My Cutlass is titled as a 1972 but has all 1970 parts
Has 1969 455 block
1969 442 4spd posi rear 3:42 gears
3500 stall converter
Back in late 80's bought a 1970 cutlass s that was wrecked and pulled all good parts off, and found a stripped 1972 Culass body so that's why is a 1972. I sold it off before finshing it to a buddy and he paid me to finish it, he had motor built for it and trans. took me 13 years to buy it back, I stole it for $2,000
Been sitting on jack stands for last 2 years waiting for me to start rebuilding it.
I will take pictures as I go

Here's some from today

Dual gate shifter His & Hers
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455
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New wheels and tires 295/50/15
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Rear
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front
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passenger
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Rust behind passenger rear tire
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Rust Passenger fender
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Driver side
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Inside
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Tilt colum
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Also another set of these rims 8x15 (like that are on rear)

Oggie

 

Sounds like a nice project! For years I drove a 1970 Cutlass Supreme with the nose from a 1971 Cutlass S. As long as you like it, it's all good

John

 

Title only refers to the VIN proof of year. I've seen 70's that had 72 parts, 70s that have 69-72 parts. Bottom line is you're happy with getting it back. Don't let it sit so long waiting for work this time.

 

Thanks ! Can't wait to get started !
I like the looks of the 70 I just don't want to make any one upset because it's a 72 with 70 parts

 

Yeah that's true !
Awh you have know Idea how happy I was to get it back !!
When he told me he wanted to sell it for $2 grand "AS IS", I said I will take it ! He said rear end is making funny noise when turning and that I needed a rollback to get it, So when I showed up with just a Licence plate to drive it home, he was like but rear is making funny noise, I said yeah the Posi clutches are dry, He just looked at me and I drove it away

Yeah not planning on letting it sit any more than it has now.
Started stripping it in 2003-2005 after buying a 70 cutlass (paid $1,200 for it) it had wing, his & hers shifter, nice black interior, sport mirrors, drivers door and some other parts put all my bad stuff back on it and sold it for $1,200 at Carlisle body was rough, it had sat in a damp basement for 14 years

 

Just had to !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sqj_fR3Mkw

 

nice vid looks like a great project

 

Thanks !

 

Few more parts collected since last post.
I've been helping at friend's Restoration shop (http://www.mansfieldmuscle.com/) for garage time for my Cutlass , been helping on a pair of 72 Road Runners being painted same color b-3 blue .
He bought me a Repop rear bumper at Fall Carlisle and my wife and girls bought me the front bumper for my Birthday.
Any one have any problems with these bumpers ?

I wanted to buy hood springs for my all fiberglass hood (bolt on)(Tamaraz-hood) so when we were at Fall Carlisle, I stopped at Fusick trailer told guy what I needed he asked if it was all fiberglass, I said yes, He told me they would not work told me to make a prop rod ! So what to do now ?
I've always thought I could cut my old steel hood a part and put the two together still thinking on that one.

 

Looks like a pretty solid start.

 

I got the lightweight hood springs from partsplace, my hood is fiberglass they were about $40 and the hood feels similar to when I had the steel hood on the car when I open and close it.

 

I believe that I got my light weight springs from Tamraz along with the all fiberglass hood. The springs work just fine.

 

I've was reading where some guys hoods have snapped or cracked wasn't sure what to do, I will have to give them a try
Tamaraz has two styles, Med weight and light weight, they say med weight for Cutlass hood and light weight for Camaro, but I see they have a Chevelle Cowl hood with light weight springs, Chevelle hood is about the same size as Cutlass hood right ?

 

Mine have been on for about 4 years now with no problem. They were just called light springs for my hood. Not Camaro or otherwise. Anyways, they have been fine and also in the wind at a couple of shows, the hood did not come down on anyone. I do have a backup pole just in case, and if the conditions are not safe, I will just close it. So far it has been fine like I said.

 

Okay thanks

 

I see a two wheel peel in the driveway I did that recently.....my wife rolled her eyes and advised me not to do it too close to the house

Great car!


