Project Knightmobile

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IronCastKnight

Apprentice
Sep 8, 2012
94
0
0
Tulsa, Oklahoma
The Car: 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme with a Vin Y 307, TH200C transmission, 2.14 geared rear end, one into two bwurbler exhausts. The penultimate pretender, all sound and no fury, just a nonfunctional hood scoop and a flame paint job from being the equivalent to a ricer.
The Driver: 1985 Scots-Irish Fat Guy That Drives Like Your Grandmother
The Plan: To take this wannabe muscle car and turn it into a real muscle car, all grandma's beater on the outside, all screaming road demon on the inside.

What I've Done So Far: Basic maintenance and placeholder part swaps, getting the beast drivable. New shocks, new ball joints, new spark plugs and wires.I also stripped the entire aircon system, because it wasn't working and I'm not especially put off by heat. Plus, less weight! Most complex upgrade was replacing the malfunctioning clutch fan with dual electric fans, which resulted in it going from seriously overheating to barely tapping 200 when I hit the gas whilst going uphill and the carb burning rich. I also swapped the 60/40 front bench seats and their infuriating shitty power controls for a pair of Summit sport seats. Also comically oversized air filter.

What I'm Doing Now: A little something I like to call "operation: to hell with the ecm". I'm stripping the computer, the smog crap, the carb, and the distributor. In its place shall be a 650 cfm Demon carb my uncle sent me, a MSD 6A box, and a MSD Pro Billet w/ mechanical advance distributor. The Demon carb strikes me as a little overkill, but for the scant 50$ he asked I'm willing to fiddle with it. This is not an endeavor I am embarking on in the vague hope of getting a little more power, but instead an attempt to circumvent the major electrical and vacuum line overhaul I'd have to do to get the damn thing it not run hot and blow through gas at the rate of about eight miles per gallon while chugging around like it's packed full of fat children. Plus, as someone who has spent his entire life around and fiddling with complex electronics, I firmly believe that absolutely nothing should EVER have a computer in it unless it is absolutely 1000% necessary, and a carb V8 needs no computer malarkey.

What I'm Going To Do Eventually: Complete overhaul. Engine swap, burlier transmission, major suspension upgrade, rear disc brakes, aluminum driveshaft, not-hilariously geared rear end. Possibly a stealth centrifugal supercharger if I decide to get retarded with it. On the sooner end of things, headers and true dual exhaust setup, ideally bringing my Cutlass as near to a 442 as I can without slapping the emblems on it. Also new weatherstripping, because the current stuff is in horrible shape. I'm also going to get some of GBodyParts.com's sexy *ss brushed aluminum style dash overlays, because they look fantastic. Plus, I intend on doing the interior in a white/blue contrast motif, because it's a mixture of colors that I'm quite fond of.

Finally, a question: I'd rather swap in a new rear end with Posi and a sportier ratio, ala 3.43 or 3.73, sooner rather than later. Ideally without having to dick around with the innards. Are the any specific years and models of donor vehicles I should be on the lookout for at the junks that'd probably have what I need? I think I read that the S10 is a good candidate, but beyond that I'm kind of in the dark.

PICS TIEM
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Before silly air filter
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After
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Electric fans~
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Cheap yet functional mechanical gauges
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Old seats. Comfy, but worn. Also infuriating.
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New seats. Less comfy, but a lot more supportive. Also the first step in my white/blue interior contrast motif.
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dudeface

Master Mechanic
Aug 18, 2008
351
1
16
calgary alberta canada
awesome lookin car there.............can only get better!!
i got a sweet near mint blue console that would fit right in there. got all the parts for the mechanism and cable as well as a tilt steering column and proper linkages

cutlassparts032_zps585b7fea.jpg



peace
 

IronCastKnight

Apprentice
Sep 8, 2012
94
0
0
Tulsa, Oklahoma
I'm very tempted by that, but I'm probably going to dump in an overdrive transmission later and thus put in a compatible shifter. Hell, I might even go through the work of converting my Olds to a manual.

Spent most of the day yanking the ECM and the A/C box. Total pain in the *ss, but damn is all that free space devoid of skeezy old wiring and big lumpy box beautiful. Unfortunately, I kind of lost my temper a little, so the A/C box is now a pile of A/C chunklets.
 

IronCastKnight

Apprentice
Sep 8, 2012
94
0
0
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Finally the weekend. I've got the carb, distributor, coil, and box in, and now I'm working on getting everything hooked up. I fabbed up an a/c delete plate and a mounting plate for the MSD box out of sheet steel, because I'm a little too cheap to fork out 80$ for a flat bit of metal with some holes in it. I did, however, order one of those hood seal thingys that replace the A/C box's upper lip the weatherstripping thingamajigger runs on from gbodyparts.com, and I am sufficiently pleased that I'm planning on throwing a lot more money at them in the future.

Today was glorious throwing my paycheck at auto parts day, and I'm now a set of Moog rear coil springs(because the *ss is sagging) and a shiny new Rayovac richer.

With luck I'll have her up and running by monday, with a tighter, firmer, less droopy *ss.

PICS TIEM
Oh man all that under-hood space so good
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Just gotta throw twenty seven years of grime on this plate and nobody'll be able to tell that it's there
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MSD: Monetary Spending Disorder
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bigdawg

Master Mechanic
Oct 9, 2011
364
0
0
first thing id do is lose those restrictive exhaust manifolds and get some headers in there to get ready for an olds 350 and put an aluminum intake but i think the vin y is the the one with roller cam right? i think the intake on that one is different than an olds 350. if thats the case can just use that one for now

and i love your introduction lol
 

IronCastKnight

Apprentice
Sep 8, 2012
94
0
0
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Headers and a true dual exhaust setup are actually next on the to-do list, and I'm pretty sure I have the roller-cam using 7A heads on account of how utterly gutless it is, so until I get the money for an engine and transmission swap I'm mainly focusing on weight reduction and upgrading everything else.
 

bigdawg

Master Mechanic
Oct 9, 2011
364
0
0
quick question, what car did that radiator shrowd come from? im about to put an electrical fan on my car for no other reason than i know a guy who worked for gm in the 80s and he said they did tons of test and motors always gained hp when switched to electric fan, sometimes by as much as 25 hp
 

IronCastKnight

Apprentice
Sep 8, 2012
94
0
0
Tulsa, Oklahoma
My electrics are just Summit Racing's dual electric fans( http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G4850/ ). Despite the relatively low CFM they still do an impressive job cooling my engine, as I've sat in traffic on a ninety degree day in high idle with the idiot ECM running the carb as rich as it can and barely hit 200. That's with my currently half-assed and somewhat mickey mouse mounting of the fans, too. Once I get around to crafting up a proper shroud, securing the bottom closer to the radiator with something other than zip ties, and sealing off the cracks with HVAC tape, they should do even better.
 

axisg

Comic Book Super Hero
Jul 17, 2007
2,685
2,354
113
YYZ
Looks like a solid platform. I am not a fan of the heater delete on a "driver" but to each their own.

If you are looking for a sportier rear end ration the monte SS came with the 3.42 in 83-84 and 3.73 in 85 and up. It will swap out in about an hour with hand tools in your driveway which is typically cheaper and much easier than swapping out the gears then fussing with re-meshing them. As a point of reference I sold mine ( non posi mind you ) for $75

have fun !
 
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