Hi, my name is Rick. My family and I live in N. Il and my usertag refers to being done at 5 kids(15,16,17,19,20). I have a 1965 Cutlass convetible. Originally a 330 (10.25:1) Jetaway car from Arizona. The body is solid but in need of serious paint removal. I pretty much worked on the drivetrain, became frustrated tore it all out at 600 miles and now starting over. For you purists out there stop reading now. I agree with gearheads78 and it will be my 65 ragtop, my way. The 1st build was a 455, and was just going to leave it stock. Ended up getting carried away and hated it. I still have the TH400, which I will put up for sale if there is a for sale area on here. The 455 was sold on Ebay to finance the second build. I have a 6.0 LY6 (VVT), no dod, with the 6L90E. Still waiting on the LH8 oil pan. Backordered at GM. The engine and trans came from a 2007 GMC 3500 SLE, with 4000 miles, for $2100.00 + shipping (thanks to Kens auto parts near Strasburg ND). The 10 bolt O(3.08:1 open) was disgarded in favor of a 1968 12 bolt with a 3.31:1 Eaton posi, built by Walt Grey of Winnebago IL. It sits on Centerline 16 x 7s. I will have to split the trans tunnel to fit the 6L90E, but I'm OK with that. The next steps are 1) get the oil pan and fit the engine and trans using a kit from BRP. 2) remove the body from the frame and send to Northern Il soda connection for paint removal, then off for epoxy primer. 3) Paint.
4)Send the engine harness, ECM, TCM, and fuse/relay box to Current Performance Wiring, in Florida for mods. 5) Begin reassembly.

Thanks,

Rick

 

Well it's your car and money so do what you want just be aware that the car after the mods will have little to no collector value and will be worth thousands less. But enjoy it.

 

post some pictures of your project along the way. you can post all the parts you don't need in the for sale section.

 

ALLDUN5, Welcome to the forum. I am far from a purist as can be seen by my new engine and I am partial to 65s. Best of luck on your install.
rokit

 

Whatever that means...

 

New 6 liter Chevy Votec small block engine.

 

Alldun5 - apparently you do everything your way. I'll bet your wife hated the early nineties.

Sounds like the car is going to be a monster. I can't wait to see the pics...hoping you take plenty.

You are on the right page....it's your car, so do with it what you want and enjoy. Don't worry about those that throw stones because you didn't stick with stock.

 

Thanks for the welcome. I will take pics and post as it moves along. Gotta wait for that damn oil pan.
I had enough of the purists in the OCA and the IVOC. They were all nice guys but openly disdained mods. I have to say, there is a part of me that would like to have restored after the original engine and trans had been sold and I lost the guys number. I had talked to the OCA advisor for the 65. He and I chatted about the cars and his 30+ years of owning at least one F85, Cutlass, or 442. This was a few years ago. It was when he told me he had never seen a convertible with air that I had wished I had decided to restore. But, no regrets.

Rick

 

That was a factory A/C car? Do you still have the compreesor, brackets and hose assembly ? Cuz I need them.

 

I have the hoses,and dryer but the brackets and the compressor went with the 455. I might have the brackets from the 71 455 I'm trying to give away.