J-(Chicago)

Here's where I'm at. I took a week off for friends, rain, wound healing, and relaxation, but things are moving right along. Frame will be blasted and 1st coated tomorrow.
1- Start
2-disassembly
3-scraping/cleaning/grinding
4- Fabbing up body carts
5- Body mounts

J-(Chicago)

-interior gut
-Beer and pizza for the boys, for helping me lift.
-rolling chassis

J-(Chicago)

Sandblasted the whole chassis yesterday and por 15 painted it.
top coat primed it today. I'll get some pics.

Oldsguy

If you are going to do just the frame and then put the body back on, yes, for sure. What else is planned though?

J-(Chicago)

There's still a LOT to do. I have to patch a rear floor pan, sandblast the whole floor, Make a new dashboard, make a new non ac heater box to cover the firewall hole, box the frame in the middle, weld in a dual hump crossmember from a 96 impala, cut and weld 2 pairs of inner fenders to make one good pair, all of the body work, all new lines, fuel cell, seal off the trunk from the driver area with sheetmetal, re run all harnesses, put in floor dimmer headlight switches, convert to buckets & automatic floor shift, new suspension, manual steering conversion, swap motor brackets onto the new motor, re fabric the headliner, wheels,tires, scrape off all undercoating and paint under the body.

That's just what I can think of off the top of my head.

jeffrey

......Just voted "no"..........


However, if you prove me wrong, I'll not only buy ya a beer, I'll hand it to ya.

Jeff

Oldsguy

Oh man, you have a lot to do then. I modify my assessment, you won't get it all done in time my friend, however, if I am wrong I will also buy you a beer or better yet, bring you one of my own "Burn-Out Stout".

nohn

I don't know too much, but getting that much done in that amount of time. You will have to work yourself crazy. If you get it done I will send you a bottle of wine from Italy.

Oldsguy

Ha!

If nothing else, this guy is going to be drunk soon!

J-(Chicago)

That's gonna be a long hand off from Mississippi. Go go gadget arm.

J-(Chicago)

I think money is going to be the big factor in getting it done. My tax return is already spent Hopefully that economy stimulus package pulls through. Luckily, most of the hard kicks money wise have already been overcome. Motor, trans, rear end, and new suspension parts were already purchased/completed a month ago.

jeffrey

For some reason I thought you were gonna take the car to Byron, I musta had it confused with a different thread.

The_Jeremiah

Just voted yes, do yourself a favor, get OFF the page, and GO work on it ! LOL just teasing. J, What exactly are you doing to the car ? Are you making a drag car ? or just swapping a big block into it ? What all are you doin ? im intrigued, what is the purpose of the car ? lol

J-(Chicago)

Jeffery---Yeah I'm hoping to be at the Byron IL track on Sept 1st.

You coming??!


The Jeremiah---
I guess the purpose of the car is just a nice sleeper street cruiser. I'm taking every bolt off of the car and painting it, and getting every bit of rust on it disintegrated. I want to have a brand new nice fast car when I'm finished for under 9 grand.

The motor is a 72 350 with 7a heads. I did a bowl blend, and sent the heads out for a 4 angle valve job, and changed the exhaust seat radius from 45degrees to 30degrees. Performer Rpm intake, and bored .030 for some Flat top pistons. Lunati 318A3 cam.

Nothing too outrageous, but motor should be making close to 400 horse.
Here's the head flow numbers before and after the machine work.
Int. Ex. (Stock)
.100 55 40
.200 105 75
.300 148 105
.400 170 135
.500 180 145
Int. Ex. (Machined)
.100 80 66
.200 145 109
.300 185 147
.400 207 170
.500 209 180
My current carb is a Holley 750 vs
Gear ratio is a 3.73
Haven't decided on the trans yet. A th350 will probably gain me a few tenths, and a 3.73 a few more but I have a built and kitted 400 that I'm just dying to put into something. I'm hoping for low 13's

J-(Chicago)

Only stock suspension that will be used are a arms and steering spindles.

J-(Chicago)

Here you go ladies and gents 3 days of progress. I sandblasted the frame to bare metal, por 15 painted, 1st coat primed, 2nd coat primed, and 1st green topcoat layer was layed down just before sunset today. Some of you military guys might appreciate the color choice I mixed the color myself and think it looks awesome.

J-(Chicago)

.

J-(Chicago)

Rain yesterday and today
I'll try to get something else done however.

J-(Chicago)

Frame is finished with paint. Going to box it and put in the new crossmember this weekend.

Inner fenders are done, ready for paint. Bumper inserts are blasted and primed.

I have glue and fabric for the headliner and am going to start it now.

The_Jeremiah

J, that frame looks awesome, i especially love the color. Too bad it will only look that nice for a month or so : ) then it will be caked in dirt

Aussie67Delta88Custom

J-chicago,
You are welcome to come on Down Under and give my 67 Delta 88 Custom the J-treatment !

The fools who have it wont have this much respect !


cheers and beers from Australia

J-(Chicago)

Thanks for all the great feedback guys.
I'll keep the pics coming.

