Lime Green 71OLDS 442 convertible

[badolds]

I love this car and thread.

Dan

[71OLDS]

Thanks Dan. I'm supposed to pick the car up from Frank's shop in Beltsville, MD on Saturday, December 16th and drive it back home to Virginia Beach barring any show stoppers that come up between now and then. So many upgrades since I drove it last. The biggest is obviously the Magnum 6 speed with the 4.10 gears but there's also the roll bar, including the new shoulder harness belts, the new front spoiler, the shocks put on the fiberglass trunk so it opens slowly now, an oil cooler so I can pound on the car more now even with the AC on in the summer time, the entire front end/suspension upgrade from the B-body spindles to the AFX Spindles, SC&C adjustable tubular uppers, and chassis brace, the new Lee 800 steering box and upgraded the front coil overs from 500 to 600 lbs. In the rear had the UMI relocation brackets added for better launching and the new UMI chassis mounted sway bar. I had Frank set the car up so the front parking lights stay on all the time like the Corvette's day time running lights. I just really like the way the car looks with the front parking lights on at all times. There were lots of little upgrades done too including switching back to my old Holley 830 carb from the current 770, Adding back the factory hood light and windshield squirters to my repro ram air hood, hooking up the line lock to the cruise control button on the dash (still to be completed), setting up the 2-step option on the MSD digital 6 box so I can launch off the line each time putting the gas pedal to the floor but the RPMs stopping at a set RPM (around 3500 ish), shortening the battery shut off switch on the rear bumper and making sure it can be locked so my alarm can't be shut off - bottom line is TONS of upgrades - I'm sure there will be some testing and tuning and working through all the adjustments with the new upgrades but I can't wait to get the car back on the road and start putting some hard miles on it again.

[badolds]

I have two line lock solenoids, one front one rear. When you press the red button on my shifter it locks the front line lock for the burn out. When you flip a switch on the dash the red button now locks the front and rear line locks and activates the adjustable two step. It is a streetable version of a trans brake.

Dan

[71OLDS]

Very cool setup Dan. I've never had the line lock or the 2-step but looking forward to using both - especially the 2 step with the manual trans for consistent launches.

[71OLDS]

Lots of things getting finished up since pick up is 2 weeks from tomorrow:

Vertical part of back seat has been notched for the down bars and re-installed. This will be professionally re-done later by an interior company but wanted it back together for now:



"442" shifter handle with 6 speed shifter ball installed with the stock console:


with Door bar attached:




Kick panel speakers had to be relocated because of the location of the new removable door bar bottom connection on the floor board. Had to also make sure there was room to press down the emergency brake on the drivers's side:

[71OLDS]

Line Lock is now working using stock cruise control button on the dash - put in on position, touch the brake and it locks the front brakes, push cruise control button to off to unlock. - really happy with that.

Original glove box trunk button is now working -so the glass deck lid now opens much slower with the 2 shocks added and works using the glove box button. Will also have it set up so I can use the key fab to open the trunk. I know this is a little thing to most but since that glass decklid is so light it flew up way too fast and would almost rip off the hinges. Now it's nice and slow and can press a button to open - plus the light is working how it should - love getting all these little things dialed in. Here's a quick video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2EeTGomekE

Horizontal part of rear seat is back in but not locked yet - still need to get the rear belts re-installed. Was a tight fit in the corners where the shoulder belt retractors are mounted at the bottom:

[wfo guy]

Progress is good.

[71OLDS]

Got racing harness belts all set up. They will only be used for racing when door bars and cross bar are attached - will use the shoulder harness belts for street driving w/no door bars or cross bar:



rear belts added and horizontal part of rear seat is locked in



Frank went on the first test drive with the new trans - said it shifted through the gears like butter. Still lots of little things to work on. Didn't want to get too crazy with the brand new trans and brand new 4.10 gears. Will slowly increase length of test drives and how aggressive the driving is. New 830 carb still needs to be leaner but car didn't get that heated up on the short drive so don't want to change/adjust anything yet.

[71OLDS]

Years ago I ordered a fiberglass bumper, front spoiler, and rear decklid. I'm fairly certain they all came from Glasstek but it's been so long ago now I'm not 100% on that. I happen to have some of the original pics when they arrived. I'm guessing this was around 2004 or 2005 and I believe this was Brian Trick's driveway in Erie, PA:




That glass rear decklid is the one on the car now but that bumper was sent back because I wanted it without the holes. I was trying to copy the front end look of the Buick GS with no holes in the bumper and the front spoiler:





so I ended up getting the bumper redone w/o the holes which is on the car now:


I actually found an original Olds dealer pic of a 1971 442 with a front bumper with no holes in it. Not sure if this was a prototype or why it had no holes. I've never seen another one like it and I have the hard copy of this article/pic saved. I'm guessing it was originally planned to have the front bumper have no holes like the Buick GS but obviously at some point that changed:



Here was an Olds wagon I showed in some pics earlier that had a similar look;



You can see this wagon still has the holes in the bumper but the design of that front spoiler is spot on to what I envisioned on my car.

