This car has been one hell of a little project so far. It was in pretty rough shape mechanically when I bought it, but the body was great considering its age! Almost NO rust!

Phase 1: Yank that beat up old dog of a 307!

Here are a couple pics of the engine I've installed. Its a 350 Olds from a 73' 442. It only had like 50K original miles on it, then sat covered up in a garage for like 15 years! Needless to say it was in sound condition!

She started out as almost as much of a dog as the 307 when I first dropped it in, but I've done a lot since then! First thing was a cam swap to a crane (204/216/.050), and a double roller timing set. Next thing was swapping my low compression #8 heads with a set of milled and worked #6s.  The heads were done by Joe at Gor Den machine shop.  He did a 3 angle valve job, knurled the guides, and hogged out the bowls.  Finally I removed the POS 600cfm Edelbrock that was on there, and several carbs later -ended up running a holley douple pumper, and now back to my 800 CFM Quadrajet.  The new heads made a night and day difference, by upping the compression from about 8 to about 9.3 to 1.

Cats have long since been removed from the stainless dual exhaust, with a set of headers added to give the car a deep throaty exhaust note.

Phase 2: Body work.

I got the car with a lame busted up, poorly installed ground effects kit.  That was the first thing to go.  The next thing was replacing the standard busted in grills.   The ones I put on aren't the correct year, but they look blacked out, and I like them.  It's hard to find them without busted mounting tabs!

Anyways, next I removed all the small external pieces that I could physically get off, including chrome and tail lights and bezels and grills.  It was a huge PITA! Body work. Ugh! It seems like every time I thought I had it straight and true, I found another spot that didn't look quite right in the light the next day.  In any event, I got sick of doing that FAST, and the job spanned 2 summers! (and many cases of beer)

I sanded, fiberglassed, and primed the the entire car with spray bombs myself.  I used the high build Duplicolor from Autozone, because it helped hide sanding scratches. The only body part that needed replacing was the passenger side door.  It had severe rust, and I was forced to source one from Texas on ebay.  Ended up paying 50 for the door, and 200 or so to get it here.  UPS looked like they drop-kicked it on and off the trucks, because it was seriously tweaked when it got here!  I had to do a LOT of work to that door...bending it back into shape, cutting off the trim mounts, and welding the holes up.  I painted it a dark metallic blue. That is one great body.

Phase 3: Paint

Well, I completed all the body work to the best of my personal ability and I was pretty proud. I did a pretty fine job of banging out dents and dings and sanding off the rusted areas! So, I decided to spray it myself.

Unfortunately, I discovered that I am no painter. I've done the whole car myself so far and I wanted the pride of being able to say I sprayed it too. I've never painted anything before and I figured, "How hard could it be?" I decided to paint the car with a one stage metallic blue Acrylic Urethane Enamel. Unfortunately I had two problems. I ran out of paint on the 4th coat halfway thru the hood....and I got a bad orange peel which I decided to wet sand. Now anyone who knows anything about painting knows that with a metallic color, these are very bad things. Different oats don't look the same, its all about how the metal flake aligns itself in the paint. There are a couple areas where wet sanding made the paint look odd as I went thru a coat. Its not a terrible first attempt however. Especially as I just did this in my driveway, with a cheapo bottom feed gun, and a 5 gal compressor. The whole job cost me about $250 in supplies. Here are the pics, lets hear what you think. Sorry for the lighting.  

Mistakes I made are: forgetting to empty the water out of the compressor, not planning my paint use right so I could get a full 4th coat, using too high of air pressure, and trying to wet sand a single stage metallic.  if I were to do it over again, I'm sure the results would be MUCH better...I learned a lot doing this.