J-(Chicago)

Here's another update. I've been slacking a bit lately, mostly because of rain days and waiting for parts, BUT...
I did the lower control arm bushings, A-arm bushings, new cross shafts, and ball joints tonight. Took about 4 hours.
I also boxed the frame and got a couple coats of paint on the new metal.
I blasted and painted the inside of the chrome bumpers black, blasted and painted the core support, inner fenders, and the rear axle.

J-(Chicago)

Well folks, I finally got back to work on her today. Rolling chassis is done except for a pitman arm and brake job. I also started mocking up the transmission with an old block and crank. It's been a pretty fun project so far.
The local parts store had 500 degree rattle cans of corporate blue on clearance for $1.50 so I scooped them all up. I hadn't planned on making anything blue, but It doesn't look too ridiculous so you'll probably see a few more things suddenly turn blue as it progresses lol.

J-(Chicago)

As some of you already know, the 85 200C transmission and crossmember will not work with a 72 delta 88 th400.
Here's some pics of the obvious reasons



Also in the gallery for today....
Converting a 90's Chevy 9c1 Crossmember into an Olds crossmember.

Measure.......



Mark......


and CHOP.
I'll be using the rear mount, not the front. These things are Solid as a rock, even cut up.

J-(Chicago)

I went through the entire body today........
Don't think I'm gonna make it now.
I found some......
well as a dentist would say....
cavitys.

If I work 6 hrs a day everyday after work I might make it.
and If I end up at the race, The car will be in nothing but DP90.

Oldsguy

At least you are making progress. Good work.

J-(Chicago)

I got a lot done this week, but managed to set myself back even further.
After a good sandblasting, the shell is kind of .... well.... F'd up.

So... let's see here.... I now need
Both doors, Rear floor pans, and patch panels for the quarters, sail panels, and wheelhouses.

I'll report back after I'm out of daylight.....
Maybe...

On the plus side, My electrolytic rust remover rig is working, slowly but surely.

J-(Chicago)

Lots of pics for you to enjoy, and a few to horrify you.




If you think you're going to be slick and remove your landau top, I suggest you think twice. This one only came off because it HAD to come off to fix the rust. Note the 1/4''+ of filler from the factory and what the seams look like after you chisel it all off.

J-(Chicago)

I Think I need some floors.....
I bet you can't wait to see what this GARBAGE will look like after a sandblasting.

J-(Chicago)

Sigh....

So much for my $75 diamond in the rough.
$75 is about all it's worth at this point.

I need doors,wheelhouse patches, and 1 qtr panel patch now.

J-(Chicago)

After all of these depressing pictures, I'll post a couple to cheer us up.
I got sick and tired of trying to find a correct pitman arm for my 65 manual box and Delta idler arm combo.... So I changed the splines on the old power steering pitman arm with a swift HACK.






And.... after a good cool down and wire wheel.

Oldsguy

As far as the top seams go, time to sling some LEAD! I did the pitman arm deal on my '69 Delta when I converted to non-power steering, worked great. As far as the doors go? Sorry man!!!!!!

deltathunder

any updates j?

J-(Chicago)

Actually, Yes.
Thanks for watching lol.
I think people shy away from this thread because I dated it, and April is long gone.
I'll post some new pics.

Daniel2008

I respect all that time and effort you put into getting your car right. The frame looks great! I have two 1985 delta 88's. One has been in Va. for 20+ years and the other has been in PA and NY. You sure can tell the difference in the frames with regards to their level of exposure to salt, ice, sand, etc.

daves62

Are you doing the whole project in your driveway? That's cool
keep the updates coming. I can wait to see it unfold.

J-(Chicago)

Yes, the whole thing from start to finish has been done right in the driveway, or the garage. Sorry I haven't posted on this thing in a long time. I took a 4 or 5 month break from it because work was terribly hectic. I was working 60+ hours a week for 2 months, and then the rest of the summer I spent racing the gray car, and gathering parts for the frame off project on the weekends. I broke a bunch of stuff on the gray delta, and ended up working on that for the autumn season.

I got rid of my old wood burning stove in the garage this summer because it was getting old, and the village doesn't want to approve me installing another one.

I tried using a kerosene torpedo heater, but by the time the garage is tolerable, it smells awful.

J-(Chicago)

I finally found some doors that should work a few weeks ago. I drove 8 hours out to Spencer, IA. They had 4 or 5 2 door cars left out there.

Out of all the cars that the door trim was pulled from, I could only make 1 pair of good doors. 1 was from a Buick lesabre, and the other was from a Delta 88.

I picked up an entire rust free Custom cruiser Front clip in Madison, WI with an aluminum hood for $300, so I might just use that. It depends on how stupid the fender-to-door body line looks. The original delta fenders will require dent removal and weld patching which I may opt out of.

The firewall, trunk inside, and interior sheet metal has all been blasted and painted, but I still have to weld in the rear pans I have. Believe it or not, 67 cougar rear floor pans will go in a delta with a little modification, and are cheap at $40 a pop.

ztim

Greay work J! I just started reading this opera and am ready for the next chapter. Keep up the good work. Hey...wanna do my '84 88? It spent its whole life next door in Wisconsin until I went home and then drove it down here to SC.