brotherGood and the 1969 Olds 442

[brotherGood]

Not much to update, still waiting to hear back from the engine shop. Last I spoke to them, the block with ready for the sleeve and checking the other cylinders to see if they needed more work. It had already gone through the magnafluxing and testing and no cracks were found. He said the heads were apart on the bench but he'd not had a chance to look at them. I'm somewhat torn because I want them to build it for peace of mind, but I'm really tired of waiting knowing the end of the year is coming up quick.

We did order a set of 17x8 US Mags for it. The SSII's weren't original, so I'll get them cleaned up and at least looking original for when time comes to sell the car. Holding off on tires until I finally get a date on the engine..but had to mount the wheel ..

[brotherGood]

Been a while since I've updated this, so here we go:

FINALLY got the engine back a couple weeks ago. The original block is .040" over, has 2 sleeves, but was saved. Heads also needed a fair amount of work, but they're good now too. Being the Olds 400 G blocks are not well liked, we actually went with SBM pistons/rings for it. The rods were reconditioned, and the wrist pin hole on the rod was bored out to fit the Mopar style pin (floating .984 vs pressed .980 IIRC). Picked up a custom Erson cam for it, and am just waiting on the assembly shop to call saying they're ready for it. They're going to assemble and dyno. I sent the original distributor off to be restored/recurved for the setup, Coan is building a converter for it, I need to make sure the intake/exhaust manifolds can be saved, and am hoping the Qjet that came with it can be reused/restored as well. I'm trying hard to get this as original as I can, aside from big cam/high converter.

The transmission was rebuilt in the fall, with a Transgo shift kit installed. He said about 80% of the internals were junk due to being stored outside with the dipstick out for who knows how long. The rear end wasn't in bad shape, but I went ahead and sent it off to JD Race to have it restored/add a posi unit as well. Just finished installing it, along with poly bushings out back, and putting the new wheels and tires on.

At this point, aside from the engine, I am going to put new bushings/springs in the front end, have the new fuel lines installed (I'm not set up to lift the body) and hopefully get to tearing the heater box out to make sure there are no dead mice in there (carcass count is up to 7 I believe). My hope is to have it back on the road by Memorial Day. It'll be a lot of work, but we're close.

[brotherGood]

Finally fired up this afternoon...

https://youtu.be/HMlDMs7Tv_4

[brotherGood]

Been a while since I've updated this..but here it goes.

What was left out of the previous post was that even though it had been broken in on the dyno, it took 3 days to fire as it was assembled 180° out. Finished assembly before Labor Day (accessories and such) then I went on vacation and Pops was going to get the exhaust on it, and then take it for its alignment. I get a call while on vacation that the exhaust shop in town doesn't bend pipe, and that it's pouring coolant. Get another call a few days later that the shop doing the alignment can't get it in because they're now busy.

Fast forward, I get home and confirm it was a freeze plug that fell out. A week later the shop finally takes the car to be worked on (they're doing the freeze plug as well) but it sits there for nearly a month. At one point while he was taking it from new shop to old shop, the DS rear wheel came off the car, tearing up the rear quarter in the process. I picked it up and can barely make it home. Over the next couple of weekends I work on trying to get it to fire up, but once it does I go ahead and pull the plugs and noticed they're all smashed. Long story short, since the block was milled the extended tip plugs were now too long. Replaced those with the standard tip and that issue has been solved.

Where we are now:
Currently runs great minus a slight hesitation. The slight hesitation is due to most likely a vacuum leak, as the best I can pull is 5hg. I also need to check the drums as it sounds like things are rolling around in there, fix the PS front shock (lower cup and bushing evidently were not installed) and reroute trans cooler lines as they're being pinched against a sharp edge and I'd rather not break one and catch the car on fire.

Its going to be a busy off-season, but is shaping up to be ready to roll come spring

https://youtu.be/JKYS2cVzDoU

[DanStokes]

Sorry for all the mishaps. Sometimes I wonder how shops stay in business - I guess they only do Camrys or something. Being actual mechanics seems to be off the table. Please keep the updates coming!

[brotherGood]

Sorry for all the mishaps. Sometimes I wonder how shops stay in business - I guess they only do Camrys or something. Being actual mechanics seems to be off the table. Please keep the updates coming!

Some of it, I can't blame on the shop (at least the latest shop). The tire falling off, he didn't touch the wheels. I'm not sure what caused it, but every wheel had lugs loose, just the DS rear is the only one that actually fell off. Not sure if I just overlooked something (though I've put wheels on and taken them off for years with no issues) but that was on me.

[brotherGood]

Well, since posting this I've run enough trial and errors to conclude that my vacuum leak is more than likely a leaking gasket, or mismatch due to the block being cut but the intake was not matched. I'm also thinking that my OE tach is incorrect, as this does not sound like 1100 RPM like the tach reads..

https://youtube.com/shorts/fbIE4YIO7iI?feature=share

In the meantime however, I neglected that sound coming from the drums up until I believe the shoes fell off. Currently, it is in the garage waiting on me to stop complaining and get back to work..but I will be reassembling the drums then pulling the intake.

It's going to be a busy winter, but should definitely be worth it in the end.

[brotherGood]

Not a whole lot to update here, but the brakes have been fixed. Not only did the self adjusters come off, it also tore up a good chunk of the hardware which to my surprise wasn't even correct. Upon reassembly we also realized the shoes were put on wrong (both longs on one side of the car, both shorts on the other side) so needless to say that was an experience.

It stops great now (until you run out of vacuum built up) but I'm currently working on gathering quotes for the bodywork and trying to determine if I can get the intake done prior to that. I did verify the factory tach is not right, as I was idling at a stop light and looked down to see it read 4k RPM. So that's frustrating, but expected considering how long it sat in a barn.

