I am in the process of re-doing my entire Dash. On my old dash, I had the stock gauges in which the Seatbelt Warning Buzzer was built into one of the gauges. I am about to install new Ralley Gauge Pack. My questions are do I need the below listed Buzzer? I don't know if I currently have the buzzer built into one of the new gauges? As you can see, I have the seatbelt warning light on top of the restored dash which I did not have before. So before I install the dash, I was wondering if I need to buy this small separate buzzer from OPGI and add some wiring.

Any clarification would help,

Thanks, Pat

 

Additional Pics

 

Dash Seatbelt Light

 

The actual buzzer was/should be located just to the left of the glove box on the inside of the lower dash section. It is held in with one 1/4" screw. I think it has a 2 wire connector going to it.
If you car was made on or after Jan. 1 '72, & it had the rally pack guages then your car had the "fasten seat belt" housing on the dash. If you car was made prior to that date & you had the rally pack gauges then there was no seat belt warning light I guess??
I have 2 '72 cars with factory rally pack but they both were made before Jan 1 & neither has the housing on the dash but both have the harness for the housing built into the dash harness.

 

1. Do you need the buzzer? No, and a lot of folks truncate that pink wire just because they find it to be such an annoying sound.

2. Yes, your car originally did have that buzzer. It's connected to a pressure switch in the front seat.

3. You likely won't have a Fisher electrical lead in the dash wiring unless your car was built after January of 1972 so you would have to fabricate that connection if you want it to work. Diagram of the lead in 72 Cutlass Assembly Manual.

4. Rally's PAC Gage's do not have a seat belt light in the cluster. Only the idiot light Gage's did. Pre 72 cars just had the warning buzzer. To use it or not is your choice. The buzzer and light were safey legislated to the industry to remind people to buckle up.

 

I am changing out the dash. My prior dash did not have the light on top of the dash. It did not have a Ralley Pack Gauges. I only had the gauge with the idiot light, speed-o-meter, and Clock Delete. There was a little red light on one of the gauges (don't remember which one) but it would come on when the seatbelt was not fastened. I had bench seat, but I changed out to bucket seats and put the pressure switch for the seatbelt in the passenger buckseat. I did not see any buzzer when replacing the dash..

 

Thank you both, I want to keep the buzzer so my passenger will always wear there seatbelt now that I beefed up the Cutlass..

 

So I am not misunderstanding you Allan, the actual buzzer is not part of this pressure switch?
Sorry if I am confusing you. I want to connect the pressure switch, dash warning light and buzzer all together for the Passenger Seat only. The pressure switch was installed in my new passenger bucket seat, the wiring for the SB warning Light does have 2 wires coming down from it. So I guess I need to buy that buzzer and wire it some how under the dash..

 

Have you thought about changing the buzzer out to a chime module from a newer car? Tons of those in the bone yards. They are technically called Tone generators'. They also have other nice features like key in ignition ( when door open and car off) and headlight on warning.

Not sure if you knew this but you could have used your original dash. There is a template for cutting those holes in the dash pad. Great idea to remind your pasenger to buckle up.

Scott - Any idea what the time build dates on those 72's were? More curiosity on my part as most of the transitions on the RP units seem to be hit and miss depending on production factory.

 

No worries. You understand correctly, the pressure switch does not have the buzzer built in. If it did, I'm sure any lady fiends riding in your car would probably never do up their seatbelt.

 

Allan that sounds like a great idea in ref to changing it out to a Chime Module from a newer car. As far as my old dash it had a large crack in it and po destroyed the radio area with after market system.

 

Might tell you when the car was built.1972 Olds Cutlass Build Sheet.jpg

Protect-O-Plate.jpg

 

I'm on my wife's IPad so it's hard to see what I need on the build sheet. What I can tell you right now is your car was built in Arlington TX *** a base Cutlass (that's what 3F means). It was sold on July 28,1972 with 7 miles showing on the odometer. From what I can see on the build sheet, it was well optioned too. The cowl tag says it was built during the 3rd week of April so it obviously sat around for awhile looking for a home. The base engine was an H code 350 2bbl which is what you have. IMO the blue lower and white vinyl roof is an attractive combination that should have attracted a buyer sooner.

