1983 Cutlass

[Shakes the Rat]

Along with O.D., welcome aboard and it definitely looks like a nice daily for sure!! Beauty of the Southwest cars, little to no rust versus here in KY or further north for that matter where it's hard to find something 15+ years old without significant rust unless garage kept.

Even here in south Texas we have rust issues (though not as bad as up north). We have a lot of humidity out here. That's why I was looking towards Austin, San Antonio, and Waco. Still, it does have some rust. 7 or 8 small holes under the vinyl.

With a name like "Shakes the Rat" I thought this might end up having a big block swapped in.

No big block in this car. I want a clean, comfortable, daily driver. An engine with enough power to have fun but in a smaller package so fuel mileage isn't an issue.

 

[Shakes the Rat]

Sweet rides man. G and a Ford. Any deets on the pickup? I had a'70 Thunderbird sedan with the 7.0 Thunderjet big block. Big valve small chamber D0VE-C heads, 600 holley, MSD 6A box, thing hauled *ss.

The Ford is the truck I've always wanted ever since I watched "The Driver" as a kid. The Driver ends up in a red mid 70's stepside Chevy. I've wanted one ever since, except as a Ford since a friend in high school had a black '79 F150. I have a list of each year/model all the parts came off of but the major parts are,

Body- 1976 cab and bed. 1978/79 front clip
Engine- 1999 Explorer 5.0 converted to a carburetor
Transmission- 5 speed from a 1998 Mustang 3.8
Rear end- Rebuilt 9 inch, 4.11 gears, Trac-lok, 31 spline axles
Wheels/Tires- 18x9 Bullitt, 275/40 18
Front end- 2008 Crown Vic subframe
Rear suspension- 2001 F150 springs as a spring under
Frame- Front third and rear third boxed, step notch in rear
Seats- 2003 Camry

It's a lot of fun. I've owned 20 vehicles and this truck is the best one by far. I was told the T5 wouldn't hold up in a full size truck but I've thrashed it for the past two years (burn outs, power shifts, etc) and it is still shifting great. I get 15 mpg, its loud, it handles great, and there is no other truck like it in town.

 

[Opie Knievel]

I'm not a Ford guy by no means but I like your F100. That's a pretty cool list of mods. What are you planning for the truck? I can't wait to see what kind of cool stuff you do to the Regal when you get all the parts rounded up. Good luck and keep us posted on both rides. You can start a separate build thread just for the truck on the Non G Projects forum.

 

[Shakes the Rat]

I wanted to clean the interior before I started driving the Olds to work. I end up doing this to just about every used vehicle I get. The seats come out and will be steam cleaned. I take the carpet to the car wash and blast it clean with a pressure washer. It won't turn a 33 year old carpet new again, but it gets the coffee stains, old car smell, and dirt out.



After pulling the carpet, big suprise.



That was sarcasm. I'm not surprised. I've never seen a completely rust free floor under the carpet of anything old. None of it went thru so I'm going to wire brush it and spray it with rust converter for now. When I find bucket seats that I like, I'll replace the carpet and fix it proper.

 

[Shakes the Rat]

Here is the before.



and after.



Like I said, its not new but it is acceptable. The seat fabric was almost black before it was cleaned. I borrowed my neighbor's steam cleaner for the seats and it worked so well, it is now on my list of future purchases.

 

[Shakes the Rat]

I drove the Olds to work twice this week. 200+ miles and only one issue. I removed the fuel tank last week. I cleaned it with acetone and replaced the sending unit. I then used compressed air to push the varnish out of the fuel lines followed by flushing it out with acetone. But without being able to scrub the lines out (I cant find 10 foot pipe cleaners) there was still some gunk in the lines. So I installed a fuel filter before the pump and figured I'd change it and the carb filter out when they get clogged. I've only had to change the carburetor filter out twice.

