Yet to upload pics of it, but I've been working on moving my connecting rods of the new piston heads - went okay until I broke one of the new pistons, so I'm rethinking and ordering a replacement. Hrmph. They also fit way more snugly than the chassis manual dictates, both the original and the new pins. Should this worry me?

Got one out of five cam bearing shoved into the block - a tad difficult without the right tools. :P

Read up on valvetrain, and noticed that the chassis manual states that exhaust valves have spring dampeners in the table, but says intake valves have dampers in the picture. So, which is it? :P

 

Greetings again, sorry for the absence - real life's catching up with me a bit. Been welding in trunk and sandblasting the last few weekends, when I haven't been too busy to get something done - dunno how far I've gotten on the pictures, might bother with them again soon. :P

I found this today, will be taking a look at it this weekend: http://www.amerikaner.dk/modules/MyA...ces&lid=128055

It's in running condition, no papers. Price is equal to $3700 or so - less than what I paid for the original rustbucket. Worth it as a parts/donor/siamese twin car, you reckon? Has a 350 and an automatic, of course, so I'd still be looking for that 5 speed manual I want.

 

dang looked good till i seen the back looks well cared for might be a lot of great parts on it but as you know can be ugly under the skin. Make up can cover up any thing.

 

that car is in really good shape. that rear end is very repairable.

 

great thread.
Nice to know you are young and crazy enough to go for it. Too bad both of those cars out there were junk. You are doing a great job making chicken salad out of chicken ****. That takes *****, and I appreciate your efforts.

P.S. I'd leave the piston pins up to the machine shop.

 

I think I'll mix and match. It'd need a paint job in any case, so I'm gonna go look at it this weekend.

 

Hm. It starts, it works, the frame is whole, as is the gas tank. I'm thinking I'll mix and match. Picking it up tomorrow. As mentioned, it's a 71 Cutlass Supreme. Has one of those air filters with a nozzle-type thing pointing to one side, and electric windows. Standard 350 with a 350. :P

I'll look it over more closely when it comes home. Might just make a driver out of the best body parts of both cars, and then work on my newly machined engine while I drive the running engine, then swap over when I'm satisfied with the new engine. Sound like a plan?

 

Aiight, brought it home - runs, drives, got it to roar (remember, this is my first car, and a big-*** V8 to boot), purrs, growls and works!

The body itself is rusted under the paint, the fenders look good. Serves my purpose perfectly. Non-AC, has rear window de-fog and vacuum/electric windows. A tag under the trunk lid indicates that it has a posi diff, which I assume is a good thing. :P

ST71 34247LAN269231
TR / 970 62 B
02B B85

Cowl: 342571M147133

Tag on the right fender-well-thingy under the hood:
Oldsmobile
Cutlass: 34257A
342571M147133
Motor: QN
CH: 0337-20

Engine casting number: 395558 2

Pictures are inbound.

 

Lotsa pictures inbound, people. Duck!

Engine stand! Made a minor error what with not allowing room for the crank, but that was soon remedied with the aforementioned angle grinder.






I would've put my valvetrain back together, but this confused me so much that I decided to leave it for later.




Trunk gone. I've put the new one in and welding it in place, but the cameraman is an idiot, so no pictures of that.



I suspect my frame might need some adjustment. :P Leveled out the jack points and checked the rest of it.

 

The spare parts car, with more healthy parts than the original car. :P




Part of the reason it's not getting fixed up.



Not as nicely kept as it looks on the outside. :P



Yay, running engine!



Fancy exhausts, don't look very original. :P



For some reason there's always oil here. Might have to check that out before I drive TOO far in it...



Haven't seen one of these before.



Funny mix of optionals, here. No AC, but heated rear windshield and power windows? I'm thinking northern car.



One of these is a good thing, right? :P



People put odd crap in their hobby vehicles...



Yeah, definitely not original exhausts. I'll have to see if I can make them work better somehow, or whether they'll get replaced by the old ones. We'll see.




Aaaaand the other reason I'm not trying to fix this body up. Plenty of these little signs of rust all over the body itself. Luckily, I've seen none of these on doors, fenders or hood.

 

Wow... Interesting tag that car has. Import tag.. Looks like it will be a good parts car though.

 

With the way it looks now, the finished car will have '71 trim and maybe... 60% parts from the new car? It's a shame to do so, but on the other hand neither of the original cars stood much of a chance of getting up and running by themselves, so I don't feel bad doing it.

EDIT: I was told by the seller that it came from The Netherlands at some point. Guessing he made a mistake and meant Belgium due to the French there, but I could be wrong.

