1980 Cutlass build

[truracer20]

Well it took longer to get the engine swap started than I figured because of work, a day or two after my last post we got extremely busy and were working 14 to 16 hours a day and when weekends came it either rained or I was too tired. But on Memorial day weekend my son and I got it done. For the most part everything went smooth, the only issues I had were that EVERY Summit brand part caused grief. The distributor is crap, the wiring clip broke the first time I unplugged it, the adjustable vacuum advance came apart inside, the literature they send with it is completely wrong as far as total advance and advance curve. The electric breaker for the fan went bad during cam break in. The plug wires were lower quality than Autozones worse at a higher price... I didn't take any in progress pics...

 

[truracer20]

It's still a work in progress but the hard part is done. The Champion radiator works great and the single 16" fan keeps it at 190* or less. The power steering hose on the car fit directly to the pump from the 89 GMC. The car sits fine with the factory front springs but the ride will be better with new springs with a higher rate Altogether I spent 38 hours and my son spent just a little less helping. We spent a few hours just degreasing the front frame in order to paint it then another couple hours painting it. Eventually the rest of the engine compartment will get some detail work done.

 

[truracer20]

So far I've put nearly 2000 miles on the new engine and all is well. I have the carb tuned in and I'm happy with it, I went to Summit and bought a Quick Fuel secondary metering plate that accepts Holley jets and it works great. Much better than drilling the stock plate, and it's a simple swap, put jets in the new plate, swap the plates, change the float if it's a side hung float, re-assemble, adjust float height and go cruise.

 

[truracer20]

If you could post some pics of the radiator/ fan install. I am at this point on my car now that I will be reinstalling the motor and finishing up the underhood of the car

I don't know if you are past that point yet or not but there are a couple pictures of the install. The fan and shroud are Summit brand and fit OK for a universal part. I did have to notch the shroud a little to get its mounting surface tight to the top plate. Wiring was straight forward as the relay kit came with directions. I used the wiring buss bar from one of the parts trucks and mounted it on the fender to run power to the starter and fan as well as the alternator charge wire. The relay is mounted to the fan shroud. The 16" fan does much better at cooling than I thought it would. The engine runs at 190* - 195* while cruising and 200* - 205* when I run it hard. If I shut the engine off and leave the fan run it will cycle off after about 8 minutes and when I re start the engine the temp will be under 160*. Granted this is an all new cooling system besides the heater core which was flushed so there is no crud and no blockages anywhere.
The radiator fit like a stock item except that the rubbers needed some trimming to fit the tanks. And for the price the Champion radiator was money well spent, quality is excellent I believe I paid $180 for it.

 

[truracer20]

Well I started getting a miss in the engine and when I looked at the distributor cap all the terminals were burnt as well as the rotor tip. No surprise the brand new, 2500 mile old, Summit blueprinted HEI is junk. Got a Jegs small cap billet SSR distributor for it along with a Jegs brand coil and it's back to running great. No install issues. As shipped it supplies 36* total timing at 10* initial, all in by 3500 and comes with advance limiters and advance springs. Excellent part only needed to change 1 spring to get the advance where I needed it. Nice thing was the Accel wires I bought to replace the failed summit wires also included 1 extra HEI boot and a full set of male terminals and boots, so I was able to make up a coil wire that matches the other wires.

I also installed a Jegs 2 1/2"header back dual exhaust. Sounds great. The only issue is the system is made to work with their crossmember. The drivers side fit perfect with my modified stock crossmember but the passenger side hits the crossmember next to the factory hump. It works and has good ground clearance but I may just get the Jegs crossmember anyway.Otherwise installation was easy, I only needed to cut 1 1/2" from the muffler end of the tail pipes. Tomorrow I'll see if the H pipe kit I bought will work with it or not, the Jegs mid pipes have bends where the H pipe needs to go. If it will fit then I'll install it, if not then I'll find one that will or modify this one. And at the same time I'm going to put the shift kit in the transmission.

I was hoping the next project would be either new wheels and tires or bucket seats and a floor shifter, but while the car was on jack stands I found that my rear end has a sh*t load of backlash in it... So a 9" may be in the near future.

I was looking at wheels pretty hard and came across the Hurst Dazzler wheels (15x8 and 15x7), I like the looks of them but I'm not sure I would like them on the Cutlass. What do you all think of them?

 

[Alerch]

Whats the specs on the radiator? It looks like a good fit under the factory top plate.

 

[truracer20]

Whats the specs on the radiator? It looks like a good fit under the factory top plate.

It's a stock replacement Champion brand 2 row aluminum radiator. Fits nearly perfect the only work needed to make it fit was to trim the rubber saddles.

I didn't get any work done on the car today due to shitty rainy weather...

 

[pencero]

I like everything you're doing and going with the proven oldschool 2 row champion radiator w the single fan setup rather than the cheap aluminum 3 row fad radiators from ebay is what I will probably end up doing also. I even like that you're going to replace springs and get your olds riding high again which is how we like them around here too. Way too many young kids have new engines and dont change springs and before long you can hear the power steering straining to push the bent control arms around up front in no time w/o change springs. Only thing I wouldn't like is if you put those hurst wheels on the car. Gold w/ burgundy? That would be so 90s - a little Too 90s. And since your car is more chevrolet than olds it would also be fictitious and misleading. I think the rally wheels actually look pretty good and you should just do them up. I bought chevrolet rally wheel for my burgundy 85 but have not installed them yet. Can't wait to get them on the car now that I've seen on yours. I'd recommend oldschool cragar s/s rim which would look similar to the h/o but chromed instead of gold. They match up really good to the factory chrome

 

[truracer20]

Some updated photos. I still haven't installed the shift kit in the TH350. I spent the time I planned for that changing the intake gaskets. I still need to detail the engine compartment and now remove highway crack sealer from the drivers door and rocker chrome...















I really want to find some clean factory bucket seats preferably in claret red. Some wear and fading would be fine and would match the rest of the interior.

 

[Alerch]

Whats the specs on the radiator? It looks like a good fit under the factory top plate.

It's a stock replacement Champion brand 2 row aluminum radiator. Fits nearly perfect the only work needed to make it fit was to trim the rubber saddles.

I didn't get any work done on the car today due to shitty rainy weather...

You wouldnt to have the part # on the radiator? It would make it easier for me to look it up haha... I hear ya on the shitty weather it seems to rain almost ever day here makes getting anything done tough.