Projects 1964 98 2 dr Coupe w/TH400 upgrade project

1 more.

 

I am going to sell it to help fund my 1971 olds station wagon I sold 13 years ago and now its been 1 year since I found her just sitting in a garage for the last 10 years so I bought her back and she on the road after about 3 months of work from sitting all those years. I am going to repaint her back to the original lighter blue color. I have aready shot the roof.Bruce.

 

Here is the color she is going to be. Take care and keep us updated. Bruce.

 

Bruce, I have to ask if that's the real deal or not? I know a lot of people were making fake cop cars just for conversation pieces. That old wagon will be super cool when it's done. Those wheels definitely got to go.
JT

 

Well...this project may have just taken a turn towards stardum. .....
I am sadly and reluctantly selling my '64 Olds Starfire Conv
Met a guy today, whom wants a father and son project. He seems to have been trained by HIS Dad, in the art of old school craftsmanship/bodywork. Going to trade him the ragtop for the labor to do the bodywork on my 98. He is giving me a late model Suzuki motorcycle to hold, for ransom, until the ca is in primer. One of the big problems is he is over an hour away. Putting this one in the hands of the man upstairs. Seems like a hardworking family man(4 kids!!) Showed me pics of a killer '56 F100 he just finished. Had to dig tons of bondo and rust out of fenders to fix correctly and french taillights.
Sick of looking at this car collecting dust in my garage. Time to let someone else have it.

JT

 

Good luck JT, sometimes these things are for the best.

"I'd like to purpose a toast...to internal combustion and wind in the face." ~Michael Sarrazin The Gumball Rally

 

No surprise the deal fell through in the 11th hour. What a douche for wasting all my time. !!!
Seriously need this car gone. (Convertible, not the 98)
Need to money to move my sick wife out of this mold infested house.
(microscopic dust particles, from faulty A/C system last year)(visually home in mint condition, filled with MCM goodies)

JT

 

How's that Olds coming along? I hope to have mine on the road by May.

 

brashears54, Praise the Lowered! Appears as if you are going to beat me to the punch...and the street. Looking good. Would love to kinow more about it.
My 98 is on the back burner. Serious issues going on at home. No time to play with cars. Actually been playing with other people$$ cars to make ends meet. Medical bills suck. Wish I could charge what these Dr's charge.
Our car club, is on a quest for everyone to pitch in and help a brother out. So, may try and at least get it to run and drive. One of our guys is a whizbang welder. Got him working on the gas tank. Despite being a California car, bottom was littered with tiny rust pin holes. Good gas tanks are about as hard to find as most other parts for these cars. Missed out on this years Groundhog Gala, but next year for sure.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...his-saturday-feb-4th-sanford-florida.1048666/

Recently been in contact with a few other '64 Olds guys. Bill, from Maryland has a 98 Sport Coupe. Extremely rare bucket seat console model. Maybe all this action with light the fire again. So excited to drive this car with the TH400 trans. At least I have a safe place to keep her. That's half the battle sometimes.

p.s. F----g dirtbag, that was supposed to do my bodywork, has dropped off the face of the earth...along with my convertible...which supposedly has changed hands twice now. MF'r talked me into giving him the title during the deal, so now I am screwed. Zero time to chase him down and go to court. Especially since 2 weeks ago, my daily driver S-10 was smashed into. Ugh...

JT hangin' tough in O-Town

 

Sorry to hear that, Dr. bills are horrible and sounds like a real low life made off with that vert.
My gas tank was full of pinholes as well as my parts car tank. I got it all welded up though. I'm running a 350/700r as the 394 wasn't in the car when I got it and I'll feel better about finding parts if something breaks while on a trip. I haven't messed with the body much, only a little rust in the pass. 1/4. Mostly been doing frame, suspension and engine to have something that is super reliable to make long haul trips to shows.

 

Holy Crap Batman...allot of water under the dam, since last post. (Adam West R.I.P.)
Finally got a daily driver and work truck slowly being repaired, from $200 donor.
Secretly came into a small chunk of change(shhhh...don't tell the Mrs)
So, in the midst of having gas tank repaired and shortening driveshaft. Spoke with a vendor we deal with at work, he said to bring the shaft and he would try and shorten it. Ironically trying to STRETCH my little cash-flow, as far as I can. Apparently these 60's era 2 piece shafts can fail if the vulcanized rubber gets compromised, during welding process. I trust them. They do allot of work for our off road stuff.
Also got myself roped into this Dragstrip Riot, October 28th, Orlando Speedworld. Our club has never done an event like this, and a close friend/drag-racer talked me into doing it. Should be fun. Will post more info soon.

