Item: Oldsmobile Toronado

[Drew Dowdell]

Name: Oldsmobile Toronado
Category: Vehicles
Date Added: 2021-04-02
Submitter: Drew Dowdell

 

Oldsmobile Toronado

 

 
So as I mentioned in another thread, I’m trying to keep the truck parked for a while and only drive the Toronado. As I was driving home last night I noticed how dim the sealed beams are. I have LEDs on the truck and active HIDs on the Chrysler. I think I need to find an LED retrofit for the Toronado just for safety reasons.

[balthazar]

There are sealed beam upgrades available, Sylvania Super Stars or something like that- supposed to quite good.

[Drew Dowdell]

13 minutes ago, balthazar said:

There are sealed beam upgrades available, Sylvania Super Stars or something like that- supposed to quite good.

I’m not finding and LED retrofits that I like, so I may try those. 

[ykX]

Seems plenty available

https://www.carid.com/1988-oldsmobile-toronado-headlights/

[Drew Dowdell]

11 minutes ago, ykX said:

Seems plenty available

https://www.carid.com/1988-oldsmobile-toronado-headlights/

Wrong year, I need the sealed beam style. I ended up buying the Philips Crystal Visions. $54 for all 4 bulbs. I’ll run them for a while and if I don’t like them I’ll get the Philips LED version. I didn’t go with them this time around because they’re $86 per bulb plus tax and shipping on RockAuto. 
 

I don’t remember the last time I changed the halogens on the Toronado and halogen bulbs lose brightness over time. So it might just be age.

[oldshurst442]

I looked up the Carid sight for LED replacement headlights for Drew's Toronado and all of them are...yuck!

There are some of those LED lights that look good on 2nd gen Trans Am restomods with the rectangule lights and even the mid to late 80s RWD G-Body, but on that particular Toronado...  Yeah Drew, Id rather the original headlight look on them. 

[oldshurst442]

These look good...for a Trans Am.  

 

But something like this would be best for Drew's Toronado.  In my opinion of course.

 

[Drew Dowdell]

1 hour ago, oldshurst442 said:

These look good...for a Trans Am.  

 

But something like this would be best for Drew's Toronado.  In my opinion of course.

 

So that second pair is pretty close to what I’d buy if I got LEDs because they look pretty close to OEM.

 

However, I think this set might also look awesome given the horizontal theme on my front end. Four horizontal DRLs might look awesome.

[Drew Dowdell]

She tried to kill me this morning.  Driving to work and about a third of the way there the brake light on the dash comes on. I go to stop and nothing from the pedal until the very end and then the front brakes lock up.  I regained control and limped her the rest of the way to work. Popped the hood once I got there and the fluid seemed high enough but the wrong color.  Smelled burning brakes from the back left wheel.

I had stuff I needed to do at work, so I went into the office and 3 hours later took her to the Monroe Brake up the street.  Oddly, she drove perfectly fine with no brake light.  Still haven't heard from them, so not sure what is going on yet.

[G. David Felt]

27 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

She tried to kill me this morning.  Driving to work and about a third of the way there the brake light on the dash comes on. I go to stop and nothing from the pedal until the very end and then the front brakes lock up.  I regained control and limped her the rest of the way to work. Popped the hood once I got there and the fluid seemed high enough but the wrong color.  Smelled burning brakes from the back left wheel.

I had stuff I needed to do at work, so I went into the office and 3 hours later took her to the Monroe Brake up the street.  Oddly, she drove perfectly fine with no brake light.  Still haven't heard from them, so not sure what is going on yet.

Glad you got safely to work and get her into the shop for a look see under the skirt. Scary when that happens. Hopefully just a simple fix to the brake system. Wishing you and her all the best for a speedy recovery.

[oldshurst442]

 

7 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

She tried to kill me this morning

 

7 hours ago, David said:

a look see under the skirt

 

Yup...

she tried to kill me too when I tried to have a looksie under her skirt too...

 

Wait!  Wut?

 

[Drew Dowdell]

So Monroe gave me back the Olds and said nothing was wrong with the brakes.  She drove perfectly normally the entire drive home...

I do have a leaking shock and I failed inspection from a crack in the frame, so I'll have to get that checked... but brakes I'm told are fine.

[oldshurst442]

Crack in the frame sounds like an expensive fix.  Almost a catastrophic failure type of problem to where maybe your Olds might be scrapped if you are not willing to fix it.

I hope I am not correct with my analysis. 

[G. David Felt]

16 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

Crack in the frame sounds like an expensive fix.  Almost a catastrophic failure type of problem to where maybe your Olds might be scrapped if you are not willing to fix it.

I hope I am not correct with my analysis. 

Maybe he can have it welded or cut, insert a sleeve on the inside and weld back together much like Toyota did with the FJ cruisers

[balthazar]

Fish plate it.

[G. David Felt]

6 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Fish plate it.

Please expand, never heard of a fish plate on a frame.

Thank you,

[balthazar]

Standard procedure, either in case of a crack, or in building custom frames.
 

[Drew Dowdell]

Bought some shocks and some rear brake shoes just because I have a feeling that the rears are toasted.  I have a bunch of travel coming up (not in the Toronado) so I won't have time to get it to a frame place right now.

[Drew Dowdell]

Put in some OEM-look LED headlights so I can finally see at night and decided to do a little photo shoot 

[Drew Dowdell]

On 7/1/2021 at 10:32 PM, oldshurst442 said:

Crack in the frame sounds like an expensive fix.  Almost a catastrophic failure type of problem to where maybe your Olds might be scrapped if you are not willing to fix it.

I hope I am not correct with my analysis. 

I noticed I never updated this. Got her to a frame shop where the frame was welded and the floor panels replaced. Good as new.