Ted

 

Awhahaha ! My Wife filmed the video
When my friends stop out front and do burn outs she runs to the window or door
Took her to a drag race last year she stood right by the burn out section with me and loved every bit of it. Then owner of the drag strip took us down the track in his 64 Galaxie and now she is hooked on drag racing

 

Going through my parts today seeing what I needed and what I didn't need. Found my Grille need some repairs, so figured I would start doing that.

Broke Grille Edge (missing)
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Support to Hold Shape
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Taped in Place


Fusor Plastic Repair
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Mesh Repair
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Fusor In place
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Mesh going in
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Getting Little Heat on It
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Repaired
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After sanding
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Primer
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So i sent a message to Tamaraz they said to use theses Med weight springs ON MY HOOD


Med Weight Tension Hood Hinge Spring Gold Anodized PR. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Med-Weight-T...item5ae190ed4b



Not sure if I should use these ones .....

Light Weight Tension Hood Hinge Spring - Silver PAIR
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Light-Weight...sh=item5ae18e4

 

Any one try these yet ?
http://kmjent.com/index.php/catalog/...l-arms-a-body/

 

Nice work on the grill repair it looks good

 

Thanks !

 

Been a while since I did anything with my project, I did get couple more parts in fall, I got front and rear repop bumpers. My buddy bought me the rear bumper at Fall Carlisle fro helping him paint couple 72 roadrunners, and my wife and kids bought me the front for my birthday.

I started cleaning car out checking floor pans, gonna need trunk pan and I know driver front floor pan. Where best place to find or stay away from ? I'm gonna check Spring Calisle in couple weeks.

 

Glad to see your still at it.

 

Feel like were brothers from another mother. Basically have the same resto going on & just getting started. I to was under the impression that the old hood frame was needed to install the new fiberglass hood that was thrown in with my 72 Cutlass. Hope this doesn't sound stupid but if old frame isn't needed how is the new hood installed & insulated against engine heat ? Mine is the same $800 Cutlass hood seen all over the web.

 

Your hood (fiberglass) should have mounting holes for hinges, mine does, I still need to get springs yet. Heat shouldn't bother it. Mines been sitting for 7 years should be cured now and should shrink any more . My left (driver) corner of my hood is lower than it should be after it shrunk up going to have to revamp it

I have thought about taking the underside of my steel hood and installing it under my fiberglass one, but looks like a lot of work, I know I can do it, just not sure if I want to .

 

Okay been thinking about my gears in my car I have 3.42 rear came out of a 1969 442 4 speed car.
My set up is 455 with A/C, 350 trans with 3200 stall with 3.42 with 295-50-15 tires now.

When i first bought it back it had 235 60 15 tires on all 4 corners. It would just scream (RPM'S) going down the road, so I changed back tires to 295-60-15 and wasn't to bad. I really didn't do any highway driving just local driving. But when I get it all restored I plan on driving some long distances with it
Question is should I swap the rear end ? And what gears do I want or need ?
And How much is the 1969 442 3.42 rear worth ?
I still want it to haul *** and have a posi rear

I posted this in Drivetrain/Differentials also

Thanks

 

Little progress this week

valve covers
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fenders
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engine bay
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Side shot
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Hood
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Your gears should be fine I think your stalls a little big for a stock 455 should be between 2500 & 3000 at the top end if extra hp has been added. You will still get all you need power & launch wise ( stall flash up to 5000) when you need it but when you don't (highway) that's when you will see a big comfortable diff. Mine had a 3400 (had) I saw your burnout video lower that stall & you will wake the neighbors with the next one. Let the big block do the work it's what it's built for. Got lucky my 455 is that nice 68 version when they were still using nickel & right before gas restrictions.
As far as my hood came with hinge pins & chrome hood pins other than that it's just fiberglass no vents cut no hood pins cut no holes drilled for hinges. But it looks the part. Dry fit front trim it's perfect. That's down the road for me.

 

Okay cool, i figured they would be fine.

