Build up on a budget-A work in progress

this is my baby. a 1985 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royal Brougham, 5.0 V8. Soft top, coup, all the power options (seats, windows locks, ac, cruise controll) and only 39,000 original miles. little old lady that took care of it like it was a family member sold it to me for a steal of a price! lots of plans for
this big girl, but on a budget.

this is a good shot of her in the parkinglot where i live. nothin to special other than its in such well maintained condition.

my first order of buisness was to restore the dash-sorry i dont have a pic of it when i bought it, but the back panel was cracked in half between the right and left side (originaly thought it was supposed to be 2 pieces) and the important parts were being held in (dummy lights, air controll pannel, cig lighter, and the stock radio. . . i think that was all that was there) by a cut piece of plywood wedged between the top of the dash and the floor. think i still got the piece. . . .hafta put a pic of it up sometime. and i couldnt get the clock working, or find the parts for it, so i made a new one, back lit, and used the rear defroster switch to turn on the lighting.
this is the clock i made-used the stock housing, put a piece of white cardboard-like stuff in the back to give it a smoother look, and some cheep parts from the local wallgreens, the translucent clock was i think only 8 bucks, and the "mood lights" were about 13 bucks. since i dont use the air, and have plans to rip out the whole system-i used the rear defroster switch and replaced it with a lighted switch to toggle on and off the clocks lights. car color theme is blue, and white. . .maybe another color, but for now just blue and white.

this is the wood thing that i was talking about and the positions of the things in it. an interesting piece of work-story goes that the person that i bought the car from let her son use it for a couple days and it came back with this instead of the dash. maybe tomarow ill go wedge it into the dash where it was and put up the pic. it was definatly. . . .diffrent.

these are the pics from fixing the dash-sory there so blurry, but they are pics i took with my phone of the pics off my old phone-didnt come out so well, but i dont have the usb cord for it, they are hard to find.

the dash to the right of the steering wheel

the dash behind the right of the steering wheel

the dash behind the left of the steering wheel
its one solid piece that goes behind the 2 facia plates, but it was broken pefrectly down the middle, like it should have been 2 pieces, so when i went to the junk yard to get the piece i was quite supprised to find out that it was all one piece. and any one that has taken it out knows its a bitch to replace-everything is mounted in or ontop of it, the speedometer was the trickiest, getting the needle back on in the right position, you know?

next was the problem that the passenger window was stuck. so while i was going about fixing that problem, i pulled off the door pannel to reveal. . . .wait for it-A 24 YEAR OLD CIGARETTE BUTT GLUED INSIDE THE DOOR! apparently it wasnt against the law to smoke in factories back then. i got the window working, but i left the butt there. . . .for any future generations that might come into ownership of this car.

these are the 3 ways that i put in the rear deck ($40 for the pair). still got the stock head unit, but they sound really good. had to make a plate for them to fit-the stock 6x9's were flush mounted on the bottom of the rear deck, and the cut out is about 5x8. it was good for them because they didnt really move when you turned up the volume. but for these things it would have really damaged the foam surounds. so i made a frame out of 1/2" plywood that would move them down enough to move freely without any damage.

these are the planet audio 3.5 2 ways that i put in ($50 for the pair). the tweeter stuck out so far that i had to cut away the grill to fit them in-and the magnets are so big that i had to modify the dash under the grills, and remove the driver side ac duct. but it was worth it. the sound quality is so much better. -next is the head unit. already got my eyes on the one i want. and im going to spend a little to much on it, but its just to cool to pass up! and im going to do it so that the stock head is still there-like mount it in the glove box or something.

no headliner. when i bought it the head liner was starting to fall in pretty bad-so i tried to fix it. now ive revamped headliners before, mostly for show, but not in older cars (this is the oldest car ive owned) and let me tell you, taking out the headliner on a 2005 Dodge Neon SRT-4, is nothing like taking out the 24 year old 1/4" styrofoam that breaks apart if you look at it wrong. and from the amount of window sealant on the front of it, and the difficulty of getting it out through the door, i think it was put in through the window-a pain in the ass to get out for me. but i tossed it, and ive got a great plan for a new one, should give the car more character. ive found replacement headliners going for $300-$500. bet i can beat it and look more individual.

the steering wheel is going to have to go-its cracked. dont know exactly what im going to replace it with though. eather stock or after market. im thinking if i can find an after market that matches the faux-grain of the dash, and isnt real small (like a tuner wheel) then thats whats going there. and its gotta have 2 different horn buttons on it- putting in one of those auuuuughaaaa horns. and keeping the stock one too.

nothin to special about the wheels and tires yet, but ill tell you- i changed the tire size to a P225/70R15, and it was a pain in the toosh trying to find a set of 4 with white walls. took 3 freakin days! places would have 2 or 3, but not the whole set. white lettering-every one had those in the size i wanted. and just as i was going to give in and just get the white lettering, i found the set.