What Did You Do To Your G-Body Today? [2021]
- Thread starter CopperNick
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posted about mine here. looking for some ideas for the location of a new double din deck. anyone do anything with one before???
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CUTLASS - 1st Gbody I owned since around 2007!
Hey all, I bought my 84 Cutlass Supreme just last week after giving my son my 2018 extended cab Silverado. I really wasn't thinking about going back to something like this at first but this car just fell in my lap and I had to buy it, plus my buddy SS_Malibu was in my ear about it lol. I will be...
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Ah, lemme see here. Monday, harvested a thin length of new body metal from a section of scrap and mated it to the lower edge of the door shell to complete the double thick seam. Blew up another Dremel 3000; in all fairness to the tool it was working fine one second and nada the next. No nasty smells, no smoke, no shrieking loud whir. It is an ex Dremel. Good news was that I found them on line for about half the going rate store bought would be, from the same company. One is on the way as I write this.
Tuesday was the Appliance Repair dude which has nothing to do with my Monte except having clean clothes to work in is nice. Bad enough being in a bunny suit but at least I don't smell like a goat after a day digging into the guts of one thing or another.
Wednesday was replace the tarp on the greenhouse day; again not a G-Body activity except that the greenhouse becomes a repository for parts and chemicals from time to time. Also tried to see if I could wake up the dead and revive my catatonic Dremel motor. Split the cases and poked around, no signs of broken wires or burnt connections. Has me now thinking that the slide switch for off/on adjustable rpm failed. Can get them as a individual part number so that is something to consider
Today, Thursday, was the appliance repair dude again for round four with the washing machine, I think. The tech finally managed to split the drum away from the output shaft after I assaulted the old retaining collar with, you guessed it, a cut off wheel mounted to a dremel, my old fossil model 100. Howls louder than a dog but still motors on. Collar was some kind of zinc alloy and worse than aluminum to work with. emphasis on was; it succumbed to the attention paid to it. Also managed to get over to the local indie to pick up a rotor for my HEI; the original broke and the mfgr warrantied it. Brand new, just installed and no time on the contact, little plastic clip that held everything together popped off. Seam looked like the bonder was crazy glue! Also hit the yard and scored an oil cooler for the 5.3.
Ended Thursday by getting back into the shop and doing some more trim and shave to the edge material that had just been burnt in. Matched the width of the new metal to the existing one and shaped the curve to resemble what the old stuff looked like. Still have to add the doubler strip for the other corner. Might be that with a little heat in the shop, the welder will be happier and willing to work better.
Tomorrow depends on the weather. COLD, but at least it isn't what they are getting out west. Wonder if Mike is second guessing his move to Sask.
Nick
Tuesday was the Appliance Repair dude which has nothing to do with my Monte except having clean clothes to work in is nice. Bad enough being in a bunny suit but at least I don't smell like a goat after a day digging into the guts of one thing or another.
Wednesday was replace the tarp on the greenhouse day; again not a G-Body activity except that the greenhouse becomes a repository for parts and chemicals from time to time. Also tried to see if I could wake up the dead and revive my catatonic Dremel motor. Split the cases and poked around, no signs of broken wires or burnt connections. Has me now thinking that the slide switch for off/on adjustable rpm failed. Can get them as a individual part number so that is something to consider
Today, Thursday, was the appliance repair dude again for round four with the washing machine, I think. The tech finally managed to split the drum away from the output shaft after I assaulted the old retaining collar with, you guessed it, a cut off wheel mounted to a dremel, my old fossil model 100. Howls louder than a dog but still motors on. Collar was some kind of zinc alloy and worse than aluminum to work with. emphasis on was; it succumbed to the attention paid to it. Also managed to get over to the local indie to pick up a rotor for my HEI; the original broke and the mfgr warrantied it. Brand new, just installed and no time on the contact, little plastic clip that held everything together popped off. Seam looked like the bonder was crazy glue! Also hit the yard and scored an oil cooler for the 5.3.
Ended Thursday by getting back into the shop and doing some more trim and shave to the edge material that had just been burnt in. Matched the width of the new metal to the existing one and shaped the curve to resemble what the old stuff looked like. Still have to add the doubler strip for the other corner. Might be that with a little heat in the shop, the welder will be happier and willing to work better.
Tomorrow depends on the weather. COLD, but at least it isn't what they are getting out west. Wonder if Mike is second guessing his move to Sask.
