32' Oldsmobile Deluxe Convertible Roadster

[chistech]

My 32' Olds has a free wheeling cooling fan as the water pump is mounted on the side of the engine and is driven by the generator which has a through shaft, coupled to the water pump. The fan is unique to the era as it is a spiral oil groove cut main shaft with the bronze bearings riding on the shaft in an oil filled housing. As the hub w/fan rotates, oil in the hub is picked up through small holes (holes can be seen in the housing in the top right of picture) and caught by the main shaft front plate. Centrifugal force, pressurizes the hub and forces oil down along the screw shaft lubricating the bronze bushings. At the end of the shaft but still inside the hub, there are another four small holes that allows the oil to escape and be thrown into a slinger cup just inside the rear exit hole for the shaft allowing the oil to drip back down into the hub oil reservoir. Oil school but it worked. My good friend Ed Vivieros of Maplewood Machine Shop replaced the worn bushing for me so the hub is ready to last another 85 years! Put on new gaskets, reassembled the hub and gave it a new coat of gloss black paint. Now to mount the blades.

Edited October 14, 2017 by chistech (see edit history)

[chistech]

Got called by the machine shop today to come down and take some pictures. The rod bearings were slightly distorted out of round so they got scraped to fit the polished journals of the crank. The rings were filed to fit and the Ross Racing pistons were installed along with the crank and cam. Motor is looking good.  The pistons were a perfect fit in the bore and the whole assembly turns nicely though stiff like it should. Kudos to Ross for the quality product they make. The valves will be fitted soon along with the new timing chain and timing chain cover. Then the oil pump, pump lines,  and the oil pan will all be put back on. Making up a wood cradle so when it's done I can have it secured in it when I bring it home.  

[keiser31]

Swweeeeeeeet!

[chistech]

More done on the motor. Cam, timing chain, timing chain cover, oil pump, and all associated lines are installed. Two of the three banks of valves and lifters are in. Oil pan is going on today and the last bank of valves and guides will go in. Should be done soon.

[chistech]

This arrived yesterday! Only one problem, it has to go back to the machine shop. They forgot to put the flywheel bolts back in the crank after they polished the journals. Now the pan needs to come back off along with the rear main bearing cap to put the bolts in. There’s just not enough clearance to do it any other way. 

The total cost of my engine rebuild was very reasonable prices as follows:

custom pistons,rings, and pins from Ross Racing, $835

6 rods rebabbitted by Paul’s                                        $$750

6 exhaust valves, 6 guides, 6 springs, and misc.     $235 (from Then And Now)

timing chain,                                                                   $145

24 new high head head bolts.                                      $175

gasket material.                                                              $ 50

machine shop labor.                                                       $1,750

total.                                                                                  $3,940

 

Very happy with the total. Labor included total disassembly, cleaning/bead blasting of most parts, boring.020 over, installing new valves, guides, springs, cutting of new valve seats, grinding and turning of valves, balancing of crank, polishing of crank journals, scraping/setting of rod bearings, filing rings, refacing of flywheel, pressure plate, and total reassembly.

[chistech]

The machine shop picked up the engine today to install the flywheel bolts they forgot. Made up a new pan gasket set so they’d have a new gasket to work with. I installed the new door bottoms made by American Muscle after priming and painting the insides. Made up all new lower wood and all pieces needed. Assembled the doors with the window frames and regulators. These cabriolet doors are a pain to get just  right for window operation and when fully assembled, weigh a ton.

[chistech]

Welded up and filled any holes that had been drilled or cut in the firewall and cowl that were not there originally when the car was made. Primed and painted it up on the inside to prepare it to go back onto the wood framing.  I couldn't find a good original Remo can for the decarbonizer and only had a badly deteriorated one. I sent it to Victor Trading and they made me up a new can. I applied a copy of the original label that I was able to get from a fellow 32' Olds owner, Gene Weider. 

[chistech]

Engine got dropped off yesterday and I started to put it together. The Olds has a specific pilot bushing at .818 OD and a .626 ID so I turned one on the lathe then drove it in with a spare front transmission shaft. I then reamed it back out with a .626 ream to make sure there’s enough clearance. Bolted on the flywheel, bell housing, clutch, and pressure plate, again using the spare transmission shaft as an alignment tool. Going to paint up the engine today.

