Here are the pictures of my latest project, a 1970 Rallye 350, this car is an all numbers matching car with 83,000 original miles.I purchased this car from a man in Warwick RI who owned a speed shop - Super Stock Enginering - I actually raced this car back in the late 80's early 90's, I got the call that this car was coming up for sale but the owner wanted it to go to someone who would appreciate the car, We struck a deal and the car came home with me.

The pictures that follow are the progression over two years to bring the car back to better than new condition, I want this car to be concours quality, view the pictures and tell me what you think.

All of the work done, with the exception of the powdercoat, is done in my home garage, I do all the work myself.

 

Well back to add more pics,,, while the frame was out being powdercoated I reworked the floors, sanded them down by hand and sprayed them semi-gloss black. also after the motor and trans was reinstalled I installed new universals and detailed the driveshaft, there is a little dust on them in the pics but you can see how nice they came out.

I did the interior upholstry myself, the seats needed to be redone, they were ripped and the rug was badly worn out, I did not take pics of the seats before which is not like me but take a look

I took the console out, fixed one broken part witha spare console I had, reworked the His and Hers Shifter. I took it all apart, glass beaded the metal parts, polished the bezel, and repainted the little Oldsmobile Rocket Emblem, added new woodgrain to the front piece, the woodgrain on the bezel was still ok.

My car did not originally come with a speed-alert speedometer but since I have a lot of Oldsmobile stuff I figured lets put in all the toys, I sent it out to Speedometer service because the face had the PRND21 on it as it came out of a column shift parts car I had, They were able to remove the lettering without damaging the original face, Thanks Guys Great Job. so here is pics of the dash with the Tic-Toc-Tach and the speed-alert set to what,,,70 of course,,,

Well working on the ram air air cleaner lower pan, I will soon add more pics...Here are some pics of the original ram air setup for the Rallye, as you can see it is in need of some attention, If a car was originally a ram air car the lower four barrel metal base is different from the regular base. The air inlet is bigger, sqaure on the edges, and has additional holes with folded over edges for the breather tubes.

 Ok it is months later and I am making more progress on the car, started concentrating on getting the radiator support done, here are some pics of the damage on the support when I got the car,,,

I found a rust free but crusty replacement radiator support and I actually found one off a 1970 442 with the optional factory transmission cooler, check out the holes drilled on the passenger side near the headlights, these are for the cooler lines ,,,

I sent the support out to be media blasted then cleaned a few spots by hand to really make it ready for acid etching primer, check out the support in primer after I sprayed it at the body shop,,, cool

Next I sprayed it with several coats of Semi-Gloss Black paint to duplicate the factory finish from GM, Check out the pics of it installed on the frame,,,

Next let's install the factory transmission cooler,,, Cool Stuff ,,,,

The original grilles were in good shape but had to be repainted, pics of before and after, The best color for the grey / silver is made by Seymour paints Dull Aluminum, ,,,, about five hours into the grilles between lightly sanding, priming, painting black, then retaping and painting dull aluminum,,,,

 Here are pics of the plastic fenderwells, overspray from before I got the car along with lots of mystery scapping made the inner fenders unusable,,, so off to find replacements,,,,,

Well after lots of searching, I finally found a set of really dirty but undamaged 1970 inner fenderwells, there is a difference between 71-72 wells and 70 wells, these are from a 70 so they are correct for this car, It takes hours and hours to clean these plastic wells correctly because it is really easy to damage them, If you sand them they will never shine, it is like sanding past the gel coat in fiberglass, you cannot use thinner on them because they will dull out and again not shine, you can only use a soft cloth and a weak cleaner, I read posts on ROP where a person said that Maquire's Tire gel is great to bring out the black color in these wells, so I tried it and it is fantastic!!!!! Check out the pics of the passanger well installed....

