I made a template and fired up the plasma cutter on a heavy piece of rectangular box that I had lying around. I left one end with a 90 on it to make my cable mounts. On a Camaro you use the 2nd and 3rd bolts in the manifold, that wouldn’t work on the olds since the steering shaft comes through there. I used the 1st and 2nd bolts and off set the mounting flange. You can see the tab lined up over the control arm. It will get 2 braces and a holes for the mounting pin. It may not appear like it but there is plenty of room there to miss the steering shaft. The steering dips below the control arm about half way down the control arm shaft. By that point it is a pretty straight shot to my mounting flange. That tab I left will get shortened and I’ll build the sides once the cable shows up so it fits taunt. I shaped the bracket to match the header flange for aesthetics. That should be plenty strong enough once I weld the braces to the tab.
I like what you did there.nuthin like the pull of a healthy big block. My 49 cab over had a '75 454 in it with a good size cam it was fun.
The Olds at full tune dynoed with 650 foot pounds of torque. That is the reason for that healthy dent in my header tube. I am lucky I have never had a throttle stick but Olds used cables in '68 and they have more flex than the hard Chevy linkage. I did some research on the Olds site and I do not think the recall reached the Ransom Olds company, probably for that reason.
The '68 up the street from me is maroon with black rag top and gut 350 car Cutl*** s. It's just sitting there guys says he's going to fix it up for his wife. SMH yeah right!
My brother in law has a 70 red rag top and his friend has a Cutl*** XS ? He said has same options as a w-30 which that's what it has for a motor I've never seen one. It's nice maroon and black also I buffed it for him a guy did a ****py paint job but I wet sanded it and it came out nice he thought I repainted it ,he was pissed at the body shop,! At least I got to drive it too has a stick in it. I had it for a week
I am giving the hold down a re-think. That flange I made is too thin and using exhaust bolts in an aluminum head is a recipe for disaster. I have a new idea, dropping by the steel yard to hunt for some s**** 1/4". I tried making a cardboard mock up (first round template) last night and I could not get it right. I may have to mock it up with 1/8" and then build it out of the 1/4". More to follow.
Simple but effective. I thought of a few thigs but I do want the finished product to at least resemble something that was a factory fix back in 68. Like the Chevy recall bracket. It will serve the purpose and make people scratch their heads. Like head lice but not as disgusting.
Either of you or @DDDenny know the length of that GM cable? Or more accurately the half-length? I found one on the bay that won't surface till Monday. I would like to get some mockup work done on this over the weekend. It looks like 4" from the loop to the eye lets. Can someone confirm that or know for sure?
Yep, that is what it looked like eye ballin it. 4" from the inside of the loop to the hole. That'll help till mine gets here. I can mock up a string or wire to subs***ute for now. What I have done is I removed the two head bolts in the picture and replaced them 2 way studs. That way I can torque down the head and still remove the bracket if need be. They line up directly over the #3 plug so I have to make a provision for that. Then it will extend over the control arm to accept the cable. That is 5"...I think. In addition to the studs, I also picked up some 1/4" rectangle tubing to make this out of. It won't be going anywhere! The cable must be taut (taunt?) taught? The new material is 3" wide, the head studs are 7". I am trying to make this out of one piece of steel and bend it, no welding. It was @Pist-n-Broke 's idea and I like it for the "factory fix" look. Round corners, gl*** bead and paint it with cast blast. This is the slot I cut tonight for the plug lead. The design of the CAD has changed though already. The cardboard aided design features square corners not the rounded ones of my new metal. Plus the CAD was 2 1/2" wide and we are now 3" wide. That means lowering the "wings" that attach it to the head studs to get them off the radius. That changes the decline to the leading edge to a straight line, which I like better. I may cut a bevel? in the front edge so it is not straight up and down. It's a work in progress. Getting the angle of the dangle correct on those mounting tabs ****S! I must have cut and taped that thing 20 times. I do not want it to run downhill to the control arm, it will look bent. Flat is optimal but I will take slightly uphill. Oh, that's easy buddy. Just think of your age.
And yes, lowering the mounting tabs to get them off the radius picks the bracket up 3/4". I have to account for that and make sure I have 4" for the mounting pin hole. I am sure there are easier ways to do this, but I don't do easy, except for girls, but I was younger then. Like Franky said "When I was 17, it was a very good year..."
If exorcism is the removal of demons, what’s it called if I put the Demon back in the Olds? I don’t have the answer, but she’s possessed once again. All she needs now is an old priest, a young priest and a dyno tune. maybe I should have rebuilt the carb on a Ouija board.
Those carbs are easy.... I have an early Barry Grant gold claw carb that has the best of everything...
I remember when they first came out, they had some obvious improvements over the Holley design like 4 corner metering, dual sight gl***es in the bowls, I remember wondering why Holley never did that? Take out a screw and rock the car to check float level?? Now Holley owns the company...and charges a grand for them. This 750 has all the bells and whistles except for dual power valves. It has been on there since 2009 and has impressed me with its reliability. I considered switching to EFI and that would likely give me better fuel economy, but this carb is too good to toss.
More work on the bracket. I heated and bent the mounting tabs, drilled and shaped them. I also worked on the final profile for the sides. Test fit. I used a yellow wire tie, wrapped it around the control arm and cut it off at 4” to the bottom of the control arm. it lines up nice. I’ll wait to drill until the cable shows up tomorrow. I also want to pin hole to be snug so best to have it in hand. I wanted it to look like a factory item and I think it does. Nicer than GM but it looks at home. And it will be functional. You could pull the engine out with this brace.
The cable showed up on schedule, after a trip through the bead blaster and a cursory polish it looks brand new. I didn’t consider that my bracket is wider than the Camaro bracket. Pin didn’t fit. I found a long stainless bolt, chopped it off, drilled it for a cutter pin, rounded the head…done. DO you think that bolt will bend under torque? If it does it isn't coming out without a fight (cutoff wheel). Should I make this out of a grade 8 bolt? Time for paint. I have been an Alliance member here for a while but I didn’t want to put a HAMB tag on the olds since it’s OT. But now that it has its own thread… tagged!
I wet sanded the bracket so it looks like the rest of the under hood stuff, the old isn’t a show car. The bracket looks like it has been there a while. Cable is taut, I used Gibbs on the bracket to give it a nice oily look like everything else in there and to protect the bare spots Spark plug lead fit nicely. This is done.
Got around to installing the new Odessey 925 in the 442 today, it's been pulling hard on the old battery recently. I think I need a roll or two of tube socks to fill out my speedo. The old battery box is a bit overkill. I could put 4 of these little bats in there.
The Jalopy Journal
