79 Cutlass build project

[beallen21]

First Off I'm new to this board so whats up, i'm a 25yo guy from middle TN and have had a thing for cutlass's for bout 10 years now, a few years back finally got my uncle to come off a 79 he has said sitting in his barn for like 10 years (the tags said 93 on them) it's in good solid shape and I love in, it's primer brown and all the body trim is gone

now that the introduction is out of the way

I am looking to do something a little different with this car, i have a 454 motor and trans I was gonna put in it and make a straight line car out of it, but after going to an autocross event with a bunch of old hot rod cars taking laps, I've decided that I want to make it a strong agile car instead, so instead of the big block I and going to put together a good strong 350 that I can use forced induction of some type later on down the road a few years,

motor stuff is not the question I have stumbled upon, since a GM motor is pretty much a GM motor and I think that the 78 and 79's came with Chevy 305's and 350's in them anyway (305 is in it now), BUT i am curious about suspension upgrades, I have found little if any aftermarket stuff for a 79 cutlass soooo are there any other more popular GM's that have compatible front end suspensions or am I gonna have to custom fab another vehicle front suspension onto it?

yeh i know it's be alot easier to go buy and more popular car to do this but i like making something out of nothing almost, something you dont see alot of, thanks in advance for any good advice, or bad for that matter...

 

[martin.ca]

Lots of G-body suspension stuff available, actually...


http://www.buickgn.com/suspensiongbody.htm

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&ie=IS ... arch&meta=

 

[gs dewd]

First nice to see another early g-body. Now your car did not come with a chevy motor from the factory. No early g-body cutlass did. All had olds motors. Any suspension part for a g-body regardless of year will fit our cars. hope this helps.

 

[dan2286]

First nice to see another early g-body. Now your car did not come with a chevy motor from the factory. No early g-body cutlass did. All had olds motors. Any suspension part for a g-body regardless of year will fit our cars. hope this helps.

There was G body Cutlass's that came with Chevy engines. I forget what year(s) they did it, but I think it was the earlier cars. Also, if they were from Canada they came with a Chevy engine.

 

[beallen21]

yea so I have gotten my eyes opened to all the g body suspension stuff out there, DEFINITELY made me a little more eager to tear into this thing!!! you can redo the entire front end with tubular upper and lower a arm, new sway bars, steering linkages the whole shabang for like $2K, all bolt on, takes a huge weight off, hell ever drop spindles and traction systems and stuff are easy to find, good stuff

like I said I like the cutlass and what not but I really don't know much about the g body cars at all, i have to go by what I've been told which most the time is wrong of course haha

anyone on here ever done a write up on how to narrow the rear frame to do a small tub? there's not alot of fender wheel room for a wider tire, at least from the naked eye?

 

[smoknum]

suspension

this is the best suspension setup i have ever used on a g body!!! after installing this kit you can run laps at daytona. The centerdrive truckarm kit www.hotrodstohell.net

 

[shotgun]

There is tons of stuff out there.

Two good sources at TRZ motorsports and SC&C for handling.

Don't discount "stock" stuff. GM did alot of different things across the Gbody model line during it's 10 year production.

If you were to grab the "best" of each car and add it to your platform, you would have a very stout piece.

That's kinda what has/is being done on my Wagon.

Add in a few well selected aftermarket components and you will be surprised what a "stock" car can do.

Oh, I have a fondness for early 78/80 Cutlass'. 😀

 

[gs dewd]

First nice to see another early g-body. Now your car did not come with a chevy motor from the factory. No early g-body cutlass did. All had olds motors. Any suspension part for a g-body regardless of year will fit our cars. hope this helps.

There was G body Cutlass's that came with Chevy engines. I forget what year(s) they did it, but I think it was the earlier cars. Also, if they were from Canada they came with a Chevy engine.

Must have been a later year because the early ones like his and my 80' weren't offered with a chevy motor, all olds motors. Now i'm not sure who made the v-6 but the 4.3,5.0,and 5.7's where all olds engines.

 

[dan2286]

First nice to see another early g-body. Now your car did not come with a chevy motor from the factory. No early g-body cutlass did. All had olds motors. Any suspension part for a g-body regardless of year will fit our cars. hope this helps.

There was G body Cutlass's that came with Chevy engines. I forget what year(s) they did it, but I think it was the earlier cars. Also, if they were from Canada they came with a Chevy engine.

Must have been a later year because the early ones like his and my 80' weren't offered with a chevy motor, all olds motors. Now i'm not sure who made the v-6 but the 4.3,5.0,and 5.7's where all olds engines.

I might be wrong about the American ones. They for sure did put Chevy 305s in Canadian ones.

 

[dan2286]

I just looked on Wikipedia and it says that the 78 Cutlass was offered with a 305.