When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I thought I'd share my '73 Delta 88 with everyone. It was my best friends dad's car, which his dad purchased new in '73 with his first professional job. He drove it for 10 years (summers only) after which his family started to take priority, so the car when into storage (1983). Between '83 and '01 is was parked in both indoor and outdoor storage, and since '02 - '21 in a heated garage, though the damage was already done.
She's a Canadian built car from the Oshawa plant, and has 77,000 miles on it. It has a 455 rocket with a TH400 transmission.
The majority of the damage was simply because the roof was leaking, and the tarp shed it was under for several years also leaked for part of its life. As well, the sun had its way with the paint unfortunately.
I first laid my eyes on the car when I was a kid, and since then his dad promised my friend and I repeatedly for the last 30 years that we were going to fix it. Well, that never came, despite us poking the bear, and so he decided to let the car go. I having stared at this car my entire life and couldn't let it walk away, so I took her in last summer, and began the LONG awaited restoration. I'm not going to kid any of you though, she was in rough shape.
The Bad:
I think it's fair to say nearly every seal on the engine and drivetrain was completely shot. It leaked oil like a WWII bomber. The rear floors, and under the rear seat (passenger side only) were swiss cheese. The top was in disrepair. No brakes. Suspension utterly decerped. I had seen cleaner flooring in a hamster cage. Heating system gushing coolant. Ducting plugged with a hay bale's worth of mouse nesting. The tires were on it were still from 1978. The exhaust looked about the same as the Titanic currently does. All engine accessories is one failed state or another. The windshield was broken. Suspension bushings all falling apart. The radiator held together with hopes and dreams. Ignition functional, but on the verge of collapse. At this point, I think I have forgotten more things that were wrong with it than I remember, but I think everyone gets the point. On a scale of 1-10 (1 being a dumpster and 10 being a museum piece), I would rate cleanliness both inside and out as a 2....
The Good:
It was run from time to time since 1983, and its oil changed every year, so it wasn't all bad. Good compression in all cylinders. The body is solid. The frame in near new condition with only a dusting of surface rust. Fuel lines, brakes lines (not the rubbers) all in perfect condition. Transmission in fully functional order. Shifter linkage good. Rear-end good, minus seals. Fuel tank looked like new on the inside, and outside in very respectable shape. Tank straps and hardware in perfect condition. The scissor mechanism and frame for the convertible top in great shape and fully functional. Electrical all nearly functional (blinkers still not). The seats are "okay" considering the lack of attention since 1983.
I'll reserve the next few post spots for more photos.
Good for you. Cool history. Make it yours. Keep us updated. If it was Canadian built you can get the documents to verify what it was built as and with. Those of us in the United States are jealous about that. Looks like a great start. Keep us updated. Welcome to Classic Oldsmobile. 👍
Here's some more photos of the restoration.
Axle stripped, cleaned, painted and rebuilt. Gas tank stripped, cleaned and repainted. Entire undercarriage stripped cleaned and repainted. We rear suspension (springs and shocks) and new control arm bushings. Floor replaced with remaining original cleaned and repainted. The old dirty heart. Air cleaner stripped and repainted. Radiator support stripped, cleaned and painted. Oil pan, and valve covers stripped, cleaned and repainted in 455 Rocket Blue Harmonic balancer.
Accessories repainted Engine cleaned and repainted. Reassembled. MSD Ignition added All braided hoses added. Entire front end suspension and steering replaced including control arm bushings. New Hooker headers. New double-core Griffin radiator with electric fans.
New windshield installed I made the exhaust myself out of 304 stainless. I do not have a tig welder, but managed using a mig welder. Tacked in place for fitment. I know I'll get hate, but I did put cat's on it. They are high-flow, and I promise are not robbing the car of anything. I opted for straight pipes out. I didn't want to have them tucked and bent tipped like they were originally. New carpet! Door trim added. Final assembly of the engine bay.
I took ownership last June, and worked like mad in hopes of having it road worthy, even if it was lacking in the esthetics department, by September of 2021, but I fell short and only managed 1 road test mid November just 12 hours before the snow flew, and took it 50 km. This summer though, she'll see the sun.
Good story and a great job on the car. I think you can truly refer to this as a ground up restoration. What color are you going with? By the way I put twin high flow cats on my 75. The original was long gone when I got it and my wife thought it put out a bad odor. They were the first ones my muffler buy had ever put on.