 

Got the cowl all nailed back to the wood frame and nailed the hinge pillar covers on. Checked alignment of both doors, threshold supports, and the new aluminum threshold covers I purchased from Doorsills Inc. started stripping the wood off the top bow to prepare for making new pieces. 

 

Finished fitting all all the front floor wood and mounted the emergency brake handle mechanism to the floor board. Most cars of the era had the emergency brake mounted to the chassis or transmission housing but the Olds was mounted to the floor board. This means most of the floor boards out there survived because there would be no emergency brake if the floor board was allowed to deteriorate. 

Edited November 11, 2017 by chistech (see edit history)

[Taylormade]

Looking great!  What color will she be?

[chistech]

On 11/11/2017 at 11:05 AM, Taylormade said:

Looking great!  What color will she be?

She is going back to 100% OEM. That means she’ll be black bodied, black convertible top, and dark brown leather seat and brown vinyl rumble seat. Wood wheels will be natural with a original type pine tar/linseed oil type coloring finished with spar varnish. Hood doors will be chrome along with all the other chrome pieces. The horns will just have the mouth of the trumpets chromed with the tubes correctly painted fender color (black). Pinstriping with be only 1/16 on the whole car which again, is OEM correct. My goal with this car is to have the only fully correct/OEM Olds roadster on road today. Many know very little about the 32’ Olds and researching this car has taken hours. Luckily I’ve been friended by two people who probably know the most about these cars. Now I’m learning what was correct and what incorrect.

 

Below is a factory photo of a Olds DCR in double black. Mine will have natural wheels and chrome hood doors but otherwise look identical.

Edited November 16, 2017 by chistech
Added picture (see edit history)

[chistech]

While sandblasting some door parts I misplaced two door parts on my Olds. I’ve never lost any part before so I’m sure it’s in my garage somewhere. I was able to pickup a door check in Hershey but the door wedge is very specific on this car. Today I machined up a new one on my vertical miller. Quite happy with the results. The last picture shows the original on the drivers door with the new machined one in the first picture on the passenger door.

 

Took the rear body metal off for hopefully the last time and took any unglued pieces of wood off, applied glue and screwed everything back together. Finished treating the rest of the wood with the copper naphthalene and will now start cutting out the small rotted areas on the sheet metal then weld in the patch panels.

 

Prepped the motor for paint. Bolted on the water jacket cover and then stripped it as the paint I put on it earlier was cracking right off. Scuffed the cover up real good to help the new paint stick. Will paint the motor and manifold tomorrow.

;

Edited November 16, 2017 by chistech
Spell check changed a word (see edit history)

[Taylormade]

Very happy to hear you are going for the original look.  Several people commented on my 32 Dodge Brothers sedan restoration, telling me the original all black would look better painted a different color.  Since the paint color was written in chalk inside the body and plainly easy to read, my car will be black with straw yellow wire wheels and black walls, just as she rolled out of Dodge Main on January 21, 1931.

[chistech]

When I first got this car, it was painted in a canary yellow that was never offered originally. Pulling the windshield frame showed the car was black underneath and inside the door jambs was also black so that confirmed the body color. I had two full sets of wood wheels, one set red, the other natural, and I originally thought the natural finished ones were what must have been on the car. The red set of wheels yielded the matching canary yellow underneath which then yielded varnish underneath that meaning that this set too, was originally natural. The rims were black under the two colors and still showed the correct 1/16 cigarette cream pinstripe for the black. This determined that the original wheels for the car were indeed natural finished. My two door garnishes had also been painted the same red as the wheels helping to confirm the red set belonged originally to th car. The metal parts of my roof bows are black telling me the convertible top was black as research shows that the bows would have been painted brown if a brown top was used. Remnants of original interior panels were found still nailed in areas along with leather bits still nailed to the seat frame bottom and all showed a dark brown color.The whole project has been lots of investigative research but now I’m. 95%+ positive I have the correct color scheme for the whole car.

Edited November 13, 2017 by chistech (see edit history)

[chistech]

Got the motor painted up with the correct 32’ Olds green from Bill Hirsch.  The enamel dries real fast and sprays real nice if you thin it 4-1 with lacquer thinner. Couldn’t stop bolting things up tonight as every piece added just makes it look better! With the transmission bolted up the pictures look just like the power plant pictures in the service manual. Here’s some eye candy for you motor heads.

[Taylormade]

Wow, love it.

