Speednut81

Im new here and joined because my step dad just sold me his 70 442 that he bought when he was 21. He married my mom when I was very young and I can remember the first time I met him he was driving this car. Now the car has been in pieces since 2000, he tore it down with plans of restoring but he never had the time or money. Now they live and Georgia and the car has been bouncing around from storage to storage up here in Michigan. He finally called me up and offered it too me.

This is my first experience restoring a car like this so I know I am gonna need lots of help.

Speednut81

The engine has been partially completed. I am taking the engine to More Power Inc. to be completed and dynoed. I plan on having the trans gone through as well.

Would a clutch kit be a good upgrade? Whats a good choice?

The 455 block came with original heads / Q-jet carb / & a Torker II intake. What are some good improvements I can do with the heads? Is the Torker a good intake to run in 455? It had somebody suggest a electric fuel pump?

stevengerard

Welcome, great story. You should do some research to find out if this car has any documentation from your dad. If it is a real W30 convertible it is pretty rare. Its now your car do with it what you want but I'd suggest taking some time to learn about it, find out what you really have and if it is a W30 instead of the torker manifold and messing with the heads I'd try to bring it back to original.

allyolds68

The first thing I'd do is figure out if its a real W30 4 speed convertible. If it is I'd be looking for paperwork to prove it. Your talking about the difference between a nice $40k car and a car that could be worth upwards of $200k if it has paperwork. Even at $40k (if its "just" a 442 4 speed convertible) I'd be thinking about restoring it completely stock.

stevengerard

only 2,933 442 convertibles were made
only 549 of them were 4 speeds
of that only 96 were W30s

so no matter what you have, your car is either rare or extremely rare.

Speednut81

I agree with you guys. Still working on that, here's the vin number I pull off it. I have those pictures I posted of engine and trans numbers.

Vin.. 344670M131806

Speednut81

I have pulled off front suspension ready to replace bushings and ball joints. Is sandblasting the best way to clean up frame and control arms then primer n paint. What's earliest way to pull old bushings out and put new ones in?

allyolds68

All W30's were built in Lansing. The "M" in your VIN establishes that it was built in Lansing so it "could" be a W30. Unfortunately hundreds of thousands of cars were built in Lansing to so say your is one of the 96 is still unconfirmed. There's a member here that privately tracks the VINs of the documented and undocumented 70 W30 verts. Maybe you could post some more of the relevant things that would establish it as a possible W30. Specific aluminum intake, F heads, specific carb and distributors (I don't remember the numbers), but most important, paperwork.

The engine and trans will only prove it the car is "matching" numbers" and I'm not sure if the VIN derivative is stamped on MT's in 70.

The numbers you need to tell if it's a "numbers matching" engine is here (circled in red):
(for the real hardcore vette type guys you'll need to have the cast dates of the block be close to, but before, the manufacture date of the car)

citcapp

In either case it is a cool Olds and looks to be in very good re-sortable condition. Good luck and keep us in the loop on your restoration

lunaboy

chk behind that drivers side seat back for the broadcast card. One good sign is that w25 hood i see in the corner; but w25 was avail on reg cutlass 442 as option. std on w30. Where are the heads. E Or F(s) Good luck... nice W25 442 RAG for Now.

442guy

Look for boxed control arms and get the number off the carb. It should have F heads.

442guy

Carb number 7040258 for a manual.

Dist 1111979

No sound deadening ..if it has the wing the trunk should raise on its own.. They had stupid stiff bars in the trunk to off set that wing ..other small things I may have forgotten .. If you have the the f heads a huge bonus.

allyolds68

Really , It's a convertible

Speednut81

I just dropped the engine block heads and everything else at the shop to be completed. I'll have to wait on head and carb numbers.

2blu442

OK, if you don't know what you have then I encourage you to hustle down to the machine shop and document what you dropped off. Reason why is that regular 1970 442 heads (E's) are worth $150ish. But the W30 heads (F's) are more like $3500. There are several members here who can share stories of people working at machine shops that were overcome by temptation and really rare stuff didn't make it home. Not bad mouthing the machine shop, I don't know these people at all. BUT... its your responsibility to know what you gave them and make sure they know you know what its worth.

