Build Thread-85 Cutlass Brougham-New Pics Added!

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Today I finally got to hear my stereo! I still have to bolt down the box in the trunk, and screw down the door speakers, but I hooked it all up to make sure it worked well. Sadly, my 5x7 deck speakers will not make the cut as they sounded odd, like something was stuck in them or something, so I tried my old 6x9's instead and they were OK. One of the mids in one of them was trashed, but it didn't seem to affect the sound quality. The front speakers are Phoenix Gold separates that Pokertramp recommended, and he was right. They sound great. Plus, for around $65 shipped (E-Bay) you can't beat the price. I also found out that I will not have the wattage I thought I would as I can't run that amp in a 1 ohm load safely. So, I wired it in 2 ohm stereo and it still hits pretty hard. I even found an old mix CD in the CD player that was left over from the friend I got it from. It had a few songs I hadn't heard in a while, and one I was lamenting not having the other day (Touch of Gray by The Graetful Dead), so that was a win too!

I need to go pull the 1988 power seat track I saw the other day, but the yard wants $50 and I don't have it. Why is an 88 so great? It is a different design than the earlier G body power tracks and uses 3 motors and no transmission. This was originally reserved for Cadillacs, but GM used it in 87 and 88 models. The transmission is the failure point for the power seat, and mine is no exception. You can also find the tri motor tracks in Cutlass Cieras and Buick Centurys of the 90's, if you want to try to adapt one. They are a little different, but it can be done. I proved this because I pulled one that someone had swapped into a Cutlass. I thought it was the G car one, but was pissed when I got it home and realized my mistake. I still have it though, and plan to use it for parts if the G car track I want to get has any issues. They are so rare that it is worth pulling them when you find them as the only other options are switching to manual seats or an expensive reproduction seat motor transmission. So, I will try to go Saturday to pull it, depending on how tips are tomorrow night.

Anyhow, once I get the rear speakers changed, the door speakers installed and the cruise control wiring run through the firewall, it will be time to finally lay down the carpet and at least put the passenger's seat back in. It will be nice to finally see the interior start to take shape. I still need a headliner, but if I don't find one Saturday I guess I'll just go ahead and pull a board from a car with a different color interior. Then I will strip it and glue new material to it. I'll have to pay someone to do the visors though as I do not have access to a sewing machine.

 

[Coveted]

if you can sew, keep your eyes on craigslist, alot of times you can find one for like free - 25$

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Sewing has never been one of my strong points. However, if I got a free sewing machine, I would probably try it. I would prefer an industrial machine so that I could do multiple layers of leather, etc., but those are not likely to be free.

Anyhow, for today I pulled the header panel and epoxied it back together. It seems to have set up right as it is not sticky. (That is one of the ways you can tell that you did JB Weld wrong is if it is still sticky and never really sets.) It will be installed tomorrow night when I get home from work. I also mounted the door speakers and now need to go chase a few buzzing rattles in the doors before I finally put the upholstery on. I may pull the speakers back out to put some sealed foam enclosures on them and isolate the front sound from the back.

 

[78mali350]

wow this car is just somethin else, your doing a great job of documenting this entire build and I look forward to it everytime I come onto the site and honestly this is the only thread I have been watching lately. Great work and as always keep it up

 

[01GPGT]

wow nice thread 8)


wile reading it though i noticed you never finished the write up for the door weather strip? just woundering if you have finished it yet. that is some thing i will most likely have to do when i get my car back

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I did finish the weatherstripping, but am not very happy with it. The reproduction stuff I got was dimensionally off by a wee bit in every possible way, and it slightly does not fit right. I finally got it to seal last week, but not without a lot of work. Plus, it is not seating to the door well, and is actually pulling off and tearing at the mounting holes! It's about a quarter to a half an inch too short, but that's all it takes. My stuff had been sitting new in package for a few years, but if Soff Seal has not changed it's molds then I highly recommend trying another brand. Try Steele or Metro instead. Installing the actual rubber is not the hard part. It pretty much snaps into place once you get all the old stuff out of the channels. However, if you take the channels off, that is where it gets a bit more complicated.

 

[01GPGT]

well heres hoping the car still has good seals the last time i have seen it was in 2003. (before it was stolen long story i will probably post later)

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I didn't get too much done today. All I did was install the header panel and mount the bumper cover to the fenders, fix the wiring in one turn signal and the front marker lights, install the vents in the door jambs, and re-mount the door speakers in a better location. I also started making my sound deadener pieces for the doors and started the vibration dampener installation on one door. Unfortunately, I found that the wide lower body molding vibrates with the door speakers, so I will have to develop a solution for that lest the noise color the sound coming out of the speakers. Plus, cars with tons of vibrations going down the road don't sound too good. Another thing I did was mask my one replacement grille and the headlight buckets so I can paint them Krylon gloss black tomorrow. I swear I must have already used $50 in black spray paint alone! I also installed my NOS coolant recovery and washer fluid tanks a few days ago, and repainted all the lettering on the caps using a Testors white paint marker. All in all it is going quite slowly, but it is getting done nonetheless. I still have to wire my trick Olds Intrigue rear view mirror before I can put a headliner in, and I also have to fix a leaky thermostat gasket and install the temp sensor so that the gauge works.

For tomorrow, I will be junkyarding in the morning. I plan to look for a headliner I can reupholster, finally pull the 88 power seat track, find some speed nuts for the marker lights up front, and try to get a decent right front marker light to replace the one I can't seem to find. I also have to find a new passenger's window switch as the one I have only goes up but won't go down. Hopefully, I will get all that crap and be able to finish the interior over the next few days. Then it will be on to the A/C and finishing the cruise control. After that, it is done for the next few months. I will start gathering the parts for the suspension geometry change and the Caprice brake conversion that is to come in the future. I also need 4 tires, but as the car is not driven much, they are not an urgent need right now.

 

[Blake442]

Didn't get much done?! Sounds like plenty for one day to me!

Try some stickey-backed foam on the back side of the mouldings, inbetween the clips. They will add a little tension and should reduce the rattling.

 

[86Cutlass383SR]

85 Cutlass Brougham I started to go the very same route as you with the b-body spindles and the GW upper arms. I was, and still am, going with the C5 Vette calipers and 13" rotors. I ordered my upper arms from GW and after I got them I started collecting the spindles, etc. That was several years ago and I just recently found out that the arms they sent were for the stock spindle, not the f-body spindle. I talked to GW and they would not swap arms even though mine were never installed.

The guys on Pro-touring.com (mainly our own TonySS) talked me into using the stock g-body spindles with differant tubular upper arms and taller upper and lower ball joints from SC&C. Frank at SC&C told me with this setup you don't have the bumpsteer problems of the b-body spindle swap and you basically end up with frontend geometry as good or better than a 2002 f-body. I then bought an adapter from Ed Miller at Flynbye.com to adapt the C5 caliper to the g-body spindle.

I'm also building a "what-if" type of car. After swapping in the SBC in my car and finding a TPI setup plus all the stuff to bolt in a T5 behind it I thought "Why didn't GM build something like this as an option". I'm carrying mine a bit farther with some added bolt-ons like the SuperRam intake and the Aftermarket T56 which was basically built as a replacement for the weaker T5. Yeah I added a stroker crank to my 350 since it had to be rebuilt but visually it still looks like the 305 or 350 TPI. I'm even using the f-body Hedman shorty headers and f-body dual-cat exhaust.