Been awhile since I've been around here. Been working on pieces for my '87 so that I can hopefully get it to Norwalk this summer for the Dick Miller Olds Nationals and the OCA Hurst Olds Nationals.
Here's a few pics of the progress:
Those were just the beginning. LOL My friend is doing all of the body work at his shop on the side. When he put the car up on the frame machine to check its alignment he noticed that the body was leaning towards the passenger side a little.
It turns out that the body had rusted through at 4 places on that side where the body mounts are located. So the body was sinking.
I bought the Energy Suspension polyurethane body bushing kit and told him to go at it. He's cutting out the floor just above the body bushings because most of the bolts are just spinning. We're going to make removeable panels for these so that if I ever want to pull the body off the frame later down the road, I can pop the covers and get to the backside of the bolts.
Here's the pics now that he's replaceing the bushings:
He pulled the entire front clip "just in case" the bolts to the body mounts where the firewall and frame meet, were rusted and started spinning. This way he could get to them easier.
But now with the fenders off we'll be able to cut the holes in the inner fenders to allow direct air access to the GNX side vents.
The windows were all pulled due to the fact that the front and rear windows had major leaks and we wanted to make sure we took care of any rust that may be under there. Along with fixing the leaks.
In the process, I plan to have the window tint stripped from the windows and have a darker tint reapplied. They are 35% now and I plan to go down to 20%.
I'm also converting the doors over to power windows and locks. I'm using the Electric-life power door lock kit with their Keyless entry system along with it. So that I don't scratch the car with my keys getting in.
We also need the keyless entry to get into the trunk as we are shaving the lock.
Tonight I'm working on getting the side pieces of the body kit finished. I'm having to make those myself out of fiberglass as they don't make these pieces.
I have currently bought the complete FE3X ground effects kit which includes the front air dam, fender flares and rear valance. You can see what these look like installed on the original Darth Vader '85 concept car here:
http://black85.oldsgmail.com/fe3x.htm
I also have a 4.5" steel cowl hood scoop that we will bonding to my stock steel hood. This way I have some room to play a few different engine induction setups. I'll be able to go back to my 2" 4-hole carb spacer which the 455 really loved.
The chrome trim that I am keeping (window trim, etc.) is all being powder coated satin black. Everything else is being pulled off. I always though GM went a little haywire in the '80's with the chrome trim. Just seemed a little too gawdy for me.
And finally, one of the last things that will be on the list is notching the rear frame rails and mini-tubbing the rear inner wheel wells. The plan is to notch the frame to about the center where the two halves of the frame meet. This *should* give me the required room to runner the wider wheels and tires that I want.
I'm hoping also by Norwalk to get the rear wheels intalled.
Right now I'm running 17x8's all around with 245/45ZR17 Yokohama A520's up front and 255/45ZR17 Yokohama A520's out back.
A plan to step up to 275/40ZR17's up front on 17x9" wheels and 315/35ZR17's out back on 17X11" wheels.
With the frame notch I'll still be able to lower the car and keep the wheels/tires inside the wheel wells so they don't have that "redneck" look. LOL
The color I've picked for the car is the Chrysler/Dodge Dark Blue Pearl Metallic.
Its the dark, dark blue you see on a lot of the Dodge Magnums, 300's and Dodge Ram pickups. It should look pretty good.
I'll post more pics as I get them. And hopefully I'll get the final pics posted later this summer.