1968 Olds 442

That would be nice Leonard. When a good deal comes along we'll get it. I won't pay a premium for one that needs the works.

Not many pictures of the doors/fenders. Not much to see. My usual procedure of 2 coats epoxy, a week or so later I pick and block with a long board of 120 grit to pick the missed low spots. One or two coats of epoxy followed up with filler. Fenders and doors have one more blocking round and are ready for paint. All epoxy on this job.

The hood and trunk haven't been stripped yet. Some yahoo took a screwdriver to the lock on the trunk lid. Dad picked up a decklid for a 4 door out in AZ so we can cut out the lock area and replace. Hoods and fenders are almost impossible on a 68' I usually call muscle cars catalog cars but this one has proven me wrong.

Core support was blasted and painted as well as most of the brackets and such.
 

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Since the car had the wrong engine and needed to be rebuilt I found a 70' 455 locally on craigslist. I didn't take hardly any pictures of the engine. It was a sludgy nasty mess. Dad cleaned it up and took it to the machine shop. It was bored .30 over with all new stuff. A friend had acquired a jet boat with a cracked 455 so we ended up a good set of heads. Not the best olds heads but the second best. An aluminum offy intake was also on the boat so we used that.

When I got the block/heads back I cleaned them up and sprayed 2 light coats of epoxy so the block wouldn't get oily during assembly. Once assembled then I scuffed with scotchbright/sealed/ chromapremiere SS.
 

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He found a 4speed trans from craisglist and rebuilt it. We put them together with a new clutch and pressure plate. We did this last fall right before he went to AZ. They went into the car and stuck the radiator and core support on. Cobbled up a couple old mufflers from a 57' New Yorker that I replaced the exhaust on that week. Started the car and did a 1/2 hour break in on the cam and changed the oil. Then we put it away for the winter. We haven't been able to work on it yet but in a few weeks we are going to tackle the body.
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We made a little progress last summer. Dad was traveling for half the summer so we didn't get a lot done. I was able to get 2 doors and front fenders ready for paint.

He blasted the wheels and I sprayed 2 coats of epoxy. We 180 sanded them and sprayed 2 more coats. 400 sanded, sealed, and base/cleared. It's a 68' color called jade gold but it's a dark green with a goldish look in the sun. Unfortunately it is going to be Nason because I couldn't get the color in another line. Even did the sprayouts in nason in hopes of converting it to DBC, Standox, or Chroma but non of them looked as good as the Nason.

The wheels are off a next generation cutlass so the center caps attach different and they are a little wider. They will be fine for him.
 

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The body had been sitting on a utility trailer since last year. We put it on the rottisserie for blasting. The rear quarters were pretty hammered. I was going to save them so it would be original. I changed my mind early on. I didn't have time this year to install them so we just worked around them. Next summer. Only rusty spot besides the quarters were on the passenger floor board. My dad said water was sitting in there when he looked at it.
He da'd the paint off the roof so we didn't have to blast it. Otherwise it was all blasted.
 

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It took about 3 hours to blast and went trouble free. Eliminating moisture and using super sacks of coal slag have eliminated the dinking around that I used to do to keep the media flowing.
 

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Old paint. The green is the original color and the brown is bondo and red oxide. The whole quarter was hit hard and crudley bumped out. My dad bumped it out more thinking he was helping. I wasn't interested in fixing it after I told him to leave it alone and he stretched it outward anyway. That is why it's getting two new quarters. The wheel arch is lost and I'm not a bondo sculptur so I told him to get a couple new ones. Sucks because the doors were fitted to those quarters. Now I have to fit new quarters to the doors that are ready for paint.

I fixed the floor area, some rocker dents, and I have to repair the area under the bottom of the rear window.
 

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I never finished. Dad da'd the top with 80 grit and we washed with 700 and 710. Sprayed 3 coats epoxy over every square inch. Turned the fan into a pecil top and blew a bunch into hard to reach areas. I usually blast a bunch of paint into overlaps and take the gun and just blow air into the running primer pushing it into seams and hidden areas. Takes a long time and uses a lot more primer but I never get the rusty bleed backs I've seen in the past.

We let it sit a couple days and filled my right floor board area on the bottom. We took 3m part seam sealer and sealed all the factory seams that we dug out the original seam sealer. I did some filler work on the roof. We then sanded the entire exterior with 180.

I sprayed 2 more coats of epoxy on the exterior and underside of the car. The bottom/firewall/dash are completely done. They sprayed out nice and these olds didn't have any undercoating just a satin black. The top is getting vinyl so it's pretty much dialed in also. I wish I had time this winter to just paint it for him but it isn't going to happen.
 

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Sprayed lizard skin sound and ceramic on the inside. Everywhere except trunk. Once I finish the quarters then I will finish the trunk. So much easier than dynamat. I really don't miss doing that.

