Hi everyone. I am getting ready to start a restoration on my 71 cutlass convertible. The car is all original, with the 455, turbo 400, etc and I want to take it back to the exact factory specs. I’m located in the southeastern Illinois area and I’m looking for someone who has a 71 cutlass with a 455 that is as close to factory as possible. Or a actual survivor. One that I can go take pictures of and see where everything is supposed to go. I do have the assembly manual. I actually have a couple of them. But there’s nothing like being able to look at the actual car. The engine bay and under the dash is the main area on mine where things have been cut and replaced with non-OEM parts. Looking for a ac ps pb 455 auto trans car. If anyone knows of someone in the tri-state area around Marion Illinois or the Southern Illinois Southwest Indiana or north western Kentucky area who has a 71 Cutlass with an all original engine bay that I could look at, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks
Will

 

Hi Will. I thought I would mention in case you haven't checked yet, don't forget to look at other restorations in this major build forum for input. A number of guys might have pics, and progress of their journey to share. You might try to get a PIM, the product information manual. Lots of good details in there.

Not trying to be captain obvious, hope you find what you're looking for.

 

The main factory reproduction dash harness made either by M&H or American Autowire basically lines up with everything that it plugs into so you can basically lay that out behind the dash for plug & play installation - if you have trouble familiarizing yourself with its connections, just take some painters tape and mark them before you lay it into the dash. The courtesy harness (essentially for under dash lamps and map light) is a separate harness that sits just underneath it, much smaller in scope and also easy plug & play by sight.

 

Don71, I agree. There are some beautiful restorations going on out there and I will definitely be referencing their expertise along the way and picking brains. The long winded explanation for my thread is, my last body off restoration many years ago was a 72 corvette and was a complete basket case. Part of it came home on the trailer, but the majority was in boxes in the back of the truck. First one my son and I did together He was 7. I was at a car show in MKE while doing the restoration and met a guy and his wife who had the exact same car, albeit a different color combo. It was an all original survivor, with all documentation and everything on the car was factory. I had purchased all of the assembly manuals, but being able to go look at his car in detail(not pics) made the assembly so much easier and I was able to do it right the first time. Im allot older now and this will probably be my last restoration with my son, so I want it to go as smoothly as possible.

 

70sgeek,
Thanks for the info. I will definitely check them out.
Will