Nick
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Seeing the old whimpy 305 out is always a nice sight. I noticed you have the 800 series steering gear box. I switched my 605 box for the 800 quick ratio box when I did my front end. There is also a bar that goes across that connects the two front frame rails you could install. It helps to stiffen the front a little more. Can't wait to see more.
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It's gonna be a bit. I've got an l96 6.0 I got to remove, then start the process of installing it.
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Take your time. Clean and paint. Attention to detail. You'll be much happier knowing you did it right when you are done. The wait will be worth it!
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Today? Nothing. Didn't even seriously consider heading out to the shop. Snowed this AM and now the wind is picking up and the temperature dropping. Did boot up the furnace but left the t-stat set at 45 deg. Enough to knock the high spots off the cold but not enough to where it is T-shirt warm. This is an experiment in gas consumption. The plan is to see how much the bill rises in the billing cycle and decide if I can tolerate the cost.
Not really the place for this but seems like the cost of everything is either about to or has already taken a hit. Stopped at my nearby gas station a day or so back and gas was 1.54:9 per litre. So, the conversion is 4.5 litres to a Canadian gallon on account of us having a 160 fl oz gallon, instead of only 132 like the US does. Anyway the math says I paid about 6.90 per gallon for around 7.5 gallons, about a quart over a 1/4 tank. The tank isn't a true cube so the gauge tends to move more quickly from one stage of full to others; it can read full for a few days past getting full but then drop rapidly to 3/4-1/2 and then sit there. No issue with the sending unit, been that way since I bought the ride.
Still playing with the door shell but have just found a major warp in the lower flange over the entire length of it. Not sure if this was hereditary or something that came about as a consequence of my repairs; thinking the former. i do not want to think about skinning this shell until i can get that edge as flat and straight as possible. Any other way and the new skin might end up warping itself to conform with the inner shell giving me a lower door edge that won't seal or fit the opening correctly. What may have to happen is that I introduce some heat to the edge to get it to soften and relax. Not wanting to get it too hot, only enough to release any stress that has built up as the repair work progressed. Essentially this is a variant on annealing, the more you hammer on metal, the more it tends to become work hardened and the harder it becomes to persuade from one shape to another. Catch here is that I don't have a Hot Red Wrench resident in my shop. Mentioned this a while back but part of the shop id dedicated to my saw deck so too much wood and dust around. Say what you will about vacuums, sawdust is insidious and gets into everywhere; think your're clean?, fuggedaboudit, spots you swear you got all the dust will suddenly show more like magic. Drive a sane person nuts and make the insane feel right at home.
Tomorrow is another week. See how I feel.
Nick
Not really the place for this but seems like the cost of everything is either about to or has already taken a hit. Stopped at my nearby gas station a day or so back and gas was 1.54:9 per litre. So, the conversion is 4.5 litres to a Canadian gallon on account of us having a 160 fl oz gallon, instead of only 132 like the US does. Anyway the math says I paid about 6.90 per gallon for around 7.5 gallons, about a quart over a 1/4 tank. The tank isn't a true cube so the gauge tends to move more quickly from one stage of full to others; it can read full for a few days past getting full but then drop rapidly to 3/4-1/2 and then sit there. No issue with the sending unit, been that way since I bought the ride.
Still playing with the door shell but have just found a major warp in the lower flange over the entire length of it. Not sure if this was hereditary or something that came about as a consequence of my repairs; thinking the former. i do not want to think about skinning this shell until i can get that edge as flat and straight as possible. Any other way and the new skin might end up warping itself to conform with the inner shell giving me a lower door edge that won't seal or fit the opening correctly. What may have to happen is that I introduce some heat to the edge to get it to soften and relax. Not wanting to get it too hot, only enough to release any stress that has built up as the repair work progressed. Essentially this is a variant on annealing, the more you hammer on metal, the more it tends to become work hardened and the harder it becomes to persuade from one shape to another. Catch here is that I don't have a Hot Red Wrench resident in my shop. Mentioned this a while back but part of the shop id dedicated to my saw deck so too much wood and dust around. Say what you will about vacuums, sawdust is insidious and gets into everywhere; think your're clean?, fuggedaboudit, spots you swear you got all the dust will suddenly show more like magic. Drive a sane person nuts and make the insane feel right at home.
