Hello Classic Olds families. My name is Jesse and I'm new to this forum. Here is a little back story for you guys/gals. I've got a tubbed out '72 cutlass supreme. It has been modified by my father-n-law who has gotten sick and hasn't been able to finish his work. As an auto mechanic by trade, its been difficult for him to not see his car run after all the blood, sweat and tears that he's put into it. A few weeks ago I pulled the cover off and its still the way he left it 20yrs ago, well plus or minus some dust. lol. It is now my time to shine and get this bad boy on the road so I can put him in his car that he started. Its been on jack stands, tires off, body painted, custom aftermarket parts, new engine that's never ran yet, the list goes on.
Ive joined this forum in hopes to have some questions, concerns and help from you experts to possibly guide me, along the greenhorn path.
For My wife, this means everything to Her. TAKE DAD OUT FOR A SPIN is what she truly wants in life.
Now that ive got myself introduced, here are my first couple of items im in search for
1. 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme wiring diagram( he has one but from sitting to long its kind of hard to read but still may be possible)
2. Repair manual PDF to print. preferably free. ( He does have one in the house somewhere but at the moment hard to find. he does have the 1966 or so to 1972 parts book, so im good with that)

Any help from here on out would be greatly appreciated. Once I have time, I will try and post pics for you all to see.

Thanks in advance.
Jesse

 

Welcome here Jesse!

Lots of smart people here who are very willing to help someone who asks nicely and has a purpose, both of which seem to be the case for you.

I think the best place to start is to take lots of pics of the car and all the parts you have and start asking questions.

If you can find any documentation as to what parts are in the engine and or who built it and the blueprint specs of the bearing clearances, compression, cam size, etc., that will be a good place to start.

I know it stinks, but, I STRONGLY recommend removal of the oil pan, intake, and valve covers to see what the condition of everything is in. Engines rebuilt a long time ago and never ran can have some weird issues that can ruin them if you start them without looking first. You want to make sure there are no issues with old dried-up assembly lubes, lifters stuck in the bores from sticky assembly lube, cam lube dried up hard as a rock, etc. Also, you should make sure the oil pump isn't packed full of old dried up assembly lube as well.



This actually happened to us with our engine that was built a long time ago, so I am speaking from Experience. It is cheaper to throw some new gaskets and some time into things now than cost you much more later.....


Also, the bad news is that if the tires are also very old, even if never ran, they may not be great or very safe to run now, so you want to look at new rubber. Drag tires typically only last 2-3 years before they get too dry and lose the oils that make them soft and sticky when hot.

What trans and converter do you have for the car?

 

Thanks for the rely Battenrunner. Im only here for good intentions and all the info I can get to get the car back on the road. The engine was put in by himself. All ports and plugs have been closed off in one shape or form.
Tires have not ever been on. They have been stored indoors and are brand spanken new.
I will post pics, not to sure if they will help anyone out but its def a look at.
*Im after the original 1972 wiring diagram and alos the repair manual..all i know it was white.
This car is not an F85 or 442 as per my fathernlaw. Just a straight up cutlass.
Im currenrly working on bleeding master cylinder and all brakes from the fuethest point to the closest to the master.
All be scoping through the spark plugs to check for signs of rust inside the blocks.
All be giving it an oil change, transmission flush and also the transaxil will be cleaned aswell.
These were our main focus as the car is still up on jacks. Once the underside is complete, all be puttting on some tirea to make it a rolling chassy and finishing the wiring, finiiah hooking up motor, batterie ect.
Once all that ia complete all fine tune all the quarter panels, FIND A NEW HOOD and anu othee parta to finish up. Then comes the best part, is putting on the brand new tires.

Thanks again for the quick reply and all keep everyone thats interested posted.
cheers for now
Jesse

 

Welcome to the site, you have a worthy quest. Post some pictures of the car in its current form. Under the hood, interior, underneath suspension, etc. In the electrical section there are stickies of wiring diagrams, 70-72 are very similar. If you want to get the car started, I would change the oil and filter, prime the engine oil system, hook up a temporary wiring and fuel setup to get it to crank and a switched 12v to the coil+ terminal, fire it up and break in the cam. As far as the 20 year old tires, even though they were never put on the car, I would not trust them for the street.
Good luck, start a project thread and we can answer any questions as you go along in your endeaver.

 

Much appreciate oldcutlass. Where would you like me to post the pictures where everyone may venture too, not just the newbie forum I guess. Lol.
I will take everyones advice and input at this point. Noted.
cheers
Jesse

 

Welcome! Pics of the car in general, etc could be put here right on your introduction thread. That way everyone can see what you're working on and make general comments, welcomes, etc.. You can also start a thread on any of the sub sections, brakes,engines,etc. As far as a electrical diagram, I would get a complete Oldsmobile shop manual in print for the long term, you will need it. But for a short answer about a wiring diagram, I have gotten stuff ( PDF's) from Wild about cars site.