I sandblaster the radiator support hold down, drilled the extra holes for the transmission cooler bolts, and painted it Semi-Gloss Black, I also installed the lower air deflector, Here are pics of the car starting to look better,,, or starting to look like a car again,,,,,

Well back to work, I will redo the driver side fenderwell and list more pics later, ,,,  :-)

I'm back to list more pics,,,,  but first ,,,, A WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING TO ANYONE VIEWING THIS CAR AND PHOTOS, THERE IS A SCAMMER IN LONDON WHO COPIED PICTURES OF THIS CAR, MY CAR, STATING IT WAS HIS CAR, WHICH HE WAS PARTING OUT TO FINANCE ANOTHER PROJECT, HE WAS INCLUDING IN EMAILS PICTURES ASKING PEOPLE TO VIEW THE CAR AND EMAIL HIM WHICH PARTS THEY WANTED AND THEN HE WOULD SHIP THEM OUT THE PARTS, ,,,,,, DO NOT BE FOOLED OR SCAMMED, I AM NOT PARTING OUT THIS CAR NOR AM I SELLING PARTS OFF IT, IF YOU RECEIVE AN EMAIL WITH PICTURES OF THIS CAR YOU CAN BE ASSURED IT IS A FAKE OFFER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now back to our regularly scheduled program ,,,,  I adding a factory cruise control set up to my car even though it did not come with it from the factory that way, here are pictures of a 1970 Cutlass cruise transducer before I restored it,,,

I disassembled it, replated the original bolts with my Black Oxide Kit, Sandblasted the bracket, primed it and sprayed it semi-gloss black, then installed an NOS transducer I had,,,, looks mint now,,,,,

Installed it in the drivers side inner fenderwell, along with an NOS washer bottle,,,, Cool !!!!!

I then turned my attention to the factory jack in the trunk ,,,, it was the original one but WOW it was crusty ,,,, you can see in the pics the original markings on the base and the arm ,,, the jack shaft is really rusted and pitted, this needed to be replated. 

I disassembled the assembly, sandblasted, primed and painted the jack. The grey color is as close as I could get it, tried to match a clean spot under the rubber pad, Here is a pic of the parts painted on my toolbox before I assembled it, the shaft needed additional attention, so I took it, along with some other parts to my friends at Surface Coatings in Providence RI, to be replated ,,,,,, do to the heavy pitting Mark told me it needed to have a heavy nickel coat first before the Yellow DiChromate, well he did a great job on the other stuff so I trusted him, we would have to wait and see ,,,,,

Well got some of the stuff back from the plater and just as promised, the jack shaft came out great! Take a look at the jack assembled along with the lug wrench looking mint ,,,, I need a new jack sticker and wheel hardware ,,, just more stuff to order from Fusick ,,,,

OK, time for a quick commercial ,,,,  If anyone in the New England area need plating redone the guys at Surface Coatings in Providence Rhode Island are great ! they do tin zinc, blue and yellow dichromate, nickel and small chrome replating, they do great work, are very reasonably priced and have a quick turn around, my stuff usually is done in one to two weeks, also they are "car guys" who do not mind if you only have a few parts to do ,,,, well now back to our regularly scheduled program.....

Here is where my friends get to call me crazy,,,,,,,, the bucket seat tracks need to be reworked and replated, they were originally yellow dichromate plated but now are just crusty and really do not adjust easy so time to take them apart.... I drilled out the stops in the tracks, disassembled them, plastic media blasted them, then prepped them for plating, check out the photos,,,,

Since I had more stuff going to the plater I decided to prep the seat belt bolts for plating, they also are supposed to be yellow dichromate, since the underside of the floors are painted the seat belt bolts will add that extra detail touch when you look under the car ,,, replated seat belt bolts,,,, Ok this is where you insert your insanity joke just like my friends do ,,,,  Check out the pics of the seat tracks reassembled and regreased, also I had the cruise linkage replated and the horn relay cover replated, ,,,,, Once again, please insert insanity joke here, ,,,,,

Well time to get back to work dispite the cold weather,,, I will add more pics soon,,,,  stay tuned for our next exciting episode ,,,,  same bat time, same bat chanel ,,,,  :-)

 Well Back to add more pics, I wanted to continue on the trunk area so the original spare tire needed some attention, ,,,  The original rim was sandblasted, primed then an NOS Firestone Wide Oval tire was mounted, these were the original equipment when the cars were new, check out the pic ,,,,

Now its off to the bodyshop, I taped up both sides of the tire, lightly scuffed the rim, then precleaned it just before applying the base color,,,,,  got to love the Sebring Yellow paint ,,,,,

After several light coats of base I sprayed the rim with three coats of clear ,,, back to the garage to unwrap the rim,,,, I polished the five stainless loops, ,,,  Looking good. 

