[KQQLCAT]

I need a photo of a battery hold down for a 61 olds 88. Maybe a 62 88 is the same not sure.
Thanks
Pat

[Starfire61]

The '62 battery tray & hold down are not the same as the '61. On the '61, one end of the hold down rests in an opening in the radiator support/shroud, while the other end connects to a threaded rod which attaches to the battery tray.

I'll post a pic shortly.

Chuck

[Starfire61]

Here are a few pics of the hold down. The one on my Starfire was missing for years, & then when I bought my '61 Ninety Eight convertible I was lucky to find that its hold down was still there. I had a duplicate made for the Starfire.

It's all 1/4" rod & a few angle brackets. The unseen portion of the hold down that passes through the shroud has a slight upward hook to it.

Make sure you know the width of the battery before having one made. It turned out that the original hold down in my Ninety Eight had been modified to accommodate a newer battery, so when I tried to put the copy onto the repro Delco battery on the Starfire it didn't quite fit.

After one more trip to the welder everything was OK.

Chuck

[KQQLCAT]

Man that's great! I just had my friend fab up a new battery tray and now I can get him to make one of these.
Thanks
Pat

[Starfire61]

You're very welcome- FYI the threaded rod has a hook in the bottom end that hooks into a hole on the battery tray from the outside.

I was looking at some pics of your car recently (I downloaded all the pics from the Ebay listing.) Does it have a 4-core radiator? The fan ring & small-sized upper air deflector is consistent with the 4-core setup that came on the AC-equipped cars. I'm not sure if a heavy duty cooling system was optional, or if somebody borrowed the bigger cooling system off an AC car & installed it on yours.

AC cars had a different water pump, & also had a clutch fan, while non-AC cars had a direct-drive fan. The AC compressor back then was driven by 2 belts- I noticed also that your generator has a 2-groove pulley, which suggests to me that somebody also added the higher-output AC car charging system to your car, too.

Overall not a bad set of upgrades, & very subtle.

Chuck

[KQQLCAT]

Yes your right and I have already had the generator rebuilt and changed to a single pulley. I ammgoing to change out the the radiator cover also. Just personal tastes. I am going to keep the clutch fan setup. Radiator is also in the shop to be gone thru. I am detailing the engine compartment at this time.

Pat

[Starfire61]

Sounds like you're making a lot of progress already. Do you know if your car is originally black? If you look at the tag on the firewall there should be a paint code. "A" is the code for Ebony Black. You'll find the tag on the driver's side just in front of the windshield.

If it codes "D" for Platinum Mist then you may have my grandpa's car...

I also noticed that you're missing the crest on the hood. I have an extra one- I'll give it to you if you want it, just send me a few bucks for shipping. I picked it up awhile back thinking it was the same as the fender crest on the Ninety Eight, but it's a different size.

Mine's in nice shape. The chrome's not flawless, but the pitting on it is very minor & the pins are intact. I'm not sure what the correct colors are suppose to be- it's solid red now, but on the Ninety Eight fenders these logos were red & black, on the dashes they were red & white, on deluxe caps they were argent silver & on dog-dish caps I've seen both red & white AND red & black! I can do some checking around, or perhaps somebody else can chime in on this.

Chuck

[KQQLCAT]

Sure I am interested. I looked at the underside of the hood and there was never any holes in the hood. Do they glue on?
I will check the code for paint color but I am pretty sure it suppose to be black cause there are no signs of a different color anywhere.
Send me info to pay you.
Email is: plongen@meritex.com

[Starfire61]

There are two pins that hold the crest onto the hood. Your holes were likely filled-in by somebody. I checked my '61 literature, & the 88 post coupe in the illustrations clearly had the hood crest.

I believe there are some quarter-sized holes stamped in the hood backing plate that indicate where the mounting holes were drilled. I'll check on my cars the next time I'm where they're stored. I'll bet if you poked around in that area with something sharp you'd find evidence of the holes. If not, your hood may have been replaced. Though the sheet metal was exactly the same, 88 hoods had different hole patterns than 98's & Starfires, so I'd imagine that new replacement hoods came undrilled.

I'll send you a regular email about mailing the crest.

Chuck

[KQQLCAT]

Oh by they way I looked at the paint code and it says A A so it's a black car. I just finihed detailing under the hood. I'll post pics later. I have to troubleshoot gas gauge now.
Pat