1951 Oldsmobile 88 (Deluxe) by 1951Olds88

3 minute(s) of a 31 minute read

Now that the Dixie Olds Gathering is behind us, I am preparing to carry out some serious repairs (carb rebuild, installing a new wiring harness, replacing the ground strap and replacing the new battery cable with a cloth covered period correct one). I thought it might be a good idea to have a mechanic look it over and tell me what else might be necessary. That happened today, so in addition to the two items mentioned above, I have the following to do in the next few months (weeks?):

1. Replace the oil pan gasket
2. Replace the exhaust system (the shop says they can make what is needed rather than buying one made for an 88 - about 1/3 the price too)
3. Replace the steering gear box (leaking oil, but I was told easier to replace than to re-gasket- but relatively expensive)
4. Replace the steering idler arm

For a 63 year old car, not a bad list, in fact the mechanics complimented me because they had expected to find much more. However, it looks like the car will be in dry dock for quite a while. One more cruise-in this weekend (Dawsonville) before I start taking it apart. And by the way, anyone with advice on the above repairs, please do reply in this thread or PM me, if you prefer.

10-17-2014

Yesterday was like Christmas, my birthday and all other party days rolled into one.

While at the Oldsmobile Gathering this last weekend I had been hoped to find my missing hood letters at the swap meet part of the show. Unfortunately, none of the vendors had my missing items. I had also received an email from someone who had seen my Oldsified in Journeys with Olds. Although what he had to offer were letters with only one or no pins, I was prepared to try to make my own pins on them. So he promised to send them to me. Thank you John for your kind and generous offer. (Actually the letters just arrived and he sent me an I with 2 pins!!! as well as the M with a pin and a half)

However, the beautiful Super 88 that was parked next to me had its letter replaced by a full set of Fusick letters, so I asked the owner if he had any of the originals left. He promised to look for me and send me what I needed, if he had them. In the mail yesterday was a letter with an M, an S and an I with two pins and another couple of letters with one pin. So essentially my search is over and my car will be complete. Thank you David for your generous gift, you cannot imagine how happy I am.

11-9-2014

After a relatively quiet time, I have taken the next step, crossed the Rubicon so to speak, that is 'dry-docked' the car. I started with removal of the Carter carburetor which was shipped off for rebuild. I also sent of my dash clock, to get it running again. 

In the meanwhile I managed to find an idler arm on Ebay at slightly less than in the restorer parts catalogs, as well as picking up a Fisher body catalog, which should help with some of the work on the body that is not covered in the shop manual. I also have some nice looking dog dish hubcaps to replace the smooth (1950?) hubcaps currently on it. 

Baby steps at the moment, but the next thing will be starting on the wiring harness when the new one arrives.