He installed the brake/fuel lines, brakes, and exhaust. We did end up going with In line tubes complete 4 wheel disc setup, lines, and exhaust. They had a really good 4th of July sale so that is what we went with. I was going to use Wilwoods on this but the wheels wouldn't allow the kit I wanted to use. They are 15" but the inside is pretty small. We had to grind a couple corners on the calipers as it was. Never been a fan of the GM stuff but we will see how a complete setup with booster and mc works. I know it had to be easier to install though. Seems like all those aftermarket upgrades take a lot of behind the scenes work that I didn't want to do.

We set the body on and bolted it down. I wish I had a month to do the quarters with the body off the car but it's not going to happen. So it still looks really ugly between the wheels and quarters. He's back in AZ and scrounging up more original style hardware. Pretty much have all original hardware on the car.
 

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Finally made some progress. We did quarters back in september. I had him cut the old ones and mostly fit the new ones down at his house as I didn't have room. He did a good job, I would have did it so the weld was right on the seam instead of back a 1/2". It tended to warp when I welded it and had to slide hammer it back out smooth. I like doing on the edge of the panel so I can shape the weld to the adjacent panel and make the gaps. I came out good in the end. I panel bonded the wheel arch and back up to the taillights. The replacements wrapped around to the door and up to the trunk lid. I thought the stampings were crude so this allowed the original sharp edges. It was more work but did a much better job of not looking like replacements. I made sure the weld seams were under the trim for the vinyl top. The replacements were thinner than original. Once all welded I had to shrink some areas with the shrink disk and relax the shape. I tig welded the joints but still had a lot of movement. I did both sides the same way.
 

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Some more pictures. Hood was pretty rough but it came out nice. One year hood and he looked for a couple years for a good one and never found one. Lots of oil can from the nose hit but the shrink disc removed them.

I filled the quarters and 80 blocked, applied glaze and finished it down to 180 grit. Then I put a couple coats of epoxy over the quarters. I also did a couple rounds of Turbo2k applying 2 coats each time to speed it up a little. I still like to use all epoxy as I like they way it sands better but didn't have the time to wait.
 

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Nice to see the Oldsmobile again. You always do immaculate work. Very nice shop also.
How's the Caddy coming along?
 
Nice to see the Oldsmobile again. You always do immaculate work. Very nice shop also.
How's the Caddy coming along?
Unfortunately the caddy has been stagnent. Chrome is pretty much done. Cost more than the car just to do the chrome. My plan is to do the next big job that takes a year or so and then take some time off after and finish the caddy. That was the plan after the last car but I ended up adding onto the building and giving it a facelift. Then I wanted to finish this olds up so he can enjoy it. Hopefully I'll have plenty of time to enjoy the caddy in a couple years.
 
Body blocked to 400 followed by a light run over with 500 on the da. Masked up, epoxy sealer, and shot 3 coats nason ful-base (not my first choice but had problems getting the color right). Then I shot 5 coats of universal clear with 5% retarder added.

I did the body/trunk one day and the next I did the doors/fenders/hood. I did tons of sprayouts to make sure the color could be done this way and not look funny at the door/quarter junction. I would have jamb painted it and assembled if I couldn't. I like painting in pieces if I can.
 

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I masked the trunk and sprayed some GM trunk splatter from a quart can. Worked good.

When I sprayed the fenders I only did 3 coats, wet sanded with 800, laid out the stripes with the fenders on the car. I used spi black base and followed with 5 coats of clear.

The front end fit was good. I drilled 1/8" holes under the fender bolts before I disassembled. The doors were done the same way as I just put them on and drop a couple 1/8" punches into the holes and gets it in the ballpark instantly.

Waiting for the upholsterer to do the vinyl top and install the headliner. My dad will do the rest of the interior and we will put the doors on last so they aren't in the way.

I haven't rubbed anything yet. Hopefully get the doors done this winter and maybe more but who knows. My dad is gone all winter but I'd like to have it so he can finish assembly when he gets home.
 

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I had the trimmer put a vinyl top on and headliner. The guy I use is great but isn't up on this era car. More of the old stuff I work on. Better niche for him. He wrapped and glued the vinyl down under the opening so I had a lot of glue to clean up and vinyl to cut before I could put the SS strips on.

Glass guy installed the glass and I put all the trim on. I cut and buffed the quarters and decklid. Haven't done the doors yet.

What a pain the azz putting the SS trim on these cars. Miserable aftermarket clips and such. I want it to look nicer than the factory and they weren't designed to look that good so you fight everything.

I had an old car friend stop by last week that worked at Fisher Body in Lansing during this era and he reminded me that every minute a car was finished. This means each station has 1 minute to complete the task. My dad worked their in the late 60's and he remembers breaking a clip off the wiring harness during his break so that he could do the harness under the dash on the full size Oldsmobiles. Now that is quality. We just chase our tails trying to make some of this stuff super nice.

Those quarters could've used the perfect paint job because the compound curves didn't like my flat blocks. Looks good but not my best work if you study down the side in the flo lights.
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