Lime Green 71OLDS 442 convertible

[deejai35]

I love the gauges and the wheel/tire combo. Nice choices and overall car build.

[454bug]

I love the color!

Great project!

[71OLDS]

Thanks everyone! Here are the new custom Olds rocket (SSI) caps that will be replacing the flat NewGen caps. This should give the wheels a little more of the stock look.

[71OLDS]

Olds Rocket caps are installed. Below are some pics. Sorry the tires are so dirty and the painted on white letters are already fading a little. I'll repost more pics when I get the car back and have time to get everything looking right. Probably going to sand the sidewalls clean and stencil on RWL more centered on the tires. Will probably be going with "BFGoodrich Radial TA" on all 4 tires since I can get the stencil right off the tires on my 70 Supreme (similar height 15" tires so the size of the letter should be about right too).

[Zanie]

Those caps look excellent!

[gator1505]

that's bad a$$ lookin man and I love that color. I think it may be the original color on my 72

[71OLDS]

Been a while with no updates. Got a few more. Interior is back together. Original console back in with original Strato buckets. Shifter handle was swapped to get console to fit better on top of the Richmond 5 speed. The console has always been a little off center and the longer shifter handle hit on the console if it was centered. Now everything has been modified so it's as it should be. I like the shorter shifter handle better. Here are some pics:





stock screen was added to the glasstech repro hood. Still needs to be hit with some flat black to make it look right:

[xplane]

Looks fantastic Joe!

Getting some great ideas for my 72' 442 project. My plan is very similar to yours, maybe a little less radical drivetrain.

Any advise on what you might have done different on your car so far?

Thanks,

Mike

[71OLDS]

Looks like Goodyear finally came out with the Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2s in a 255/45/18 that was previously only available in the UK. Will be going with these new tires in the front and the 295/45/18 Eagle F1 GS in the rear. Will paint the white letters over the "Goodyear" and "Eagle F1" both front and rear. I think it will look much better than the Nitto letters painted.

Motor is out of the car right now so it may be end of the year before I get to this but was happy I have this as an option now instead of having to shave the sidewalls of the Nitto tires and creating a template etc. Was going to try it but seem like lots of work. May still try doing this for a new set of drag radials some day but now I can just do the rears and will go with Goodyear not BF Goodrich so they match the fronts.

Really hoping this will improve on the look of the white letters. Will post pics when it's done.

[71OLDS]

Looks fantastic Joe!

Getting some great ideas for my 72' 442 project. My plan is very similar to yours, maybe a little less radical drivetrain.

Any advise on what you might have done different on your car so far?

Thanks,

Mike

Mike,

Sorry I missed this post. Still haven't had the car on the road yet so hard to throw out things I would have done different. About the only thing I can think of so far is the location of the rear speakers already mentioned in one of the earlier posts on this thread. It would have been great to have everything done sooner but it takes as long as it takes. If I ever this car back on the road ask me again after 6 months of hard driving and I may have more for you on this.

-Joe

[thall442]

Where can I get a set of these wheels?

[csouth]

Where can I get a set of these wheels?

Not sure if they still offer that style, but they are New Gen's

http://newgenwheels.com/

[ctosiflying]

Who did the center caps? I have a set of the same wheels with bigger windows that I picked up from Intro. These caps would be perfect for my combo. Please let me know.

[Shradezz70S]

What is your front and rear back spacing on those rims

[Olds71]

Hello, I'm new here I have a 71 cutlass and really like your setup. Looks sweet
I was wondering what kind of suspension you have on it? Is it stock height or lowered at all? Thanks
Joey

[71OLDS]

It's been several years that my car has been away getting work done but it's finally back home. I drove it from Louisville, OH all the back to Virginia Beach last weekend. I would like to thank Brian Trick, Steve Dembowski, and Smitty (most Olds guys will recognize some or all of these names) for all their help and work over the years.

Below are a few pics from my trip back. I know it's not real pretty right now but I will make sure it's back to looking good soon. I have a huge clutch issue and lots of electrical problems to work out but once it's rolling the car runs amazing and corners like it's on rails. Very happy with all the upgrades and power. All the details about the car including the answers to the questions asked above are back on page one (sorry I haven't logged in here for a while). Will be back to updating regularly going forward.

Some pics from a rest stop on the way home:




stopped at my parents house in Northern VA a little past half way:

motor pic:

interior pic:

[oestek]

The car looks great. Do you have any details on your under-dash gauge cluster? It's about the first one I've seen that I like!

[71OLDS]

The car looks great. Do you have any details on your under-dash gauge cluster? It's about the first one I've seen that I like!

There's a guy who makes a replica of the 8 track shell for the 70 -72 Cutlass/442s. You just tell him what size holes you want and which year wood grain. Very reasonably priced too. I haven't seen one of his ads in a while. Hopefully he's still doing it and around. I'll try to dig out his contact info for you.

UPDATE - found his email - here you go: [email protected]

his name is Randy - just tell him you want to get pricing/info/details on his 8 tracks housing for gauges. He can also make one for a stereo. He has lots of pics of his work

[oestek]

Thanks for the info.

BTW, if you're going to paint another name on the tires, consider these...

[71OLDS]

Kevin,

Actually my plan is similar to that. I want a more old school/original look and unfortunately as much as I love the Nitto tires it just doesn't give that muscle car/stock raised white letter look. That said I'm not going to go as far as the original bias ply tire but rather a more middle of the road RWL look. I love the BF Goodrich Radial TA RWL look on 15" tires and also the Goodyear Eagles. I actually used to run 15" BFGs on the front with BFG drag radials on the rear with the RWL painted on a set of 275/60/15s.

So my plan in the near future is to switch the fronts out to the same size tire 255/45/18 but the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2s. Check out how PERFECT these will look with the letters painted white:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/BigPic...mCompare1=yes&

Nice big letters perfectly centered on the tire just like old school.

There is no replacement for my setup for the Nitto 305 45 18s drag radials. So those will be staying but I will sand the sidewalls smooth, then either stencil and paint the matching Goodyear Eagle F1 on them or maybe try some of these new sticker kits available (treadwear).

Not a real high priority on my to do list right now but will eventually be done. Will post pics when I do.

-Joe