1983 Cutlass Calais “The Cripples Cruiser”

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DRIVEN

Geezer
Apr 25, 2009
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When you say the brakes aren't up to your standard, is it low pedal or just requires high effort to stop?
 

Stupidquestionspro

Master Mechanic
May 23, 2019
369
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Tampa Bay Area
Requires more effort than I think it should to have the braking performance I want and even with great effort it doesn’t feel to proper braking performance


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Stupidquestionspro

Master Mechanic
May 23, 2019
369
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Tampa Bay Area
What my expectations are though the most recent memory is my 2004 expedition. It seems to stop on a dime compared to the cutlass which I find strange


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fleming442

Captain Tenneal
Dec 26, 2013
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Well, the rear drums set the pedal height, so make sure they're adjusted first. Are the front pads any good? How about the sliders? I went to Blazer brakes after I had a G caliper freeze up- that was no fun. Permatex brake grease is your friend.
 
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Stupidquestionspro

Master Mechanic
May 23, 2019
369
107
43
Tampa Bay Area
Drums I believe are adjusted up correct I just did the wheel cylinders and readjusted yesterday pedal travel seems fine. Shoes have quite a bit left pads are quite thick as well the calipers and rotors have less than 10k miles and are ssbc units that’s why none of it makes sense to me I’ve eliminated anything I think could be causing the issue in my opinion. The only things honestly not new is the master and booster. But they both seem to check out maybe my expectations are too high but I wouldn’t think so


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Stupidquestionspro

Master Mechanic
May 23, 2019
369
107
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Tampa Bay Area
Ok thanks hadn’t thought of that


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Stupidquestionspro

Master Mechanic
May 23, 2019
369
107
43
Tampa Bay Area
So in an attempt to repair my non working washer I managed to stop my wipers from working. A relay clicks but nothing happens now the catalyst event was removing what I believe was the delay circuit board and relay though my relay was extremely rusty and since putting it back together which I believe was the way it came apart but not positive now nothing happens or works.

Any ideas other than me buying a new washer pump set up with new delay board and set up?

Also even when it did work and I confirmed the pump was pumping and the orings are newer as are the back flow flaps all hoses are clear but it still wasn’t working even when the pump was pumping. Also it looks like there is a weephole on the bottom on the pump and it shows rusty residue and I assume liquid leaking from the pump onto the relay and that is why the relay is so rusty.

Any help is appreciated thanks.

I swear I break something for everything I fix it’s kinda costly now.

Also figured out my rear gear is a 2.41
Though it seems with the change in transmission it must have changed the final drive I’d guess or something because at 60 it runs 26-2700 rpms which seems rather high to me.

Any ideas?

I also need to do something about the fuel system after reading about blocked fuel vents I uncapped the second hose out of my charcoal canister to allow pressure to vent but even after sitting a while my fuel filter and lines are quite hot and the car gives me trouble on hot starts fuel related. I’m assuming either vapor lock or the heat is causing the fuel to seep past the needles and out the throttle shafts so I’m going to lower the floats below half and see if it improves although I’m concerned about having the float too low. Dang Florida heat.

How can I tell for sure if it is vapor lock? And how can I keep the line and filter cooler?






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Stupidquestionspro

Master Mechanic
May 23, 2019
369
107
43
Tampa Bay Area
Today so far I took the gauge cluster out and apart took the speedo apart and found my trip fell victim to the very common lost gear teeth so being a pro at rigging things and moving forward on a prayer I grabbed a tiny bit of my leftover quiksteel mixed it up and made a small rope the size of the missing teeth and put it in place nowhere near as clean as I hoped but awesome results with clumsy sausage fingers that go numb when they want to. Then I used the gear with the soft quiksteel to reset the trip imprinting the gear teeth with the correct pattern. Made sure the gear on the trip didn’t have any residue and gave it a few minutes to set up then I had to tackle my second problem. Seems the previous genius that had the car figured if he just pressed as hard as he could he could magically make it work. Which of course broke the plastic mounting points so a few minutes of cussing for it to sit right and some magical stinky rtv black “liquid duct tape” as I call it and it is now back together and setting up.

While it was all apart I also verified my title mileage is exempt and reset the odometer so I could keep track of oil changes and considering most of the parts and the drive train is new or rebuilt no need to worry about the 94k that it said before.

More tinkering to come once everything sets up and I put the cluster back together then I have to verify the polarity on my led bulbs since I didn’t know how to use my voltmeter to do it without an outside power source and I cleaned my garage and threw out all my extra wiring [emoji2357]

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Now just gotta figure out how to get my door panels off so I can modify them.


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