Hi,

Just picked up a 1970 2 door cutlass supreme notchback. Looking for best improvements besides paint.

I want to do a resto-mod and have a good looker/performer. It will be my daily driver.

Best bang for the buck assuming I'll put $5-8k into her.

Disc conversion kit?
Control arms?
Sway bars?
Headers?
Electronic ignition?
Cam?

Suggestions please. Sorry for general question. Not sure where to start.

 

what are you starting with? How does it run? Restored car already? Is that total budget for the car of just what you have to spend now with more planned in the future.?

 

Welcome to the site! What condition is the car in? Any rust or structural problems? How is the interior? Need A/C to work?

When doing a job complete and right, it will be costly.
Do you plan to do all this work at once?

 

Welcome.

Please let us know your plans for this car. IMHO, a car should be running well before you consider tinkering with the interior or body.

 

Hi,

Sorry, she was a "barn find" and needs some body work (lower quarter panel, trunk and paint) and has been sitting for years (but runs/drives). I have a real good idea of what I want her to look like but agreed that the mechanics need to be sound first. Interior is very nice already and she runs pretty good as is. I would say no structural problems.

I always wanted an older car look with late model handling/performance so I figure focusing on the engine, drivetrain and suspension would be beneficial. I know of someone that put thousands into a car but put the money in the wrong places and I want to do things smartly. I'll get pics uploaded soon.

Also considering Classic Air because I live in NC and summers are hot.

Would prefer to improve her over 6-9 months, i.e. I know the cosmetics should not be done until mechanics are done.

 

Howdy, and welcome to CO.

Actually, I'm not sure I 100% agree with working on the mechanics first if they're currently working and you're simply upgrading things, especially if a) you have a limited budget (and who doesn't?), and b) your car is currently rusting out. You live in a fairly humidy climate, and the rust is going to keep on getting worse if you don't tend to it.

Personally, and this is going by the claim that everything works, I would start my completely removing the interior, making sure you take note (pictures) of how things are supposed to be assembled, and bag and label all bolts, nuts and screws so you know where they go up on reassembly. From there, I'd take the front end apart. I'd do this for two reasons:

1) it will be easier to blast/strip, patch and paint with the fenders off

2) because this is a barn find, and was in a damp climate, I'd want to remove the body to properly media blast the body and frame. This will allow you to assess the true extent of rust repair you will have to do. It will also allow you to really inspect the frame

If you do most of the parts removal yourself, it will save you a ton of money.

In the end, there's no easy way to "restore" a car when your funds are limited. Technically, you want to do everything while the car is apart to save you time and/or money of having to remove the items from the car, yet again. However, I would want to get the rust issue resolved before I started sinking in a ton of dough on the engine, suspension, etc, as you might find the body to be much worse than you suspected and not something that you really want to tackle.

Anyway, I'm sure others will have a different opinion.