Your front seat is from an 86. The rear seat is 87/88 pattern. That's the difference. SMS still had some new dark blue 87 pattern material, not sure about the Claret. In case you wanted to go new.
1987 Cutlass Build
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Okay time for an update, on the engine side of my cutlass i have been stalled for quite a while because i had to rob some parts off of it to go on my truck. With things being the way they were and kinda crappy last year i really didnt want to blow the $500 on a turbo and almost $400 for exhaust manifolds so ive been avoiding that like the plague. My truck actually has a broken block where the starter bolts on so ive been on the lookout for a 6.5 block within a pretty tight budget and i finally scored one at the local pull a part and best of all i pulled the engine AND trans and was lucky enough that it was a 2 wheel drive truck and now not only do i have a core engine for my truck but i also have the manifolds and turbo as well as a 4L65E trans and converter that is correct for the diesel to go in my cutlass. All for $445 out the door. Cant beat that at all. Of course it was sleeting on Sunday when i went to pull it out and cold but what can anyone expect. 😆
I am surprised GM put the 4L65E behind the 6.5L Turbo. In a RWD car with a stock tune not towing, it might actually survive.
At first i thought it was a 4L65E but now that its in my garage and i got a lot better look at it, seems to be a 4l80E so all the better. Just hoping i dont have fitment issues with it. 4L60E trans variants have the plug for the harness on the passengers side, 4L80E's have them on the driver side, so yep got the big boy.
Oh, yeah look at the pan, definitely a 4L80E. Basically boost the line pressure and then you can boost the hell out of the 6.5.
Thats the plan for sure, ill have to get a stand alone trans controller for it but shouldn't be too big of a deal. Once i get this engine torn down ill start swapping parts for fitment checks over onto the cutlass. The 6.5 will only take around 15lbs of boost so im thinking 20lbs will do just fine, you know keep it safe. 🤣
Okay so some progress for the weekend. Got in a little treat from UMI, a firewall panel, and what a nice piece. I was tired of cleaning the interior and the garage cat getting in there through the firewall so went ahead and got one. Love the powder coating on it although ill really have to paint my firewall to make it look as nice now
So onto the next project with it. After being in the garage for so long that doubles as a wood shop this thing was dirty so I decided I needed a win on this car for a moral boost so I backed it outside and gave it a wash. The paint is crappy but hey anything looks better cleaned up.
After it was cleaned i dug out the powder coated inner fender sections and set them in place along with the core support for the first time in im guessing 8 years
Once I had those in place I wanted to test fit the fender skins on as well. At the time I had all the powder coating done I had all the bolts powder coated as well but now of course I can't find those so I just set them in place for now.
All in all a huge win for the weekend. As soon as I locate the bolts for the inner to outer fenders ill be putting those together but its just time this thing looked like a car again. This will all come back off to yank the engine and Trans again to fit the 4L80 but more to come on that.
So onto the next project with it. After being in the garage for so long that doubles as a wood shop this thing was dirty so I decided I needed a win on this car for a moral boost so I backed it outside and gave it a wash. The paint is crappy but hey anything looks better cleaned up.
After it was cleaned i dug out the powder coated inner fender sections and set them in place along with the core support for the first time in im guessing 8 years
Once I had those in place I wanted to test fit the fender skins on as well. At the time I had all the powder coating done I had all the bolts powder coated as well but now of course I can't find those so I just set them in place for now.
All in all a huge win for the weekend. As soon as I locate the bolts for the inner to outer fenders ill be putting those together but its just time this thing looked like a car again. This will all come back off to yank the engine and Trans again to fit the 4L80 but more to come on that.
I love the unique look of this engine, it will keep them guessing. What are your plans for the valve covers? They look bare metal right now.
Thanks very much, that what i hope to do is leave people wondering what is going on with this thing. 69hurstolds even made an ID tag for me that will go on the fan shroud that has 6.5 diesel listed as the original engine. The valve covers im actually trying to find someone to paint them for me, they are bare at the moment, the block i brushed on and it came out good however with the flat surfaces of the valve covers doing it that way will look like crap. I dont have a compressor or paint equipment so been scratching my head there, the "period correct" spray can paint that i used on the pan doesnt match the block unfortunately. It probably is completely correct but i really liked the color of the POR15 engine paint that i used on the block.
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