So with my work schedule (I'm working 75+ hours this week) I don't have too much time to do anything this week. But today I had half the day off so I finally did a tune up on the Olds. I replaced the cap, rotor, plugs, and wires. According to the owners manual (the maintenance records were written down in it) it had one done 13000 miles ago. The old plugs looked OK but they were gaped at .060. There is no sticker under the hood that states the correct plug gap but the internet says .080 is correct and the internet never lies so that's what I used. It now it runs much better. It starts almost instantly and idles much smoother.

I also changed the fuel pump. I figured that it's most likely the original pump, so it's cheap insurance.

 

[ck80]

There is one issue on these 3.8 engines that isn't an issue until it is...

(And I bring it up because you are using the car as daily driver, and such a long distance...)

That is the timing setup. These cars used a nylon tip gear with a metal chain. Age and time the nylon wears and gets brittle. Sometimes the teeth wear down, just as often they break off one or two at a time until not many hold the chain. It will run fine with no signs or issues until it simply skips and jumps time. Will run and drive fine to where you park it, then on restart it'll be shooting gas up in the air out of the carb. Wont hold a timing reset either.

The fix is to buy a metal timing gear and chain set, same as the grand national motors works good. Not a gear drive, just metal gears and chain. $100 gets a good high quality unit, and if desired, change the oil pump and check the front cover for wear while you've got everything apart.

I put that under the preventative maintenance section of these cars, and I've kept those little 3.8s going 170k, 270k easily on a regular basis. They're great highly dependable engines if taken care of, albeit low horsepower.

 

[Shakes the Rat]

There is one issue on these 3.8 engines that isn't an issue until it is...

(And I bring it up because you are using the car as daily driver, and such a long distance...)

That is the timing setup. These cars used a nylon tip gear with a metal chain. Age and time the nylon wears and gets brittle. Sometimes the teeth wear down, just as often they break off one or two at a time until not many hold the chain. It will run fine with no signs or issues until it simply skips and jumps time. Will run and drive fine to where you park it, then on restart it'll be shooting gas up in the air out of the carb. Wont hold a timing reset either.

The fix is to buy a metal timing gear and chain set, same as the grand national motors works good. Not a gear drive, just metal gears and chain. $100 gets a good high quality unit, and if desired, change the oil pump and check the front cover for wear while you've got everything apart.

I put that under the preventative maintenance section of these cars, and I've kept those little 3.8s going 170k, 270k easily on a regular basis. They're great highly dependable engines if taken care of, albeit low horsepower.

Thanks for the tip on the timing set. I'll start collecting parts to swap it out and try to get that done in the next couple of weeks. And you aren't kidding on the low horsepower. This is the slowest car I've ever owned. Even slower than my SOHC Saturn.

 

[Texas82GP]

It probably has a really high (numerically low) rear gear ratio in it. It might be worthwhile to swap in a lower gear to help it out. Does it have overdrive?

 

[Shakes the Rat]

So now I'm having issues. I left the house this morning and decided to fill up at 1/4 tank. The car stalled in the gas station. I changed the filter (not that dirty) and put $10 in the tank and drove to my parents house. I left there and it died outside the neighborhood. Got it started, drove 2 miles towards work and it started to stall at every stop. I could only keep it running by shifting into neutral and reving the engine.

So it's definitely fuel related. The filter before the pump is getting fuel. It's not clogged. Since fuel is going thru it I'm pretty sure the pickup in the tank isn't clogged either. The carburetor filter had a little gunk in it but not enough to keep it from running.

I think the idle jets are clogged since it will run under throttle but not at idle. I did the "rag" trick (used a rag to block off airflow while revving the engine) but it did nothing. I'm also wondering if the new fuel pump is putting out enough pressure. I unhooked the fuel line at the carb and nothing leaked out. The old pump held some pressure when I released the line.

So when I get some time I'll pull the carb and clean it again. I'm also going to hook up a pressure tester and see what the pump is putting out. Until then, probably Thursday, I'll have to drive my truck.