Our F85 Power Tour Project

[Radlark]

Looking good man!!!!

[PhillipM]

Okay haven't updated in a while but we've been hard at work. Scary though I just saw that it's been about 9 months of work so far since the accident. Oh well, the mini-tub has definitely added a lot of labor but it will be cool when it's finished.

I've spent some time working on the new body panels as well. Paul took them and got them dipped. Over all we were pretty darn pleased with the condition of the panels. After filling the holes for "Vista Cruiser" in the fender, and repairing the lower body mount hole as well as welding up a few other spots, we got the antenna hole filled and drilled out the F/85 logo holes. That turned out to be interesting as our old fender was also a replacement and we never noticed how crooked the script was! Either way, the new one is nice and straight.









After that I moved on to the hood. Top side is absolutely perfect. But underneath where the latch is needed some repair. Took a little bit for me to decide to cut it out but once I made the decision I knew it was the right one. Just would bug me to know it's there and I'd look at it every time I opened the darn hood. Here are those pics.















Next I turned back to the body portion of the mini tub. Which, has proved to be way more time and labor intensive than the frame portion. I've had a lot of people ask me if I wish I would have just purchased the tubs from ABC. The answer is no, because you would still have to fit them and that's the hardest part. In the end I don't mind the strips showing so I'd rather save the 500 bucks for something else. Here are some more shots of cutting and moving the tubs in. I went 3" rather than the 2 or 2.5" of the ABC tubs. It's just about the most you can go and still leave the trunk springs in place.

[PhillipM]

Once the tubs we're moved I could really get the new Moser 9" up in there which was narrowed to 56.5" OAL. This will have us run a 20x10.5 with 6" of back space on the 315 Nitto tire. This is also the time when I wished I would have C notched it about another .75". However it will still work, I've got 3.75" of bump travel before hitting the frame. That should be enough. Here is the mock up.











Next, it was time to start getting the body mounts put back on. So I got those moved back roughly 2" on each side and proceeded filling out from the front of those up to the tubs. There are a lot of ways to do this but I just added a piece and plug welded it. I will seam seal and bed liner everything in the end so your just not going to see this stuff. Either way, it still turned out nice and clean. In my opinion.











I also started working on getting the trunk supports put back on. They aren't finished but they are strong enough to mount the trunk lid and check the fit. Happy to say it's still in the right spot! Ha-ha. I did have my concerns.







And that's where we stand today. I still am just finishing up a lot of welding here and there. Then I will seam seal the body and shoot it with beadliner again. Also, I have a few spots to finish welding on the frame and then I can spot in the GM Recon paint and call that puppy done. I read somewhere that this project is a 100 hour job. Well, so far I'm right at about 80 hours of labor. Granted this is my first one but I don't believe I would sign up for a second one! LOL.

[PhillipM]

Was able to get a little more time on the Olds last night I finally finished up the tubs and am ready to bed liner the trunk and tubs again. Total time to do the frame and body mods was 82 hours. I'm sure others have done it faster! LOL. We also swung by the body shop and they've got the new fender and hood as wells as the core support coming right a long.

[Motown 454]

As always nice work!

[PhillipM]

As always nice work!

Thanks Wayne!

Here are a few more pictures of everything coming together.

[therobski]

Excellent craftmanship Phil! I need to update my thread on the 64.

[PhillipM]

Well haven't updated in a while. Piece by piece the body is starting to come together. The hood, core support, inner fenders and passenger fender have all been painted with GM Recon. Driver's fender is coming a long as well as we've been filling a bunch of dents, dings and chips in the rest of the body. Had a paint-less dent guy come out and remove what he could before we started in on it. Really not much to fix. Had one dent behind the drivers door and other than that just small stuff. We're also starting to paint small parts and pieces as they are finished up. Here are some updated pictures.



















Also here is a shot of how our rear brake lines are run.. We've got a tee on the front side of he cross member and then a soft line on each side. Nice thing about this way is you don't have to re-bleed the rear when you remove the axle. Which, we tend to do a lot.



