It was about this time that the fuel pump was finally drawing in gas from the tank, however it wasn't making it to the Rochester fuel bowl- it was spewing all over the ground at my feet! Not wanting to have an unplanned BBQ I deftly maneuvered around the front of Gina to the driver's side, leaned in through the open window (backwards I might add), reached through the cracked out steering wheel, and turned the key to "Please Don't". I then disconnected the fuel pump but left it bolted to the engine.

I rigged up a 45° 3/8" hose barb/ fitting complete with o-rings to the cap of a water bottle and filled the bottle halfway with gasoline. I ran a length of hose to a spare fuel inlet fitting and tube that I had sitting around. (You'll see that happen a lot as we go along because I've kept a lot of junk for a very long time. It's a family trait.) Once it was all connected I simply turned the bottle upside down and stabbed a tiny hole in it with my pocket knife to let it breathe.

 

[Built6spdMCSS]

Takes time to work the bugs out, looks like a solid car to start with. Get it going then add the mods.

 

[Sweet_Johnny]

I filled the bowl via the vent, hooked up my bottle setup, and once again started the car after letting some gas evaporate from the driveway... And discovered the fuel filter at the carb inlet was plugged. I knew to check that, why didn't I? Because I was in a hurry. Reminder: Don't rush things.

After changing the filter to a Wix unit we were in business. The engine was running great and I could now start to inspect things while it hummed along, Singer style. The oil pressure gauge was responsive, and pressure was healthy and consistent. The alternator was doing its job faithfully and the fan clutch worked as it should. I climbed inside and ran through all the gears to find that they were all present, the power steering system worked from lock to lock, and the brakes were completely functional too. The HVAC seems to have defaulted to the dash and floors due to a vacuum leak, and that's just fine for now. At this point things were looking up.

There's a rocker out of adjustment, I believe I hear a faint whine from a bearing on the accessory drive, and the exhaust is just falling out of the cat as well as the blown out muffler. But it's somehow quiet while working under the hood. Peaceful too. Right up until I heard a noise that sounded like it came from inside the oil pan or flywheel inspection cover, which was quite alarming. I considered the possibility of a cracked flywheel or loose bolt but haven't gone in for a closer look yet. That catalytic converter is making a helluva racket and slightly hinders the diagnostic process.

I added some transmission fluid to what was there, and what was there looked, smelled, and felt fine. A transmission service or spill 'n' fill might happen soon but I saw nothing to prevent me from driving it when that became an option. I used a vacuum pump/ brake bleeder to suck the brake fluid from the reservoir and replaced it with some of the correct color, and topped off the coolant.

I don't believe the tachometer reading and the carb was showing more signs of distress. If I even touched the throttle Gina would throw a fit, and the accelerator pump was completely non responsive, even if I used my thumbnail to depress the plunger. At this point I was absolutely soaked again due to the continuing yet sporadic rain so I called it a night before anything bad happened. I've always had a hard time knowing when to quit but this felt right.

 

[Sweet_Johnny]

Since I never throw anything away I still had a rebuild kit for a Quadrajet carb even though I had no use for it up to this point- I'm into Holleys. I'd been holding onto this kit for 20 years after finding it in the trunk of a '79 Firebird that my father purchased for interior parts.



I removed the top of the Rochester and set about checking the float, power piston, etc. and proceeded to remove the accelerator pump plunger and replace it with the one from the kit. That required swapping a spring over from the old unit which was an easy and straightforward task. I decided not to rebuild the entire carb at the time as the plan was to be as noninvasive as possible, and to get on the road ASAP.

I was having loads of trouble with this little guy fighting me during reassembly, and turned to an old friend for help: painter's tape. I utilized the tape to hold this sucker down in place while I secured the top, and managed to get all surfaces flush and remove the tape at the same time, although the tape tore in half upon removal. I verified that no tape remained inside the carb by putting the torn ends back together and saw no voids at the seam.

The car once again ran but now it was incredibly rich, as indicated by the black smoke, horrible idle, and my water bottle visibly draining before my very eyes. For safety's sake I had it in a position that I could see VERY clearly as I operated the accelerator pedal from either inside the cabin or engine bay.

I then reached out to this forum for immediate help as the book I purchased is a great resource for modifications/information but not quite so great for troubleshooting. Help came from 78Delta88 by quickly pointing out a potential issue with my metering rods and providing useful information and tips for reassembly. Thank you, Delta.

I separated the carb halves for about the 12th time and carefully followed my new instructions, and with great success. I also elected to change the fuel pump, which of course has a story of its own.

 

[Sweet_Johnny]

Here are some more pictures of Gina's physical condition as well as the trim tag.


You may notice in a couple of those pictures that I experimented with a couple rubbing/polishing compounds on the passenger side as well as the trunk. They were very quick experiments and were by no means attempts at anything. I was testing the limits of their abilities.

 

[69hurstolds]

OK, let's look at your trim tag and see what it tells us...

78- model year
3AM47- body style, Olds, A-body, Cutlass Supreme BROUGHAM 2-door notchback. There's no Brougham designator for the trim tag. EDIT: I am incorrect on this. The "M" is for Brougham, the Cutlass Supreme is "R".
LAN- built in Lansing, MI
34156- Fisher body number. Has no correlation to the VIN. If you ever find a build sheet, that number should show up there somewhere. (Not likely since Lansing plant was notorious for cleaning out the cars of extraneous paperwork)
19G- black cloth interior
19, 19U- Upper lower body color- black.
12C- scheduled build week. 3rd week of December, 1977.
AM6- bench seat. Split with center arm rest.
C5F- Sun/Moon roof.

 

[Sweet_Johnny]

Thank you for decoding that for me/us, the only thing that doesn't line up here would be the interior: it's all blue, all of it. If someone swapped it out they were quite thorough. I really like having this type of information since it helps complete the backstory of a car that's 45 years old.

 

[69hurstolds]

Doubt if they’d get the interior color wrong. 19 is black no matter how you slice it. Just going by the data on the plate. What they did at the plant I can’t tell you.