 

Allan,
Here is some info. on one of the '72s. It is the blue Supreme with lots of options.
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Thanks again Allan, I am just getting into the Classic Car Thing.. I had to grow up at an early age and missed out on having fun with the old cars.. So now that my kids are all grown up and I'm retired, I have plenty of time on my hands.. I am enjoying rebuilding this entire car, I have learned a lot. I posted a lot of pictures on my (Album) in my profile. I am getting very close to actually driving it, lol.. It's been in the shop since Sept. 2013..

 

Wow! Just had a look at that album of yours and I have to say the car is looking great! I see you're converting it to a bucket seat car with a dual gate, and upping the performance quite a bit too. Nice choice on the dual plane EB performer intake, that will outperform any stock intake and high rise intake by a sizable margine. You changing your rear gears to 3.42's is a good choice too, the stock gears on your car were code SA - which is 2.73. You'll notice a huge difference. Ease into them till you get the feel or you could go sideways in the blink of an eye.

I can relate to your situation. I have always loved my cars but lacked the real time to do anything till I retired too. Since then I've learned so much, including blue words, parts don't always fit, and bandaids are for wusses. Also bought a lot of new tools and a 60 gallon compressor, sandblaster etc. Life is good....

Going back to your build date. I looked at the Build sheet on my desktop and I believe your car was originally started production at Arlington Fisher Body Works on April 14 (Thursday) of 1972. That coincides with the 14-601 on the build sheet and 04C601 on the cowl tag. For some reason I can't fathom, not all production lines followed the same procedures, it seems that there was a bit of freelance regionalization. 601 I believe is the sequence it was assigned on the production line when the body went from Fisher to the final assembly at Arlington Assembly Plant. In general it would take about 5 days to build one of these cars, unlike the 18 hours nowadays with the robot production at GM. So your car was likely the 601st car scheduled for assembly at Arlington on likely the 18-20th of April 1972. If you find a broadcast card, it will confirm the Fisher build date even more. I would frame the build sheet and protect it against further deterioration.

One thing about those hood stripes? They aren't supposed to go back to the cowl trim. If you have a 72 Cutlass Assembly Manual it will show you the proper designation for them. The way they are in those pics is the pattern that Chevelle used. Cutlass didn't have wide deck lid stripes, unless it was a HO.

Scott - I remember that 72 Ucode car. It's definitely a 71 build date, and you say it has the Fisher lead on the dash harness for the RP dash light? Whatever did you end up doing with that car? Did you part it or sell it?

 

Phase 2 will be next year when I complete the exterior. I plan to buy a OAI Hood from Thorton ($2,400) ouch. Remove the Chevelle trunk lid stripes, put a rear spoiler on and paint the entire car with the W 30 stripes. I am basically cloning it to a 442. I was told if you're going to clone a car, the 72 Cutlass would be a good choice since it became an option rather then a model in that year. At first, I felt kind of weird cloning the car. However, I really like the way the 442 looks. I plan on keeping it and looking forward to the day that I can drive it again.

 

If you choose to go this route, let me know, start a thread and I will help you out.
I did this myself and found it to be an easy, pleasant upgrade.
I get different tones for seatbelt, lights on, and key in ignition when door opens.

 

You'd be correct that 72 is the easiest to clone.

2 things you'll never be able to change (much as you wish you could) relate to the pedigree. I say this to be informative not offensive. Here's why:

First, ALL W30 cars, regardless of whether they were Cutlass, Cutlass S or CS Vert would have an X in the engine code slot of the VIN. You have an H which clearly means 350 2bbl. That's an easy spotter tip. Also the engine you have (which looks stunning BTW) is obviously a 1971 455 since it has G heads. I'd bet that you could find the ordinal casting date on the old intake if you still have it, and that would tell you the date it was produced. If you look at the stamping pad on the block, it will tell you what plant the engine was built at, and what the last 6 digits of the donor cars VIN were.

