A Fabricobbler's Guide to the Turbo Buick Galaxy- Cutlass Rehash

[81cutlass]

Have you calibrated the speedometer, or have a clue about how fast it’s going?

Curious about rpm at highway speeds? I’m hoping it’s too high so you have more than one reason to put some meats on the back.

I did the math for the speedometer gear and it should be set up for a 26.5" tire with the 3.73 gears

It's 2200rpm roughly at 60mph

I am planning on getting some MT 255/60/15 SS DR's for the old American Racing 8.5" vectors I have. I had 275/50's on those wheels before but the backspace is a bit small on them and they stuck out a bit more than I'd like. I think a 255 should be more than enough for what I need anyways-

 

[64nailhead]

I did the math for the speedometer gear and it should be set up for a 26.5" tire with the 3.73 gears

It's 2200rpm roughly at 60mph

I am planning on getting some MT 255/60/15 SS DR's for the old American Racing 8.5" vectors I have. I had 275/50's on those wheels before but the backspace is a bit small on them and they stuck out a bit more than I'd like. I think a 255 should be more than enough for what I need anyways-

I’ve got a brand new set of those with stickers still on them - waiting to decide where to put them. If you weren’t in MN, I’d sell them cheap lol.

 

[81cutlass]

I’ve got a brand new set of those with stickers still on them - waiting to decide where to put them. If you weren’t in MN, I’d sell them cheap lol.

I'll be in Vermont in July, think I could pack them as checked luggage on the way home? Haha


In other news I finally swapped my high beam bulbs out last night. I had Holley Retrobrites that I bought on clearance for the low beams but they didn't have the high beams available. I thought I'd get the high beams at a later date, I went to order them and the price had over doubled. Normal price for the Holley retro bulbs was like $100 each, steep but manageable. I bought mine on sale/closeout due to them being an old style for like $50 each. They are now almost $200 a bulb. I was unwilling to pay that.

Hella has a glass lens conversion with an H style insertable bulb. I picked those up for like $48/bulb. They aren't the super out of place looking chyna plastic LED version. They look like stock and have a glass lens body so much more robust to fading.

The retrobrites are brighter than the Hellas, but at the current $150 savings each, if I had a car that had bad lights I would spend the $200 on the Hellas and save the $600 that you'd spend more for the holleys.


Took the car for a more extended drive and the manners of the trans are still good and cruises great. Spools fast, shifts clean and firm. Had probably $3400 in the trans rebuild which was over 2-3x what I planned but it is what I wanted.

My 'I did it wrong' brake system also works great, stock 81 cast iron master, stock front calipers, stock disk/drum prop valve, LT1 rear disks. I have a set of LS1 front calipers I plan to install that I pulled off the Fbird when it got parted out, I can deal with that this summer and will probably need a bigger master. I think master displacement is very tied to the front brakes. TBD if I put the Riviera Disk/disk big bore cast master on or if I get a wagon B body master and swap the booster to a 83+ style like I have on my 2+2.

 

[pagrunt]

In other news I finally swapped my high beam bulbs out last night. I had Holley Retrobrites that I bought on clearance for the low beams but they didn't have the high beams available. I thought I'd get the high beams at a later date, I went to order them and the price had over doubled. Normal price for the Holley retro bulbs was like $100 each, steep but manageable. I bought mine on sale/closeout due to them being an old style for like $50 each. They are now almost $200 a bulb. I was unwilling to pay that.

Hella has a glass lens conversion with an H style insertable bulb. I picked those up for like $48/bulb. They aren't the super out of place looking chyna plastic LED version. They look like stock and have a glass lens body so much more robust to fading.

The retrobrites are brighter than the Hellas, but at the current $150 savings each, if I had a car that had bad lights I would spend the $200 on the Hellas and save the $600 that you'd spend more for the holleys.

I got all Hella for both Montes. The only bad I see with the lights for my '81 is there are no nipples for the aimers but the set for Jr.'s '79 has them. Part of the reason was ease of getting replacement bulbs as not everyone carries sealed beam bulbs & H4's are everywhere. Even the H1 high beam bulb is easier to find. Then there is the lighting options are which better with the Hella's & simular lights.

 

[81cutlass]

Got my trans cooler in last night. Should keep my trans happy. Considered looping it through the rad cooler but I only drive the car in the summer and it was more of a mess to get the tubing run so I just bypassed it completely.

Wanted to mount the cooler as close to the ac condenser as I could, basically flush with the front of the rad support so when I put my intercooler in it wouldn't interfere.

The hoses get a little close to the condenser and rad support and they snake around at a bit of a sharp angle. I need to get some p clamps and conduit or something to prevent chafing but overall I'm happy.

 

[81cutlass]

Did a longer cruise this weekend. Trans still has good manners and I feel confident enough to take it on a longer cruise.

Fluid temp going in the cooler is about 140f and going out is about 100f so it's doing a good job according to my IR temp gun.

I don't think the converter is locking up but that might be because I never connected my 12V brake power.

I randomly get a lot of compressor surge at mid throttle. At like 10psi and maybe 60% throttle the boost needle is fluctuating from 6 to maybe 12 psi really quickly. Not sure if I have my boost gage connected to a bad port or something wrong in my MAF, tune or ????


This dumb chip 'locked' tune ECU thing is driving me up a wall. I just want to look at the logs and change fuel & timing but it's stuck in that damn chip. Life around a tunable ECU to this turbo buick life is like going back into the stoneage.

I need to get a real ECU on the thing...

 

[liquidh8]

I still don't get how dudes spend on that dough on translators, thumbwheels, burnt chips etc. I used to burn chips and datalog with like winALDL, better than nothing I guess.

 

[81cutlass]

Washed the car off on Saturday and took it to the first car show it's been to in 8 years or something Sunday morning.

It's the all GM show so got to hang out with the other Oldsmobiles.

Trying to get some enjoyment out of the car since it's good to go finally!

 

[Texas82GP]

Washed the car off on Saturday and took it to the first car show it's been to in 8 years or something Sunday morning.

It's the all GM show so got to hang out with the other Oldsmobiles.

Trying to get some enjoyment out of the car since it's good to go finally!
View attachment 240321

That's got to be rewarding!

 

[81cutlass]

Put 500 miles on the car last week on a road trip and overall happy. Got 19mpg cruising at 70, trans shifts good and did what I need.

Slowly compiling a list of stuff to do however-

One of the tires had a slow leak, got that fixed
-Headliner is sagging, I redid it 15 years ago when I first got the car but it's due again
-Need to adjust both windows, the wind noise is super annoying when the wind is coming across the car
-Torque converter isn't locking up in OD, I think it's a disabling thing with the ECU like the brake light circuit isn't connected
-ECU needs to be swapped, it's randomly shutting off on me when it's coasting from a cruise when warm. My IAC stepper counts, and Block Learn scanmaster numbers are in-spec. I could probably fix it with a $150 chip but then I need to buy another chip when I want to put e85 on the car, and dealing with obsolete chips is a waste of my time. Chip swapped ECU's need to stay in the 90's where they belong. It's 2024, every EFI car should have flash capability with a laptop, touch screen or handheld.
-AC has a leak. I think it's the input shaft seal. I put a can in before my drive as it was high enough to turn on but low enough to cycle quickly and not make consistent pressure. At the end of the 4hr drive the AC was back to cycling really fast. Seems like it leaks when the AC is on which signals pump to me. Probably needs a pump, it's a 40 year old OEM unit that sat exposed to the air for probably 20 years of it's life.