So I asked Frank to take my flimsy piece of fiberglass in that first pic above and mount it to the front of the car to look like the pics above and oh by the way make sure it can withstand driving at 150 mph (one of the future goals of my car). He came up with this metal frame idea from a pic I showed earlier:


Here is the end result:


and the underneath metal frame for support:

[71OLDS]

When I have all the fiberglass fixed up for the paint and body work the spoiler will be made to look pretty but really happy with the way it turned out. To make it even worse for Frank I also asked him to install a hook for towing so the car could be pulled onto a flatbed w/o having to remove the front spoiler. Obviously if chains were hooked to the frame to pull the car on a flat bed it would bend or crush the spoiler and I don't want to have to remove the spoiler to be able to tow the car so Frank is working on the hook plan now.

[chuckd71]

Now that he has built one, do you think the guy who made the roll bar could do another? I wouldn't need the part going through the rear seat as I plan to run mine in the middle, but the rest of it looks like it would work.

[71OLDS]

Now that he has built one, do you think the guy who made the roll bar could do another? I wouldn't need the part going through the rear seat as I plan to run mine in the middle, but the rest of it looks like it would work.

- replied to your PM

[71OLDS]

Frank is going to make an L bracket off the front bumper bolt and the frame for the tow hook. This will give the vertical face needed to screw the tow bolt through. The L bracket will fill up the inside of the frame opening:



Painted the underside of the front spoiler and metal frame:

[badolds]

[QUOTE=71OLDS;1250000]Frank is going to make an L bracket off the front bumper bolt and the frame for the tow hook. This will give the vertical face needed to screw the tow bolt through. The L bracket will fill up the inside of the frame opening:

If you had Chevy power you would not need a tow hook, hahaha. Just bustin your chops.

Dan

[71OLDS]

If you had Chevy power you would not need a tow hook, hahaha. Just bustin your chops.Dan

Haha - funny guy!!

As I mentioned before this car will always be Olds powered as long as it belongs to me! Wish I could say the tow hook wouldn't be needed (regardless of why) but I know that's not the case. If the car is not having upgrades or fixes done, I put about 5k miles a year on it. That will include hard core street driving and 1/8th mile, 1/4 mile, and autocross track days. Bottom line is stuff is going to break and then it will get fixed. So far this motor has NOT been the weak link and now with the Magnum 6 speed (rated at 700 ft lbs at the wheels), hoping it's the last trans I will ever buy for this car. So for now no idea what the next thing to go will be but we'll see. I'm picking up the car on Saturday. If it snows in Beltsville MD like it did this weekend, the car will have to be trailered back to Virginia Beach and the new tow hook will get it's first test. Hoping that's not the case but nothing surprises me any more!!

-Joe

[71OLDS]

had to put about 7" extensions on the 2004 Nissan 350Z female belt connectors for the shoulder harness belts. This was required to get them to stick up far enough above the Strato bucket seats:



The racing harness belts are all set now as you can see in this pic but you can also see the connectors for the shoulder harness belts sticking up just above the base of the strato seats.

[71OLDS]

With pick up only 3 days away of course some issues have come up. Frank got in about 50 miles of test driving yesterday in MD and most went well but there were two different leaks. The power steering pump and from the top of the new trans somewhere. Reservoir was cracked so ordered a new pump. Will be there tomorrow. Trans was fun. Had to either drop the trans or cut an an access panel in the top of the new trans tunnel. Went with the latter thinking it would make life easier for future issues. Trans leak is now fixed and cleaned up the access panel so it looks nice. Got almost another 50 miles in today with no leaks from the trans.

Lots of progress on the tow hooks. Ordered 2 of these and they will be removable:


Here's what Franks designed:




Will have one on each side. Will keep disconnected and in the glove box to be connected/used - only when pulling onto a flat bed. Again reason for this is so the front spoiler will NOT have to be removed every time the car needs to be put on a flat bed.

[71OLDS]

Update: So the drive home from Beltsville, MD to Virginia Beach was successful Saturday before last. Not without some issues but made it all the way to my garage without having to be towed. Really happy with the big projects - new 6 speed is incredible, cornering & handling with AFX spindles, new steering box, and chassis brace is night and day difference. Love the new shoulder harness belts too. The issues I had were fuel/carb related. We switched from the Holley 770 street avenger back to my Holley 830 so several things were changed with the throttle linkage and springs. The issue was "granny driving" from a dead stop to slowly moving forward. What I found out later was the throttle spring was hitting on a bracket and "sticking" plus the motor seems to not like/not run well below about 1800 RPM. The first 50 miles or so from Frank's shop with the holiday traffic was brutal. Literally bumper to bumper for most of it. It took me an hour to go 10 miles at one point. Trying to feather the clutch with a sticking throttle spring for that 60 minute time period moving a few feet at a time was not fun. Eventually a gave up and pulled off at an Appleby's to charge my phone and rest my left calf. After about an hour I was back on the road and on the highway the 6 speed was amazing. One REALLY unusual issue for me was the engine running too cold. One of the many upgrades was the oil cooler to prevent the oil from getting too hot (230 degress +) with the filled block which made the fuel pump get hot and would cause vapor lock. This was the opposite problem because the oil temp wouldn't even get to 160 degrees and the carb was "leaned out" which will be great for summer driving but in the cold weather the motor is not liking the cold temps and lean carb especially at the lower RPMs (below 1800). Of course with the 6 speed I could easily drive around 1800 RPM but to get the oil temps up I purposely drove in one gear lower to stay in the 2500 to 3000 RPM range. This finally got the oil temp up to around 175-180 and you could feel the car drive better.