The second thing? ALL W30's were built at Lansing. No exceptions. There were '442s' built at all the other plants (Freemont, Arlington, Framingham) but they were W29 cars. Some came with U code (455) engines that were known as the L75, whereas the W30 X codes were L77's. Different cams and HP/torque ratings.

W30's also automatically upgraded the suspension to FE2, and got the W25 OAI hood + dual cutout rear bumper. FYI, NONE of the 72 442's ever came with a rear deck wing - it was discontinued in March of 1971 before the 72 year even came close to production. Adding it to the car just points to lack of research, even though it looks cool as hell.


There are a ton of other cosmetic differences you'll have to consider, some of which are:
- 442 grills
- removal of the rocker stainless. No 442's ever came with that.
- glove box script must stay as Cutlass - do not install 442 badge there.
- the W25 hood also requires the under hood components. They're not cheap either - be prepared to dive for cover along with the hood price!
- rear cutout bumper
- new dual exhaust with flared trumpet tips
- you've already done the rear axle to 3.42 - that was the best choice with a 455/400
- A disc brake conversion would be nice since the X code 442 had manual disc brakes and anti spin rear end. No Power discs or AC unless they the car was ordered with an Automatic Transmission, which you have. That automatically changed the cam the factory put in so enough vacuum was available for the brakes and trans.

 

Ah, how are you Dark Lord? Wanna guess who I was thinking about when I made that suggestion? How's the hunt for the elusive VC going?

BTW, I've been thinking about that conversion myself so I'll prolly hit ya up for info or flag whatever thread this goes to. Nice to see ya BTW!

 

I didn't know that about the rear spoiler, however I did know about most of the other stuff you spoke of. I did replace the entire exhaust system with 2 1/2 inch pipes & headers along with a new cut out rear bumper and trumpet tips. I also replace my front grill with the proper for 442 set up (did not take a picture of that yet) . I did buy the template from Fusick's for all the 442 badges. I will remove the side molding & long "OLDSMOBILE" at the bottom of the trunk lid. One thing I was not clear about was three piece stainless steal trunk molding or was that only for convertibles. I've seen some cars with just the W 30 striping without molding.

 

Rob I will definitely take you up on that I like that idea.

 

Yes, you'd have to remove the long OLDSMOBILE stainless on the back so the deck lid paint stripes could be installed. The 3 thin pieces of trim you're talking about are standard on the f85 town sedan, Cutlass S and Cutlass Supreme. Actually if you count the quarter panel, there's a total of 5 pieces that you'd replace. Note: That stainless is quite specific for the deck lid you have. The center long piece is the same for all the cars, but the eyebrows and the quarter panel pieces are different on the Cutlass Supreme and sedans. You need the pieces from the Cutlass S.

Differences: Cutlass needs a shorter eyebrow molding (9" vs 11" IIRC) - the CS is longer due to deck lid design.
The quarter trim is screwed onto the Cutlass S, whereas the CS is fastened from behind the quarter extension and is a different design.

All these moldings are press/fit onto the deck lid. Word of caution - after the car is sprayed and cleared the paint thickness will be considerably thicker than OEM. You'll need to either wet sand down the top coat, or widen the channel on the stainless before fitting and screwing it into place. Use the same screws to fasten this stainless as you'll see on the back window trim. It has that plastic isolator to prevent corrosion between the screw and stainless. They are re-popped by numerous vendors. I bought mine from ILT and they worked perfectly.

 

Sir, do you happen to know the bulb number for this "Fasten Seatbelt Light? It's not in my Chassis Manual, I guess do to the fact that these dash lights came out mid year in 1972 to meet the federal guidelines.

Thanks in Advance

 

I "think" it is the dame one as in your dome light? I have not messed with many of these so I may be wrong.

 

Thank You