Snap some photos when you put those wing windows in. It's been so long since I took mine out, I'm not sure I know how they go back in. With all the cameras lying around here, you'd think I'd get in the habit of shooting pictures while I'm taking stuff apart.
car is looking good. your really making some good progress on it. if you want to hit some all olds shows here is two to check out. http://www.rocketfest.com/ and http://www.northernohiooldsclub.com/linked/northern ohio alliance show.pdf both real cool.
This pic was taken minutes before the front seal in the tranny gave up and I had to go drag the Ohsmobile home on the end of a chain. So it's driven it's last few miles and now it goes in the garage for major work. There's OT project in there now that should be gone in a week or so and then we have to get ready for the AMA's Vintage Motorcycle Days (we race vintage motocross) so it'll be a little while before we get back to the Olds. We'll still be grabbing up parts as we find them, of course, and we're doing a trip to New York this weekend to pick up some pieces we need. These parts trips are always a helluva good time. Kevin
Yes, flat black smacks of....RAT ROD! Esp on an Oldsmobile, that's a classy car that owns the road. Let all the underlings wear rags to the ball, you're goin' in style!
Well finally an update. Had a few projects to finish up before I dug into this one. Being able to work on modern cars affords me the opportunity to make money on the side to finance projects like this. Anyhow, took the windshield out and it promptly broke, as it had a crack already. Expected yes, hopefully I can find another used one as new ones are in the 400+ range. I will attach pictures of the rust we found when I get off work. Fixable, another year or two it would've been a goner. We are going to use a section from tohe passenger fender to fix the roof as it has similar curves and we are replacing it. The back window comes out next, then we can start metal work.
Ahhhhhhh, looking like some good progress . Keep it up. Flat paint on classy cars blow, I know, my Caddy has been flat since I built it. I was just busy having too much fun to finish it, now I have a better 1 to finish so it will be left alone until the mechanical bugs are ironed out. Then a liberal dose of shiny all around
We're going to paint it gloss black so it'll be black with a red interior. I'm thinking tuck and roll but we'll see. We're planning on doing everything ourselves on the car, including giving the interior a shot. DRH and I are more mechanical guys not so much body and paint guys. I've done enough body work to have a healthy respect for guys who do it well. Too artsy for me, I guess. We'll get it though, it's not like it's rocket surgery or anything or we have to have it done in 2 weeks or the world will end. The goal now is to get the rear window out without breaking it. That one they don't repop and will be a pain to get if we break it. Anyway, it's in the garage and will move forward now. This should be fun. Kevin.
Okay, some more progress. Took the back window out today, wrapped it in a blanket and put it in a safe place. Got to see the extent of the rot around the back window, which is not bad at all. The rear window was leaking at the bottom corners, which rotted the floor in a few places. The rust on the posts are common. Most of it is covered by the stainless when it is all finished and we are going to replace whats needed and use rust converter on the rest. After the work on the rear window, I stripped the lights, rear bumper, emblems and stainless. I have discovered why the passenger rear wheel opening is buckled out; The car took a light hit to the right rear, hard enough to leave an imprint of the edge of the bumper 1/4" into the metal (second picture). It has been filled with lead, and looks like it happened early in the cars life. The bumper was shimmed out, and was replaced because there is no evidence of any crash damage. This may be tricky to fix, I haven't quite figured out what I am going to do. The plan is this: Fix the roof, then the floors, then the rockers and quarter panels. I also plan on omitting the small piece of stainless on the rear of the quarter panels. I think the car looks cleaner without it. What do you guys think? Besides the horrible repaint, the bodywork shouldn't be all that bad. The repaint looks like its laquer and is thicker than hell. It looks like I will be able to leave all the original lead where they used it from factory. My younger brother is an ace with a tig welder and all the replacement metal will be tigged in. This will really make my life easier finishing it.