Tomorrow is another week. See how I feel.
Nick
Â
Changed the leaking brake booster for a reman unit. Went well until I discovered that somewhere in the car's life, somebody had changed the booster and master to an 82+ unit (larger boss on rear of master where it mates to the booster). Guess we'll see who has an '81 master in stock tomorrow.
I sure do love cars with "history"
I sure do love cars with "history"
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Got back into the shop for an hour or two. Did manage to locate and buy some MAP gas for my propane kit. It burns hotter so may make the process of annealing go easier. Stuff is like gold around here. Three major outlets were skunked for stock and no eta on fresh. Had planned a visit to a near by local Hardware store and they HAD IT!! Wasn't even what I went in there for; total target of opportunity. so I lucked out big time on that one.
Did get some foam tubing for the main door. it will be additional insulation to be stuffed in if the door bows in again due to heat warp. Also scored some one use Crazy Glue tube-ettes for a repair to the foam filter on my small Shop Vac. The metal dust from all the welding and grinding and surfacing plays hell with the filters.
Went back to tinkering with the angle on the lower door shell flange. Actually did manage to get it to lay in the same plane for morst of its length. Looks like I will have to cut a short seam in the rear corner and re-re-re-re-reshape it to achieve a better curve. What I put there was a guess to begin with; this is the tweak to it that has to occur.
The front corner will likely need something along that line as well. For anyone thinking "Why the F*** didn't he score a better core to start with? Well, as I've commented a few times in the past, local yards do not carry car stock beyond five years aold, trucks can be older 10-20 but my own personal yard is in the process of editing its truck stock so a lot of the 10 and olders will be headed off to the shredder/crusher. Most of them are well picked over hulks and already decomposing from salt rust. The other item to consider is that the one vendor who does have that generation of vehicles still in stock also has a running battle going with the city about whether or not he can set up a retail facility. Thanks those never to be sufficiently condemned weasel squeezing, tree hugging, linen loving, sandal snots for that one. Covid only made it worse; a lot of businesses now have to demand "Covid Passports" as proof of being double jabbed. Makes being able to go walk-about in a weed infested field of possibilities next to impossible. As for new, fuggedabouddit. An inner shell/skin is about 500 USD and a whole new door shell is over a grand, plus there is shipping and handling and plus fees because the box is oversize and overweight!!
So tomorrow is supposed to be tolerable I can get back into the garage for the day and see what havoc I can wreak. And, as for the low level background muttering about pictures, not likely. maybe when done. No way am I going to expose my camera to metal dust and shrapnel.
Nick
Did get some foam tubing for the main door. it will be additional insulation to be stuffed in if the door bows in again due to heat warp. Also scored some one use Crazy Glue tube-ettes for a repair to the foam filter on my small Shop Vac. The metal dust from all the welding and grinding and surfacing plays hell with the filters.
Went back to tinkering with the angle on the lower door shell flange. Actually did manage to get it to lay in the same plane for morst of its length. Looks like I will have to cut a short seam in the rear corner and re-re-re-re-reshape it to achieve a better curve. What I put there was a guess to begin with; this is the tweak to it that has to occur.
The front corner will likely need something along that line as well. For anyone thinking "Why the F*** didn't he score a better core to start with? Well, as I've commented a few times in the past, local yards do not carry car stock beyond five years aold, trucks can be older 10-20 but my own personal yard is in the process of editing its truck stock so a lot of the 10 and olders will be headed off to the shredder/crusher. Most of them are well picked over hulks and already decomposing from salt rust. The other item to consider is that the one vendor who does have that generation of vehicles still in stock also has a running battle going with the city about whether or not he can set up a retail facility. Thanks those never to be sufficiently condemned weasel squeezing, tree hugging, linen loving, sandal snots for that one. Covid only made it worse; a lot of businesses now have to demand "Covid Passports" as proof of being double jabbed. Makes being able to go walk-about in a weed infested field of possibilities next to impossible. As for new, fuggedabouddit. An inner shell/skin is about 500 USD and a whole new door shell is over a grand, plus there is shipping and handling and plus fees because the box is oversize and overweight!!
So tomorrow is supposed to be tolerable I can get back into the garage for the day and see what havoc I can wreak. And, as for the low level background muttering about pictures, not likely. maybe when done. No way am I going to expose my camera to metal dust and shrapnel.
Nick
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