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Hey y'all, my name is Justin 33 years old I'll be turning 34 in a few weeks. I grew up an import Car Junkie but always had mad respect for classics an American Muscle. I've probably owned 20-plus cars since I got my license at 18 years old one of them was a fox body Mustang everything else has been import much of which has also been turbocharged. I think I've turned a new Leaf, a good friend of mine's father is selling his mother's car. And I'm thinking about purchasing it this weekend and doing a mild restoration on it cosmetically and kind of going *****-to-the-wall over time on the motor, transmission, and suspension setup. She bought the car in 1965 off the dealer lot with 5 miles on the odometer. It's a light blue 1965 Oldsmobile f85 sedan.
had a couple of questions that I'm hoping some people can give me a little insight. I'm pretty sure it's the V6 motor and if it is can those be built to have any power at all or my better off swapping something else in such as an LT1, or some sort of Ls swap? I want to make Power not a ton but more as well as do it on a budget but yet do it correctly if that makes sense.
also when it comes to suspension my dream would be to actually take it on a railroad track and race it similar to Road America here in Wisconsin. So I would need a suspension upgrade for sure. Where should I start when it comes to that? I'm assuming there are companies out there that make upgraded suspension for those cars or even modernized suspension upgrades for those cars?
I'm sure we'll have more questions as the night goes on and I start thinking about other things but I want to start with that I thank you in advance for any insight and thank you for allowing me to be part of this community
Welcome. That V6 is the venerable Buick V6. Think turbo Buick Grand National. People have swapped the turbo versions into these cars - the photos below are a 65 Skylark at our club's All-GM show last summer. The Skylark and F85 are both A-body platforms. Naturally, any Olds V8, up to and including the 455, also bolts in with a simple swap of the motor mounts and frame pads. And yes, you can do the Chebby swap, but frankly I'm not a lemming. I'd rather have something different and not a me-too car. And FYI, this Buick took best of show.
Welcome to the site, I'll ad that there are a lot of suspension parts out there for A bodies. Anything kit that fits a Chevelle with the same year will generally work on a Cutlass.
Sorry this is a slight diversion from the thread topic, but I have to add that you should look closely at this picture. Note the car next to the 65 - it IS a GN. Note that isn't a turbo V6 under the hood - it's a Buford Stage 1 455 with a boatload of aftermarket parts. Yes, these two cars were owned by the same person. I guess I know where the drivetrain in the 65 came from. See, this is interesting to me. A pair of LS swaps and I would have just kept walking. This guy has style.