I ordered a new GM centercap, they are still available but are getting expensive, the part number is 402926, also ordered a few items from Fusick for the jack, I will post new pics once the wheel is in place,,,,  

Time for a little break,,,, just hanging out in the garage and drinking a beer, but dont' let friends near the digital camera ,,,,, oops too late ,,,,, I will add more pics soon, only not of me, of the car,,, bye

Ok, well back to add more pics, the wheel has been installed in the trunk, really does look cool with the chrome polished and an NOS center cap. 

This car has a build date the 4th week of January 1970, according to the cowl tag, so a check of the original parts is interesting. The alternator was built on Jan 12th, (OA12) the Carb was built Jan 14th, (0140) the Starter was built Jan 15th, (OA15) the cylinder heads both have a "15" cast on them (Jan 15th). So since I am repainting and restoring the rims I wanted to see if they also are original to the car ,,,, I media blasted the rims (all five) and to my surprise they are also dated !!!!  On the edge of the rim next to the valve stem hole is a 1 (the month) then a 19 (the date) MA (the rim code), all five rims were made in January 19th 1970. Tooooo Cooool !!!!

I checked the 70 Cutlass assembly manual and the wheel code for a 1970 Cutlass Rallye 350 and Offical Pace Car is MA - Excellent stuff, check the pics ,,,,

The rims have been media blasted, precleaned, two coats of acid etching primed, then two coats of primer sealer. I will have to get one more Firestone then have them all mounted. Over the years I have found four NOS Firestone Wide Oval Tires, one went into the trunk so I only have three left for the car. Check the pics ,,,

Looks like I am going to have to break down and purchase a reproduction tire so I can finish the set,,,  Not like I am going to drive around on them, I just wanted to have the set done for the Oldsmobile Nationals in Sturbridge Massachusets for 2010. I have a set of BFG Radials on Cutlass rims to drive on.

I will have the tires mounted prior to painting the rims, polish the chrome loops and add a full set of NOS Center caps. I will be back soon to add more pics, ,,,,

Well back to add more pics ,,,, Spring has finally sprung and with the weather getting better I am spending more time in the garage and on the car,,,, Yeah !!!! Well the rims were taken down the body shop for a little color, I sprayed them with a fresh coat of Sebring Yellow, check the pics ....

The rims are painted front and back with the base color only, no clear coat yet ,,, The fourth Firestone is on the way and hopefully I can have the tires mounted this weekend, then I will do any touchups from the mounting,  ,,,, by the way ,,,, the Firestone Wide Oval Tires ,,,, they are available from several distributors but a little time on the internet pays off, the best price was through Jegs, which was more than $20 cheaper than the lowest advertised price,

Back soon with more pics ,,,,  

Spring is here and with the warm weather have been working in the garage almost every night, only made a little progress on the Rallye as I want to repaint the Hurst Olds this year, but here is some of the new stuff...

I took the front and back bumpers apart to redo the lights, so here are pics of some of the parts being polished before going of to the plater...

After a trip to the plater ,,,

Repainted the white background, cleaned the wiring, cleaned and polished the plastic lens, looking good !!!

Had the Firestone tires mounted and switched the tires on the car, looking period correct ... time to fit the front fenders ,,, looking like a car again ,,,,

Ok, time to switch the cars around in the garage, put the 84 Hurst Olds in the middle bay and make with the bodywork,,,, time for fun with sandpaper and chemicals ,,,, I will keep adding pics as the work progresses,,,,    be back soon !!!!