Projects New Project: 1953 Oldsmobile

Maaaaan this process sucks.

Watched some more videos on buffing. Picked up a different polisher and tried again. It’s looking way better, but it’s taking forever and it’s far from perfect. I don’t have time before leaving, but I’ll need to do the entire car again.

This is going to be one of those times where the pictures look better than it does in person. I spent about 4 hours on it yesterday and only got halfway. Hoping to finish up after work since we’re leaving for LSRU tomorrow morning.


The hood louvres are going to suck. Wish me luck!

 

Finished the buff job last night and drove out this morning to Austin. The buff job is far from perfect, but pretty sure I can do better next time.


Made it to LSRU! Car ran great with no issues. Great first day and can’t wait to get back out tomorrow.

 

Alright. School is almost out and it’s about time to get started on Baloo. I need to play a quick game of “change my mind.” Or better yet, help me make up my mind.

Pull the body off the frame or leave it on?

I have been daily driving this thing for about 6 years now. Being down a couple months is no big deal, but I know damn well if I pull the frame, it’s going to be a lot longer than that.

Baloo will never be an award winning show car. I just enjoy driving it too much to drop money on nice paint and fancy interior. But I also like the idea of having a really well done frame.

Thoughts?

Just a few pictures so I don’t have a blank post.



Picked up a few Olds patches at LSRU and added them to my shop jacket.

 

I would say no, do not do it. So few cars that come apart actually go back together. Things break, mission creeps, budgets are blown. If you just want it to look a little better; clean, scotchbright and rattle can/brush/roller it black. I use this:

 

I agree, don't remove the body. It will never get done. Mission creep applies here. Since I have the body off, I may as well, buy new wiring, new fuel lines, new brake lines, redo the gas tank, clean and paint the underside of the body, new body bolts, and new rubber body insulators. You get the picture, all because you just wanted to repaint the frame.

 

Buy a parts car frame and build that. Swap when done

Alright. School is almost out and it’s about time to get started on Baloo. I need to play a quick game of “change my mind.” Or better yet, help me make up my mind.

Pull the body off the frame or leave it on?

Baloo will never be an award winning show car. I just enjoy driving it too much to drop money on nice paint and fancy interior. But I also like the idea of having a really well done frame.

 

^^^^^^what treb said makes a lot of sense.

 

I left my body on the frame and i have it painted from the transmission crossmember and forward. I guesstimated it would have added another 6 months into the build, smack into the winter months... nah...

 

Clean and paint it with the body on. I have done that to lots of cars. 4 jack stands and a good creeper, and a can of black Rustoleam.

 

Thanks for all the feedback!

I would love to do a donor frame, but this one already has the Nova clip on it and I don't want to start over on that. Current plan is to leave the body on. I'm about to order all of my suspension stuff.

Anyone want to check my parts list and dimensions before I order? Only thing not listed are the 2" drop spindles for the front and the various fittings. More likely, by the time you've read this, I've already ordered, but never know. Really hoping I can get this job done in 2 months. Maye not finished, but at least drivable again.



And another car picture for the post. Decided to grab the shot after church Sunday.

 

Do you watch Bello's Customs on TY? He does a ton of 4 link with bag and c-notch installs with the body on the frame. You need to cut out the trunk floor and wheel wells anyways so the body need to be there. So this is doable body on, BUT he has a lift making it exponentially easier.

 

Alright. The process has officially started today.

Pulled the front clip off and the engine is out.


Going to spend the next few days cleaning the frame up and the engine. May drop off the 200r4 for a rebuild this week too.

Engine needed to come out for oil pan gasket and rear main seal. Going to regasket everything while I’m at it.

Also going to paint the engine. Color recommendations? What color is correct for a 1968 block?

 

sweet! tom mccahill, who tested cars for the old "mechanix illustrated," called olds "the smart chappie's cadillac"!

 

Been debating all day on getting the 200-4r rebuilt. I hate it, but I think I’m gonna hold off for now. Solid chance I change my mind in 5 minutes.

It would be so much easier to swap it right now, but I don’t think I want that many new things at one time. Plus I’d be another $2500 into this project by the time I get it going. I’ve got enough to waste money on for now.

Anyway. What do you guys think on the firewall? Leave it alone? Paint it? Rhino line it?

 

Paint the firewall the color that you will eventually paint the car if you re paint it.

 

Little update.

Got the engine degreased and mostly ready for paint. All the gaskets came in from Summit and took everything to the shop that’s going to regasket it for me. It’s all stuff I could probably have done myself, but I don’t want to get it wrong and have to do this all again.

And I gave in on the transmission. I dropped the 2004r off for a rebuild. Already got the vacuum switch for the lockup. I’ll figure out the driveshaft once it’s all back together.