So once I got home the temps were better and over the next few days I got out for some test runs in 50 degree weather. Since I got the required 500 miles now on the new trans, I was able to get on it. Did a few 5k shifts and burnout for starters. I had fixed the throttle spring issue by bending the bracket a little and making sure the throttle spring was not snagging on the bracket. I also put some "softer" springs on to help with the granny driving from stop light to stop light. Really noticed a nice improvement. I tried out the 2 step for the first time. Very cool to push the clutch in put the gas pedal to the floor and have the RPMs sit right at 3500 for my launch. First time gave a ton of tire spin but the 2nd time had a pretty good launch with tires warmed up. Zero front end lift though which is probably because of the new 600 springs (upgraded from 500) and the additional weight on the front end from the new front spoiler and chassis brace. Will need to address this later. Lots of things to get dialed in. Then I tried the cruise control line lock. Very cool - press the stock cruise control button on the dash to "on" did a huge burn out and clicked to off to roll out of the burn out.

Then the bad part. Did another launch from a stop light using the 2 step - shifted 1-2, then 2-3 at around 5500. All felt great. Went to next stop light - pulled out slowly and turned the corner and the car shut off. Had to pull over to the curb and the car would not start. Tried everything but had to call AAA to tow me back to my garage. Only positive was we got to try the new tow hook. Here's a pic of the "temp" tow hook for the ride home:




Well...learned a lesson about the angle of the tow hook. Since the wench on AAA flatbeds is in the center, it pulls the car forward at a 45 degree angle. The tow hook is installed perpendicular to the frame but wench pulls it onto the flat bed at a 45 degree angle. So the last foot or so onto the flat bed I see my fiberglass bumper on the passenger side (only tow hook I had installed for the drive home) pull forward about 4". Nothing I can do about it at this point. I talk to the AAA driver on the way to my house and he says all AAA flat beds have wenches in the middle so the tow hooks really need to be angled "in" about 45 degrees. OK will have to make that change at some point.

The other issue not mentioned above is I had noticed the nipple on top of the fuel regulator was "spitting" a little while I was going on these test drives. I talked to Frank about it and he confirmed I should replace the diaphragm on top of the regulator to be safe. Did that hoping that might be the fuel issue but the car is now acting like it lost prime on the fuel pump. Won't start. Pouring gas in the carb and all the usual fixes don't work. Frank had put a check valve just in front of the fuel tank to prevent this but I think the combo of the car being lifted going onto the flatbed, not being started for a week (traveled for Christmas) and the cold weather and that fuel pump needs to be "reprimed" with all the crazy methods that have worked previously (jacking up the rear, blowing air into the fuel line etc).

Bottom line is I'm over all the fuel issues. My problems are the manual fuel pump losing prime, cold start ups, idle all over the map at start up it's one RPM, warmed up it changes, first fan comes on it changes again, 2nd fan same, had solenoid added for AC but have to press button, press gas pedal, then solenoid kicks in to raise RPMs. Bottom line I'm ready to move on from all these issues and hopefully decrease the gas smell on me and in my garage by upgrading to the Go EFI 8 from FiTech:



Will probably be February at the earliest or maybe even March before I can make the swap but ready to move forward and hoping many of my reoccurring issues will be resolved. I know this one rated at 1200 hp is overkill for now but wanted to have room for growth for the next 500ci + motor (with new Olds Rocket Racing block) and would like to keep the option open for nitrous too. That's probably a year or two away but hoping I can get this motor dialed in an every RPM and get the most out of it. Then use the same set up for the new motor.

[71OLDS]

Here's a pic of the "442" shifter handle with the new magnum 6 speed underneath:



...and some of the shoulder belts. Will be in the custom enclosed box in the rear armrest area eventually but you can see the location/setup and functionality here:

[badolds]

I hope the EFI is the answer to your fuel issues. I would love to help you tune your carburetor to make the car run better. There is always something else needed on these hot rods. If you decide to stay with the carb I would ditch the manual pump and go with an electric pump. When you get it started again get it warmed up and look at the carb to see if it is leaking out of a bowl vent, squirter or booster at idle. Holleys are notorious for trash getting between the needle and seat and leaking causing a rich condition at lower rpms. Put the pedal to the floor and try to start it like that. I don't use ether on my engines but you can use a spray type lubricant as starting fluid as long as the can says "extremely flammable". Just flammable wont get it done, I use CRC brand silicone spray but you probably have something in your garage that will work. Put a good amount in each venture before cranking the engine but don't spray while cranking. Keep a towel handy in case it backfires you can smother it out. It might fire up and run fine or you may have a couple fouled plugs that will pick up when the engine warms up.

Dan