[chistech]

After getting a better look at my generator I realized the belt was not seating deep enough into the pulley. Checking the data plate on the generator showed it was the wrong unit. A quick look at the rusty one that came with the parts chassis told me it was the correct one. Taking it apart, I found new brushes, new field coils, a what looked like a new armature! Evidently when the parts car had gotten into its accident, the generator must have just been rebuilt. I still put a new pair of 6203 bearings in it after blasting it the painted it up. The pulley had a dent so I chucked it in my lathe and using a dial indicator with a small ball peen hammer, got it nice and true. 

 

Temporarily mounted the carburetor to start making up fuel lines and some linkages that were missing. When I first ot the Olds, the Stromberg automatic choke was gone and a bypass plate was put in its place. With the auto choke missing, so was the control rod from the throttle linkage to the choke. The carburetor choke rod from the Stromberg unit was also missing. With the help of another 32 Olds owner, and now a close friend, I’ve had been able to find many of the parts I was missing and been able to recreate many parts with pictures and measurements supplied by my friend. The Stromberg unit came from him and needed repair which I did. The control rod for the auto choke I made up from those pictures and measurements. The Stromberg choke also has a special gasket which has a screened section. I used some fine mesh and sandwiched it between two paper gaskets. Some contact adhesive and tight clamping in my miller vice gave me a nice flat, screened gasket. 

[Grimy]

Nice job on the choke gasket!  It also fits Pierce 8s (and probably 12s) through the end (1938).  Someone has reproduced them as copper sandwiches at $55-65 each, so your homemade solution is wonderful!

[chistech]

Thanks Grimy. The Olds originally used a paper version similar to what I made rather than a copper one.

[chistech]

Some more updated photos of all the accessories get finalized. Carburetor lower casting has been painted and it was reassembled then mounted. He Stromberg automatic choke is mounted on its gasket and all linkages hooked up. Correct generator mounted along with the water pump coupling just needing a new data plate stamped up and mounted. Started running the fuel lines and will make up the special decarbonizer vacuum line out of 5/16” copper. Finding the correct fittings is probably the hardest part to making the lines up. Installed 5 NOS G9 AC spark plugs I was able to get and I’m waiting on a sixth to arrive shortly. Also need to make up the air cleaner support bar that gets secured under a head bolt. More to come.

[keiser31]

BEAUTIFUL!

[chistech]

When we order parts for our cars, every trip to the mail box can be like Christmas and yesterday was a good day. My sixth plug came in along with my new set of ignition wires from RJL Fasteners. Super nice wires and very affordable, not to mention I ordered them on Wednesday! Made up and installed the air cleaner support bar and my neighbor polished up some fittings along with the pump to carburetor fuel line. I realize some parts are “over polished “ but I also know will patina out to an “as delivered “ look pretty quickly. Made up the decarbonizer tubing coil and will wait to install once the body is mounted back on the chassis. Just about done with the motor now and moving on to the wheels.

[Luv2Wrench]

Fantastic job on the engine and the woodwork looks wonderful as well.   Great project!!

 

[chistech]

Thanks Jeff. I was very lucky to find this rare car and I’m trying my best to do it justice with my restoration.

[chistech]

Finished up everything on the motor today including making all of the missing oil filter plumbing, adding gear oil to the trans, and gear oil to the free wheeling unit. My neighbor and professional polisher, Scott ciardi, owner of Brass From The Past, has polished most items on this car up for me including all tubing here, the carburetor, and the decarbonizer unit. Nothing has been coated or lacquered so all will patina some down the road to a more original finish. His work is incredible. Mixed up some kerosene with boiled linseed oil, and added some pine tar for a period correct finish for the wheels. I really like the color the mixture yielded on the wheel. Now to do the rest then start spar varnishing them.

[Taylormade]

I agree those copper lines should acquire a nice patina over time.  I have always wondered what they looked like when first installed - I assume they were left natural and not painted, but they wouldn't have polished them back then.  I guess whatever patina developed while the materials sat around the warehouse is what you got.  Yours should look totally "authentic" over time (and  I personally think they look terrific polished, correct or not.) 

 

Very nice color on the wood.  I like the darker look rather than the bleached blond appearance so popular with many cars.  I know you said the metal on the wheels is black.  Is there pinstriping on the rims and spokes?  Great progress, this is going to be one stunning car.

