Olds442school's 1968 442 Build Thread

[Olds442School]

Hi all, long time listener, first time caller here. My father and I have been working on a pro-touring build on our 1968 Oldsmobile 442 Cutlass sedan. He is the 2nd owner, and this was his first car he bought in 1976. The car has not seen a Minnesota winter since and the original owner decided to undercoat it so when we tore it apart two years ago we were pleasantly surprised to find the frame, body panels, and floors all to be in excellent shape. So we have not had to do any metal work to the car. He had the car re-painted in 1981 and while it's due to be done again, it still looks great from 10 feet away. Right now our focus is to get the car back on the road and we will worry about body work down the line.

The car has a freshly rebuilt original numbers matching 400ci big block engine with the muncie 4 speed manual with a McLeod clutch rated for 500 hp. So the "4 on the floor, 4 barrel carb, dual exhaust" phrase still rings true with this car. We are running a Holley 750cfm double pumper carburetor with an electronic fuel pump. No fuel injection yet. We went with Hedman long tube headers and a Pypes 3" x-pipe exhaust with Magnaflow mufflers. We have a spare 400ci block in storage that we may build in the future for more power. We also replaced the old radiator and cooling fan with fully electric dual fans that we have wired into and Auxbeam switch box.

The car has a freshly rebuilt 12 bolt Chevy rear end with fresh axles and Dana 411's in it to replace the 456's he had in there previously. He did a lot of street racing with the car in his youth! I think the 411's will be a nice upgrade for the type of build we're doing on the car. It will certainly make it more drivable as the 456 gears were not friendly for the street.

After 54 years the suspension and brakes were toast. So we ordered up a Detroit Speed kit 2 coilover conversion up front and speed kit 3 out back both with JRI shocks, tubular control arms, etc. I'm sure everyone here knows Detroit Speed's quality, it's damn nice stuff. We upgraded the steering components with ProForged pieces coupled with a Lares close ration steering box. The car had manual drum brakes all around previously so we did a full power boosted brake conversion with Baer's 13" SS4 kit up front and 12' SS4 kit in the back and a Baer ReMaster brake cylinder. We also replaced every brake and fuel line front to back with all new hard lines.



Finally, for wheels and tires we went with BCForged MLE05 wheels 18x9.5" front and 18x10.5" rear on Continental Extreme Contact Sport 02 tires 275/35 front and 295/35 rear. These wheels are GORGEOUS, and really show off the new Baer brakes behind them.

I'm sure I'm missing about 1/2 the things we have done, because we have just been replacing components as we go.

We finally started the car for the first time in almost 3 years last weekend and got to hear the beast purr again. There's nothing like a big block for sound, & the 3" exhaust doesn't muffle much!

I still have a few things to finish up with the wiring & we're waiting on new carpet to arrive. I can't wait to share more of this build you all here. Enjoy a few photos from our first time pulling it out of the garage under it's own power.

[130fe]

Looks good, I also decided to go with the DSE Front 2 and rear 3 on my 69 cutlass (parts aren’t in yet). I am going with C6 brakes instead though, the baers were my #2 choice. I am also swapping out the Olds 2.56 rear for a chevy 12 bolt with 3.31s. Can’t wait to see more updates!

[csouth]

Nice looking car! Stance is perfect.....

[BK75]

Got that Olds sitting just right!! Beautiful!!!!