'83 Cutlass Cruiser Build Thread
- Thread starter Blake442
- Start date
Will do... I'll be sure to take plenty of pics to share.
All I can say is this car better be dry as ****ing bone!
The Tempest was a sweet car, but needs 1/4's, wheel houses, and rust around the rear glass repaired... Fixable, but a lot of work.
It was cool though cause it's a 2-dr post... oh well.
The Buick is in primer, and looked pretty straight from the couple pics I saw... hopefully the 50 hours of driving will make up for the probably 200+ hours of body work that the Tempest needs...
All I can say is this car better be dry as ****ing bone!
The Tempest was a sweet car, but needs 1/4's, wheel houses, and rust around the rear glass repaired... Fixable, but a lot of work.
It was cool though cause it's a 2-dr post... oh well.
The Buick is in primer, and looked pretty straight from the couple pics I saw... hopefully the 50 hours of driving will make up for the probably 200+ hours of body work that the Tempest needs...
Well, we made it there and back successfully, even though I had some serious doubts about the piece of crap '95 4Runner we were driving.
We left Minneapolis at 7am Friday, stopping only for food and gas the entire trip.
We arrived in Sahaurita, AZ (south of Tucson) at about 11 am Saturday.
Picked up the car dolly at U-Haul, picked up the car, bullshitted with the guy for a bit, and were back on the road at 4pm.
Did I mention how horrifically underpowered the 4Runner is? Honest to god, my Buick V6 feels like it has more balls than this piece of sh*t. When we pulled off the 2 mile long wash-board of a dirt road the guy lived on, I could barely hit 40 mph. I turned off the a/c, and we were able to creep up to highway speed, so yeah, we got to drive through AZ and NM with no ****ing air. I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty awesome.
We took a different way and swung south through El Paso so we could avoid the mountains, since the 4runner stuggled though them without the car behind it, and I don't think we would've made it had we gone back the way we came. Driving with the overdrive turned off so we could stay in the minimal powerband the motor had to offer, we spun the motor at 4-4.5K rpms the whole way back, and with the weight of the Buick behind it, we yielded an impressve 10-11 mpg average.
Sunday as we made our way though Texas, we decided to fire the a/c up, since with the lower altitude, the car wasn't struggling with it on. We just had to make sure we turned it off when we were getting back onto the freeway after a stop.
In Oklahoma City, I noticed a very small radiator leak on the top of the tank, but we just bought a gallon of coolant to throw in the back just incase and I kept an eye on it at each stop.
Just north of Des Moines, IA we got pulled over because our taillights on the car dolly had gone out. The signals and brake lights were working fine, and the Trooper was super cool about it. I used a needle nose pliers to scrape the corrosion out of the plug, and they came back on.
We rolled back into town here at about 3:45 am today, and then unloaded the car and I grabbed all the gear I had brought along, and I got back home at just after 5am and took the greatest feeling shower of all time.
I'm excited to snag the motor out of it, even if I won't be able to use it for along time.
I'll post up the 3 pictures I took later.
We left Minneapolis at 7am Friday, stopping only for food and gas the entire trip.
We arrived in Sahaurita, AZ (south of Tucson) at about 11 am Saturday.
Picked up the car dolly at U-Haul, picked up the car, bullshitted with the guy for a bit, and were back on the road at 4pm.
Did I mention how horrifically underpowered the 4Runner is? Honest to god, my Buick V6 feels like it has more balls than this piece of sh*t. When we pulled off the 2 mile long wash-board of a dirt road the guy lived on, I could barely hit 40 mph. I turned off the a/c, and we were able to creep up to highway speed, so yeah, we got to drive through AZ and NM with no ****ing air. I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty awesome.
We took a different way and swung south through El Paso so we could avoid the mountains, since the 4runner stuggled though them without the car behind it, and I don't think we would've made it had we gone back the way we came. Driving with the overdrive turned off so we could stay in the minimal powerband the motor had to offer, we spun the motor at 4-4.5K rpms the whole way back, and with the weight of the Buick behind it, we yielded an impressve 10-11 mpg average.