[chistech]

It seems we are on the same wavelength! I know the polished look is not correct but really like the look so I'll enjoy it while it lasts and know that a simple wipe down will keep things nice and clean as they patina. The oxidation and corrosion is what makes cleaning these items difficult. With it polished off, all is easier to keep clean and new looking. Now that the oil filter plumbing is all done, I stripped the filter of old paint in the blast cabinet and gave it a new black paint job.

 

I see too many wheels these days bleached right out then epoxy resined to a super clear coat that looks miles thick. While it works for the owners, it doesn't work for me, and I like the more traditional darker color over anything else. Plus, the spar varnish finish breathes better allowing the wood's humidity to keep more with the environment.

 

Yes, rims are black, hubs are black, and there will be a 12pt star pattern also in black surrounding the front hub with the points of the star up the base of the spoke. There is a fine cigarette cream (white) 1/16" pinstripe about a 1/4" from the edge of the black area of the star pattern that follows the star pattern.  There is also a single 1/16" pinstripe around the rim on the vertical closest to the tire lip. Sorry if all this sounds confusing. I had a picture of a wheel but lost it when my other computer crashed. I'll try and find one to post. The biggest issue with the pinstripe is most current Olds owners have their strips at 3/32 to 1/8" which is just too wide and over powering which is not what Olds originally intended the pinstripe to do. It was meant to accent the base color when up close, not stand out like the primary eye focus from 50'.

 

I am hoping you are correct and it is a stunning car while still being a mid totem pole GM cabriolet. Every day is gets closer to completion, the more excited I get. While it's not considered a classic, and not at the level or an Auburn, Packard, or even the Buick, it's my Auburn/Packard as I'll probably never get a chance to own a car of that caliber. What really pleases me is I'll know that my Olds is virtually as rare if not rarer than those other cars and unless I'm at an Olds national show, there will probably never be another one at a show I go to. I've had local antique car owners stop and ask to see it as they've heard through the "grapevine" that I have the car. All of them say the same thing, "I've never seen one and would even know it was an Olds if you didn't tell me." 

 

Here is a picture below that is close to what my wheel should look like including the WW tire. Don't take my following comments wrong as I critique the wheel as anyone, including myself is allowed to do what they want and like, and to me, the wheel looks very nice, just not 100% correct. I am going by what I have learned by the two most knowledgeable men on the 32' olds and one of the only never restored car owners. First, the chrome trim ring is incorrect and too wide as an original optional Olds trim ring is only about 3/8" wide and only covers the second vertical area on the wheel leaving the 1st vertical closest to the tire exposed and you would be able to see the single pin stripe line at the middle of that vertical. (I currently have 5 original rings and need one if I intend on ever using them.) Also, the pinstripe is too wide on his wheels though the width looks better on the fender. I might be wrong and have to check but I believe the stripe should be set back from the edge of the black about a 1/4" also  but I could be wrong. I will check my research more before I get to that part anyway. My pinstriper is already looking forward to all the thin striping! LOL 

 

Edited November 22, 2017 by chistech (see edit history)

[chistech]

The two lower edges of both sides of the body metal is perforated so I started cutting out the bad areas and welding in the patches. The patch panels are pre made but not real good so I ended up doing a lot of reforming of them. Got them pretty right and welded in all areas needing repair. You start to get fairly good at metal forming the more you do. Lots of fine grinding work with the Dremel in the corners. Done with the passenger side, now to the drivers side. Stained up another couple wheels and will try to have them all ready for varnish by the weekend.

[Taylormade]

It's amazing the Swiss cheese you find once the body is stripped down.  On my 32 Dodge I thought I had one small hole in the strip below the doors.  Once the area was cleaned I discovered the entire strip was Swiss cheese - even worse that yours.  Very nice work.  In most cases it's easier to work on an all steel body - I remember my trials and tribulations with my 1929 Plymouth and it's wood framed body - but in the case of my Dodge, the strip area was all one piece welded together to the rest of the body and with a curve in both directions.  I envy your easy access and relatively straight panels that make repairs easier.  Then, again, I didn't have to replace wood in the doors or cowl.

[chistech]

What is amazing to me is that even the perforated areas still have thick metal around the holes and in the areas where there’s just a few holes. I can easily fill them in with the mig by backing up the holes with a piece of 2 1/2” brass pipe. The weld doesn’t stick to the brass but let’s the weld flow out and fill the hole. You’re right on the ease of access whiich was super easy because this is an open car. All I had to do was pull the nails at the belt line, the pillars, and underneath on the sills and the metal came right off. If this was a closed car. There’s 50% more work at least and not so fun doing. Going to try tackling the other side tomorrow after I come in from the woods. It’s deer season and I’ve been watching the two guys below along with a bunch of others.