The plan is to stay brown. It just seems so appropriate for the era. I will likely push it darker though. I'm currently looking at a coffee bean metallic brown which is closer to what the carpet is now. At night it will look pretty much black, and in the day be a deep dark brown. I also plan to redo some upholstery. Ideally the seats will be a white similar to the top, which I currently have and just need to install, and the door panels will have some of the original brown and new seat colour mixed in. Overall it will give the interior a two-tone look and subdue the brown-on-brown-on-brown it currently is. I am very excited to complete everything. Hopefully it'll all be finished this year.
Give us a pic of the data plate underhood and we can give you the original color among other things. It looks like Tanbark (code 66) but you can't always trust phone resolution. Tanbark is fairly rare color for 73.
Not hating, but why did you see a need to put cats on a car that never required them? Where you've installed them, they're not going to do much good because the exhaust gas will have cooled below the converters' working temperature before it passes thru them.
Give us a pic of the data plate underhood and we can give you the original color among other things. It looks like Tanbark (code 66) but you can't always trust phone resolution. Tanbark is fairly rare color for 73.
Color is Metallic Chestnut Brown, my dad is the original owner and thats what he always said.
According to my friends dad the colour is Chestnut Brown originally. Under the hood, and trunk lid it is still quite vivid and is a medium brown with metal flake in it. I don't mind the original colour at all, but would like something a little darker. The door is still open, and choices haven't been finalized. We'll see. I'll see what there is for a plate, but I do not recall seeing one with the code unfortunately. The paper sticker on the fan shroud used to have some info on it, but it was unreadable when I got it.
As for the cats.... There were a couple of reasons for adding them. Like Redoldsman mentioned above, the girl really hates the smell without them. And being such a large inefficient engine it was quite noticeable by today's standards. On top of that, it cost very little to do it. I think I spent $200 putting them on, and since its not hurting anything, why not. I know it's not original, but that doesn't bother me. That being said, if they get plugged easily, I will likely opt for their removal.
I was also worried about their position in the exhaust line. Closer to the header collector would have been ideal except for clearance between the collector and the transmission crossframe was too tight. I did not have the ability to bend tubing, so to try and put them in that area would have been too difficult. It should be noted that at that position in the exhaust system the gases are way more than hot enough. A newer engine would be much too efficient to produce enough heat that far down the line, but this is the hottest engine I have ever worked with. I will note timing, ignition function, and fuel (carb rebuild) have all been replace and tuned and the car is running perfectly, these are just hot engines. Even before all the upgrades and rebuilds it produced heat the same. All that is to say, the cats are getting more than hot enough very quickly even that far down the line. Next time I get the chance, I'll get the temperature gun and get some readings for the fun of it.
Hi Shaman, just found this thread. You have been busy, nice work.
I love my big Delta and you have a cracking example there too mate!, great story to go with it as well.
What headers are you using and have you had any fitment issues with them? Part number maybe?
Last edited by 73aussie455; March 3rd, 2022 at 10:39 PM.
Hey Aussie, thanks man. I'm happy to see someone else has one just like mine. Colour and all.
I'm more than happy to share anything I can with you. They are Hooker Headers - Competition for the 400-455 Olds. Part number 520-3902-4. They come with a titanium ceramic coating which is VERY durable. I only had to put one dent in one pipe to make them clear everything. Just at the steering u-joint outer collar/rib. See the red circle on the photo. I'll try to get a better photo this weekend and share it with you. I had to put the headers in, mark the spot, then take it out and dent it. It wasn't a very big dent either, and the coating was just fine afterwards.
There were a few little things to consider during install. On the passenger side, you need to remove the oil filter pickup. It's pretty easy, just a couple of bolts. You might need a new gasket if it doesn't come off clean. On the drivers side, other than the dent (I just used a 32mm socket, and a mallet), it makes it very tight to work on the starter. IF, you need to get it in or out, loosen/remove the bolts, drop it down a little, then disconnect the wiring. Do the reverse for installation. And when it comes to the wiring, I had a little "tube" that bolted to the top of the frame just below the steering column for the positive wire to run from the battery to the starter that held it clear of the steering and exhaust, you have to remove that, and then use an adel-clamp to secure it to the firewall to keep it clear of the headers. All easy stuff though.
Last edited by Shaman; March 4th, 2022 at 02:26 PM.
February 23rd, 2022, 02:50 PM
