Jimmy_B

Hello Everyone,

I have lurked here for several years, but never felt worthy enough to join and post since I sold my 73 4-4-2 back in 1993. Well, now I am the proud owner of 1972 Cutlass Supreme Conv 4-4-2. The car is not perfect (I am not interested in a show car) and I plan on driving it each and every summer. There is a lot of work to do and new things to learn, but I look forward to the experience. My 73 had a Rocket 350 with a Muncie 4-spd. The 72 has a 455/400 setup. The previous owner was in the process of cloning into a W30, so there is a nice Alum intake, Ga Heads, W-25 Hood and even red inner fenders ??? (Not sure why he put the red fenders in there except for looking cool maybe)

I am looking forward to good conversation and learning more about the 455 Rocket. Time to start wrenching once again My wife already complained that I smelled like "gas" the other night. I told her to get used to it !!

Here are some pictures. Please keep the heckling to a minimum... I realize this car is not perfect. Some trim does not line up right and panels need adjustments. It drives great, but needs some quality time with the Qjet. I'm not even going to start worrying about the body until the motor is running strong.

I'm also very interested in a rear end since this car only has a 2.73. Probably leaning toward a 3.42 posi with a nice W27 cover. Richmond gears and Eaton posi from everything I've read on here.

Thanks for looking !!

Jimmy B.

miked

Looks pretty darned good to me! Thanks for sharing..

oldcutlass

That is seriously nice - no heckling here!

TenMidgets

Yeah I think you undersold the car a bit in your description. While it may not be the show car you're interested in, it looks like a top of the line driver quality car. Really nice, congratulations and enjoy!

ent72olds

Jimmy....you should be ashamed! Car looks like a rat..... Where are you located and welcome!

citcapp

Sweet drop top. The obvious flaw is it doesn't belong to me

DENT

Very nice , I see it has red inner fenders , hmm makes one wonder. Welcome to CO.

Jimmy_B

Thanks everyone ! I am located in West Michigan and the search is on for a knowledgeable Oldsmobile mechanic on this side of town. If anyone can recommend a mechanic over this way, please let me know.

Like I said, I do plan to throw a posi unit in next Spring and I will more than likely pay someone to do that. I can adjust the timing, carb mixture screws and idle on my own, but there seems to be an issue with the secondaries not functioning properly. If I'm going 20-30mph and punch the gas, it just doesn't kickdown like it should. Perhaps some vacuum issues exist too??? Will have to investigate more next Spring...also chase a couple of minor oil leaks.

The red fenders baffle me too ! Since I have no intention on showing this car, I will let them be for now.

tru-blue 442

Looks Sweet.
Not showing huh?
I'd be showing it off for sure, welcome!

Octania

Converted to TH400? or born that way? The TH400 uses an electrical kickdown. Was that overlooked? You can watch the secondaries open while the engine is running, just do it briefly. Keep your face away from above the carb. You can verify that the choke pulloff is releasing the secondaries slowly, over a period of say 1-2 sec., with a vacuum pump [engine off]. Get the Ruggles QJet book and learn about the ins and outs of QJets. I went thru the 1978 QJet for my 403 based on that book, it needed a lot of tweaking such as the secondary plates were not opening exactly 90 degrees... it works quite well now.

Gator69olds

I was blown away by the pics. I was expecting to see some bondo and a half painted car. If your not proud of that you have really high standards haha. You have a really nice looking car!!!

Jimmy_B

Thanks Octania ! Just bought the book on Amazon for $16.47. If nothing else, I will have a better understanding of how these things work.

gearheads78

Welcome to the site. Very nice car.

dk-52

Really nice car Jimmy!

QMaster

Welcome to the site, Jimmy! Nice car!

Allan R

Jimmy, very nice car. Good thing is you already know the P.O. was trying to clone the car into a 442. (in 72 the CS was not offered as a 442) That's probably also why you have those red liners. They are a throw back to 70/71 when the red liners were used.

Easy enough to check and see if your car came with a 455. Look at the VIN. It will start out as 3J67(__) In the bracket will be a letter. If it's a U, your car was born with a 455/400. If it's a H, J, K or M it was a 350. It won't be an X because that was exclusive to the W30 cars and you know its not one already.

To find out what year engine you have, look at the engine stamping plate. It's hard to see and read because it faces downward toward the exhaust manifold. Look to the left and down from the #1 cylinder (under the GA casting) The stamping pad should have 3 (olds) (letter - plant) then (1,2,3 ...year of manufacture) then the last 6 numbers of the original cars VIN it was built for. Here's a pic showing a 350. The 455 will have the same stamping location.



Your rear diff is exactly the same as the one I have. Its an SA code axle (2:73) I changed mine to a 3:42 posi and W27 cover. Yet to install. The W27 cover adds about 2 pints of fluid to the fill capacity. If you need advice on the diff? 2 guys on our site are great for that. Brian Trick (507OLDS) and Jim Mitschke (monzaz). Both of them build diffs and race them.

Here's what mine looked like 2 weeks ago. I've got the bushings in now and all brake hardware installed. Just have to lift it into place

bigrig12

Wow, that is a beautiful car...nothing at all to be embarrassed by!

