1966 OLDS 442

Update your progress on your various car projects.

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Basement Paul
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by Basement Paul »

I'm betting there's another 3/4"- 1" of drop by Spring. Put sand bags on the core support over the winter, it'll come down.

-BP
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

Basement Paul wrote:I'm betting there's another 3/4"- 1" of drop by Spring. Put sand bags on the core support over the winter, it'll come down.

-BP
I've been thinking of a way to sand bag it, but the motor is in. I agree that a bit of weight over the
winter would help.

GM
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

Winter 442 update: I didn't mention that the height of center of the front wheel trim before
the spring change was 27 13/16". I measured the car today and it's sitting at 27 1/4". It's amazing
what a difference that drop makes for the look of the car ( at least in my head! ) I have rebuilt
the distributor with the Pertronix III package. It's basically like having an MSD without the box on
the wall. It does offer no more points, the stock look I'm after, AND a built in rev limiter. That project
was supposed to have been done before winter hit, but the directions said that the hot wire to the
coil needed to be changed from stock. (It took the project from "just slam the new distributor in" to
"I have to figure this out" and I ran out of good weather.) The wire to the coil is a resistance wire that
keeps the points from getting burned up. It needs to be replaced to the back of the fuse box. I did find
a GTO guy who stripped the wire back enough to find the "resistance'' section and removed it, keeping
him from going all of the way to the fuse box. We'll find out what the plan is in the spring. The car is a
real bear to start when it has been sitting for some time and when it's really cold. I don't want to change
the distributor without it being warm and having been started on the same day the distributor is swapped
to make the timing process easier. A warm engine with fuel in the carbs will help a bunch! It can wait until
it's warmer out. It's supposed to be in the single digits this week, and with a barn that has no insulation,
I'm not up to the uphill battle for no real gain.
442 radio.jpg
I purchased a dash piece to replace the current dash (this is the plastic piece that stretches from
far left to just to the right of the radio). A professionally refurbed version of this piece is about $1300.
I paid $200 for the one I got. It's solid and the silver painted portion of it is pretty nice. The chrome
portion of it isn't perfect, but I rate the whole piece as an 8 out of 10. The goal this year is to replace
that piece, get the aftermarket gauges below the dash and get the aftermarket radio out and a stock
radio back in place. My current dash is cut and the aftermarket gauges are where the speaker should
be and the dash was hacked to put the radio in. Putting a stock radio in is not an option without changing
the dash. I've purchased two AM radios so far. I got one in Carlisle for $30 that had knobs and all mounting
hardware. I think I cooked it during a bench test. I purchased another on Ebay for $33 that works, but
needed knobs and nuts and a bracket. Two radios have been mated and are now morphed into one
good functional unit. The dash came with a 10 Ohm speaker to go in the dash. I'm planning on removing
the rear speakers and the ones in the front to go to the old school one speaker system. I bought a device
called Redi-rad which will allow me to aux cord in my Ipod or phone. This will give me other music and
FM radio. I cleaned up the new radio today and bench tested it. Once it gets to an average temp of 45
or so, I'll start working on the dash. I'm ready now with my parts. Below is a pic of the radio and its donor
unit. (The parts unit has 67 Cutlass written on it.)

GM
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

The temperature today made it to the mid forties with sun. I fired up the 442 and pulled it out
of the barn. It took only minutes to start and, once fired, sat and idled perfectly. Once it got to
temperature, I shut it down and (finally) changed the voltage regulator ( the new one I purchased
on November 9 ) that was on the bench. The new voltage regulator has solid state internals and not
the old points style. It worked perfectly. I'll drive it for a few months this summer as is, and after
it's been time-tested, I'll grind off the rivets that hold the top on and put the "Delco-Remy" top off
of the old one on it. It is a lifetime warranty regulator and switching the top I'm sure will kill the
warranty, but that's ok. I also removed all of the tape on the wire from the fuse box to the coil.
The wire I need to replace doesn't seem to have a resistance portion in it, but it needs to be 12 ga.
and the wire that's there is 16 ga. It shouldn't be too much of a chore to rewire it to the coil, and
that's next on the list.


