1987 Oldsmobile 442 Electric

[G Cutty]

I’m currently in the process of converting my 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 to electric. It still has the original 307 that came with the car, and I’m keeping it in the car until the new motor and batteries arrives. Just so that the car is still enjoyable and not just sitting off to the side.

The first thing I swapped out in preparation for the ev swap was the original Saginaw style steering pump for an electric pump out of a Volvo it was the cheapest and easiest to get in a junkyard.

Some hot rodders who want to save hp and not run a belt driven steering pump also might find interest in this swap.

The swap was pretty straight forward, I only had to fabricate some brackets and make some an6 lines. I read somewhere the Volvo pump generates about 900psi so you need a pressure line that can withstand that, I used some ptfe line and it worked fine.

I filmed the whole swap and posted it on my YouTube page, I’m planning on making a series of episodes that document the swap.

This being the the first episode, I’d definitely appreciate some pointers or advice for future content.

 

[Injectedcutty]

Electric power steering, dangerous! That sh*t damn near got my wife in a bad wreck a couple years ago when her car decided to lose the electric assist and went full manual. Luckily it was recalled and we got it fixed for free.
In regards to full EV swap, just because you can doesn't mean you should. Alot if not all of us are trying to keep a hobby alive with aftermarket support, and the harm that EV production causes far outweighs the benefits in regards to environmental and ecosystem sustainability. Do you're research, look at the energy exhausted to mine the materials for the batteries, its mind blowing. The stupid box on the wall, or in our hands tells us that EV is so green, great, etc. Dumb politicians say it too because they're lining their pockets with the profits off of investments with the mining and battery companies. Always follow the money.
Hotrods and classics lose the designation once EV is introduced, just another jelly bean on the road with a masked guy whose had 4 jabs driving it.

 

[G Cutty]

Electric power steering, dangerous! That sh*t damn near got my wife in a bad wreck a couple years ago when her car decided to lose the electric assist and went full manual. Luckily it was recalled and we got it fixed for free.
In regards to full EV swap, just because you can doesn't mean you should. Alot if not all of us are trying to keep a hobby alive with aftermarket support, and the harm that EV production causes far outweighs the benefits in regards to environmental and ecosystem sustainability. Do you're research, look at the energy exhausted to mine the materials for the batteries, its mind blowing. The stupid box on the wall, or in our hands tells us that EV is so green, great, etc. Dumb politicians say it too because they're lining their pockets with the profits off of investments with the mining and battery companies. Always follow the money.
Hotrods and classics lose the designation once EV is introduced, just another jelly bean on the road with a masked guy whose had 4 jabs driving it.

For the electric power steering I’ll only be flipping it on when I’m in a parking lot or making a u turn, a majority of the time it’ll be off so hopefully it won’t burnout too soon.
For the EV swap I’m not doing it because of performance or the environment, I have a 1969 Oldsmobile that gets 12 mpg. I’m doing it to challenge my fabrication skills and do something different. But I’m definitely going to miss the v8 growl and shake.

 

[olds307 and 403]

Electric power steering works fine. No issues on our 2017 Dodge Challenger GT other than overheating it after burning multiple donuts. I like the dare to be different. Hopefully you don't have to cut it up much to install it, being a 442.

 

[Injectedcutty]

 

[ssn696]

Looking forward to watching this swap unfold. It's not getting an LS...

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

Be sure to have a master kill switch in the passenger compartment.

 

[G Cutty]

Looking forward to watching this swap unfold. It's not getting an LS...

YES! Definitely not another chevy motor in an Oldsmobile, no ones done that before 😉

 

[G Cutty]

View attachment 214343

Hahaha 🤣

 

[gbodytoys]

I am in 100% support of converting Gbodys to E/Vs, as I've never seen it. The cheaper Teslas get, maybe it will be pretty affordable to get a drivetrain and I might do the same thing to a project.

Please keep this thread updated.