Sunday as we made our way though Texas, we decided to fire the a/c up, since with the lower altitude, the car wasn't struggling with it on. We just had to make sure we turned it off when we were getting back onto the freeway after a stop.
In Oklahoma City, I noticed a very small radiator leak on the top of the tank, but we just bought a gallon of coolant to throw in the back just incase and I kept an eye on it at each stop.
Just north of Des Moines, IA we got pulled over because our taillights on the car dolly had gone out. The signals and brake lights were working fine, and the Trooper was super cool about it. I used a needle nose pliers to scrape the corrosion out of the plug, and they came back on.
We rolled back into town here at about 3:45 am today, and then unloaded the car and I grabbed all the gear I had brought along, and I got back home at just after 5am and took the greatest feeling shower of all time.
I'm excited to snag the motor out of it, even if I won't be able to use it for along time.
I'll post up the 3 pictures I took later.
I'm glad the 4Runner held up too! I was pretty nervous when we first got on the road, but it was probably the brake shoes dragging on the drums since it'd been sitting for over 8 years...
Here's the pictures I promised...
I saw this when we stopped for breakfast at about 7am Saturday in Las Cruces, New Mexico and couldn't help but take a picture... :lol:
And here's the Buick... Body is super clean... Interior is smoked, but that's a desert car for ya... Dig the grille the guy made out of expanded metal. The desert heat makes the plastic brittle, and he said a bird flew into it and just destroyed it... :lol: so he made that.
You can see our fancy tow rig here... :lol:
Here's the pictures I promised...
I saw this when we stopped for breakfast at about 7am Saturday in Las Cruces, New Mexico and couldn't help but take a picture... :lol:
And here's the Buick... Body is super clean... Interior is smoked, but that's a desert car for ya... Dig the grille the guy made out of expanded metal. The desert heat makes the plastic brittle, and he said a bird flew into it and just destroyed it... :lol: so he made that.
You can see our fancy tow rig here... :lol:
My buddy told me he had his eye on one on ebay... if he doesn't get it, I'll tell him to buy yours.
Looks like a pretty decent body. It would make a cool GS clone.
My Dad had a '71 Skylark 350 2-dr HT. I loved that car. I wanted to do a resto on it but it needed almost every body panel, plus passenger side floor.
I still have the owners manual with protecto plate and sales brochure. and also have the Skylark 1/4 panel scripts hanging up in my garage.
It ran good and had around 50,000 original miles. Too bad it got scrapped.
I always liked the Skylarks and GS's. They're not as common as Chevelles.
Finding good sheetmetal for those cars has become almost impossible.
I believe 1st generation Monte deck lids interchange with that body style.
It would be nice to find a Buick 455 for it.
Your friend has a nice project there.
My Dad had a '71 Skylark 350 2-dr HT. I loved that car. I wanted to do a resto on it but it needed almost every body panel, plus passenger side floor.
I still have the owners manual with protecto plate and sales brochure. and also have the Skylark 1/4 panel scripts hanging up in my garage.
It ran good and had around 50,000 original miles. Too bad it got scrapped.
I always liked the Skylarks and GS's. They're not as common as Chevelles.
Finding good sheetmetal for those cars has become almost impossible.
I believe 1st generation Monte deck lids interchange with that body style.
It would be nice to find a Buick 455 for it.
Your friend has a nice project there.
Yeah, it's a great start... I've learned to appreciate the value of clean sheet metal.
The Pontiac 455 is going in for the time being, since it runs.
Then, He's going to start saving for a Buick 455 to do it right.
He's giving me the 350 and paying me a small fee to do the work, and I'll be showing him the ropes in the process...
The Pontiac 455 is going in for the time being, since it runs.
Then, He's going to start saving for a Buick 455 to do it right.
He's giving me the 350 and paying me a small fee to do the work, and I'll be showing him the ropes in the process...
Blake442 said:
Mine has one minor flaw in that one of the mounting stands is broken off. I have the stand, but that is the only imperfection in the grille. If he wants it, I'll take $10 for it, plus whatever shipping and packaging comes out to. I just need to clear the space out.
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