My 455 is far from stock it's a built '69 block built by mrepowerproducts.com in Greenville Florida,
I think heads are C heads. can't remember what cam lifters it has.
At the time of burn out it was missing in one cylinder, carb is only a 650 runs better with a 750 on it, the vacume advance was disconnected also.

Not sure about the stall converter, so your saying I need to change it ?

So you hood is just plain drag pin on type Do you have any piictures of underside ?

 

Little more progress today removed rear bumper found some more rust

Rear bumper
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Bumper removed
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Rust Right side trunk back panel (inside)
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Rust Right side trunk back panel (outside)
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Rust Left side Trunk panel (outside)
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I'm sorry buddy been working on a emergency job since Friday. Don't no wether to **** or wind my watch Im so tired. But just to put your stall in perspective GM factory 370 hp 455 had a 2700 stall even if the car peaked over 5000 rpm it was fine. If your building a driver even a fast one you still would want to be comfortable on the highway. You will have torque to spare & hp for those extreme burnouts. Check out 442.com packed with info from engines to paint..
Have not done anything with mine but I also don't have half the rust that your up against. but plenty of work ahead. At least all these hours should help finance my build.

 

Probably the picture, but your exhaust looks skinny. Like the PO took it to a Midas or something. I was blessed with 3" custom. Hopefully that's not 1 1/2 pipe. Any restrictions in your state for inspection ? There are a few things that can add hp if no restrictions. Here in PA the only way for me to avoid the dreaded catalitic converter is to classic tag my Cutty. Which restricts your mileage among other things for the year. That's there law fortunately for me being from south Philly "I gotta guy"

 

The right side rust looks pretty nasty - unfortunately replacement parts aren't made for those areas of the car so fabrication is your friend there. The other side isn't terrible. Still a lot of work to be done though.

You mentioned changing to larger tires to drop your 'screaming' rpms. Have you considered replacing your TH400 with a 200 4R? It will have basically the same 1,2 3 gears but OD is .67:1 which will likely bring your highway rpms to around 1800 or 1900.

It is a direct bolt up to your 455, but is somewhat shorter than a TH400 so you'd need a TH350 drive shaft. I believe the trans mount would be the same location so likely wouldn't have to change the e brake cable. 3/42 gears are a nice choice for your car.

 

Yeah It's it's 2.25" stainless done back in the 80's going to change it to 3"
No catalitic converter here, I might have to have the charcoal canister, but I'm not sure now. We don't do the emission testing here like they do in the city's. I'm in PA and I have a Guy lick'um stick'um

 

Yeah unfortunatley I'm a retired body man of 30 years, rust doesn't scare me I've fixed worse. This car wasn't that bad when I did it back in the 80's but it was a florida car and ran the beach side a lot and they say florida cars don't rust hahaha right.
I had a 75 442 it was so rusty the swivel buckets were rotted, and you could put your whole arm down along the side back quarter window.
I will be headed to spring Carlisle next weekend to get floor pans i need

On a plus side I've been helping a friend (www.mansfieldmuscle.com Performance Automotive) with restoration on a pair of '72 Road Runners in return for garage time for my car Both cars are b-3 blue, but one out side is just a shaded darker than other one, the paint store messed up when mixing it but Customer loves it
Sorry about the picture you are about to see Non Oldsmobile

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I've thought about changing the turbo 350 to an overdrive just not sure yet. The body work (sheet metal & paint & Materials) gonna eat lot of money right now.

 

Both cars look great. I like the blacked out grills better though. I remember when these were new. My boss at the time (Ed Sykes) had one with a 340 in that bright canary yellow color. Can't remember if it had the graphics stripes or not, but it was a great car to look at and drive in!

 

Thanks ! Not sure the one has grille it it yet or not.
The top (pictured One) has 452 with 4 speed white interior and other is 400 w automatic black interior. Both will have graphics top one getting white bottom one getting black.
I Can't wait for test drive

 

Ok, that would explain my confusion....

 

Did little more work on the car yesterday.

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