The carb? If its the correct 258 that may be another $800+ item. Did it have the correct distributor? These parts all have specific numbers stamped in them that were only used in a 1970 W30, and if you loose them you'll have a tough time finding replacements.

So if there's a chance that this is a W30 car you need to find out what original parts were still with the motor and keep a close eye on them!

John

hurst68olds

Got cowl tag info?

IIRC, 1970 W30s were not available at the beginning of the model year. 0M131806 is pretty early.

hurst68olds

If my math is correct - cowl tag would be 09C or close - too early for a W30.

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...0-442-w30.html

hurst68olds

Is the transmission VIN stamped?

assembly date stamping appears to be - P0P08B (Monday 9/8/69)

P = (plant) Muncie
0 = (model year) 1970
P = (month) September
08 = (day) 8th
B = (type) M21

Speednut81

You know guys...im starting to think this isnt a W30 car. I will run over and check numbers on Heads and Carb. I am missing the distributor. And the intake doesnt feel like its Aluminum because its super heavy. May be like one of you guys said "rare but not super rare"

Speednut81

The machine shop guy is pretty tight with my family and gets alot of business from my uncles so Im not too worried about him swapping rare parts for non-rare

stevengerard

actually 7040258 is an automatic W30 carb

so your carb if original should be

7040256 for a W30 442 MT
7040253 for a 442 MT

That is a very early build

442guy

Oh yeah.....mine was a coupe.I can't picture one without the wing.

Speednut81

I got everything off front of car and ready to pull body off frame to take care of some issues underneath the car. there are some spots of light surface rust on bottom of floor pan. I want to get those cleanup. Then I might as well replace all body mounts and have frame sandblasted and painted.


I have two different ideas of how to take body off. 1 is to build frame around car and hook chains to body and lift it up with pulleys. 2 is to crawl underneath and block it up and pull frame out.

Does anybody know where to get polyurthene body mount bushings?

Speednut81

I found out the this car doesnt have the original intake which could of been aluminum. This still maybe a W30. It does look like it has the boxed rear control arms

allyolds68

A floor jack, some 4x4's & blocking, and a little patience gets it up plenty high to roll the frame out.

tecar442

Be careful when you when you remove the body bushing bolts. They may be rusty and you don't want to spin the caged nuts because that will cause problems you don't need. (don't ask how I know) Use a butterfly impact and go back and forth gently, don't force them. Be patient , they will come.

Sampson

X2. Don' ask how mi know either! By the way was that a MAW I heard you say about pulling the frame? Once you do that there are a lot of MAWs to follow. Going deep

Speednut81

I found out I have the E heads...not a w-30

allyolds68

It's still a fairly rare and very desireable car. Everyone wants a 4 speed vert

Speednut81

That's how I plan on doing it. Where u have it blocked up in front of rear wheel, is the body sitting right on 4x4, or is there blocking in the middle?

Speednut81

It's been a Slow go at it lately, but still making progress. Engine is almost completed I'll have some pics up of that soon. Working on interior I've pulled out everything and cleaning up floor pan getting ready to paint. I just picked up a 20 gallon Sandblaster and plan to sandblast the pan then paint with chassis saver. Then do same thing underneath once frame is removed

Sampson

Be careful with the sandblaster it is real easy to warp panels.

Speednut81

Thanks. I've been told that from other guys too. My plan, because the pans aren't that bad, is to go over them lights with Sandblaster to clean them up. I haven't sandblasted before but I've been watching YouTube videos and asking other guys. Definitely gonna be careful.

Speednut81

I just got the body off the frame and getting ready to be powder coated. Engine is coming along great too. I plan on using por15 all underneath and on rear diff.

Take a look at these pictures once I jacked up the body I had a clear view. What should I do with these areas? Por15 right over it or sandblast or ???

jstrits

POR-15..ugggh. Can't stand the look of that over a crusty surface. Looks like you are looking for the cheap way out and going to flip it when its done. you've come this far don't go cheap andeasy now. I'd try to sand blast it and do a little skim fillinf to smooth some bad spots out. Prime and then paint it. The glossy brushed on stuff looks terrible. Thats my opinion, especially when you bend down to inspect the underside someday.