That's all for now. Will update again when we get some more progress under our belts.

[PhillipM]

Got the Driver's fender put into Recon last night. 1 piece at a time we're getting things done.

[ent72olds]

Phil, if I may ask, why the GM recon paint? You don't plan on leaving it that way for long I hope?

[PhillipM]

The car is actually going to be vinyl wrapped. The recon is easy to spray, very forgiving and I've had great luck with it holding up well. All we're really trying to do is get a smooth finish that is sealed in which the wrap can live on. Have you had bad experiences with it? Or why the concerns? It is a lacquer based paint so everything that goes along with that are it's ups and downs I suppose. The wrap will be matte metallic silver on the bottom and matte charcoal gray on top. Using Avery products to do the wrap.

[PhillipM]

Here are some more photos. I'm using the Upol primer that I've always used under the Recon. In case anyone was wondering. It's worked great and lasted for years with no issues. Got the doors hose down with a nice coat and will sand them out and shoot them this weekend hopefully.

[ent72olds]

Being you are wrapping it, it will be fine. The recon paint just wasn't intended as a paint to be subjected to much UV. More for chassis and underhood parts. I would be afraid in the extreme sun you guys see in the southwest. Keep up the impressive work! Love the project!

[PhillipM]

Being you are wrapping it, it will be fine. The recon paint just wasn't intended as a paint to be subjected to much UV. More for chassis and underhood parts. I would be afraid in the extreme sun you guys see in the southwest. Keep up the impressive work! Love the project!

Hmm. Here is from the website:


Paint is not affected by UV ray exposure as with other chassis paints
Dries to the touch in 15-20 minutes
May be applied by brush or spray gun
May be reduced with enamel reducer, xylene, or mineral spirits
Easily touched up
Can be applied as a affordable long lasting exterior paint
Affordable - One gallon can should cover complete frame, chassis, and under hood sheet metal for your restoration


Says UV stable, but like you said. It's going under a wrap so that's kind of negligible.

[PhillipM]

Here is a quick update!

Got pretty much all the unbolt-able parts painted and now on to the main tub. Put up a make shift booth in the shop and shot 3 coats of high build on her. We're now ready to start blocking it out.. definitely not looking forward to all the sanding.

In the mean time our Rushforth wheels showed up. Specs in the front are same as before 19x8 with 6" back space. The rears are now 20x10.5 with 6" of BS. Tire is a Nitto NT05R in a 315. I've got 1/2" on the inside and on the outside for clearance. Probably could have gone 5.75" BS and pushed it out just a scosh more but that's okay.

As for installing the rears... When I reworked the lower coil-over mounts the axle raised up in the car 1.5" and doesn't droop as far for the same reason.. When I say these barely squeeze past the rotor and the outter wheel well i'm not even joking. I hit the wheel weight and had to rotate the tire to get it in there! But once in it fits perfect. Here are some pics. Sorry about the lighting but I couldn't wait. Had to get some shots!!

[therobski]

Looks really good Phillip. Next year the Power Tour starts in Louisiana I bet it comes through Texas?? I may get a piece of it the 64 F-85.

[oldzzy]

Looks really good! I love seeing updates on this car, it's probably my second favorite Olds build behind the 71 that Jeff Schwartz built. Keep the updates coming!

[Motown 454]

Looking good Philip.

[PhillipM]

Thanks guys! It's great to hear the compliments!

[PhillipM]

After spending a bunch of time fixing what we could, we finally got the car sprayed black. Let's be honest, this car needs a driver's side quarter panel so until I come across a super clean one of those there is no point in trying to do a super nice paint job. These pics were taking about 30 minutes after spraying the car. Hoping to roll it outside and get some better shots of it tomorrow.















Next I plan to jamb the car in Silver to match the vinyl wrap. However I think I'll let this cure for a few days because of the temps. It's been very humid here over the last few days.