Projects New Project: 1953 Oldsmobile

Was afraid that was the case. I’m still questioning the torque converter. I forgot to mention, the other day with the car parked, in gear, and at idle, I did notice a slow “wub-wub” that didn’t match the exhaust note. Went away when I put the car in neutral.


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I would check/replace u-joints before the converter. I’ve had u-joints cause strange noises and vibrations.

 

Look to see if any of the exhaust is against the floor of the car. That can make a big vibration.

 

Sorry, never got back with you guys about the vibration. I replaced the wheel bearings and sealed up up the diff. I’ve still got the vibration. At least I know the rear end is in good shape. For now, I’m just gonna keep driving the crap out of it. It may be something as simple as the exhaust vibrating or maybe the trans since I replaced the mount. Not sure. Just gonna keep the AAA card handy.

We got our one and only snow for the decade, so couldn’t help but get a picture.



Also, my wife picked up a new co-pilot in training.


I still miss Zoey like hell. No joke, I teared up over a tennis ball I found. It was one she stole from the dog park at her let trip there.


Anyway. The state my floor pans are in keeps picking at the back of my mind. Been thinking about trying to replace them. Could I likely just cut up a new 53 Chevy floor pan and piece it together?


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First off, congrats on the new addition to the family.

I just read through this whole thread. I have to say, I admire your dedication and perseverance to seeing this project through. A lesser person would have thrown in the towel a long time ago. Your persistence is laudable. I can empathize with your situation. I too purchased a car, that was supposed to be in much better mechanical condition than when I took possession of it. Coincidentally, mine is also an Olds. Also like you, I spent far too much money on it as an initial purchase, as it was supposed to be mechanically sound, and instead was anything but. Unlike you, I do regret the purchase, while you have a more positive outlook. I can appreciate that.

I will say, it would seem your project is an illustration of the judgment call that needs to be made when frankly a PO or builder does sup-par work, or a car is generally in need to freshening from top to bottom. At what point do you stop trying to band-aid issues, basically playing Whack A Mole with mechanical issues with the drivetrain and car as you have it, and just pull it all out and start over again from the beginning? For me, I opted for the latter. Instead of trying to make the figurative chicken soup out of chicken excrement, I just yanked the big Olds/Slim Jim and am going in a different direction. IMHO, ripping the band-aid off and just fixing everything at once is the way to go to not be chasing problems later on down the road. That being said, you've done God's work in keeping this thing together and on the road.

Keep up the good work.

 

The car definitely needs a frame-off, but when time and money start doing their dance, I wouldn’t have the car back together for years. Up till recently, I depended 100% on the car. I at least have a backup car now, so I can afford to drop a couple hundred every now and then and have the car on stands for a couple weeks. Fact of the matter is, I enjoy driving the car far too much to put it under the knife. It’ll take the transmission or the engine seizing for me to stop. Even then, I’ll swap something quick into it to get it back on the road.

I’ve got a line on a dirt cheap 4.8 gen 3 Chevy with a 4 speed automatic and everything I need. May buy it to have as a spare, but I like the Olds driveline too much to give up on it.


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Soooo, I messed up somewhere. Not sure how, but I did.

Driving through town last night and I lost my rear brakes. Fortunately the front work great, just gave me a mild heart attack.

I just pulled the drums off and found this on the passenger side:


It’s the parking brake link. The spring was also chewed up and spit out. I’m having a hard time finding what I need online, so on to my questions

Could I either:

A, just find a close enough match a junk yard (and just get to to match both sides)

Or

B, if another won’t work, would it be a just awful idea to bend it back, cut out the bad section, and weld in a patch?

Thanks as always.


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I would go with option B, I don't see where it is bent, so I would make a circular patch to fit the space ground out of it and clamp it down and weld it in and make sure that it is straight after repair.

 

Decided to go for cut and weld. Figured I have nothing to lose.



Still gotta dig up a new spring.

Since I’ve got the brakes all apart, I might as well ask. That’s gotta be why I lost the rear brakes, right? Pedal almost hit the floor.


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Not sure why the other two images didn’t show up...





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Those are available.. must have made a noise for a while. Just another adventure. Pick up full spring kits to match the rear end, yours was swapped in IIRC.

 

No that’s not why the pedal went to the floor, that is a park brake strut, has nothing to do with the hydraulic brake operation.


