kitfoxdave

I am away from home for a week or 2... will try to check that out... I definately want them bright!
Many of the drivers around are mot very bright... I am trying to compensate...

I found out the old cruddy exhaust does not bolt up to the thornton 350 jrs... so researching my options!

kitfoxdave

Bought a Pypes exhaust system except got Dynomax ultra flo mufflers to go with it. ordered thru summit 6:30 on Thursday, they were here at my door Saturday at 9:30 am! Free shipping! Got the system in today (after grinding off the PO abomination of an exhaust hanger on drivers side!) Hope to fire up REALLY SOON! then finish up wiring the new tach and installing trans temp gauge etc and get the transmission going as well!

kitfoxdave

I have successfully fired up the engine today. It is running rough and coughs and farts , but it makes noise!!!!

So I have air, sparks and fuel all going to the right places, just need to sort out the balance

On its rubber, it looks about the right height, (have to check that though)

It looks so much better without the drooping springs!

Need to get the rest of the parts on, and finish sorting the wiring harnesses... BUT it MAKES NOISE!

RetroRanger

nice milestone dave, its always a good motivator to fire it up !!

kitfoxdave

Yeah it really is motivational after all the work and expense... now I am working through all the things that did not get tightened all the way, the open vacuum ports, etc... (explains a lot of coughing and farting!)

oldcutlass

Nothing better than bringing it back to life!

lshlsh2

I just read the thread, very nice. I'm hoping to do much the same with my71 including take it cross country. My project is going much slower though. Daughter in college slows things way down. Will keep following with interest. Keep up the good work.

Larry

kitfoxdave

More progress today, it is running better, but still some backfiring thru the carb. Took a few more parts off the donor car, bolted a few more onto the convertible. Does anybody know how the center rubber bumper at the rear of the hood is held into the cowl sheet metal? I need to remove it to get the nice looking original screen off in one undestroyed piece!

RetroRanger

Should be a Phillip screw thru the center of the bumper

kitfoxdave

The VHT "flameproof" header paint is definitely not! Already smoking and changing color...Baked in the oven per their directions and all...Don't waste your money on it.

kitfoxdave

Got to work a little bit this morning on the car... took a little more advance out of the timing and now it idles! NOW I can start tuning it! Even though the cam is pretty mild , with the pypes exhaust with the Ultra flow mufflers, it gets your attention!


Some of the backfires were spectacular!


Finish bleeding the brakes soon!

kitfoxdave

Found some inexpensive speakers at Sam's Club ($20 each on sale) They are stand alone speakers with blue tooth (Canz 808). Problem is in Bluetooth mode I can only run one at a time from my smartphone... Solved that with a y cable (splitting left and right) and extension cables. I will be putting a power outlet in my trunk and running the usb charger from there. This should keep the interior from having to be chopped up for speakers. Some may complain about distortion, power, etc... I somewhat remember the concerts of the 70's, and the hearing damage... Will test them out over the next few days and see if I can hear them over the Dynomax Ultraflows...

kitfoxdave

Got the dash pad out of the 4 door parts car today without breaking any tabs off! Just need to pull the engine block and the seat belts, then it is ready to go. Anyone in Central Florida need some 4 door parts? I thought I had someone that wanted the remains, but never heard from him again. If no replies, off to the scrap guy it goes... control arms are good, th350, pegleg rear, 3 really good doors, aftermarket package tray cover, headliner still new in box... Frame is in great shape... free to a good home. I need the space!

Allan R

give John a PM. He might be interested. He has a 72 4 door sedan.

kitfoxdave

I noticed the link you sent was for someone in Alberta... It is a bit far to drag a parts car, but then again you have snow and cold, and I have sunshine and warm!


Dave

Allan R

Yup, the snow and ice makes it easier to drag around the carcasses. I don't know if John is still looking, just thought it might be a shot in the dark to see if there was some interest. Sunshine and warm?? WTH is that??

kitfoxdave

Got the headlight buckets painted today... mid 70's light breeze, overcast with clearing to the west...


Did a few extra as some of them had REALLY BIG screw holes to tie in the stainless bezel pieces... I will pick the best 4 of the lot. If I need to I have 2 more that I can blast and paint....

kitfoxdave

You know Allan, if you are itching to work on a Cutlass and it is just too cold and snowy up there...
I have a project, beer and warm sunny skies! Just sayin'....

kitfoxdave

here is the headlight subassemblies before installation. it only took me about 3 times to get the correct headlight bucket in the correct location. Otherwise you get some funky headlight orientations! That is what the ABCD stamps are for!


Duh!

Allan R

They look good Dave! Twist my rubber arm a bit more??? Man that's a tempting offer....

kitfoxdave

Engine is out of the parts car a couple of small items left to remove then off to the crusher! I will finally have some more room to work! Of course it leaked its life blood/fluids all over the floor!


Back on to the convertible soon!

kitfoxdave

Just a quick update, the headlights and grilles are installed, next up is the front bumper. Will post pictures as soon as I can.

Allan R

Are you installing the front bumper yourself or with help? I'm curious to know your process so please document it. I need to take off my front bumper to replace my grilles and stoneshield. While it's out I plan to media blast and repaint all the front bracing. I'm specifically interested in whether you put all the bracing back onto the bumper first or not.

kitfoxdave

Allen, I normally bolt the brackets to the bumper but do not completely tighten them. put the rear bolts thru the chassis frame and brackets very loosely, then swing up into place. (I try to get another set of hands to help with this.) I usually install the braces after the bumper is in place so I can tweak the location a bit easier. The nose was off before and should be much closer to correct now. The front of the frame was off from prior damage, and the core support was rotted out under the battery so that side sagged a lot.
With your pristine car, once you pull the braces off to clean them to your usual standard, I would leave the braces off until it is in place and then do the final adjustments as you install the braces. This is about the fourth time I have installed the front bumpers. Just take is slow and methodical.... be careful of the lower portion of the plastic around the headlights! I will try to take pictures as I go.