GM
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Basement Paul
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by Basement Paul »

Tomorrow is your 10 year anniversary on TireSmoke...

-BP
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

Since I purchased the 442, the dash board has driven me crazy. The gauges are where the speaker is
supposed to be and the aftermarket radio looks like crap and was installed poorly. I found a decent one
on Craigslist Cincinnati and had it shipped to me. Then..... a guy I found on an Oldsmobile forum, who
has done over 500 of my kind of dash, had a "discounted" dash for sale. I paced and sweated and discussed
and paced and sweated some more then decided to go for it. The new dash will be in the mail shortly.
As long as I'm there, with my dash all ripped apart, I might as well fix the crack in the dash pad too, right??
The same guy who sold me the dash has a pad that's in good shape. He's going to refurb that pad and my
glove box door too. The glove box door is getting ripped off today and will be shipped tomorrow.
I told my dash guy that I'm trying to find a way on my taxes this year I need to find a way to make the 442
a dependent or somehow write off the parts as a charitable donation!
442 dashboard-1.jpg
GM
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wxo
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by wxo »

Hey GM. Forget the dash. That's a fantastic workbench!!
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

wxo wrote:Hey GM. Forget the dash. That's a fantastic workbench!!
That bench belongs to the guy who repairs the dashboards. Apparently, when you've
done over 500 of them, you can afford that type of workbench!!

GM
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

With a mild temperature start to the day, I went to the barn and started the
dashboard project. It started in the trunk, removing the speakers in the rear
deck. The previous owner had speakers put in the back, but didn't cut the deck
behind the seat. ( The speakers were UNDER the cardboard deck )Removing the
speakers didn't change the way the car looks, other than there are some ugly wires
removed from in the trunk. I took the back seat all the way out, which made it easy
to work in the trunk from the inside of the car. All of the wiring to the back speakers
has been removed from the car. ( I only want one speaker in the dash on this car -- that's
how it's supposed to be. ) I then went to the front of the interior and started removing
the front speakers. It became very obvious that the seats were in the way, so I invested
the 5 minutes per side to remove the seats. After the speakers were out, I removed the
radio. The install on this radio was far from clean, so I spent some time removing wires
and labeling wires that were important -- accessory power, main power, ground, etc...
I'm working on getting all of the original wires to power what they should, so there's a bit
of figuring out to do as I lay on my back. I did figure out the glovebox light, so that will work
when I reassemble the dash. Also, the many wires that are a mess under the dash won't be
when I'm done, the installer didn't run the wires the correct way under the dash, but I will.
I also removed my aftermarket gauges from the dash. The water gauge is still hooked
up to the block, since it will require me draining coolant out of the motor to reposition
it, I'll wait until the dash is back in the car, then mount the gauges under the dash in an
aftermarket three gauge bracket. Based on what I'm seeing as I look under the dash, I'll
want the room where they should be to put my face in to see behind the dash. So far,
so good... It took me about three hours to do what I've explained. Right now, I have a
big mess on my hands, but this is just step one in the project. I talked to the dash guy, he
expects to send out my parts mid-week this week. It's going to be cold here for a week or
so, so I'm in no rush. More to come.

GM
Attachments
dashboard - 3.jpg
dashboard - 2.jpg
dashboard - 1.jpg
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

I talked to my dash guy ( his name is Ron Roth, out of Michigan ) and he told me he'd have my dash to me
before I went on vacation. True to his word, the dash showed up at work yesterday. With warmer weather
guaranteed today for us, Fred and I took to the barn around 10 am. It took us about 6 hours to do the
complete dash swap. This included cleaning knobs and switches that were removed from the old dash and
reinstalled into the new refurbed one and cleaning the steel dash framing the dash bolts to. I also installed
the factory stock AM radio and spent a bunch of time routing wiring the way it was supposed to be. ( No pics
of that, but it looks WONDERFUL under my dash!! ) I didn't completely finish the job, as I need to mount the
aftermarket gauges and bolt in the seats yet, but we made a HUGE dent in the project. I'm really excited
about this awesome upgrade ( and the fact that everything worked when I got done)!
dashboard - 9.jpg
dashboard - 8.jpg
dashboard - 5.jpg
dashboard - 7.jpg
Once the job is competed, I'll get some better pics of the car outside.

