Build Thread-85 Cutlass Brougham-New Pics Added!

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

No probs, thought I'd ask

If you were local to me, I would let you have it for free. I won't be needing it anymore and it will just end up in the garbage anyways. So, anyone who lives near me that wants my old seat track with the broken transmission, the offer stands for you as well. It's free for the taking!

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

just fyi this is probably one of the more impressive builds that have gone on this summer, you have done a ton of work to this car and it's the most imformative thread I have ever read. great job and keep it up. you only have a week to go!

Well, I like to put the data out there for all to see. Too many times I have read threads on the internet that omitted critical details and left me without the information I needed. My car is by no means perfect, but it is acceptable as compared to some of the utter garbage that is out there. It also helps that I really enjoy writing and getting feedback. I get far more feedback here than I ever did using a social networking site, so now I just use social networks for free picture posting bandwidth.

Part of the reason so much gets done is that I can't afford cable TV (or internet...but I "find a way" around that). So, the car is there to keep me busy. Plus it really needs to get done so I have a backup vehicle to my truck. That thing may be good, but it can't go forever without a major issue.

 

[78mali350]

well I personally really appreciate everything you have posted, I just feel bad now that I didn't keep up on mine as much but I am now trying to document everything that I do and sometime I will post it all up .

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Today, I found the correct seat switch. I thought that one from a Caddy would work, but it turned out that the pins are way too large for the connector. My solution came from a late 80's A body Cutlass Ciera Brougham (use this one for chrome, and one from a Pontiac 6000 for a black switch). Yes, the ubiquitous 4 door rental car had the right part! It is important to look beyond the model of car you have with GM. They parts bin a lot of things and share them over many model lines. Now that I had the switch, I could verify that everything worked once I cleaned the contacts on the seat connector in my car with a Dremel. Unfortunately, one of the 4 brackets for the tilt worms was cracked. These are load bearing parts on the top of the track, so it had to be fixed. So, I took it apart, ground it to clean metal and brought it to my neighbor. He welded it for me using an old Arc welder he has. I was grateful, of course, but we do favors for each other all the time. Now it's time to bolt it to the seat, right? Of course not! The feet were rusty and needed to be ground clean and painted satin black. I then had the misfortune of noting how rusty the bottom of the driver's seat was. So, I ground that as best I could and painted it in Rustoleum. It is important to clean it up so that it does not drop rust particles all over my new carpet. I also took the time to clean up the black trim panels that go along the bottom of the seat to conceal the power track. I then painted them in satin black Krylon spray paint. My next step will be to thoroughly scrub the seat with Simple Green to clean it, and then let it dry. I will have to repeat most of this for the passenger's seat as well, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I am also still debating if I will pull the whole bottom of the seat apart and paint the part by the foam as well. It will depend if I can get some hog rings and hog ring pliers to put it all back together properly once I am done. I hate being this anal, but it's the only way to do it right.

I also found water on the floor again after a hard rain last night. Grrrr.... It was only the driver's side, but it still sets me back a ways as I will now have to find the problem and seal it before I can put carpet down.

 

[3XBrownCutty]

Man... you've had bad luck sealing out the rain!! Sounds like the projects coming along pretty well though.

 

[mr evil]

I laughed at your last post! One thing leads to another and to another and so on and so forth-brutal eh.

At least you found you had a leak before the carpet went in. I'm afraid to put my headliner in until I see some serious rain too, just in case.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The thing I didn't mention is that when I found that switch I had to go to the bathroom REALLY, REALLY BAD!!!! (and it wasn't just a quick pee either...) I was at the end of the last row of the junkyard, standing in mud and swamp water while wearing my customary flip flops. So, I had to pull the part, walk to the front, buy the part, then find a restroom somewhere close. I wasn't about to use a Porta Potty that was sitting in the blazing hot sun on a 95 degree Florida summer's day in a junkyard. The olfactory overload would have been too much for my delicate scent glands to take...:lol:

For tonight's work ( done at 4:15am), I pulled more foam off the headliner board. This was after getting home from a party with a crowd full of drunk people and me being the only sober one there. That was....interesting to say the least, which is more than I can say for de-foaming a headliner board. It is so damn tedious that I am splitting it up into multiple sessions of about 10 minutes each. I figure it will be finished by Monday, which should be about when I will be ready for it. I am about 60-70% done stripping it, and I have been at it since Monday.


Note to self: The firewall grommet hole for the cruise control harness needs a 1 1/2 in hole saw according to the veriner caliper. Also, we got the 73 Fiat 850 running good today! It was plug wires, as I suspected.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Hooray! The foam is stripped from the headliner board!!! Now all I have to do is clean up all the little foam "dust bunnies" that remain adhered to it before I can glue the new material up and install it. Well... that and wire up the rear view mirror and test it to be sure it works. Estimated time to strip a good headliner off a board: 2.5 hours.

Also, just bought speaker baffles for the doors from Crutchfield.com. They are enclosures made of foam that fit behind the speakers and seal them from moisture and also act as a box of sorts. So, the front side sound should now be all I hear and the back side sound should be minimized. This should help keep it from sounding tinny. I am contemplating a similar move for the rear speakers, but have not figured out exactly what I am doing back there yet. I have not found my wire bales to attach them with the 6x9 adapters, and if I have to buy another set of adapters, I will probably just use the cash towards 4x10's instead. They do not need to produce any real bass, just mids and highs. I have the crossovers in the amps set up to keep very low frequencies out of the satellites and instead to direct them to the subs. It is very clear and loud in this configuration without much in the way of distortion I can hear. I also finally looked up the specs on my amps, and the max on the sub amp is 500 watts with the 4 channel running the satellites having about 75 watts per channel max. RMS is 300 on the sub amp and 30 on the 4 channel. I have another 2 channel amp with 90 watts per channel max, but I have no clue what to do with it. It will probably end up in my truck, eventually, if I ever go back through the system in it.

 

[Blake442]

I've redone one of these headliners a few years ago at work, so here's my advice that the upholsterer at work told me as he loaded up his tool box and quit...
It was even blue if that helps my credibility at all... :lol:

Once you have the board cleaned up, if you have/get any cracks, duct tape them from the back side to repair it. If you do it on the side the fabric goes on, you'll be able to see the tape.

Lay the material out and start at the center, spraying the glue on both the board and the material, doing small areas at a time. Work your way outwards so you can follow the contours of the board.

Once it's all glued down, carefully trim the excess right to the edge of the board. Do not wrap the excess material around the back. It will mess with the fit, and will cause the material to start to pull up around the perimeter of the headliner.

Use a new, sharp razor to trim off the excess material, and to cut out the hole for your dome light. The visors you can pretty much just cut an X over the hole to allow the spring on the visor pedastal to pass through. Cut carefully from the backside, following the edge of the board to guide you.

Hopefully my words of wisdom can be of some help... :lol:

 

[3XBrownCutty]

I just picked up a set of 6x9 adapters from the junkyard. Didn't cost me anything, if you want them I'll figure out shipping and let you know. They were out of an olds, delta I think, just a big oldsmobile :lol: That doesn't really narrow it down...

I can't really do anything now because I just moved in to school.