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I was afraid that might be the case. I’ll have to go through it all again. There aren’t any signs of leaking and the master cylinder is full. I’ll mess with it more tomorrow.


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Well, found the break in the line. Easy enough to fix, but that’s tomorrow’s problem. Still glad I pulled that drum. Holy hell. Not sure how long that parking brake link has been dragging.

Anyway, getting the rear wheels off this car is a pain. So while I’ve got them off, what’s the best way to strip all the paint off? I wanna try for shiny again.



I’ve got a little bit of time to work with, that’s why I’m not in a rush to get the car back together. I’m one of the work at home teachers right now. Interesting gig.


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What’s with my photos? Eesh. I’ll try again.



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That bar must have been riding on the axle, have a look at that but it should be okay. You need to look at everything behind the brake drum.

 

Yeah, there’s a clear mark on the axle, but it’s fine. I’ve already had everything apart including axles out on both sides. Replaced a wheel seal while I was at it. Just got the brake line swapped. Gotta add fluid and bleed the system. Should be good to go after that.


Could still use some recommendations on stripping the paint off the wheels. I really don’t want to pull the tires off. Might just try power washing first.


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When you did work on the rear axle, did you readjust the jack screw star self adjusters out to get the shoes close to the drums?
I usually adjust out the shoes til the drum can slide on but not easily slide off. Then back up and brake hard a few times to get the last bit of adjustment.

Verify the star adjusters are clean(50/50 Simple Green and water) and lubricated as well, gummed up/braked dust covered adjusters only seize. If the adjusters were not properly preset or left completely collapsed the rest of the components in the drums can get a bit loose and rattle around. If the PB strut spring is weak the sloppiness of all the components can allow the strut to work loose.

Always verify your drum star adjusters are properly adjusted, these affect how well the drums function as well as how well the parking brake functions. Lots of times I come across the PB cables overly adjusted, simply because the PB lever/pedal had a long and useless throw. Real problem is usually the star adjusters seized and the self adjuster lever can no longer rotate the star. Some folks simply don't brake when backing up and/or don't use the parking brake, these are the only two ways the star adjuster may auto adjust(depending on system). PB cables should only need minute adjustment from time to time as the cables themselves stretch, they are not how to adjust rear drum takeup.

PB cable pulls on the PB lever which is hinged on the rear shoe and cantilevers over the PB strut and which pushes the front shoe forward at the same time. If the star adjuster is collapsed or out of adjustment, then it will take more PB lever/pedal throw to actuate the brakes.

As for the wheels, if they are chromed steel, lacquer soaked rags wrapped around the spokes, it'll take longer than simply soaking the rims in bucket. When the paint has softened up, use the rag around the spokes like when polishing shoes. That should take most of the paint off. I would still put some blue painters tape around the sidewall of the tires near the rim lip to prevent any lacquer from getting onto the sidewall or cause some spotting.

If the spokes/hoop/hub are rusty underneath use some Barkeepers Friend and a Rubbermaid hand held scrub brush. Rinse the wheels down, apply the Barkeepers Friend, lightly mist the wheels, use scrubby brush to scrub the solution in, let it sit for 5-8 mins and hose it down. Some guys will tell you to use steel wool, but that will eventually dull the finish.

If there is any aluminum on the wheel, make sure to use an aircraft/aluminum friendly stripper.

 

MAD MIKES post is great, however the spring on the strut is just to prevent rattling, doesn’t hold it in any way. Even if the brakes are out of adjustment it still shouldn’t be able to come out of there unless the drums are way oversized and there is more shoe travel than there should be. Have you measured the drums? If the sting was gone on the strut and it was rattling away in there, did it wear something one the ends allowing it to fall out?

A mis adjusted park break will either cause the brakes to drag or you will run out of travel before they are applied, the strut should stay in place either way.

Have a close look at everything in there, it’s not so simple as it just feel out, either the shoes are moving apart more than they should or something to do with the strut is worn out or it wasn’t put together properly to start with. Good luck!



I reread mikes post pretty sure we are saying exactly the same thing!

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“When you did work on the rear axle, did you readjust the jack screw star self adjusters out to get the shoes close to the drums?
I usually adjust out the shoes til the drum can slide on but not easily slide off. Then back up and brake hard a few times to get the last bit of adjustment.”

I honestly don’t know if I have self adjusting brakes. From what I’ve regard before, I thought I didn’t. I usually adjust the star and call it good. Maybe I’ve just been lucky so far. I haven’t adjusted anything yet, brakes are just on. Haven’t cleaned them properly yet.

