Build Thread-85 Cutlass Brougham-New Pics Added!

[1evilregal]

please tell us you put some kinda protector between the sign and the paint!!!!! :shock:

check with some of the parts stores and see if they have any used batteries for sale... I work at Advance auto(they also own Discount Auto, if they still are badged that way now...), and alot of times people will come in with a battery warranty issue, and the batteries are charged back up and are still good... we sell them up here for about $35 with the old one turned in... just a thought, as I don't know how they do it down there...

Darin

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

They have rubber booties on the signs to protect the paint. Plus, there is a second buffing stage coming in November, so any minor scratches should buff out. As for a battery, I will probably go to Wal Mart and get one for $50 tomorrow night. Either that, or I will make a junkyard visit Sunday afternoon and get a used one for $18. If I do that, I will try to pick up a decent steering wheel and a few odds and ends to let me make the thing more drivable. I replaced the wiper motor today so I can drive in the rain, but I still need a horn and the back of the hood bumper for the wipers to operate properly. I just hope I make enough money this weekend to pay the utility bills next week.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Delivering pizza in the Cutlass sucked. It uses way too much gas and the steering issue and automatic transmission drove me nuts. The damn automatic is always 1 gear too high when it downshifts, and it's not as easy to shift into a proper gear to power out of the apex of a corner. The automatic must die!!!! Sadly, I don't have all the conversion parts yet and don't have the money, so it has to stay for now. That is a real shame though because it ruins the car. The conversion will happen, but likely not until the spring or fall of next year. I need to concentrate on other things again soon as the car is nearly a complete, usable vehicle and can wait.

In other news, today is the first time someone other than me has driven the car in years. My younger sister was home from college for the weekend and got the honor. She is also the first person to be a passenger in it in about 10 years. Yes, giving the controls of a car with messed up steering to an 18 year old may not sound wise, but I trust her judgment and apprehension. She drove it gently even though I gave her permission to floor it. One of her observations was that the throttle is much harder to push than on her Corolla, and I guess that's good. The extra feedback keeps you from getting out of hand. Not that it is a very fast car, but it is the fastest car I have ever owned.

Back to pizza delivery, today I had a day shift and the temps and humidity were in the 90 range. I decided to bite the bullet and bought a new battery for the truck before work. In the short term, it will save me enough money to pay for the battery as the truck runs on 87 and is a bit better on gas. Plus, it has working A/C.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

All work has now stopped on the Cutlass as I need to focus on other things. I will probably do the steering box, but that is about it for now. My new projects are cleaning up my landscaping and fixing the roof on my house, and finishing and selling my 1979 AMC. Once it is sold, I will take the Cutlass off my normal insurance policy and put it on a collector's policy from someone like Hagerty. It's much cheaper ($250 a year vs $775) and has full coverage including comp and collision that I don't have on it now. Why not just do it now? One of the policy requirements is that the car be stored in a locked garage. I won't be able to do that while I still have the other car in my tiny, one car garage. Plus, that frees me up to get a new delivery beater with better fuel mileage like an old 3 cylinder 5 speed Metro. Getting one of those would save me around $200 a month. Right now, the Cutlass is on my commercial policy which is a very expensive thing to do. Pizza delivery is something that very few insurers will cover, and those that do command quite a premium. I pay around $2,000 a year for two cars with just liability right now.

I know this is not much of an update, but I figured I would post it for those of you that have been following my progress. This way, no one wonders why the thread has fallen off the edge of the Earth over the next few months. I will be updating the AMC build thread in about two weeks when work starts on it. I may even do an initial firing video with my crappy digital camera when I get the new engine in and ready to go.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, I am feeling rather lucky to be alive. My steering has been loose on my Cutlass for a while now, and I had thought the problem was in the steering box. The steering is also 90 degrees off center, and I figured I would fix that issue by shifting the tie rod lengths tonight. Well, I found the REAL problem with the steering: Both outer tie rod ends are wasted! One is sort of bad, but the other is so bad that it is amazing it is still together! I thought I had checked them a few hundred miles ago, but I guess I did it wrong or didn't do it at all because it was pretty obvious that they were trashed.

 

[drogg1]

Good to know you're still here.

 

[3XBrownCutty]

Definitely! That stuff is pretty scary. When my uncle had his Show quality '69 boss inspected, the found the bolt holding the idler arm was only a few threads from falling off...

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, it's fixed now. I am more than a little broke right now because I am saving every penny to fix the roof on my house, but I still wanted to have the Cutlass as a backup for my truck should it need work. That meant I needed to find a cheap way to fix it. Cheap Was $25 with tax for two outer tie rod ends from Auto Zone. Duralast? Nope...too pricey! I got the Valucraft ones instead. I set the toe with a tape measure to get it close enough to drive, but the car is still a bit darty (has been since it was lowered.) The problem is that it has almost no caster from the lowering, which kills directional stability. I also over tightened the adjusting nut on the steering box when I thought it was the issue, so I will need to loosen it up a bit to give the steering some chance to self center again. Right now, it locks in place wherever you leave it, which is not good, but is a symptom of an over-tight steering box adjustment. So, yes. All possible alignment settings have some sort of issue on this car right now,( no caster, positive camber curve when it should go negative, toe is out of whack, etc.) but at least it is drivable at speeds under 60mph. Oh, it also has the beginnings of a bulge on one of the dry rotted front tires, probably from my over-exuberant driving antics...

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Insomniac auto repair! Yes, I haven't really slept yet, but I got tired of laying in bed so I started fixing a few small issues this morning until I got tired enough to sleep. I loosened the steering box adjustment a little and it made a HUGE difference in directional stability! The wheel now has much better on center feel, and what little caster there is manages to stabilize the steering position as it is no longer held hostage by a sticky output shaft on the steering box. Yes, it could still use an alignment (it could still use a lot of things...), but now that the steering is mostly sorted I can drive it like a normal car. As for the other things, I fixed the tachometer by soldering a piece of wire between the terminals where the shorting adapter goes because it was loose, and I also replaced the temp/fuel gauge cluster with one that does not jump all over the place. All I have left to do to have 100% functionality is install the temp gauge sender and run a wire to the pigtail I added to the bulkhead connector when the front clip was off. I also need to calibrate the speedometer, but that is not in the cluster, it's in the transmission. I also had to buy gas for it today which I resented as I just did that a few days ago and didn't drive it that much. Man, when you get used to 4 cylinders, a V8's appetite for fuel gets to be a bit much. Anyhow, I just wanted to post an update on the sorting out of the car. I'm finally going to try to go to sleep!

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, more tragedy. I had a wheel bearing fail on me quite spectacularly! I was driving to a Saturday night cruise night that I had not been to for a long time. Unfortunately, I didn't make it. I smelled something burning for about a mile when I saw something fly off the side of the car smoking heavily. Well, I decided that it was probably a good idea to pull over and investigate when... no brakes! I slammed on the emergency brake ( Thank God I had it connected!) and got the car to stop. When I got out to take a look, the wheel was smoking and the bearing was glowing bright cherry red. So, I got it towed home for $85 and called it a day. I will probably need a rotor, spindle, and caliper in addition to the bearings and seals. I figure that this will be as good a time as any to do the tall spindle upgrade seeing that I need to buy half the parts I had left to get anyhow. So, coming up will be tall spindles and the Global West upper arms that have been sitting in a box in my house for the last 2.5 years. Still, it will be a while before I can afford to buy the parts, so now the car is dead until further notice.