leatherneck

I just joined the site yesterday so please bear with me as I learn the ins and outs of posting in a forum.
Anyway the backstory is as such: I fell in love with the 72 about 6 years ago, and made it my mission to find one. About two months ago I found one about half an hour from where I'm stationed (Marine Corps Base Hawaii), and luckily I snagged it.
I'm mechanically inclined, but not very knowledgable yet since this is the first vehicle I've gotten a chance to actually work on in depth, so I'll likely be pinballing off a lot of wrong answers in my attempt to refurbish this beast into what it ought to be, and I'll be using this thread to chronicle that process and hopefully avoid too many wrong answers.
It's got a v8 small block 350, 4bl edelbrock, long pipe headers, and a huge need for TLC since the prior owner only cared about the visual stuff like custom seats and aftermarket rims. The wiring is shoddy, I'm not sure if its even got a horn, there's no radio, and I'm finding 2 things wrong with it for every one thing I fix; but it sounds mean when i fire it up, and it gets from A to B, so that's something at least.
I'll post pictures and a list of work I've done once I figure out how to do pictures from my phone.

oldstata

Welcome I love the 72 cutlass it's just to bad emission control got in the way of power but money can fix all lol

The best way to post pics is using a off site like photobucket and coping the image link and inserting it To your post .
Works like a charm for me !

2blu442

Welcome to the site! Yes, please post pictures when you have time. Many years ago I purchased a car from Hawaii. The hidden rust was pretty bad, so you might want to look your car over real well. Even give it a good bath on a regular basis to keep the salt air from depositing and building up on the undercarriage, front fender between the wheel and door, and keep an eye on the inside of the trunk. The rear quarter panels between rear tire and bumper is another problem area.


John

Intragration

Welcome Marine, and thank you for your service! Good to get all the little things sorted out like you're doing before you start digging into it, and you'll get plenty of help here. Looking forward to pics.

oldcutlass

Welcome and yes thankyou for your service. As you can tell we all like pictures. A lot of experience here so just ask away with your questions.

cdrod

Welcome to the site! I'm fairly new to the site as well. It's been a great resource as I start my restoration project, and I'm meeting some great people who understand my weird obsession for 70's Oldsmobiles.

leatherneck

Thanks all for the encouraging (and prompt) replies! I fell off the map for a bit with the Christmas season taking its toll on my wallet, and all manner of work things, but I'm back up and running.

I've recently started entertaining the thought of doing a complete rebuild of the car, starting with the drivetrain, moving to the body (taking note of the Hawaiian rust problem 2blu mentioned) etc.

On that subject, what does one do about finding a 455? I obviously would rather keep an Olds engine under the hood, but have heard bad things about putting a used engine from another vehicle into an older car. Thoughts?

Thanks! (and pictures are coming soon)

Intragration

Keep it all Oldsmobile! No reason not to put in a used engine, if it's a decent engine. I had good luck with mine, and got to drive it in the donor car before purchasing it. I found it on CL locally. When you do the swap, you can check it out thoroughly and freshen it up a bit, clean it, gaskets, paint, oil and water pump if necessary. That should take care of most of the "used engine problems". As for a complete car rebuild, my only advice is to make it a ROLLING restoration...one job at a time. It's a lot more fun that way, and less overwhelming.