Passenger side:






Driver side:





Does the direction of the star adjuster matter? I thought that it did and had them both facing the same direction on the car, but maybe the passenger aide is backwards? The drum seemed loose when I pulled it, but I assumed that was from the broken line.




“PB cable pulls on the PB lever which is hinged on the rear shoe and cantilevers over the PB strut and which pushes the front shoe forward at the same time. If the star adjuster is collapsed or out of adjustment, then it will take more PB lever/pedal throw to actuate the brakes.”


I haven’t properly adjusted the parking brake yet. There is a lot of slack in the cable under the car. I figured I need to lose a majority of the slack first.




“As for the wheels, “


Thanks for the advice on the wheels. I’ll mess around with one while I’ve got them off the car and see what I can do.




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You do not have self adjusting brakes, because of that your car requires brake adjustments as they wear down. As the shoes wear there will be increased clearance in between the shoe and drum resulting in increased pedal travel before the brakes apply.

 

Ok, that’s what I thought, just wanted to be sure. I’ll get everything good and cleaned up and get it back together. I’m baffled by the parking brake link. I’ve had the drums apart plenty before and never had a problem. I guess I just boned the job this time.


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On self adjusters the star adjusters are left/right specific and are mirrored. One is a reverse screw. If the window on the backing plate for adjustment is in a mirrored offset location then the star should be accessible through the window with a brake spoon.
But you will have to verify that the jack screws are correct for the sides.
Usually you should be able to put the spoon in with the handle in the 'up' postion, and rotate the handle 'down' to take up the gap between shoe and drum.
Just keep going to til the spoon stops, don't force it as that will cause the shoe to drag.

The drum should be a bit tough to remove, usually requires backing off the star adjuster to pull the drum off. If the drum just slid off then it was out of adjustment.
Hydraulic side of the brake does nothing when the pedal is not depressed.
Anchor pin and self adjuster are what keep the shoes out to where they need to be, wheel cylinder is just there to spread them just a tad more to actuate the rest of the way.

If the star adjusters are out of adjustment this will cause a long pedal. This is from the wheel cylinder having to push the shoes out to the drum rather than the adjusters already having the shoes 'right there' and ready for activation.

Get the star adjusters done first.
If you do adjust the drums with the wheels off, put a lug nut on to properly secure the drum so it will not get cocked and give a proper adjustment. With the take-up done, and the wheels not dragging, now adjust the parking brake cables.
You may be surprised to find the cable is not as slack as it once was with the star adjusters properly set.
Verify the handle/pedal for the PB is fully released and seated. It should have a decent throw while actuating the PB. If the throw feels too tight or too long then you will want to adjust. Cables should not be pretensioned nor slack. That should give you the ideal PB throw.

I should have said 'laced through the spokes' to maximize coverage.
Looping just individual spokes will take

 

Thanks for all the help. Finally got it all sorted out. I’ve got a parking brake now!

Figured out part of the problem I was having. The car sit so low I have to disconnect the shocks and sway bar to drop the rear low enough to get the tires off. That ended up pulling on the parking brake cable some and I didn’t realize it before. So if I set every that way and then put the car on the ground, the PB would let off and the brakes would be useless.

I finally pulled the wheels and jacked the rear into the correct position and set everything from there. Parking brake works, nothing drags, and the pedal feels perfect.

Haven’t touched the wheels yet. I’d have thought working from home would give me more spare time. Turns out it’s the opposite. I’m always at work and on call now. Haha


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Looks like you should replace the grease seals on the rear end before you put the drums back on. They look to be leaking badly.

 

Yeah, I did on the driver side. It was bad. Passenger side was covered in brake fluid and cleaner.


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This is a pain in the ass. Holy crap. I’m halfway done. With one wheel... still have all the detail work to do. Lots of bits of paint still on it.

I sure like the way it looks though. Gonna keep powering through.


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Hawk, Try to spray Eazy Off oven cleaner on your wheels, let it set for a few, hit w a scrub brush then hose it off or better yet pressure wash. That stuff can take off spray paint pretty well.

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I’ve been using a combination of Aircraft stripper, wire wheels, and a power washer. The stripper works great for the first round, but getting the details in a nightmare.






Believe it or not, I still can’t decide, top or bottom?

At this stage, I can either strip the rears as well, or repaint the fronts.









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I vote to strip the rears!