Build Thread-85 Cutlass Brougham-New Pics Added!

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Today I got the driver's door finished. I fixed the arm rest with a few strips of left over closed cell foam from the steering column gasket project and some 3M trim adhesive. The passenger's side still annoyingly does not always like to unlock with the power motor as it seems to only want to go almost unlocked, but won't push that last little bit. I'll live with it for now, but it may have to come apart in the future if it doesn't start working. I also gained back the functionality of my wiper switch today. What did I do? Nothing! I decided to try it again and it decided to work. Before, only the intermittent worked, but now I also have low and high as well. I still don't have the arms back on yet though because I am missing two screws for the transmission. They are inaccessible with the arms in place, so I will wait until I install them before I complete the wiper system. I still have to find the rest of the stuff for the washer system as well. I think I have it, but I forget exactly where it is.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The exhaust is hung now, but not without an ordeal. I do not know why they call it an "Easy Out", because they are neither "easy" to use, nor do they result in actually getting the broken bolt "Out". No, it didn't work for me because, as usual, the drill bits A) Did not make the hole centered, B) Managed to get dull half way through the first one, and doing a second....forget it! So, I wound up with two dissimilar sized holes in two broken bolts that laughed at my attempts to remove them. What did I do? Well, after finding that my tap handle is missing and making a trip to Harbor Freight for a replacement, I tapped the holes I drilled with two dissimilar sized taps. Now, I have one 1/4-20 hole, and one 5/16-24 hole. Why those sizes? They were the only taps I had that were close in size to the holes. At least, however, I knew which size I needed to buy at the local Ace Hardware (5/16-24). So, I tapped them, worked my blacksmithing magic on the mounts with a vice and hammer, and got the tailpipes to hang at the same level. Success! It was together and theoretically operable...

Unfortunately, theory only becomes fact when the battery has enough juice to start the car. It didn't. So, I took out my battery charger that was smoking the other day when I forgot to disconnect it before starting the car. I plugged it in, and whaddya know? Smoke! Trash can time! I still had not started the car, so I figured I would jump it off the truck. Now, it is important to note that the car is stuck on the ramps until I can get it running, so the truck had to come to the car. One problem: It had rained several inches in the days prior to today and the ground was soggy. I didn't think it was soggy enough to bury my little truck to the axles in my front yard though! Yep, I wound up tearing up my previously envy-inducing lawn trying to get the truck out. I had to dig it out with a shovel, and it was a foot from the sidewalk. Needless to say, I didn't get to drive it tonight. Hopefully I can borrow another charger tomorrow as I doubt the swamp that was previously my lawn (that was previously a swamp before it was drained and developed...) will dry out enough by tomorrow to support a vehicle. In any case, I still have until Wednesday to wait for my 6x9 mounts, so I can't do much until then except maybe fix the rear defroster grid and tint the windows.

 

[Blake442]

Why not just borrow the battery from the truck for a few minutes?

Too bad about your lawn...

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, I have a fairly complicated head unit in the truck and reprogramming all the settings takes me about 10-15 minutes, and I just don't wanna go through that right now. Plus, the car is side post and the truck is top post, so the old trick of hot swapping batteries would not work. Yeah, I could jump it, but I am too lazy to go through all that just to start a car I don't need at this moment. My neighbor (who gave me the now nuked battery charger as he was throwing it out) has a charger, and I will see if he will let me borrow it tomorrow. If not, I will give the yard a day or two, or try a different angle of approach to get close to it. I had issues with some of the lawn before this (it was perfect at one point, but not for the last few months), and so I guess this will add to the list of things to do to bring it back up to standards.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I got the car started and drove it a bit the other day. I left the radio off and the headlights were not flickering, so I guess I need a bigger alternator to deal with the 800watt sound system. Today I got my 6x9 adapters in, and mounted the speakers. They sound horrible! I also found a new lovely problem. The car now does not want to start or idle easily, and before it ran almost perfectly. It stumbles and stutters one moment, and runs fine the next. This happened after putting gas in it last night, so I think some crap from the tank contaminated the fuel system. The tank is also badly dented from when I backed over a rock in 1994, and needs replacement. I was going to replace it anyhow, and now I guess this may just move it up the time table. Yet another issue is that the wipers hit the under side of the hood. I think I will need to find a set of frames off another GM product as these seem to be slightly too tall. They also move too slowly as do a number of things which leads me back to the electrical short that exists somewhere in the power supply part of the harness. The voltage gauge reads very low when it runs bad, so maybe that is the issue. I dunno. I am kinda burnt out on it right now and really need a break.

 

[1evilregal]

don't give up hope, just take a small break, and things will fall into place... too easy to get fustrated and overlook things!

if you ever need encouragement on it, just go back and read read your whole thread... I read the whole thing through the other day(actually took 2 days ), and it's truly amazing how far the thing has come, especially with all the other problems you've had to deal with at the same time! dude, you're actually an inspiration to the rest of us, and we can only wish our rides come out even close to looking as good as yours! keep your chin up!

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Don't worry, I am not quitting quitting, just maybe taking a small break. It is just an overwhelming project to take on by yourself, and I need to try and catch some other stuff up-like money! Anyhow, tomorrow I am going to try to do a water pump on a Honda D series in a Civic. It's for a girl I work with and I am making a little cash off of it. I just need to figure out how to align and tension the timing belt on a Honda D16Y8 VTEC 4. The water pump is driven off the timing belt and should be a real nightmare. I am sure I will figure it out. It can't be as bad as the one on a 4G63t in a 1G DSM (Eclipse AWD Turbo), and I have already done those before. Am I getting a lot of money to do it? No. I am only charging $50 labor for it because she is in a bad spot and I am a sucker for a damsel in distress. I'm not so kind to guys in similar situations as I feel that if you can't fix a car, you are not really much of a man and I have no sympathy for you.

 

[Blake442]

Taking breaks on a project is a necessity.
Sometimes you just have to put it down for a while and take some time for other stuff or even just yourself.

 

[mr evil]

Taking breaks on a project is a necessity.
Sometimes you just have to put it down for a while and take some time for other stuff or even just yourself.

Too true, I do it all the time. frustration creeps in easily for me, especially when a seemingly simple task turns into a bit of a gong show

As stated, this build is inspiring and I'd hate to see it end unfinished :shock:

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

It will get finished to one level or another, that much is certain. I have owned the car since 1993, so it is not likely I will just punt it over a few minor issues.