[42319DB34]

Three nice pieces of literature on eBay , 

Including 1932 6 & 8 accessories price list ....

[Laughing Coyote]

Nice work. Great attention to detail. It will be one nice looking car when you get it done.

[chistech]

Finished up all the body panel repair tonight. Getting pretty good with the mig welder now. Tin knocked the panel some after welding it to straighten out the weld line so the body side is nice and straight. Had to widen this panels bulbous areas also as they were to narrow 

like the other patch panel. Used a dremel with a fine cut off wheel to make a nice thin straight cut to remove the old piece. Used abou 10-12 cut off disks but the result is worth it. Cut the patch panel with both the dremel and the air nibbler using a straight edge. The nibbler makes fast work of cutting the metal with no edge distortion. 

 

I will etch prime all the new steel and welded areas then paint the inside of the body with black single stage. Then I will put the body back on the wood and nail it to the wood , finishing up one more thing.

[keiser31]

Very nice job!

[chistech]

Thanks. Doing this car is helping sharpen all my skills, from wood working to metal working, mechanics, and even the upholstery and convertible roof. I will do almost all of it minus the motor rebuilding and the painting. When your good buddy is one of the best painters in New England, why bother even trying to paint it!

[chistech]

Primed and painted up the inside of the body sheet metal black today. Continued treating the wheels with the pine tar/kerosene/linseed oil mixture today. Had one wheel that was slightly darker than the rest so I stripped it again and bleached it with oxalic acid until it lightened up to my liking. I treated it today and all the wheels are now pretty close to where I like them. One more coat should do it then I'll start varnishing them. Once the wood is done it's off to the body shop to get painted. 

 

 

[GARY F]

I love that natural finish.

[chistech]

Got two coats of spar varnish down on all six wheels. With the colder weather, the varnish is sloooow drying! Going to put at least 4 coats on. The varnish is “richening” up the color of the pine tar/kerosene/boiled linseed oil mixture. Really liking the color. Looking into having some vinyl stencils made up to make masking off the sprocket paint pattern easier. 4 of the wheels are in excellent shape metal wise and have no pitting while the other two have some in places which will require some skim coating of filler. Perhaps if I’m lucky. Maybe some high fill primer will be enough to get the job done. Looking forward to getting these wheels done and tires mounted. Pictures are of all the wheels. These wheels were made by Kelsey Hayes and one still has numbers stamped inside.

[Frank Tate]

Those are looking great!  Nice job!!

[chistech]

I was able to purchase what I believe was the last missing piece to my car. It is the cigar/cigaretter lighter base and a fellow AACA member had it. He has an original 32' Olds 4dr and did not have the lighter which is virtually impossible to find. It arrived today and with some clean up and soldering on of a new positive feed wire, the lighter is working with the base. My lighter needed to be cleaned of corrosion at the center post to get it all working but now, all is good. Searching for items and small missing pieces like this is a never ending thing as I'm daily checking eBay, Olds sites, the AACA forums, and more but it pays off when a piece is found and acquired.

Edited December 1, 2017 by chistech (see edit history)

[chistech]

Well, the damn varnish is just not drying! I will put them out in the sun tomorrow and see if it helps. My next door neighbor lacquers the brass pieces after he polishes them and he has a warming oven so I took a wheel over to him. Well, it made it even softer to the point it almost became wet again and then at some of the pores, bubbled! Damn. I was able to smooth out the bubbles and he shut the oven off completely and I put the wheel inside again after the oven cooled some. I know tomorrow how it worked. 

My neighbor polished up one of my hubcaps that were already rechromed when I purchased the car. The hubcaps are in excellent condition, just dirty so once he's done polishing all of them, they'll get the proper painting they require. I also have 5 original Oldsmobile trim rings. They are different than the ones available today and of course, I need six. The wheels will look just fine without them but I've decided to start searching for another rare and hard to find part. One out of the five had a rim dent so using my neighbors tin knocking hammers and anvil, I got it pretty darn good. The trim ring is stainless so he'll be able to sand it some and possibly get it to look damn good. If I find a sixth one, I'll probably put them on. If I don't find it, the car is just fine without them. I put a hubcap on one wheel to have a quick look. The hub cab fills up the center of the wheel pretty quickly.