JT

 

Finally got the shaft....in a good way. Did some wheeling and dealing to get a brandy new drive shaft for the Olds 98 project. Thanks to club brother Chopper and Steve at Florida Powertrain.
Well worth the wait to get a quality piece.
Time to get back on track with this Rocket Sled






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WTF?? December of last year?? Time flies, when life gets in the way.
Managed to do some more wheeling n dealing and get my gas tank rebuilt, by Gas Tank Renu, in Apopka Florida. Highly recommend him, if you are in central Florida. Was not cheap($450), but now it's better than new.
Securing a spot in a friends warehouse, that is much closer, to work and home. Going to have this running and driving before end of the year. 55th birthday is the 18th. Want to fire the engine, that Saturday. Will definitely post a video.

Q: how many other guys are professional mechanics and end up doing so much side work, to make ends meet, that your project collects dust??
JT

 

Finally brought her to my hobby shop hangout, where I can work on it after my regular job.
Hopefully have it running by the weekend.







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Finally brought her to my hobby shop hangout, where I can work on it after my regular job.
Hopefully have it running by the weekend.







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Good to see you working on the car. Life does get in the way... I had the '64 88 4-door that was my 1st car in 1973. Leaky as hell slim-jim, took that out and sealed it, that needed a valve job as soon as I got it, set me back $57 to have the heads done. Standard labor was $22 per head in 1973, parts were extra. My next Olds was a '62 Starfire convertible... California car with a perfect body. I had to sell that but made a few bucks on the deal since I was a starving college student.

 

Bobss396, Slim Jim is long gone. After 5 of these cars, I got smart and swapped in a Cadillac TH400. Can’t wait to drive it and issue a full report
$53 valve grind??? I wish
I have like $500 wrapped up in these cylinder heads. Hardened seats, new SS valves.. the whole enchilada
JT

 

Crap, after replacing a bad set of uni-points, got spark and she tried to fire.
Trouble is severe scraping/knocking noise.
Moving into shop and up on lift. Thinking not enough clearance for torque converter. 394 bell house had to be ground, to accommodate the modifications
Fingers crossed not internal engine issues


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It’s a miracle
Removed onboard starter bolt, turned out to be wrong length. Installed with a few flat washers. Problem fixed!!!!
Cranks and runs like a dream
Custom shift linkage almost done
May be driving this weekend


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Finally got her fired up this Saturday. Engine quiet, good oil pressure, no leaks, transmission working perfectly, brakes stop fine on short drive around the shop.
Not firing strong on all 8 cylinders. Possible internal carb issues causing 4 cylinders to not get enough fuel.
Tomorrow’s another day. At least I got to do a small burnout in the parking lot

Short video clips taken by Nads








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Pertronix swap today. Fixed the engine miss.
She’s purring like a kitten







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I’m running pertronix in the 303, it fired right up.


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Hey Jeff, absolutely something I’ve been wanting to do from day one. And was stoked that Pertronix offers those Hi-Po stock appearance wires. $140 for both, Factory direct.
Did ohms tests old and new. Huge difference, especially coil wire.
Good bye 1/8” Allen wrench...wink wink
JT

 

Wish we would have done that on the 55 Ford. Oh well.

 

After 35 years as a professional technician, finally figured out why I’ve never completely taken one of these boxes apart.
Way cheaper and less stressful just to get a reman from Napa.

I have to admit it was very dirty inside.


I have the upmost respect for the people on the assembly line building these things.




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Wow!!
Just came back from test drive. Incredible results. Steering is tight as a wine cork and she eats up the road like it was 1964. Steering wheel even straight. Should have done this years ago.
On to the next job.
JT

 

The Saga continues. Been way too busy to post updates. About 6 weeks ago, she developed a nasty ticking noise, from back of engine(after first LONG distance road trip) Opted to leave at Ramblur's house and trailer home later.
Using various tools on a lift, determined noise was in trans not engine. Unbolted torque convertor and ran engine. Noise was gone.
Removed transmission, no apparent signs of scraping. Decided to replace torque convertor and grind more metal from engine block. Left about 3/16" clearance, around entire TC, for good measure. Actually bolted up TC, to flywheel, to inspect for ample distance.
Seemed to fix the problem. Going for longer test drive today. Still want to create/build/install a proper crossmember, even though Tony at Ross Racing told me it wasn't entirely necessary.
In retrospect, if anyone else is doing this swap, hope you have better luck. And feel free to reach out for advice. Still miles ahead of original Slim-Jim

JT

 

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OK Fellas, The Olds 98 has come a long way from junkyard to my yard. Unfortunately, it is time to turn her loose, to a new custodian. Finishing all the bodywork and paint, is not something, I can handle right now. And, sick and tired of looking at her rusting in the driveway. She does drive wonderful and I'm very proud of that.
This makes #6 1964 Oldsmobile. Have a sneaking suspicion, there may be another one in the future, for this guy. Going to leave this thread up, in case anybody else needs a reference, for theirs.
Please call with any questions. More than happy to help.
For now, slight change of pace. Taking Delivery of a 1962 Corvair Greenbrier window van, this week.
JT
863-257-0363