 

Well the 71 and the 72 are pretty close as far as trim goes...

 

They are indeed, but not identical. I will be eliminating the rust-attracting vinyl, and most likely also part of the trim that holds it in place on the 71, since the fasteners for mounting it doesn't exist on the 72 body I have, for obvious reasons. The 71 trim looks pretty damn good anyway, so I'll go with that. Assuming the wheels are original, given that they have an olds emblem on them.

 

When i redo the roof on my 72 that stuff vinyl will not be on it.

 

No updates????

 

I ran late for my train, and doing laundry so I can have clean socks for a five day field exercise is more important than posting pictures for you guys, though I DID take some. Not much to see, really, it's just a new trunk bottom.

Played with the carb on the '71, took it for another playful spin. Waaaay too much fun.

 

Actually, a question for you smart people - will a T-5 World Class hold up to a high comp piston '72 Olds 350 torque-wise? I've seen one for sale very cheaply, out of a '93 Blazer.

 

Stock maybe not, but it can be rebuilt to handle it for cheap. The 3rd gen Camaros had T-5s as optional equipment but they only put them behind 305s because they couldnt handle the power of the 350s. And those 3rd gen motors werent much to speak of, 330 torque on the high performance 350s. Id get it rebuilt just to be safe, but itd be an awesome transmission to run. Is the crank set up for a manual transmission?

 

Yes, I had it machined at the shop. Do you know where I could get the parts needed to beef it up?

 

From what ive heard Astro Performance builds some of the best out there. They can build them stronger than the TKOs (which ive heard are actually not all theyre cracked up to be) plus they'll bolt right into a stock A-body when a TKO takes a lot of custom fabrication, here's their site: http://astroperformance.com/

They had a lot more stuff on there last time i checked, not sure where it all went. But i bet they could hook you up with the parts you would need. You should be fine with a rebuilt T-5, they will make decent power but not too much, if you were working with a 455 then i wouldnt recommend the T-5 but for a 350 it should be fine, the extra gear should give you decent mileage too

 

Looking at the kit, I can get a TKO-600 for the same kind of money the T-5 plus beef-up kit would cost me. It's definitely an option I'm keeping my eye on, though. Not having to cut the floor is a plus in my book.

 

Yeah, honestly I hadn't seen their site in a while, I thought they had the gears and such for sale at a cheaper price where you could have your local guy build it for you. If nothin' else you could always just revert to an M-22 haha

 

I could, but if this is gonna be a daily driver, I'd rather not have to. :P

Thanks for the suggestion though, I like to have options.

I spent today cleaning the bottom of the '72 body and taking trim and tidbits off the '71 so I could see how much spackle is under the paint. A fair bit, I'll have you know. :P Mom had hogged the camera, so no pictures QUITE yet.

 

My first exposure to the beast that is a carb. Tightened up the something-coil to make this non-closing-occurence not happen. Feel like SUCH a pro. :P



Ripped part of the vinyl off the '71 - as suspected, the rust maggots got to her. Typical for a Supreme, I'm told.




Looking down under the trunk, I found more rust, and a bent frame. Guess I'll be using the fixed frame after all. :P




Ground off some of the paint here and there on the '71 - some rather interesting things popped up. As it looks now,I'll be using the other, unmolested fenders, as well as the '72 hood that doesn't have big gaping vent holes straight down to my precious engine. Sure is sloppy fix work on those lower front fenders. :/







This looks safe, right? Taken during the process of cleaning the underside of the body, after having put in the trunk bottom shown in the second picture. I'm about at the point where I'm done welding.

 

Looks like you are still making good progress on it. Its nice to have another car there for a reference when it comes time to put it back together.

 

Yeah, plus, having the second car makes me realize just HOW many silly little pieces I was missing on the original car. :P

 

Ground off some more paint, and checked the ratio on the '71 with the Anti-Spin diff: 2.57?. :O I counted it, put the car in neutral and turned the wheel(s) ten times - driveshaft spun 25.75 times. More work now.

 

Been spending the day trying to mend the hole in the '71 radiator with some radiator fix I had lying around, and paint off various parts. We're getting close to having it ready for painting, which has led me to think quite a bit.

I like the look/two-tone nature the vinyl top facilitates, but not the rust-trapping nature of it. Should I consider replicating the two-tone effect of it with paint instead?
For colors I'm thinking either Sequioa Green, or well, this: wildaboutcarsonline.com/members/images/clubs/1971_Cutlass__Habets_0002.jpg
What about black stripes? I don't have a OAI hood, would stripes work regardless? I'm full of ideas. :P

 

I personally have always loved the look of 2 WIDE racing stripes down the entire vehicle. Hood/Roof/Trunk If you're going to try and do a 2-tone to mimic the vinyl top, I would not put stripes down it, but if you're going to do a 2-tone with the split between the colors at the body/trim line down low, this would look awesome.

