Back from the darkside (kinda)....

[MidniteRocket]

Never thought I'd buy an Olds...my dad brought me up on Chevy and Buick, little bit-o-Poncho....never Olds. lol What brings me here you ask?? I'm not a n00b to cars or power in general, though I am learning about G-bodies pretty quickly. A little history.....my first car, 19 yrs old. 1970 Pontiac LeMans Sport, 350 4bbl, auto trans. Yep, loved that de-tuned (thanks dad) 4bbl, thought the thing moved pretty good (but what did I know..right?). Had the car for a couple months (wasn't really a car guy and all my friends drove Hondas and VWs), so when I had some cash saved up I sold the Poncho and bought a 1.8T VW Golf. Got about 220hp out of it, not bad, but FWD sucks. Traded in the VW for an Audi A4 (which I'm currently trying to sell). 4 yrs of blood, sweat and tears, and I hit the 400hp mark on a little bitty 1.8L turbo engine. Not too bad, but damn if I don't miss the sound and feel of a V8 and smokey burnouts*sigh*.

So..........friend of mine has an 84 Cutlass, 350 etc etc, awesome car and I love the body and looks of it. His dad, has an 81 with a 403 and a T-5 swap. I'm not a fan of the 403, but the amount of TQ it makes stock, has me wanting to try and squeeze it for a little more (for now). Turns out he's selling it and wants it gone.

So...here I am now, about to score an Olds with a good engine and it's a stick car. I'll have questions, hopefully you guys will have answers, but for now I'll just say Hi!!!

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

G bodies are much simpler to play with than the newer sport compacts. You will love the power and simplicity of the domestic muscle car, but miss the handling and tossability of the subcompact.

That amount of hp out of the little 1.8 liter 5 valve 4 is impressive. What exactly did you do to achieve that power level? I'm curious because I have a thing for the MKI VW Rabbit GTI and was thinking a 1.8T would own in that chassis.

 

[MidniteRocket]

Thanks!!! 1.8T, AEB engine code so it has the 20mm wrist pin rather than the VW engines that use the smaller 19mm pin. Pauter rods, wiseco pistons, factory 9.5:1 comp ratio, using a garret gt3076R on an ATP log manifold with some custom tuning..........all on 93 octane pump gas!! If you're gonna toss it into a rabbit, might I suggest the 6 spd transmission from an anniversary edition GTI, it's bullet proof and with a LSD, it'd be an awesome combo with some slicks!!

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I was thinking that even a stock 1.8T in a Rabbit would be a fun DD. Good on gas, handles pretty well and small enough to scoot in and out of the SUV infested rush hour traffic around here. The only real changes I would likely make would be to get a better intercooler and a slightly bigger turbo than the KO3 it comes with. Something that does not loose boost with RPM. And, yeah, the 6 speed would be awesome. I wouldn't want too much power because the FWD would not be able to handle it very effectively ( no offense intended towards your efforts). I have also considered: 1991-94 Sentra SE-R, 1984-87 CRX with D16Z6 swap, 92-95 Civic Coupe with B16B or a 1980's Chevy Sprint turbo. I had a 95 Sentra that was slower than slow but the handling and fuel economy were amazing. I want to replace it with something else cheap, small and fun. Of all the small cars though, I would love to get a real Mini most of all. Not the BMW MINI they sell here.

 

[MidniteRocket]

no offense taken, the Audis lose 24% through the driveline...it sucks. Another idea for the rabbit would be (if you can find one) a 2.0L 16v. Nice engine, revs to hell and back and makes good power (and would be awesome the a mk1 chassis)

 

[pose_442]

You can toss a g-body around fairly well. As long as you have the right swaybars, and handling package. My 87 442 has a ton of grip, but the 3.73's allow just enough to break it loose for fun.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

You can toss a g-body around fairly well. As long as you have the right swaybars, and handling package. My 87 442 has a ton of grip, but the 3.73's allow just enough to break it loose for fun.

I agree with you on that. My Cutlass is a pro touring oriented car and the handling is quite good for what it is. I have out cornered BMW's with it. But, a smaller car can be made to handle better with similar amounts of modification and money. It's just a matter of weight. If you ever drive a good subcompact, like a DC9 Integra GSR or a EF,EG or EH Civic(88-00), you will see what I mean. My stock Sentra would out class my friend's modified Mustang 5.0, and he had 17 in wheels, the car was lowered with handling springs and it had aftermarket control arms with spherical bearings ( like the Global arms for a G body). Despite all that, I could out run it in a corner with a stock( except for adding a $10 front sway bar from a 200sx SE) Sentra GXE that had 175-70-13 tires. Lighter cars are easier to make handle than heavier ones, it's just physics. That was my only point. I'm not an import guy or a domestic guy, I just love cars and play with anything I can get my hands on.