Oldsmobile Resto Thread

[purplebargeken]

Job done, now get on with it man! 

[purplebargeken]

C'mon Dunc, no excuses now lol+++

[purplebargeken]

[Bobthebeard]

LOL!

 

Fair enough.... Some pics tomorrow. Weather permitting. (Storm Henry will possibly be looking to remove the few remaining fence panels that Storm Gertrude missed)

[Bobthebeard]

 

A snug fit! Will need to be driven, or rather pushed, out and in again to do any work.

 

 

The boot actually open! Propped up by an axe because it was the right length and the spring gubbins that should hold the lid open is missing. How and why is a mystery.

 

 

The (expensive) replacement spring shipped in from Canada. The fibreglass composite original type is now unobtanium so this one is steel and HEAVY.

 

 

This arrived today, speaking of heavy.

 

 

Which contained this. The tool to compress the spring for removal/installation. Impossible to do without this apparantly. Sourced from Beaver Creek, Ohio. Lovely name.

Rare. Apparantly these cost $900! This second hand one was £150 including shipping etc. Massive and very well made. Bit difficult to gauge on the pic, but is about four feet long!

[danthecapriman]

That tools a hefty old thing. Shame you've got to have one really as you'll probably only use it once!

 

I wonder if the old fibreglass springs are unavailable for a reason? And the new ones in steel are a modified design?

[Bobthebeard]

 

Have removed the mashed boot lock.

 

 

Replacement lock cylinder and fittings are available from RockAuto for around $8 plus shipping. Ordered.

 

Removed the glove box lid for repair, as the hinge and frame section had come adrift from the lid.

 

 

Plus a lot of

 

 

Resulted in

 

 

Back in one piece and ready to go back in the car.

[vulgalour]

https://youtu.be/j3e_y9Bc7hs

[Bobthebeard]

Ah, the well documented General Motors paint issues from the late '80s early '90s.

This car is a good example of the issues! The boot lid, roof and part of the bonnet look like this!

 

 

 

Hmmmmmm

[Bobthebeard]

Dangled one of these, rather optimistically, from the rear view mirror.

It didn't work needless to say... New car scent eh? Still smells like a rabbit hutch inside. Lol.

 

[vulgalour]

Have you tried removing the rabbits and then putting a new air freshener in there?

[Bobthebeard]

Have you tried removing the rabbits and then putting a new air freshener in there?

The rabbits are long gone. Maybe Ken still has them? Suspect it is just a damp foisty smell from being a bit dirty inside plus being in storage for a while. Once the weather improves a deep clean will be done! First priority is an MOT though.

[Bobthebeard]

That tools a hefty old thing. Shame you've got to have one really as you'll probably only use it once!

I wonder if the old fibreglass springs are unavailable for a reason? And the new ones in steel are a modified design?

Yes, shame I had to buy one, but the spring transplant would be almost, if not totally, impossible without it. Not to mention dangerous!

I think the fibreglass composite springs were absolutely fine AFAIK. Saved a lot of weight and did the job well. It was lack of maintenance that killed them on the cars. They were fitted with rubber isolator pads to stop the ends rubbing on the metal housings. Once the pads wore/disintegrated the damage started. A nasty squeak eventually followed by a broken composite spring. Quite well documented on USA forums.

The composite springs may well be still available as a dealer part from GM, possibly, but at huge expense.

Too specialised for aftermarket manufacture I guess, hence the steel ones. Although only one company (Canadian) appears to make them. Still need fitting with isolator pads, so a pair of polypropylene type ones have been purchased for $ notmuch.

[Bobthebeard]

I have also replaced these fine items. Now garage ornaments.

 

 

 

With this style of UK plate. I love American cars, but am not in America so changed them. Front and rear. The front one is white obv..

 

 

[cort1977]

Good to see this moving along.   Let me know if there is anything in the US I could help with.

[Bobthebeard]

Good to see this moving along. Let me know if there is anything in the US I could help with.

A kind offer! Many thanks!

😊

Some interior trim parts are proving difficult to source... Maybe you could help with them? Don't want to put you to any trouble though!

[Bobthebeard]

Shiny new front grille panel is now fitted. The old one was, errrr, broken..

 

[purplebargeken]

Oooooooh, shiny! 

 

So thats what the boot space looks like. Not huge is it. 

[Bear]

Really impressed with the effort going in to this! I've driven it. About 10 feet.

[wuvvum]

Nice to see the old girl getting the attention it deserves.  Looking forward to seeing it back on the road - it's really not a bad old crate to drive.

[jonathan_dyane]

I like this thead a lot. Dunno why but I really like the Olds...

[hauserplenty]

The 90's cars had cooler styling. I think they were trying to shed their stodgy image. Good, cheap transportation and getting a bit harder to find nowadays...

Maybe that spring compressor could be repurposed as a load leveler, and used with an engine hoist? Lucky you found one, as I have never known anyone who had to replace that spring.

[purplebargeken]

The interior was a bit rabbity wasn't it. I did start to clean up the seats and they responded quite well. No lecky at the barn prohibited any vacuuming of the carpet and so on unfortunately. The rabbits were very tasty. Aside from the spring and tool, the remainder of bits were not too pricey. 

 

It is a worthy car and I look forward to owning it once again 

[purplebargeken]

Moar pics though, 7/10 must try harder. 

[Bobthebeard]

New badges arrived so the car will actually know what it is.

 

 

Rather than just

 

 

As it said previously!

Although am tempted to re stick this on the rear. Because it is....

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Although am tempted to re stick this on the rear.

[Junkman]

Ah, the well documented General Motors paint issues from the late 1920s to the early 2010s.

 

 

EFA

[cort1977]

A kind offer! Many thanks!

 

Some interior trim parts are proving difficult to source... Maybe you could help with them? Don't want to put you to any trouble though!

No problem and happy to help pull parts from a scrappy or whatever, trouble is finding one in a yard these days.   It's a 93 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme right?   And shares parts with the Lumina and equivalent Pontiac? 

 

List the parts and I will keep an eye out and I'm sure other colonial shiters will do the same.

[cort1977]

Just had a quick look and surprisingly there is a 95 cutlass supreme just up the road from me.   Should be similar for most interior parts?

 

[Bobthebeard]

No problem and happy to help pull parts from a scrappy or whatever, trouble is finding one in a yard these days.   It's a 93 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme right?   And shares parts with the Lumina and equivalent Pontiac? 

 

List the parts and I will keep an eye out and I'm sure other colonial shiters will do the same.

A 1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 4 door Sedan....3.1 V6. Not sure which other GM cars it shares parts with... But sounds about right.

Thanks! Will get a list together and be in touch! Kind offer.