Here's some pics, I love the factory rims I put back on.  I painted those too. They will match the pin stripes on the sides after they are added and the silver/gray two tone is done. I've decided I will wet sand the whole car glass smooth with 2000 grit. That way I can have the car professionally shot with 2 more coats of the same paint before adding those decals and second color. I am too dissapointed with my overall job, and I don't want to waste the decal kit. (It was expensive.) Plus I found a pro who will do it for a case of beer in his professional booth with heaters to bake on the paint. My initial job will serve as a great base for the pro. I can't say I did a BAD job, but it wasn't as good as I wanted. I did manage to learn a lot about painting though, and I would try it again with a non-metallic color.

I have also re-done all of the weatherstrip on the car, and now need to re-adjust the windows to compensate for the thicker rubber and get a good seal.

Here is a pic of the interior. It needs a REAL good cleaning inside, but the pictures really don't do justice to the overall quality. You can see my passenger door panel in the backseat...heh. Work in progress.

Heres an old pic of my car at the local drag strip Sept 28th, 2004. Back when this was taken with the low compression heads, tt ran in the high 9 second times,(9.93) on the 8th mile.  Since then, it's about about a second faster.

***Update*** General Junk 12-27-06

Got some new stuff for Christmas this year! Kick@ss! Tranny cooler and window motors are mounted and work great.  Infinity 3.5" dash speakers are installed and sound great! Plans for a radiator upgrade in the works.... Plans to disassemble and rebuild door hinges also in the works....

Where it's at now:

Since this was written, I've blown up the rear end, and rebuilt it with a 3.23 posi unit.  I also blew up the trans and swapped in a TH350 with a 2000 stall, and transgo shift kit. I love it.  It barks the tires hard now!  Currently running an 800 CFM q-jet that I rebuilt, and I installed a 100hp Nitrous Kit!  Best run was a 9.10 in the 8th mile without the nitrous....   I have made no track runs since the NOS or near rear gears were installed, so I don't know what it will do now.  I'm curious though!

Phase 6 (What's to come!): 

I reccently drove down to Ohio to meet a guy I talk to on the message boards.  He gave me a reasonable deal on an Olds 403.  This one is getting a total high dollar rebuild, and will be pretty mean.  The 350 just isn't fast enough for me anymore!

Here it is, when I brought it home, and put it on the stand. It's a long block only...no intake or carb or accessories.

Here it is fresh after a 300 mile or so drive and mounted to the stand as I bought it (I removed the 4A heads).

Check out those crank journals!  They looked awesome!  I ended up selling it to another forum member on Oldspower.com to help pay for the build up.

Here, I removed the pistons.  Notice the rust in the cylinder.  A .030 overbore, and some forged pistons, and you'll never even know it.  =)

Here's the infamous 403 windowed mains for those that have never seen them.  That's why they say this engine makes a poor high performance choice, because of the weak block...but I want to be different and build it anyways.  I already have a plan for that.  Here is is:  5 main girdle from J&S.

Here's some other goodies I got for the 403 so far:

Nice 1.6 scorpion full roller rockers, and some nice valve covers!

I am also planning on using BBO heads, and I was given a set of J heads to start with.  I've been porting them and smoothing the bowls, to help the 403 breath easy.  These are some very preliminary pics.

Stock head, and stock ports....look how bad the valves are shrouded!

I've started smoothing in the bowls, and guides:

I've also started polishing my rods.... 

That's all for now!

My other Vehicles:

80cc motorized 21 speed KHS mountain bike!  Here's a youtube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL04a8kw26w

And, a 94 Ford F150 with a quarter million miles!

Race Car

Here is my Olds guru, Bruce's car. He is turning it into a strict drag car, and has been kind enough to provide me with many parts I need for mine. He has an 85 Cutlass. Is is primed and the engine is almost built. This guy knows everything about Olds's and could probably build one from scratch. Thanks for the help Bruce!

This is only a bare block for mockup, the real 455 is at the shop, nearing completion. MuWhoHahahahaha!

**Update** 7-18-06

This car is now running rampant past other vehicles at the strip! Here it is!

Be sure to check back for more pics of my 86 442, and Bruces drag car.

Check page 2 for a list of things I had to replace, and cost so far.