 

You can post a few teaser pics in the Newbie section and then open a new thread in the Major Builds and Projects forum, link below. As you move through each step of your project you can ask questions and people can follow your progress.
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...s-projects-72/

 

Good luck with your legacy project. The only thing I can add is to echo the tire concerns. No matter how they have been stored, the measured, on the shelf, safe life expectancy, is typically 8 years. These tires far exceed that. I am sure you would hate to be taking your F-I-L out for that 1st ride and have a front tire blow out at 70 MPH. An added budget item, to be sure but....you will find more of that as you "drive" forward with your project.

Have fun and enjoy the process.

 

Thanks to the rest of you that have replied. Ive noted your comments. Much appreciated guys.
Here are a few tease pics. Sorry about the quality, they were from my old phone.
Thanks for lookin.
jesse


Back end. Parts on the ground are from another car, specifically a camaro.

 

Welcome!

C'mon, quit teasing w/ the cover on that engine! We want to see that bullet that will be driving that narrowed rear end / slicks! That's quite the project. Good luck putting it all together. You came to the right site.

 

Coooool !!!!

 

Looks like a fun project to complete, I'll be following along.

 

BOYS AND GIRLS................I found the repair manual. After hours of searching and re-organising 2 room, we came upon my fathernlaws old school books and his collection of repair manuals, egine repairs and autobody books. Alot are Chilton's repairs from old bronko's, to old mazda's, to old camry' and even the old Mark II. Soooo happy I found them, specifically the one I need.




For those of you that a wondering, wanting or itching to know what is on our car and under the hood, here is a list that we could come up with:
1. 350 Rocket engine, Bored 30 over with Flat top Pistons
2. 350 Automatic Transmission, Manual Shift
3. 9" Ford rear end
4. 35 Stall, 10" Torque Converter (TCI brand)
5. Aluminum Intake
6. 4 Core Rad
7. Line Lock
8. 4" muffler (openings)

I hope this helps everyone out in trying to help me get this beauty back on the road.
Thanks for reading/looking
Jesse

 

Thats not the repair manual people were referring to. They were referring to the factory Assembly manual and the Chassis Service manual. You can usually find them in our misc classifieds and ebay. You want the originals as the reprints are sometimes hard to read.

 

Well thats a downer. All take a look and see what i can come up with. Thanks olds.

 

BTW, if the rear bumper is original to the car, you hav a 70 Cutlass

 

Sounds like you know what you are doing. Not sure you need a lot of help from the members here ... just sounds like you like the drama.

Not much I will be following

Keith

 

Well, all this info is from my Fathernlaw who WAS a Mechanic which I mentioned at the beginning of this thread. Im a Carpenter by trade and dont know much about cars but I can say is that if you ever become/ have been an apprentice, you will always carry that mindset and everything else becomes easier to lern. So here I am, willing to Lern and get the Job done. I prefer multiple opinions. Always have and always will. Much like alot of other people here. "There's more then one way to skin a cat" as the phrase goes. No heart feeling if you follow or not but Thanks for your Input anyways.

Dave26
I will be checking with my Father-n-law about the year of the car and making sure ive got the year right for the future. Much appreciated.
Thanks for your input
JESSE

 

Ive added a couple items Im looking for in the classified adds.
Thanks to all.
Jesse

 

That would be a Cutlass Supreme.

 

" you will always carry that mindset and everything else becomes easier to lern"

except spelling...lol

 

Ohhhhh boy that is f#$*& awesome man. Ive got no excuses for this one. Hahahaaaaaa..
Thanks for the reassurance. Now I best be looking over all my spelling for future posts.
Thanks Jesse

 

It is not original bumper.

 

The engine has been sitting so long that there are a few preliminary steps you need to take before starting. These are not a substitute for opening the engine, but you don't want to do that and these steps are much better than just hitting START.

Remove the spark plugs, distributor, and valve covers

Squirt shots of 10W oil into each cylinder. Use a socket on an electric drill motor or 1/2" drive hand crank to turn the oil pump at the bottom of the distributor opening. Be sure to tape the socket on well, you don't want it dropping into the oil pan.

Turn the pump until you see oil flowing out from every rocker arm. You may need to use a large socket to turn the engine in the direction of rotation to get oil coming out some of the rockers.

When you turn the engine, feel carefully for any stickiness--it should turn smoothly.

Once the oiling is done, turn the engine another 20 turns by hand, again feeling for any hesitation.

Put your finger over the #1 spark plug hole and turn the engine until you feel air coming out. Look at the timing tab and continue to turn until the timing mark is a 0° on the tab.

Reinstall the distributor and make sure the rotor points to #1 spark plug wire. You may need to rotate the oil pump a bit to make sure the distributor seats completely.

Now you will be ready to start the engine.

If I forgot anything, someone will chime in.

Post any questions.

 

Don’t worry too much Jesse, we aren’t all grammar and spell-checkers, just ask away on the questions and we will do our best.

 

Thanks alot. This will help tremendously when Inget there. Great deal of detail in that bad boy. Much appreciated
Jesse