Hello all,
So my 76 Cutlass S needs:
1. A little body work and a paint job, I'm told when the original owner was getting too old to drive he scraped the fender wells up pulling in/out of the garage, etc. Otherwise the body is in good shape.
2. Driver's seat reupholstered, otherwise the interior is good assuming I can match the cloth pattern, and some of the stitching in the vinyl is breaking, I assume that's just age.
3. I want to replace the 260 with a larger engine, probably a 350. Will probably rebuild/replace the transmission then, but I haven't gotten around to climbing under it and counting the bolts to see if it is TH 200 or a TH350.
4. I'd also like to do some suspension work to improve the ride and handling, but I'm still studying up on that.

Any advice on what to do first? I'm not sure it matters but I figured some of you would know better than me and might have advice.

I was going to do the engine first, but that little 260 runs great and I thought maybe I could do the rest and just drive it awhile longer. This is a driver, not a show car, so I don't need it to be all original.

Thanks in advance for the help. The folks on this site have helped me several times now and I appreciate it.



Left Rear

Right Front

Right Rear

 

"Restoration" and "Upgrade" are two overused/abused words. You can "spend/invest" money in a very short time. Why not just fix up your car to make you happy. If you are happy with the 260, why not just drive it and repair the seats inside and have some body work done and paint it. It doesn't need to be a "show car" for you to enjoy driving it. Then, as you drive it, you can do some suspension work.
Think about what you want.

 

If it runs good make sure you drive it and enjoy it. To redo the interior you can either have the seats recovered by a local upholstery shop with OE fabric, or you can get aftermarket seat covers. OE fabric would be available from SMS Auto Favrics.

https://smsautofabrics.com/

Aftermarket interior kits are available from Kanter.

https://www.kanter.com/

 

The most important things to address first on an old car, is suspension, brakes and tires. Safety is the main concern, so be sure all these are in good shape! After that be sure theengine/trans are performing correctly. Then address the cosmetic issues, in whatever order is important to you.

 

Whatever your estimate is for the body repairs, double it. That way your car isn’t in body shop prison for months while you scramble to find the additional money for the more extensive damage you may find. If the body repairs comes out as budgeted, then you are ahead of the game for future upgrades.

If the car runs well as is, enjoy the car for a while. Find the engine you want, buy it and spend some time getting it ready. A 403 would be ideal in a big heavy car like that. Once you have the engine, replace the timing chain, clean out the oil pump pickup of all the nylon chunks from the oil timing set, inspect/replace freeze plugs, water pumps, oil leaks, whatever. Make sure the bottom end is mechanically sound. Don’t even think of making the swap until you have on hand all the little things like belts, fluids, hoses, as much of the buckle/dime things you can think of. Those little things quickly add up to much larger dollar bills.

When the time comes to make the engine swap, make sure you have the money saved for all the unexpected things. Things like exhaust modifications, accidental damage to the radiator, plus the likelihood of other unexpected damaged parts or repairs can empty the wallet fast. Once again, whatever you think the swap will cost, double it. These kinds of projects have tendency to snowball out of control. You also need to research cooling system upgrades, the puny radiator for the 260 probably won’t work well with a larger engine.

As for the transmission, you definitely need to know exactly what you have in there now. More than likely, it will have the TH350. I don’t think the 200/250C came out until much later. If it is in fact a TH350, if it’s in good condition it will easily handle more power.

The more planning and budgeting you do while it’s together and running will minimize doentime and headaches while it’s not.

 

OLDSter Ralph,
I wouldn't say I'm happy with the 260 since its underpowered, but I'm too practical to pull a motor that still runs well. Plus I mostly just drive around town in it right now, so power isn't an issue yet.
Olds 64,
Thanks for the websites, SMS has the pattern I need and I just sent off for a sample to confirm. I'm sure Kanter will come in handy too.
Chopolds,
Had the car checked by a professional mechanic I trust and suspension, brakes, and tires are all good. We did some things like calipers, tie rod ends, idler arms and serviced the differential and some other stuff. Mechanically the car is perfectly drivable as is, that's why I'm thinking fix up the rest and replace the engine when the 260 starts to go. Of course, that could be awhile since it runs well.
Matt69olds,
That's what scares me! Whatever I save up I'll find out its not enough! My next goal is to find some good body and upholstery shops and get some estimates. I know two good mechanics for the stuff I can't do, but they're always busy. I had another shop I liked, but last time I called them the new kid who answered the phone said, "Does the car have a carburetor? 'Cause we don't have anyone who can work on those anymore..." Guess I'll have to watch come youtube videos...

Thanks everybody, always nice to get more expert opinions.

 

I've had a couple of old cars (66's) for getting close to 40 years. One vote for safety first - meaning tires, brakes & suspension. Sooner or later you will drive family & friends. It would be horrible if a safety failure hurts you and/or anyone you care about.

My rule is simple: If a part breaks & has a high chance of hurting someone, I get it done professionally. For me, this means brakes, tires, suspension bushings, A-arm bushings, trailing arms/bushings, ball joints & wheel bearings. I'm not the most skilled guy. I farm out those jobs. I'm comfortable with carbs, electrical & trim (interior & exterior).

Once safety stuff is done, go after reliability. An unreliable old car eventually gets parked. Aim at being confident when you get in: good battery, good alternator, fuel pump, PS pump, plugs, cap&rotor, water pump, heater core & that kind of stuff. If you can find old GM NOS (new old stock - i.e. GM parts that were never installed), go for that over offshore latter day parts if you can.

Once the car is safe & reliable, go after whatever bugs you. That could be a great stereo as a fun project, or fix the interior you see every time you get in, or maybe the exterior you see every time you walk by. Could also be pull the interior, clean the sh*t out of it and install a bunch of sound deadening material to make the car quieter - whatever you want. That's the fun. For me getting the interior in & out takes a few days by the time I get done with all the might-as-wells. These are jobs that occur to you once your s elbows deep and realize there's a lot more you could do once you open it up that far.

It might sound weird but look at your calendar too. Imagine you have 3 days off for a long weekend, or vacation or whatever, consider blocking the time to just wrench & repair. Avoid blocking cold wintery snowy days when it's no fun to be on a concrete floor. Aim at Spring or maybe Summer days when you'll have time to get a coffee, turn on the radio, maybe invite a friend & hang out in the garage getting stuff done. Go for comfort too: A small fridge in the garage for cokes or other favorite beverage, good to great lighting, foam mats to lie on, a creeper, etc.

Body work is artwork & expensive. It may now be the most expensive part of a restoration. Wait until you have a bunch of $ saved up to get going on that. My latest poll leads me to believe quality jobs start on the order of $15 - $20,000 and go right up from there unless you have the skills to do it yourself. I don't. In the past 2 years some relatively minor rust repair cost me over $1,000 on a car that was already pretty good.

If the 260 is running well, run it, fix what bugs you & get around to power when you have time/$ to devote to a larger engine.

Not to dissuade you, but if you put in the big $ later, if life gets in the way & you need to sell, it'll be less painful.

Hope that helps, or at least gives you something to consider.
Chris

 

Invest in some heat for the garage in the winter. Who wants to have the car down for maintenance or upgrades when the weather is nice? When it’s cold and snowy, that’s the time to put the car in “dry dock”.