[brotherGood]

Alright, so 5 months later and quite a bit has happened...

Intake gasket was changed, as well as swapping on a QJet as I was initially thinking I felt down on power due to the linkage not allowing the secondaries to open on the Summit Holley I had. Fired it up after fighting with the distributor/timing (removed dist to fix the 180° out from the assembly shop) and about the time I got the idle set with the carb, I noticed I didn't get the bead of RTV thick enough and noticed it started leaking. The shop that had the car when the wheel fell off had offered to fix the quarter panel, so I asked them to also fix the intake as well. A few weeks later it came back and he mentioned that it needed a couple new wheel studs, and the brakes were apart again (not sure how). About 2 or 3 days after picking it up, I noticed that the cork intake gasket had pushed out. So back in it went and I'm still only pulling around 8-9hg if vacuum. For reference, this should have a minimum of 15hg based on similar builds/same cam. After many, many calls, it's been determined that the cam was not degreed upon installation..which this particular cam is required to be degreed. As of now, it is scheduled to go in Monday to have the cam degreed properly. I'm hopeful that if this is indeed the only issue, then I can address the tuning as the Qjet gives the same feeling of the secondaries not opening and finally be done with this headache of an engine rebuild.

In the meantime, I spent a weekend with my father-in-law doing paint correction/ceramic coating and can't believe how well the paint came back to life. We also replaced a leaky transmission pan gasket, repainted a section of the dash, replaced the rear view mirror, and tightened a loose shock. A couple weeks ago, it went to its first show and actually received top-5. It was also on the cover of the Journey With Olds monthly magazine. A full circle moment for me, as I've said from the beginning this story reminds me of one of those that I'd read in magazines as a kid. Speaking of the journey, I did finally load everyone up last week and finally take that trip to DQ..which was literally the number 1 thing I wanted to do once it was drivable.

aside from tuning, I still need to address the suspension (springs didnt get indexed in the front) and the exhaust, as well as a couple other things..but it has definitely been an adventure and I'm ready to get it out there and put some serious miles on it.

[Monster]

[brotherGood]

Man...I've gotta get better about updating this.

Since the last update, I went to our local July 4th show and realized just how bad the spring were, so I re-clocked the front springs and now the car sits as it should. It still looks low in the back, but I think that may be body mounts. Regardless, it doesn't look like a leveled half ton pickup anymore.

I also replaced the self adjusting hardware and it no longer has a rattle. I had the driveshaft out of it toward the end of July/early August (it all ran together) as it developed a transmission fluid leak coming from the vent hole in the yoke. After a call down to the transmission shop that rebuilt it, I pulled it and sealed the hole off. Got it running and felt confident enough to drive it to Dayton for the Olds Nationals, and much to my surprise took home a 1st place award.

Since then, I've just been driving it as much as possible. I still have a bit of an off idle stumble however, which has me back on the thought of the fact the cam was not degreed upon installation, so it may be going back somewhere to have that done. This cam isn't big enough to create such a vacuum/drivability issue..so something's not right.

Over the offseason, in addition to addressing it still not running right, I need to change the rear seatbelts out, have an exhaust finally put on, pull the center console as whoever screwed it in used too long of screws and they're hitting the driveshaft, replace an A/C line, and a few other things.

Ultimately however, I'm just glad that this car is out and about..rather than continuing to rot away in a barn.

https://youtu.be/4oUCsZufYRg?si=VdoCf2uBM-XjYKPh

[DanStokes]

Please keep us updated. Love this car!

[brotherGood]

Alright, well I believe the time has come to finally shut this thing down for the off-season. Not much has happened since last update. I did address the console bolts and that 'seems' to have fixed the issue (though I've not really pushed it too hard) as well as changed out the rear seat belt. I'm glad I had to remove the rear seat back though as evidently I didn't the last time the seat base was out and therefore found probably a solid 10-15 lbs worth of mice nest in there.

Once that was cleaned out, belt was changed I went ahead and reinstalled and cleaned everything back up.

I'm having the infamous trans fluid drip from the Turbo 400 (at least infamous according to the internets) so thats frustrating, but I suppose that's just part of it.

I had it at work a few weeks ago, and while there I made the joke that the photographer on site needed to snap some pictures of it with the building in the back drop (the company is updating their website and taking a bunch of pictures). Well, they didn't take it as a joke..



I can't get over the fact that a little over 2.5 years ago this thing was sitting in a barn rotting away. To turn out this nice with what little I can offer it (in my 3/4 sized garage and abundance of hand tools-and lack of knowledge) is humbling to say the least when seeing pictures/accolades like this car has received.

I still need to address the cam-a task that I'm really not looking forward to doing, but can't wait to experience the result. Beyond that (and exhaust) it's just a few little things here and there and I hope to pretty much turn this into my daily next summer.

[Captain]

Looking at a few past posts ....
Glad to see your "Future Tool Stealer"
Enjoying sharing your Wins !

I almost have everything put away for the
Winter Lay Up also. Some of the Scooters
Need to have the Tanks And Carbs Drained,
and others vehicles,Gas Additive treatments.

[brotherGood]

Alright, I reckon it's time to update this one...

Over the winter, the number one project was degreeing the cam. To summarize the 3 (?) page thread elsewhere.. it was a debacle.

All in all, correcting the cam timing hasn't done much outside of peace of mind.. even though it was pretty far off. But, now knowing the cam timing is correct, I feel better about taking it to a dyno shop and having them work out the tune/driveability issues. After that and exhaust..i think I'm done with serious stuff.

Finally.