Steve Wike

Good Evening!
Been a while since posting(August I think), but FINALLY have purchased a 72 Cutlass S Hardtop! Am very excited about it and hope to post pictures in the next few days. Anyways, I need both the chassis and body manuals for this year( I know others have asked about this here before, but can't find link) so to whom should I get these from? CD or Paper?? The chassis manual will cover engine and what else?? I know I'll need the Fisher Body manual for proper removal and re-install. Thanks for the input!

2blu442

Congratulations on your purchase! Nothing beats getting a new toy!

As stated in a previous thread, (I don't know where it is either!) the hardcopy is easier to take out in the garage with you to look at while you work. I think you best bet finding one would be to watch ebay. Here's an example of a reproduction Chassis Service Manual, although if your patient you should be able to find a used one for less than half this price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1972-...sQ5fLiterature

Allan R

Like John says, the best bet is watching ebay for some good deals. I've seen them go for as little as 14.00. One guy has one for around 150.00 and he'll still have it in another 10 years if he doesn't smarten up. I bought the hardcopy versions because they're easier for me to work with than on the puter. You can always print the page you want off the pdf version I guess, but that depends on your preference. Check and see if the electronic version is smart tagged so you can use the search tool. If it's not, IMO it's not worth buying. The chassis manual has tons of great information specific to Olds. The body service manual is more generic, covering things like doors, glass, emblem and trim lines etc on all the 72 body lines gm made that year. If I had to pick just one, it would be the Service manual everytime. It's basically what the mechanics used. Hope you enjoy your 72 S as much as I enjoy mine.

redoldsman

I think this topic has been covered on here before. The original manuals are better than the repros and the hard copy is best. One advantage of the CD is you can find the pages for what you are working on and print just those pages to take to the garage. You don't have to worry about getting them dirty and just through them away when you are done. I have a SeaDoo manual on CD (actually it was a download to me hard drive). I did print it out at my office on a high speed printer and had it bound but still just print the pages I need.

Steve Wike

Thanks, Allan,and John. What manual did you end up getting? Name, title, and publisher if you can let me know. Is there enough info in the generic "sevice" manual to cover all engine, elelctrical, and body repairs? LMK...Thanks. Will look on Ebay

Bluevista

The Chassis Service Manual is the General Motors manual for the dealer service guys, same with the Fisher Body manual. They call them shop and body manuals sometimes.

You need both to really work on the whole car, should also have the 1972 assembly manual. The assembly manual has all kinds of good stuff, shows how the car is assembled. The pages sort of look like plastic car model insructions.

I perfer hard copies, less computer involvement the better, a little bit greasy and dog-eared intact original over a reprint, it will look like that soon enough anyway.

Faxon has used and reprint manuals, CD's.


http://www.faxonautoliterature.com/products.cfm

joe_padavano

Two comments. First, I strongly recommend against the CD manuals. These are usually someone's poor scan of a factory manual. In one case, the vendor that I got one from decided to leave several sections out because he felt that no one needed them (like the whole section on automatic transmissions). Note that this manual was for a foreign car.

Second, I only buy used originals. Ebay is a good source, but I've actually gotten better deals at Carlisle and Hershey. Personally I don't care if the used ones have dog-eared pages or grease smudges since I plan to use them in the garage anyway.