Build Thread-85 Cutlass Brougham-New Pics Added!

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, no. Personal issues do not get in the way of my ideals. I have been in contact with Workmans Comp, and they advised me that I can seek medical attention if needed, and that they would provide me a doctor. My issue with so-called universal health care is that it is not free and usually not good if you go by the Canadian and British models. I would end up paying for it in higher taxes and higher priced goods, so it would be just as bad if not worse than my cost for buying private insurance. I do not believe in allowing the state to remove more money from the economy. You have to see the aggregate effects of doing so in order to understand why it is a bad idea.

Hillary Clinton's plan was to force workers to buy insurance before they were allowed to work. Now, if someone is already out of work, why is it a good thing to force them to buy their own coverage? In that case, the state would have to step in, and you have just made a need for more state intervention to make up for the problems of previous state intervention. It becomes a vicious cycle of fixing fundamentally flawed legislation with more legislation and higher costs. Greater socialism has effectively stalled the economies of Western Europe and sent their jobs to other nations in the developing world where it is cheaper to manufacture goods. While it has happened here to a degree, it will get worse when you increase the manufacturing costs for goods. You will end up making things so expensive to make that no one can afford them and it effectively kills the economy due to regulatory strangulation.

 

[Pittman06]

well i just looked through your build thread and this looks like its gonna be a nice ride when your done, i've been doing body work since i was 14 and bought my first car, 84 Cutlass Supreme. I'm now 21 and on my 25th car. I'm all self taught and i know what you mean when you say it takes a few times. I now do it all myself (except for some real tricky long welding) and it makes you really feel good about the finished project...to stand back and think about how much time you have in this and what it came from. Only problem is 20 people say its perfect, yet you still can pick out 10 things that still look like crap to you! Its worth it in the end!

 

[Coveted]

I just got owned. I seen the thread come back up and It said "Now with paint"
and I was like YESSSSSS
Then I get here and theres no shell painted

 

[dan2286]

Is there any progress on it lately?

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, I did start it yesterday...but other than adding the fenders and header panel back on a few weeks ago nothing has changed. I am dealing with insomnia that has become almost unbearable, and keeps me from doing much on my days off since I use them to sleep. I was going to try and paint it tomorrow, but have had no time to prep it with school as that must take precedence over an old car that is just a toy. I really need to get it done, and my back is finally feeling better ( may be all the anti-inflammatories, but sitting without pain is nice!), so maybe next week. I have a refi that I am working on right now too, so I need to put it together if for no other reason than to clean up the yard and porch. ( And yes, this means I am thinking about a new Honda again). The refi means I need $200 a month less income than now if it goes through, so I can spend more time studying and less time working. I really need a 4.0 GPA this semester to have a chance at a 3.0 for transfer to USF. I figure that if I fail to finish school this time, I am doomed to be poor (albeit educated and well spoken) white trash for the rest of my life, so there is a real motivation for me to put school before everything else in my life!

 

[midwestls]

wow man, you need to quit being hurt and sick and get some paint on this thing. STRESS is killing me I WANT PIC'S of a painted car. :lol: Can't wait to see it.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I will also post an update no one will care about: I am now 31 miles from officially hitting 300,000 miles in my 1998 Nissan Frontier pickup. I am keeping my digital camera with me in the truck for the moment it hits 299,999 followed by 300,000. I would have done it tonight but we were dead slow and I didn't get enough deliveries.

 

[midwestls]

Thats cool too though. Have you put anything into it to get it there? Is it supercharged? 4x or 2x? Just curious.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

It's just a basic king cab 4x2 4 cyl 5 speed model. It has had the transmission rebuilt at 245,000 miles, and I am on my 3rd starter and alternator. The original clutch only lasted 200,000 miles. I attribute it's early death to a dragstrip flogging when it had 150,000 on it. That, and using it to flat tow several cars, and all the off roading. The second clutch lasted only 20k due to not having the flywheel cut, and not properly breaking it in. Clutch #3 now has around 80k on it and works fine because I did that one correctly. Oh, I had to replace a brake caliper because I tore a dust boot at around 270,000 when doing a pad change (the only non original hydraulic component on the truck). All in all, not a bad little truck considering that the day after I bought it new is the day it delivered it's first pizza. I went through about a 2 year stretch in which I did not use it for delivery in that time ( I had Sentra #2 at the time and it was better on gas), so that is why it has taken so long to hit 300k. I did a proper break in when it was new which helped everything to last longer. A new car needs to be treated like an old car with a fresh rebuild of all it's components, and all of them need to be broken in in the proper manner. The clutch and brake pads need to bed in before hard driving ( 500 easy miles minimum), the oil needs a change when it has less than 1,000 miles, another after 3,000 more, and no synthetic oil until after the third change ( to be safe).

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Note to self: The engine block stamped code is CMT, which seems to point to a 1974 245hp 350 4 bbl engine, not a 1977 as the shop guy had told me.