Mike Sundy

He guys, my name is Mike and I'm new to the forum. I have a 1964 Cutlass with what I've been told is a 1970 Olds 350 in it. This is my first project.

oldcutlass

Welcome to the site Mike, post some pictures of your project for us.

Mike Sundy

Here are a couple of pics. The engine runs but needs tweaking.

Sporty45

Nice car, Mike! Welcome from Barrington NH. Where abouts in MA are ya?

Dennis

Mike Sundy

I'm from Fitchburg, its in North Central Mass.

Sporty45

Yup, know just where it is. I'm retired from GE Lynn, and worked with a lot of guys from the Fitchburg plant. Have a friend that lives in Ashburnham that still works in Lynn.

Mike Sundy

Oh nice, I have friends in Ashburnham too.

Mike Sundy

I work in Southborough at a company that makes retinal scanners for eye health called Optos.

Sporty45

Well, I've probably had my eyes in front of one of them, then! Good luck with the car, and keep us all posted on your project.

RetroRanger

Hey mike I'm just two towns west of you welcome to CO. Those pics musta been taken lat week because most of our snow is melted now!

sammieolds

Welcome Mike I was born in Leominster moved to sc in 2005
Steve
Nice looking ride

Mike Sundy

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! The pics are from March when I bought the car. It's only had a few things fixed so far but I hope to get it on the road late summer/early fall.

64Rocket

Looks to be a nice car. It's a hard top and they took all the body chrome and hood spear down the middle of the hood off.
If it is the original oil fill tube for the engine the first number imprinted will be the year of the engine. Such as 9=1969 0=1970 and so on.
Does it have a T-350 trans? What gear ratio in the rear?
Should be a very nice driver.
Gene

Sea five

A lot of MA and NH people today. Is anyone making the all Olds show this Sunday at Kimball's Farm in Lancaster? Its a good outing for your new car Mike

Sporty45

It's a bit out of the way for me, but you never know!

RetroRanger

here s a link to a link w the olds show info

show info

I will defintely be there

Mike Sundy

I'll have to check out that show if my parts don't come in the mail. The oil fill tube number starts with 1 so must be a 71 then. I'm going to have to do some more research on the tranny and rear end. The car looks like the shifter used to be on the steering column but the new one is on the floor. I would like to take my car to that show to get some advice and see some finished products but it isn't road worthy yet. The minute I figure out the wiring problem, I'll be heading to the registry. Does anyone know if the fuse box should be the one that goes with the car or the motor? Currently it looks like I have the one from 64.

Sporty45

Looks like it has been postponed til June 7th.

bluecab

Welcome from Sharon!

Octania

Ah, love your car
It is much like my first real car

Look also for the huge ID number on the corner of the heads, near #1 or #8 plug. 6 = 1970, 7= 1971, 7A for 1972...

The fuseblock / bulkhead goes with the car. The car pretty much does not car if the engine is a '64 330 or later 350.

It appear you have HEIgnition, so there is a chance that the installer failed to properly disconnect the resistor wire from the fusebox and run a full voltage wire instead.

It is quite common to switch from column shift to floor shift and leave the CS column in place, because f/s columns, esp. for 1964, are very hard to find.

Does it have any specific problems? What wiring problem ??

Allan R

Looks like a great project.

If you want to validate that it's a 1970 350 look on the engine stamping pad. It will tell you the brand, year, plant and donor car VIN derivative it came from. eg:
3 - Oldsmobile
0 - 1970 model year production
(M,Z,R,F) letter codes that designate specific plants like Lansing, Freemont, Arlington and Framingham.
123456 - numbers that represent what the last 6 digits of the original cars VIN were.
NOTE: sometimes really hard to see that stamping pad. Suggestion - use your phone and take a pic of it. That's much easier than unbolting a lot of stuff to see what's there. If you're not sure where the engine stamping pad is, here's an example (of a 1975 Olds 350 block with #8 heads)
olds_engine_id_pad.jpg


Also look at the cross passage just behind the water pump. There should be a casting with 395558 - 2 there (the temp gauge sender is just to the right of the casting number). That is the casting number for an Olds 350. Unfortunately there's no way to know if it's a high compression or low compression engine till you open it up.

RetroRanger

Yes that's this Sunday 6-7-15

Sporty45

jpc647

Welcome Mike. I'm from central mass too. I've got a 72 Cutlass, although you wouldn't know it, its only been out of the garage once this season.

I bought a street bike, it's making the Olds very jealous.

Mike Sundy

So the heads have a 7 stamped on them so it looks like its a 71. The problem I'm having with the wiring is that all the exterior lights don't work. There is no power going to them. The dash lighting and the wipers do work though so the guy did some of the wiring correctly. I'm hoping its just a bad fuse or something but he did put a few wires in strange places at the fuse box. Here's a couple pics of the creative wiring. Also, there is no stereo so the jury is still out on the wiring there.

Octania

Looks like you have a bit of wire tucking and brake light switch installing to do

Do you know how to get the headlight switch out? Then you can easily distach the plug and/or probe it for voltage and function.

Do you have the wiring diagram?
Your 1964 chassis service manual is a 5-book set, but I will bet that a 1965 manual would be close enough for most purposes and easier to find...

Small entry /s support fee at wildaboutcars.com might get you the exact service manual you need.

Mike Sundy

I don't know how to get the switch out...I was thinking that I need to pull the dash off a bit. I hope not though.

Sporty45

The 64 manual is indeed available at wildaboutcars.com.
http://wildaboutcarsonline.com/cgi-b...aldisplayed=50

Allan R

WAC no longer exists. It's now called the AHPS and for library priveleges you must pay a 25.00 fee. Might be worth it if you plan to use it a lot. I like hardcopy original versions better, they have much clearer detail pictures than the scanned images repops and websites have.

jpc647

Well that's unfortunate. I'm glad I downloaded copies of the 1972 manuals, somewhere.

Allan R

I think that's why they ended up folding into AHPS - too much info was just being downloaded for free. Even though they said it was a free site it still cost them $$ to run and I don't think too many people actually contributed anything to them. They were operating under the umbrella of AHPS anyway so it finally ended with an executive decision. This was last year, I'm surprised you haven't noticed anything if you try to log into WAC's old login. C'est la vie.

Sporty45

Still pretty cheap though for the number of manuals available!

Allan R

Didn't say anything to the contrary. It used to be free though and was flogged on this site for years as the ultimate Olds superstore where it was free to join and free to use/learn. Nothing lasts forever. It's your call to join or not. I guess it depends on how much you'd actually use it, right?

Mike Sundy

Does anyone have any recommendations on the best place to buy parts? I have gotten a catalog from OPGI though everything I have thought about ordering from them has been cheaper at Auto Zone.

don71

Late Welcome to you.

Mike that is the way it is. You might have to take a multi-source attitude. With shipping now a days, I get what ever I can at my local parts store. Use the internet ordering when I have to.

Nowadays we deal with American vs import stuff, so you got to shop that too.

Fusicks for Olds parts has been good to me.

Really depends on what you are getting. Brake,tune up and suspension stuff I get local vs. interior stuff and trim, probably going to be online.

At big car shows, sometimes vendors will have what you need and you can save on shipping, but got to have the space to haul it home.

Also, there are a lot of folks here on CO. who deal in the used parts. Hit'em up, they might be able to help.