Eddie Hansen

Great work Dave to say I am jealous of the weather would be an understatement.

kitfoxdave

Well, you know, it would be good exercise to wander down to Vero Beach and help me sort out the last bits to get this puppy on the road.... ;-)

cdrod

I'm thinking of installing the Digitails kit on my '72 convertible project. What do you think of this kit? I've read through the install docs and it looks pretty straight forward to me ... but I'm an electrical engineer. Are they significantly brighter than the original light bulbs? This will be my daily driver and I live in Houston, TX where tailgating is the norm. If you leave too much extra space in front some little Mini Cooper will whip in front of your and slam on the brakes. SO I want my brake lights to be quick and bright! My other big concern is how long those little LEDs will stay lit - at $219 it would be a bugger to if some of the them starting going dead. Appreciate your comments.

Rodney

kitfoxdave

Rodney, the kit went in easy... I am a mechanical engineer... My son installs operating room equipment, so I had him do the soldering. He is much better at it than I am. They light up right away when you step on the brake. MUCH brighter than the originals. Don't know how long they will last, but they are really nice now. The OEM diffuser lens does not fit with the Digi-tails kit installed.

cdrod

Dave:
Thanks for the quick reply! It's nice to know that others have gone before you with success - LOL.

Rodney

kitfoxdave

Yeah, I know that feeling! it was a very nice kit.. I did get some heat shrink to put around the wiring to keep the rain out of it. (that was not included in the kit...) Since you are an electrical engineer you should have NO problem coming up with heat shrink tubing...

kitfoxdave

The front bumper is now on the car. I will get pictures posted soon. This was a bit of a pain... had to shift the core support about 3/8 of an inch. There was some front end damage sometime in the life of this car. The frame end on the drivers side is about 1/2" lower than the passenger side. The frame matches side to side at the control arm locations and at the firewall. It is just off at the end. The Bumper is not straight either... I still have to install the braces at this point.
Allen, I attached the Bumper support brackets loosely on the bumper and had 2 helpers lift it up some so I could get the back bolts in place. (loose) then had them pull it forward to clear the plastic stone shield and grill assembly. Then installed the front 2 bolts, again loosely. Center the bumper and lightly tighten the bolts on the supports. keep centering and check the gaps and overlaps as you go. I may have to correct the height off the floor as my wheels are 15"...

kitfoxdave

OK, finally getting back to the car a little bit... Mom has been in and out of hospital, and I have been dealing with a kidney stone... Bought NOS fenders a good used trunk lid and some other misc parts from Wtony. I also made a trip today over to Tampa and picked up a Thornton OAI hood from Rob.... and I thought I had a lot of projects! A gold mine of Oldsmobile stuff! I had to drink a lot of water afterward to make up for the fluid loss from drooling the whole time!

Eddie Hansen

Nice work dave

kitfoxdave

A bit of an update... Allen, the front bumper install was a real PITA... now that the core support and the bracing are located correctly, the bumper out of contour issues really show up... needs to be straightened really bad. I will just replace it since it is badly pitted on the back side and the chrome is starting to peel near the top center... that will happen after painting. It took a long time to get installed... a lot of taking care of mom issues, a trip to Turkey... you know the drill. Hope to get directional lights and marker lights in this weekend.

Allan R

Well now you've got me worried. Looking forward to any pics you took of the install and how it turns out. My garage right now is full of lumber for a yard project so I'm not touching the Cutlass for awhile.

Sampson

I feel your pain on the front bumper install. I bought a repop and am fighting to get it lined up. After several attempts ( read lots of time) it is "good enough for now". I will have to readdress it to get it right.

Allan R

Steve, what's the specific issue with lining up the repop? Mine is OEM and was replated, but I'm sure it's going to have it's say in how it goes back on.

Who did you buy the repop front bumper from?

Sampson

Allan, The repop came from The Parts Place. All in all I was pretty happy with the quality of the piece. It needs to move approximately 1/2" towards the passengers side. The fender to bumper gap is 0 on that side and pretty large on the drivers side. It is off by approx 1/2" to the center of the stone shield. The frustrating part is there appears to be enough adjustment in the brackets to move the bumper. This is definitely a 2 person job. I have enlisted my wife's help but think I need someone with better skills to assist! I think that the problem may be in the angle of the V to the center of the bumper. A little tweeking will bring it in line.

kitfoxdave

Finally got to do a little wrenching on the car again today... Got a support in for the transmission lines to the radiator. Managed to get the REAR disc brakes bled... (Another PITA) had to take the calipers loose from the mounting bracket, so I could rotate them enough to get them bled. I had to put a spacer between the pads, as this could NOT be done over the disc itself.... so 2.5 hours later I now have pedal! and about an hour of reassembly to do... Hopefully when it is all back together it will STOP! then I can get to working more on the GO!

kitfoxdave

here is my current bumper... or should I say bummer.... the drivers side is not too bad, the PS leaves much to be desired... As far as location goes, make sure your core support is correctly located to start with!


I plan on new bumper after repaint...