I know most of you won’t agree with this move, but I went with flat black for the firewall and inner fenders. The paint was super worn, faded, and scratched up. Flat black will be easy to maintain if something gets scratched. If I knew what color I’ll paint the car someday, I might have done that. I’m so over spent on this current project, that paint is a looooong way away.

 

I use VHT chassis and roll cage black. Not flat and far from glossy, very forgiving for touch ups and holds up well.

 

I see you used tape to cover your wires and cables. You know what is easier? Aluminum foil, just form around and tape the ends. comes off way easier also.

 

Now you tell me! Haha That’s genius. Wish I had thought of that.

 

Alright! Time for a decent update!

All my stuff for air ride came at the end of last week.


This is my last week off unfortunately before I’m back teaching. Going to try and make the best of it, so I got on it over the last few days and got the front mocked up and dropped. Everything is still just tacked together, but all the measurements are coming out perfect so far.


It’s fun to see the front so low. I’m dying to see the whole thing down, so I took off the rear tires just to play with it some.


I still have a long way to go on the front end. More measurements to take, welds to finish, shocks to install etc.

With this being my last week off, I’m hoping to have the front end finished. There’s a chance the engine and transmission will be ready. If they are, it would be nice to have those thrown back in as well.

 

I love that car. It makes my '51 Dodge look so un-stylish.

 

Front is done! Well, mostly. Need to torque some stuff down and put the brakes back on. Everything is measuring out perfect! Same amount of lift on both sides at the same air pressure. I unfortunately had to ditch the sway bar, but I was able to keep 100% of my steering radius. I lost waaaay too much of it putting the shocks on the opposite side.


Unless I get too impatient, I’m going to wait on the engine and transmission before I do the rear. Then I can do some shake down runs. If any issues come up, I won’t have to wonder if it’s the front or rear that’s to blame.

It tough to wait when I’m looking at all the cool stuff in boxes on my kitchen table.

 

Awesome job, I can't wait to see it put back together!

 

The 200-4r is back!


Engine should be back soon. I need a few parts to get the new trans going. How does this parts list sound? I already have the lockup harness.


I really wanted to get the engine and trans back in and drive a bit before bagging the back. To do that, I need a new driveshaft. That made me question how much the diff will move forward and backwards at different ride heights. I played with the bars on the floor. I exaggerated the numbers to get an idea.


The differential could move as much as 2” forward when laid out. That makes me question the slip yoke location in the transmission. I’ll play with it more once the engine and trans are back in the car. That way I can get more accurate numbers.

 

There has got to be information available on that. It may impact the front yoke selection.

 

There must be a maximum distance a yoke can go into a transmission before bottoming out. And you can only pull them out so far before you pull out of the bushing in the tail shaft. That should tell you how much the shaft can move in and out of the transmission.

 

There was an old machine shop joke... you can't have a 6" stroke with a 4" tool...

 

Measuring with a caliper, it looks like the yoke can have 4” depth before bottoming out. I know you’re supposed to bottom the yoke, pull out 1”, and measure for the driveshaft, but obviously I don’t know just yet how much my diff will move.


I decided yesterday to go all in. I want this car back on the road ASAP. I went ahead and pulled everything out from the back.


About to show off my differential ignorance. I clamped one drum down so I could count rotations and find my ratio. I did it roughly 6 times and got 1.6 every time. Obviously wrong. But then realized, maybe with one wheel clamped, it halves the ratio because it’s not spinning like it should? Just guessing, but that would bring it to 3.2, and I was expecting to find a 3.23 gearing. Hopefully one of you can tell me if I’m on the right track.

I’m about to call a driveline shop and see if they’ll give it a once over. I think I put the yoke on too tight. I swear I followed the directions for torquing the but down, but it doesn’t seem right to me. I think I loaded the bearing down too much. I have to kick the pinion over by turning the axles before I can move it by hand. Seems like it’s getting stuck. I drove it that way several hundred miles too, so I need to make sure it’s ok.

On the diff topic, think 3.23 will be ok with 0.67 over drive and 205/75/15 tires? I’m after gas mileage here, not racing, but I also don’t want the engine to lug.

One last update; I can’t remember if I mentioned it here or not. The guy doing the regasket for me called me a couple weeks ago and told me I needed a new timing chain. I bought one and brought it out to him. I asked him what tipped him off, and he laughed and said “come here and look.” There was almost an inch of slack in it. So… glad that’s fixed. Also doing a new oil pump whiles it’s apart.

 

assuming the 205 is 27.1 inches tall a 323 gear at 70 in od will put the rpms at around 2015. This is from the Spicer rpm calculator.

 

Yeah, I was playing on their site too. I posted these results on an Olds group to see what they thought. Obviously they want me to change gears because it would be faster, but they all said the 455 wouldn’t lug with 3.23’s.

I did confirm today that’s my ratio. Spent some time cleaning my rear end. Heh. I may still pull the pumpkin and have a driveline shop give it a once over to make sure it’s ok.