Okay, some more progress. I cut the section of swiss cheese from the roof behind the A post. It was rotted from the inside, I believe water was leaking in from the seam between the post and the top of the roof itself, running along the inner structure and sitting. We took the piece we cut out of the roof and lined it up on the passenger fender where the curves best matched. We marked it and taped it so I had a straight line to follow with my cut off wheel. This is my first time working with metal like this. After some cutting, more cutting, filing, more filing, this is the piece pretty much ready to weld in. I have to flatten it a bit and getting the slope towards the front of the windshield was a challenge. I took my time and it looks like it was made to go in there. More soon.
I love to see the more rough cars saved instead of being crushed, ground up and shipped to China to become a sh1tty toaster or some other junk. 50s BOC cars always had "The look" right off the assembly line. Looks Good. Keep it up.
Got all the stainless stripped, got the remaining glass and doorhandles off, and found no more significant rust, yay! I am getting pretty good with the hammer and dollys, as well as metal finishing with files. This is my first time doing bodywork on a car this old, and I must say compared to newer stuff its a breeze. Its predictable and forgiving, and thick enough to grid/file into shape. The spot of black paint on the tip of the fender is a spot I sprayed to see how straight I got the good sized dent behind the headlight. I spent hours hammering and filing and im quite proud as it needs little more than maybe some high build. More soon.
Finally got the awful shoddy looking paint off the right rear quarter panel. This thing was fixed more than once the wrong way, the paint on it was over 1/16th thick, and they didn't remove the stainless, even when they were fixing dents. The result is lumpy bodywork, cracking paint, and "ditches" where the paint is thinner under the stainless. I spent all day today pounding out dents. Still a long way to go.
More progress. Got some new chrome, the front clip off the car so I can pull the perfect running 324 out and fix the firewall, and started reversing my rims. I recommend everyone reverse a set of their own rims at least once in their life, it was fun and satisfying in a weird way. More to come Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app
Well, got my rims reversed and trued, tomorrow they go off to get welded. We got some nice olds dog dishes for these on the way. Gonna look hot.
Pulled the engine and trans today. I cannot believe how heavy this 324 is. This has got to be one of the heaviest small V8s ever built. The engine stand I have can barely hold it. Im pretty sure it could be used as a wrecking ball, then reinstalled in the car and driven home. The engine will get a modern gasket kit, a mild cam, and an aluminum intake later. I pulled a head off tonight and found some staining in the first cylinder where water had gotten in, as well as a very old felpro headgasket. The flywheel was also loose. It is fairly clean and in great shape. I took a pic of one of our freshly blasted reversed rims with the center cap that came factory with this car. What do you guys think? I have a swinging pedal assembly from a Vega, and a mid 80s brake booster from a chevy truck. The pedal assembly has a provision for a clutch pedal if I decide to go that route later. I will be starting that soon and document how I did it here.
Besides DRH and I, I wonder how many people are even going to notice the reversed rims. They look really good with the dog dishes. With a little rake I think the car's really going to look great. Kevin
The rims look GREAT! Just mount them on the rear and check to see how much clearance you have before buying tires. I use a set of reversed rims on the back of mine with 235/70's. Can barely get my fingers between the lip and sidewall. I've had very mild contact on hard corners, but maybe you'll drive more sensible than I do............... Sure know what you mean about the weight of the drivetrain. Still have the stock set up in one of my 55's, but lightened up the sedan with a later smallblock (Olds) combo. You'll enjoy not having to stand on your head to check the master cylinder with the brake set up you are going with. Thanks for keeping another 55 Olds on the road!
We were thinking 225/60 on the rear and 205/60 on the front, Diamond Back smooth black walls. We're kind of limited because of the rim width. I love the wheels on the rear of your car, Sir Woosh, where did you get them and how wide are they? Are they chromed and reversed stockers? We want to go up one or two inches in the back and down an inch or so in the front. We don't want to get too crazy with the rise in the back but we want a noticeable rake. Kevin
I lucked into these rims about 2 years ago at a swap meet for $60 a pair. They are 7" with about 2" of offset compared to stock. Had my exhaust put on with these in place. Now when I put stock rims with similar tires, I get a mild rub on the pipes. Oops! Guess I'll just have to stay with the reversed for now........ Check the height of the 60's. you might find they don't quite fill the wheel openings to your approval. I have a set mounted for the rear and noticed it.
The Jalopy Journal
