1980 cutlass street cruiser

[Deadeyejedi80]

g-force crossmember installed (had to use the frame extension for my 80 which required drilling a couple holes ,but no issues worked perfectly),trans hooked up, radiator almost hooked up, ordered the thornton stainless shortie headers, and pipes down pipes .more to do today before its back to work on monday!

 

[Deadeyejedi80]

installed the original shroud and a 19.5 inch clutch fan today it all fit pretty well .i didnt like the way the shroud was touching the radiator fins ,so i trimmed about an 1/8 inch off the inside edge of the shroud and shimmed the bottom another 1/8 inch out. fit real nice after that and barely snook the fan in ,but it went.I doubt my original radiator would have cooled the 455 so im using a four row aluminum from summit part number 384003.its very close to the dimensions of the original.top plate seems to snug down nicely but had to use my own rubber under it as the originals dont fit.waiting to find a 3/4npt X5/8 fitting for the rear heater core hose.

 

[Deadeyejedi80]

pic of top plate and shroud

 

[Deadeyejedi80]

got my driveshaft built ,and got the exhaust done ,almost ready to test fire this beast

 

[Clutch]

It's coming along nicely

 

[WanaBa442]

How did those Pypes downpipes fit?
Did you use their DOF10S set?

 

[Deadeyejedi80]

How did those Pypes downpipes fit?
Did you use their DOF10S set?

i did use the dof10s and so far so good ,on my 76 cutlass the flared end didnt quite right and leaked in that area so i had to modify it a bit .i dont like how the flange on those down pipes is so large it tends to slip to one side of the flared end (if that makes sense) unfortunately in my area nobody knows how to custom make pipes anymore. the last ones i took to get bent ,the moron crushed the pipe.we did fire it tonight just briefly its loud!!!

 

[WanaBa442]

Makes sense. Thornton shorties mimic stock 2.25", Pypes are 2.5" so I can see why they'd "slip to one side".
Wondered if that was an issue or not.

 

[Deadeyejedi80]

got the cutlass out on the road last night she's runs good ! had a smile painted on the whole trip.still little things to do but felt great to cruise after 2 years of working on it

 

[GuysMonteSS]

I installed the jeep steering shaft that i got from crown auto part #4713943 .it wasn't no ten minute job that i have heard guys describing .the shaft comes 5 inches longer than a standard gbody shaft right out of the box .there was no compressing it by hand so i did have to use a torch on it to soften it up and then it did slide in and out(still nice and firm with no play)tapped the steering box side on and bolted it ,then tapped the other end on and marked the column shaft to be ground out for the pinch bolt.all in all not too bad took just under an hour.of course you all know ,gotta find the torch and the tools and a couple trips back and forth to the house !!.cant wait to drop the motor in ! View attachment 116998

Regarding the Jeep shaft,you might want to read my thread on the issue I had with one in my Monte.

Jeep Shaft Heads Up !!!

If any of you guys have a Jeep shaft like mine you may want to take it off and check it over really good. Mine came apart yesterday as I was out for a drive,fortunately I was going slow.It was scary turning the steering wheel and the car didn't turn. I had got mine from someone on one of the...

gbodyforum.com

Guy