Whatever you decide, make sure YOU love it, as you'll be the one ripping up the asphalt with it as often as possible!

 

Heh, speaking of, I got it up to 80 out in front of the workshop. Gotta get used to those non-assisted brakes. :P

In any case, I'm close to ready to get it painted. Don't trust myself not to screw that up somehow, so I'll pay my way out of it.

 

More pictures! We all know you guys LOOVE pictures, right?! :P

------

Vinyl tops are ****. Never getting one.



The radiator on the '71 is a bit leaky. :P




Doesn't really matter all that much at the moment, seeing as I'm beginning to take it apart. First was the blower motor, due to the firewall being different on an AC car than on a non-AC car.



Said conversion - I swore I was done with the welding. >.>







Other than that, I've been putting more of a finishing touch on the body parts, getting them ready for the painter. Gonna be good.

 

Lookin good man. Looks like all the same stuff ive got comin to me in a month or two haha
I love vinyl tops though, especially on a Supreme, i think its almost like the Supremes were made specificly to have a vinyl top. In my oppinion they look pretty bland without them haha. With mine im going to put quite a bit of rust-proofing under my top, i figure if it took 30 years to rust with the factory's minimul efforts than my over-exertion should cover it for as long as i need it to hold up haha

Found anything else on the transmission? At this point a TKO would probly be the best choice. Ive been contemplating running a 4-speed, aside from the fact that its really cool it just gives me one more gear over the typical TH350 or TH400, which will equate to better mileage. Depending on your goals for it, either hotrod or cruiser, you could put a smaller rear end gear in it and get even better mileage.

Either way, lookin good! Youre getting a lot of progress in each day. I can only hope to make as much progress as youve been making once i dig into my project


PS: I see you have two Cutlasses youre working with, let me know if you have any extra parts, id be interested for my project. Right now im looking to finish collecting for my interior. Currently i have a column shift bench seat. Id like to get 2 bucket seat cores, a black center console, center console style speedo, and a shifter delete sleeve for the steering column

 

I don't think I'd make sense of me to send spare parts across the atlantic to you. Denmark's FAAAR away from you. :P

The vinyl tops LOOK amazing, but if I want that effect, I'll go for a two-tone paint job instead. The vinyl's just too rust-attracting in a wet climate like ours. I'm already wondering how I'm gonna keep water out of the bottom of my doors.

As for trans, unless something comes along that's cheap, I'm biding my time and wanting a TKO. With the 2.56 rear I have, I could certainly live with a 4 speed, especially if I got the replacement .86 OD aftermarket gear. Would put me at 2200 RPM at 80 MPH, which isn't THAT bad.

The daily progress is due to being off work for the week, so it's rather atypical.

 

Oh wow, i remember why i didnt ask you earlier now xD I KNEW there was a reason and i just completely spaced it that time hahaha. With a low gear like that and an overdrive you should be cruising at rediculously low RPMs, it will indeed save a good chunk of gas

 

Gas costs roughly $8 a gallon over here, so mileage IS an issue for me. :P

 

Week went fast - now back at the base. Finished working on the body (not quite, as I forgot to make holes for the electric window cables) and flipped it so I could clean it and remove any rust it had underneath. Second picture might be a bit confusing. :P




Both doors came off the '71 and have been dismantled - as it looks now, I'll have a thorough look at the inside of them to determine whether I'm using them, or the '72 doors. One of them has a tiny patch of rust in the lower corner (on the outside), and I'm worried that it might be something big and impossible to fix on the inside. On the other hand, they already have provisions for trim and electric windows, as well as having a LOT less dents than the '72 doors.



The hole in the radiator examined - my friend who worked with trucks before joining up suggested that I try some glue of all things. If that makes it work, then I'm happy - if not, then a radiator isn't gonna break the budget.

 

I have to agree , vinyl tops gotta go... my roof is gonna be a real treat to deal with down the road , because of the vinyl top

 

Oh yes, I'm not putting that thing back on it, or anything like it. But I might imitate it with paint.

 

Don't know if it would work, but maybe a bedliner/wrinkle type paint to mimic the look of the vinyl top could work nicely, and have the added bonus of being a sound deadener and adding extra durability. Never seen anyone do it, but it's just a thought that came to mind.

Could always try and practice technique on the parts car before you do anything to your builder...

-Jeff