Oldsmobile Budget Performance Parts And Restoration

1964 Oldsmobile F85 Budget Performance Interior

This is what the interior looked like after we pulled the seats. It was hashed.

Interior Digs
The Olds' exterior has the perfect street-racer/barn-find patina that is popular right now, and we don't plan to change it except to get rid of the surface rust and sand and primer/sealer the roof. But the interior was 40-year-old shabby and was in need of serious intervention. Tim had his buddy Jack Weimer install the OPG seat covers front and rear. We dug up a used carpet set from one of our old Chevelle projects, and with a little spitand polish, we had the interior looking decent. Tim rescued a pair of absolutely ancient Stewart-Warner gauges from his archives to clue us in on oil pressure and water temp.

Once we did all this, it became apparent the San Andreas Fault-sized dashpad cracks would have to go. Finding a used pad on eBay seemed like an exercise in frustration, so we yanked the whole dash apart and commissioned Just Dashes to rejuvenate the pad. It cost us five big ones because of the size of the job, which included recovering the glovebox door, but the result completely transformed the look of the interior into a real winner.

The Olds also came with a complete center console that was originally out of another car, and Tim found a steering column that got rid of the column shifter. We originally attempted to use the stock Olds console shifter, but the TH400 case is so close to the floorpan on these early A-bodies, the shifter wouldn't work. Our solution was a B&M QuickSilver cable shifter we bought at a swap meet. We really wanted to add a pair of repro door panels from OPG, but the budget was already reeling from cost overruns, so we erred on the side of fiscal responsibility. Damn....

We repainted the dash with a rattle can, which didn't turn out the best because we were in a hurry. The best way to do this is to completely sand the dash, primer it, sand the primer, and use lacquer black spray paint if you're bucks down. Then you can color-sand this to an amazing shine.
We repainted the dash with a rattle can, which didn't turn out the best because we were in
We also restored the dash using the Just Dashes pad that, along with a little paint and polish, made the F-85 instrument panel look almost new.
We also restored the dash using the Just Dashes pad that, along with a little paint and po
Jack Weimer re-covered the seats for Tim before we bought the car, so we benefited from his resto efforts with new OPG seat upholstery and a few replaced seat springs.
Jack Weimer re-covered the seats for Tim before we bought the car, so we benefited from hi

We also needed new rubber. We found a pair of Chevy 15x7-inch Rally wheels at the swap meet along with a pair of Goodyear 235/60R15 tires. On the back is a set of 15x8-inch Pontiac wheels with a 5-inch backspacing that we also stumbled onto. All the tires were mounted and balanced by Flip's Tire Center in Van Nuys, California.
We also needed new rubber. We found a pair of Chevy 15x7-inch Rally wheels at the swap mee
We also bolted in the new/used B&M QuickSilver cable shifter to get rid of the stock factory column shifter, and we managed to squeeze the new shifter inside the factory console.
We also bolted in the new/used B&M QuickSilver cable shifter to get rid of the stock facto
The completed interior still needs better door panels, but the rebuilt dashpad and instrument panel along with newer carpet made a huge difference.
The completed interior still needs better door panels, but the rebuilt dashpad and instrum