Jimmy_B

Allan, THANK YOU for all the info !!

I'm a bit confused by your post. Just to clarify, the P.O. was in the process of cloning the car into a W30... not a 4-4-2. From everything I have been told, the car is an original CS "optioned" to a 4-4-2 at the Lansing Assy Plant. Are you saying they didn't make a CS "442" option in 1972?? I thought the W-29 option meant you had a 4-4-2 regardless of engine size. How I can prove that it rolled out of the factory with 4-4-2 badging and handling options, I have no idea???

From the VIN number I was able to determine this vehicle was born with a 350 motor. The 5th digit is a "K".

So now I'm trying to investigate what year the 455 motor is in my vehicle. I checked the Engine Stamping Plate you referred to and i can barely make it out... looks like 3OM4097.... that's as much as I can read.

The block is a "39602 F"
LH Manifold is W 402295
Heads are Ga 409100
Carb is 7042251 RE 2681 (I've already done my research on the carb and know it was built for a 1972 Olds 455 motor in week 268 of 1971)

Thanks for your help. I am getting closer to deciphering my car

Allan R

Jimmy,
I stand corrected. You are right the CS (and I believe it's only the convertible) could be ordered with either the W29 or W30 package which would give it the 442 numerals. They were included in the W29 package which could be had with any of the motor options. The W30 was the whole meal deal that gave you performance and looks. It would also give you the W25 hood, dual trumpet exhausts, cutout bumper, W30 aluminum intake, fender and rear body braces, FE2 suspension, and an X in the VIN. There are other features of the W30 that are listed in the SPECS guide for 72 if you want to look at that. The red inner liners were never an option for 72.
I guess I'm too used to looking at W30 cars that are Holiday Sports or Club Sports fastbacks. W30 cars were only produced at Lansing.

The engine stamping seems to indicate you have a 1970 production block that was put in a Lansing built car - that's what the M stands for. The 4097... is the last 6 digits of the VIN from the donor car.

Your block should be 396021 F
Left manifold sounds good
Right manifold should be Z 402294 RH The letter will be at the front where you found the X, but the number will be close to the exhaust dump.

Post your VIN and a pic of your Cowl tag. One of us will decode it for you.

Jimmy_B

Thanks Allan, I will post my VIN and Cowl tag below.

You are right the block is: 396021F (I missed the 1)
Also, the RH Manifold is in fact: Z 402294

After rubbing my thumb on the engine stamping plate again I can make out most of the code. It is: 30M409711...

So you are saying my motor is a 1970 Olds motor? Not sure what to think about that?? I'm confused as to how the intake manifold is a 407570 (which indicates a 71-72 W-30) and functions properly with the 1970 motor. Also the carb is a 1972 and the Ga heads are 1972 W-30.

The oil filler tube has a brand new "UB" sticker on it, which indicates a 1972-3 455 motor with A/C. There is a stamped number 2258519 on the filler tube also...not sure what that means.

This whole thing seems like a cluster F.

Just trying to figure out exactly what I have so I can make proper modifications and order the proper parts when doing so. It would also be nice to know what the motors HP capabilities are...

72 w29 all green

Eh i wouldn't call it a cluster F. A '70 block with '72 GA heads and W-30 intake will work just fine; even the W-30 red inner fender wells won't be a problem . By the way, GA heads came on ALL '72 455's; the W-30 and manual transmission versions had the larger 2.07 intake valves.

Allan R

3 - Oldsmobile
J- Cutlass Supreme
67 - Convertible
K - 350 4bbl engine
2 - 1972 model year check digit
M - Lansing Production
202766 - Production sequence



The cowl tag was attached to the body by Fisher when the body was built and sent to the respective divisions for final assembly.
ST-72 - 1972 Model year production
3 - Oldsmobile division
42 - model Cutlass Supreme
67 - body style Convertible
LAN - Lansing production
429492 - body number (not related to VIN)
03E - production month / week (5th week of March 1972) This is cool because my car was built at Lansing on the 2nd week of April 1972 and my body number is actually close to yours
26 A - PNT combo - viking blue lower, white upper vert top
TR 977 - White naugahyde interior
A51 - split front bench seat with center armrest

Jimmy_B

Allan - Thanks again for the info. It's pretty amazing being able to decipher the history of the vehicle from all these numbers.

Is there any way to know if this vehicle was equipped with the W29 trim package in Lansing? Still trying to figure out if it was an original 4-4-2 optioned CS.

Allan R

There would be 2 indicators that would confirm W29
A Broadcast card or Build sheet. Lansing did not put the build sheets into cars of this era as other factories may have. So really the only thing that would guarantee the car was W29 from the factory would be a broadcast card with the matching Fisher Body number showing W29 in one of the option boxes.

Beyond that - no. This is one of the easiest years to clone because of the way its VIN is setup. Since W29 is just an appearance and handling package it's no biggie. What you would really have loved is to see an X in the motor slot of your VIN and W30 in a Broadcast card. That would pretty much guarantee you had the real deal with documentation.