GM
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

Today I got my aftermarket gauges mounted up under the dash. I mounted them centered under the
ashtray. They look as good as they can. It would look much cleaner in the car if they weren't there,
but idiot lights aren't the correct protection for the car, so I'll live with them. I also got the Redi-Rad
wired up. It works sweet! Put your AM radio on 1000 AM and turn your Ipod on. Instant tunes broadcast
on an old school AM radio. Pretty cool. I still have to find a way to run the AUX cord so it's neat, but
I'll figure that out. I got 4 hours in today and I'm pretty close to being done under the dash. There's
an interior light by the driver's feet that has a loose connection and it needs to be addressed before
I can call under the dash done. I also have a set of 1966 radio knobs and a glove box light lens coming.
My dashboard guy is buing the first dash that I bought as a core to refurb for a customer, so I hit him
up for those parts as part of the sale. I'm getting close to having things the way I want them in the
interior. I might get a few more pieces to spiff it up a bit more in there. I'm investigating those parts
now.


GM
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

I shipped the core dash to the dashboard guy this week and it turned out to be a very good
core. Perfect! The check and the other dash parts that were part of that deal are in the mail
this week. I also sold off the take out dash pad and dashboard. A local guy bought those, a dead
AM radio and a power steering box I had lying around for $100. Another Craigslist deal. This is good
as now I've lightened my garbage load and put more $$ in the bank for more parts!

I made some minor progress on the wiring. AK Rover was coming to town, so I had only a couple
of hours to work. I went to work on the courtesy lights that are located by the feet of the people
in the front seats. They were "scotch-locked" into the wiring harness and the connection needed to
be repaired as they would flash if you bumped the wiring. I went about splicing them together in a
more permanent fashion. I figured that I'd wire them a bit differently than the previous guy did to
make for a neater look. That plan backfired when I realized that the way I had them wired would
have them on all of the time and not when the door opened. I decided to go back the other way and
was unable to make the lights work after mocking it up. Fortunately, AK showed up just as I was
waving the white flag for the day on the project. He and I figured out the issue of why they wouldn't
work, but something better came out of this. In our conversation, I said that I was surprised that I
couldn't find the original connector anywhere in the harness. He then said, "Maybe they are an add-on"
and not factory. He's right! I'm going to remove that option next time under the dash. Slowly but
surely it gets better and better.

GM
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Racin'Jacin
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by Racin'Jacin »

My old convertible is notoriusly hard starting when it has sat for more than an hour or so. And I finally figured out why. Todays shit gas boils at a much lower temperature than what was sold in the 60's. The result is the heat soak that happens when you shut off the car boils out the fuel from the bowl. Result is that you have to crank it eouugh to fill the bowl before it'll fire. I have very little room for a heat shield (yes it's THAT close) and having the intake and exhaust on the same side of the head doesn't help. I had contemplated adding a super small electric pump to prime the bowl. Sounds easier than insulating the crap out of everything. We'll see. I onder if your hard starting is due to a similar reason??? Good luck - it really looks like a great car!!
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

^^ Jacin, I think ( but don't know for sure ) that the car struggles in the cold because I
don't fire it enough and I'm not wanting to work that hard to get it started. When I drive
it regularly, it's pretty easy to get it started. It's pretty important for me to remember that
it's not fuel injected, so I have to use the same firing procedure every time. I've had
Oldsmobiles with Quadrajet carbs on them that were a bear to start in the spring, but
never even thought abuot boil-off as a reason there was less fuel in the bowl. I always
assumed it was leak down that caused the issue..... And thanks for the compliment, I
enjoy that old car! It's fun to work on something that my mechanical skill set understands!

GM
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GMJohnny
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Re: 1966 OLDS 442

Post by GMJohnny »

I bought the arm rest chrome pieces from a company online. The chrome is way nicer than the
previously painted arm rests. This was a very simple install and the parts bolted in perfectly.
arm rests.jpg
GM
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