 

quite the difference 

 

[G. David Felt]

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I noticed I never updated this. Got her to a frame shop where the frame was welded and the floor panels replaced. Good as new.

 

quite the difference 

 

This is outstanding as most people seem to not see the difference of daylight LED bulbs compared to the old yeller bulbs. That looks so nice, Awesome Drew!!!

??

[ccap41]

On 8/6/2022 at 10:34 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

I noticed I never updated this. Got her to a frame shop where the frame was welded and the floor panels replaced. Good as new.

 

quite the difference 

 

Those lights look fantastic! They're so white without any of the blue, which would look out of place on a car like this. 

[oldshurst442]

On 8/6/2022 at 11:34 PM, Drew Dowdell said:

I noticed I never updated this. Got her to a frame shop where the frame was welded and the floor panels replaced. Good as new.

 

quite the difference 

 

 

Im happy that your Toronado was repaired properly and she is back on the road.  I take it wasnt such a bad procedure as I made it to be.

Thanx for the update!!!  (as late as it was)   ?

The LEDs you went with rock!!!   

Im kinda starting to like  this body style because of you.   I never was too fond of these.  The Riviera was the closest to say that I kinda liked, but not really, back in the day.   But now, both the Eldo and Toro have become an obsession.  Im seeing myself googling these more often to look at them and Im starting to appreciate their lines.  Im kinda starting to prefer their body lines more than the G-Bodys....   Im starting to see some awkwardness to the G Bodies, but with these, I see the lines flowing more smoothly and coherently.  

 

 

[Drew Dowdell]

11 hours ago, oldshurst442 said:

 

Im happy that your Toronado was repaired properly and she is back on the road.  I take it wasnt such a bad procedure as I made it to be.

Thanx for the update!!!  (as late as it was)   ?

The LEDs you went with rock!!!   

Im kinda starting to like  this body style because of you.   I never was too fond of these.  The Riviera was the closest to say that I kinda liked, but not really, back in the day.   But now, both the Eldo and Toro have become an obsession.  Im seeing myself googling these more often to look at them and Im starting to appreciate their lines.  Im kinda starting to prefer their body lines more than the G-Bodys....   Im starting to see some awkwardness to the G Bodies, but with these, I see the lines flowing more smoothly and coherently.  

 

 

My favorite years of the G-Bodies were the last few.  The early ones were very awkward IMHO, but the later shovel nose Cutlass Supreme, the Monte Carlo SS, and the 86+ with composite headlamps all get thumbs up from me.  I wouldn't turn down a nice Granny owned Regal though.

The thing that makes these E-bodies more cohesive is the length.  They had hoods about as long as a B-body, but from the firewall back they were G-body proportions.  It just gives them more presence.

The main issue with the E-bodies are the lack of choices of good engines.  The 307 is pretty rock solid, but is slow. It's the standard for the Riv and Toronado.  The 4100 in the Eldorado is terrible and is problematic to swap. There's the diesels, but you want to stick to the last 2-3 years of those when they finally got them sorted, or if you find an earlier one that you can confirm was replaced with a DX-block GM crate diesel. 

Unfortunately, I have been neglecting attention on mine. I keep very detailed records and when I took it out the other night and put gas in it, the last time I had filled it up was 14 months ago.  Once I get back from vacation I'm going to finish off the work she needs and get her inspected and legal again. 

[G. David Felt]

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

My favorite years of the G-Bodies were the last few.  The early ones were very awkward IMHO, but the later shovel nose Cutlass Supreme, the Monte Carlo SS, and the 86+ with composite headlamps all get thumbs up from me.  I wouldn't turn down a nice Granny owned Regal though.

The thing that makes these E-bodies more cohesive is the length.  They had hoods about as long as a B-body, but from the firewall back they were G-body proportions.  It just gives them more presence.

The main issue with the E-bodies are the lack of choices of good engines.  The 307 is pretty rock solid, but is slow. It's the standard for the Riv and Toronado.  The 4100 in the Eldorado is terrible and is problematic to swap. There's the diesels, but you want to stick to the last 2-3 years of those when they finally got them sorted, or if you find an earlier one that you can confirm was replaced with a DX-block GM crate diesel. 

Unfortunately, I have been neglecting attention on mine. I keep very detailed records and when I took it out the other night and put gas in it, the last time I had filled it up was 14 months ago.  Once I get back from vacation I'm going to finish off the work she needs and get her inspected and legal again. 

I would agree with you on everything about the last 2-3 years. I think while some feel you have to keep them all original, if you wanted a better engine, then GM Performance Crate engines or the Connect and Cruise are a great solution.

I have my dream of getting a 1986/87 Monte Carlo Aero with T-Top and putting in a GM e-crate solution as that would be such a cool car to enjoy driving. Course I also plan to convert my 1994 GMC Suburban to e-crate once they get them out.

[Drew Dowdell]

1 hour ago, David said:

I would agree with you on everything about the last 2-3 years. I think while some feel you have to keep them all original, if you wanted a better engine, then GM Performance Crate engines or the Connect and Cruise are a great solution.

I have my dream of getting a 1986/87 Monte Carlo Aero with T-Top and putting in a GM e-crate solution as that would be such a cool car to enjoy driving. Course I also plan to convert my 1994 GMC Suburban to e-crate once they get them out.

Unfortunately, there are still fitment issues with the GM connect and cruise engines. Not only are the E-Bodies front wheel drive, but they’re longitudinal front wheel drive. 
 

but had I been the winner of the recent power ball, I would have done an e-Crate Eldorado and Seville 

[Robert Hall]

I like the lights..looks like a nice upgrade.

I wouldn't mind having an early '80s Eldo convertible for Lake Erie beach trips in the summer..