1983 Cutlass Calais “The Cripples Cruiser”

[Stupidquestionspro]

Spaced the compressor out it actually ended up on the second belt so lucky me only had to space it but the fuel pump gets in the way somewhat so it didn’t align as perfect as I want and has a bit more belt slap and noise than I want but I think it’s passable for daily driving for now I’m gonna post some videos let me know if you see something waiting to blow up or anything.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Stupidquestionspro]

Looks like I may try to run a third belt directly from crank pulley to power steering the power steering occasionally gets weaker I assume because of only having one belt on the pulley so I don’t want a chance of eating my pump or steering box.

I also seem to have a slight drivers valve cover leak on the center lower bolt unfortunately.

Hoping I don’t mess up my compressor bearing with the current setup the compressor seems to be kinda loud but I’m not sure


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Stupidquestionspro]

Awesome new development on the car had to pull over on the way to work today and unplug the wiper motor because they decided to run constantly on their own during the one time it wasn’t raining in Florida. Now I have to work on troubleshooting to figure out exactly what to fix and pray the parts won’t break the bank. Kinda need wipers for summer in Florida not exactly cool with the shoelace or rainx drive fast solutions.

Also I’m fairly certain I’m going to have the pleasure of having to replace the switch inside my column considering this is a tilt column, delay, with cruise and I can’t remember if it was originally column shift or not plus I’m having steering looseness issues what else should I do while I’m in there or what other parts should I replace to save myself the frustration and double work later?

Thanks for the help.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[pagrunt]

The cruise won't make a difference on the switch. Outside of being for a tilt or non-tilt the other feature will be delay or non-delay when getting another switch.

 

[Stupidquestionspro]

So another question I’ve been wondering obviously I can’t use the stock plug gap how do I decide my proper plug gap?

I have ac delco plugs that are the 68 factory heat range and the MSD distributor with blaster 3 coil.

I just want to make sure I have the right gap.

Also would plug gap effect my engine wanting to be tuned rich at idle?

If I give the idle screws as much fuel as it wants for the higher base timing and vacuum then the motor idle actually picks up with a vacuum leak which from what I understand means it’s too rich just curious what’s going on with that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Stupidquestionspro]

Well as with all wiring demons plugged the wipers back in to troubleshoot after examining the wiring and finding no issues for it to function perfectly no matter what I did so I can only assume the switch is slowly going out so at this time I think Im going to let that that ride unless it comes back again considering the switch is super expensive and pretty much has to be ordered. Also don’t feel like pulling the steering wheel until I can afford the new prices to tighten up my colum


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Stupidquestionspro]

Well finally scraped the axle tube the code is 2aj 201 so looks like I have a 2.41 ratio open 7.5 diff.

Changed the old wheel cylinders definitely hate those clips. And used a hand vacuum pump to do a brake flush with clean fluid.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Stupidquestionspro]

Alright it starts and I adjusted the fast idle to about 1500 rpm. Gave it about 1/4 turn more fuel on the mixture to try and smooth the idle seems to have worked for some reason the car likes to be rich.

It stops though honestly still not to my standards but I can’t figure out why my master doesn’t seem to be leaking my booster seems to have passed most tests no fluid leaks just did a flush and bled the brakes has new wheel cylinders good pads and shoes and a ssbc brake kit up front and new rubber lines and I still feel like I’m missing something for some reason I keep obsessing over the booster even though there is no real sign it’s bad.

Was having some rough weekend so I improved my ac belt alignment by doing some anger management on my bracketry. Still have work to do on that but it will need to wait.

Couldn’t figure out why I was so exhausted and dragging all day and just not myself thought for sure I was getting old until I came inside and my wife asked me if I had plenty of water because the high today was 93 with almost 70% humidity. Guess that explains my redneck.

Shop assistant heard the car start and had some words of encouragement “daddies motor...vroom vroom..loud race car.”




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[olds307 and 403]

Use a .045" plug gap. There are 3 E Tork screws inside the the column that loosen up, very common on our cars. Two are accessible, the third I could not reach to tighten but it has stayed tight the last 10 years.

 

[Stupidquestionspro]

Awesome and I assume to reach those torx I have to remove the steering wheel? Anyone have the part numbers for the bearings and parts to replace in the column? Tightening the pinch bolt definitely helped but there is still work to be done same with the brakes.

Are these drums auto adjusting with the e brake?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk