Build Thread-85 Cutlass Brougham-New Pics Added!

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I'm really out of direction right now. The amount of stress I am under has pretty much killed my ability to sleep or think and I am just in a struggle to survive right now. I don't go anywhere that does not have a practical purpose, and have not had a fun moment in a very long time. I just want to get past my "obligations" so I can calm down a bit and start to think again. The loneliness is killing me, but I have no one left around here that I can hang out with anyways, so it's a moot point.

 

[Stoopud]

85CB have you considered taking Contruction Management classes? I started out in Engineering and did not finish (was working at the same time, had a kid blah, blah, blah). I luckily interned with a construction company and found a way to stay there. I did not take Construction Management in school but I should have (most people there have a CM degree - I worked up from the bottom, it takes allot longer like that). It is a good career, is technical enough to keep that engineering ming alert, pays well, and cannot be shipped over sees.

Maybe check into if it is offered where you are from. Look on Monster.com there are allot of well payinf jobs as Project Managers or Schedulers. From what I have read on here, you seem like the type that might enjoy scheduling, you basically build models of buildings in your head and just right down the instructions for others. Try to avoid Architecture though, those guys are wierd (jk). Just an idea to think about.

Good luck on whatever you choose.

 

[Stoopud]

Oh bye the way, the car looks damn nice.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Thanks for the idea, I will take it under advisement. I just need to clear my head right now. Part of the problem is that I NEED to get this car done for my own sanity. I used to use it to drive and think at night when I was stressed out as sort of an outlet for my frustrations. It wasn't the car I was delivering in, so it was kind of a different space for me to spend time in. Sadly, it is nothing but a headache right now as it seems to find new ways to consume my time, money and effort, and not actually ever get done. I feel like Sisyphus, doomed to roll that stone up the mountain over and over again, but never really reach the top. For example, I thought I had figured out all the little details on my power passenger's seat conversion. However, I just figured out that I need a bracket behind the upholstery to hold the switch that I had thought was already there. So now, I need to make a bracket and figure out how to get it in there without damaging the vinyl, and it also has to be made in such a way that it will not cut the upholstery when it is installed. I could go pull one from the junkyard, but that would take more time and cash than making it. Additionally, because the front seats spent a year or two on my front porch (out of the rain, but not the humidity), the bottoms are pretty rusty. I will need to grind down the rust on the bottom of the seat and paint it, in addition to building a wiring harness extension, making a bracket, and bolting on a non-native seat track that still has to be slightly modified to fit the car where the feet bolt to the floor in the back. This is but one element I am dealing with. I won't even get in to the water leak I can't seem to seal. I also have only one channel of TV and no real outlet to relax. Sorry for the rant, but it's driving me nuts.

 

[Stoopud]

I know exactly what you mean about finishing the all consuming car. My car used to be black, a few years ago my Dad named it "The Black Hole of Time and Money". It is one of the reasons the car is now red.

Stick with it though and take your time. It will be worth it in the long run. Some days the only thing that can bring a smile to my face is a ride in my car and getting compliments from complete strangers (sometimes I actually go for rides through the hood just to hear them).

Look at it as a 1:1 model car and make sure to enjoy the build. I would also recommend to drop the power passenger seat (at least for a while). You will most likely never sit in it anyway, and the person in it will never appreciate the work you did for their comfort. Get the car driveable as it is, and go back for that later. Also, have you considered not mounting the controls to the seat? Run the whip to the console and mount them in it, or to a box next to the seat? That is how they do it in some of the newer cars, and since G's never had a power passenger seat, nobody can say it is incorrect.

 

[jrm81bu]

Some days the only thing that can bring a smile to my face is a ride in my car

x1000000000000!

 

[Stoopud]

jrm81bu - have you been sneaking out in my car? Gald you enjoyed it. hahaha

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I know exactly what you mean about finishing the all consuming car. My car used to be black, a few years ago my Dad named it "The Black Hole of Time and Money". It is one of the reasons the car is now red.

Stick with it though and take your time. It will be worth it in the long run. Some days the only thing that can bring a smile to my face is a ride in my car and getting compliments from complete strangers (sometimes I actually go for rides through the hood just to hear them).

Look at it as a 1:1 model car and make sure to enjoy the build. I would also recommend to drop the power passenger seat (at least for a while). You will most likely never sit in it anyway, and the person in it will never appreciate the work you did for their comfort. Get the car driveable as it is, and go back for that later. Also, have you considered not mounting the controls to the seat? Run the whip to the console and mount them in it, or to a box next to the seat? That is how they do it in some of the newer cars, and since G's never had a power passenger seat, nobody can say it is incorrect.

Well, I have all the parts, and making a 1x3 in hole in a piece of left over sheet metal is not a big deal. Plus, I looked at the manual track today and it is not really usable. It's too rusty and partially broken. All it is is a question of time. The driver's side is finished, but I have to make up the wiring to run under the carpet before I put in the driver's seat. The thing that is really irritating right now is the water leak. It is holding up everything, but I hope to have it solved tomorrow. I will be using some weatherstripping adhesive to seal the new hood release cable to the car, and will also try running some plastic sheeting on the insides of the doors to keep the splash water from getting in. It seems that the water from the window splashes off the regulator assembly and gets in the car. I need to plastic sheet it anyhow since it will ruin my nice upper doors and new sound deadening that I made for them. The doors have probably been the hardest things to get right. I had to cut them for speakers, install the speakers with baffles and modified Regal "Concert Sound II" mounts, cut the door panels for the grilles, wire in power locks that the car did not come with, rebuild the lock switches, replace a bad window motor, align the windows several times, etc. The doors have been almost as much hassle as the water problems, probably more! Right now, the driver's door is not shutting right because I had to rebuild a hinge and install it after the car was painted. I got the alignment a little off, so now I need to fix that with the fender on. After that is fixed, I will need to align the window-again. My car is very complicated in the details though. The passenger's seat power is one of the easier things I have done, and I did it for some good reasons. Number one is that it sort of solves the bad seatbelt placement issue these cars are cursed with. You either need to move the seat up or the belt pivot down. Well, I had the track already, and didn't want to cut and weld in an adjustable mount, so I moved the seat. Have I mentioned the saga of the rear view mirror yet? :lol:

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

So far today I have made a minor adjustment to the driver's side door, door striker and fender to get it aligned better. I am also playing with small changes to the door windows to get them to seal right. Right now I am waiting for the battery to charge on my generic Dremel so I can finish slotting the screw holes in one weatherstripping channel to make it touch the window, and eliminate potential wind noise. The doors "pop" open a little when the handle is pulled, and I just don't like the way it feels. I am too damn anal about things like that, but that's just the way I am. I also made my dual seat power harness today with some 10 gauge wire and 3 pigtails cut from other cars. This way, neither the seat wiring nor the car's wiring has been cut. The last thing I did was add the dome light pin switches for the doors so that they would light when the doors are opened. This also seals those holes and keeps the wiring from becoming a possible conduit for water that would make me thing it has a leak that isn't there. I guess I will have to wait until tomorrow to do the hood release cable and see how it goes. Hopefully, that will be the last body integrity issue I have to deal with so I can move on to installing the carpet, seats, door panels and seat belts.

 

[Minion1186]

Thats all it is at self serve yards do,I've been collecting quadrajet parts to make my own tuning kit,and everytime I go to find some rods and they ask what they're for and they get pissed,and charge up the *ss for a pair or two of rods I'm taking these good useful parts off a shitty carb,no one will use.My granpa was at the yard with me the one time,looking for a correct 390 dipstick for his 64 galaxie,he found a slightly broken one and it costs him $30 for a dipstick(broken) and one piece of bad interior trim.Thats why I'm stealing the rods next time!

I want to use it for my avatar, but I forgot how to shrink it down. I have to play with my editing software to do it, but I have been too busy.

As for today's junkyarding adventure, I got a hood release cable, door light switched that may or may not be the right size, my missing lock rod, door lock pulls, the seat wiring to finish my power passenger's seat, and a power seat switch. I also found a big puddle inside the car-again, but I hope to fix it by sealing the new hood release cable to the hole properly. The seat switch was 3x as expensive as the one I bought last week. I went to 3 junkyards-two of which I was hoping would have my parts so I could avoid the counter ******* at the third. Some people who work these yards see ever single part of a part as an excuse to charge more money. The heavily tatooed and pierced circus freak at this one is one of those *ssh*les. (Not intended as a slur against carnies.) Sorry, but I do not think that a crusty seat switch on a 88 Ciera is worth a third of the $60 they probably paid for the heap it came from. I swear, sometimes I think owning a self serve yard is almost a license to print money. Some of them are decent and reasonable, but it seems to be more and more rare.