Colton's '84 Cutlass Supreme Brougham

[mac61891]

Hey, everyone. I am fairly new to the Forum and have decided to put some info on my Cutlass project up here as much for myself as to fill others in. I believe that this will help encourage me to keep better track of things and take more pictures of what I have done.
A little bit about myself first. I have been wrenching personally and then professionally since I was very young. I have been told my long time techs that I have an ability to see things in the machine that others don't readily see. I have always enjoyed working on them, but last year, I decided to move out of the industry and make it more hobby with some side jobs than living on it every day. I am only 30 and have owned my own garage which did very well, but when I got married in '11 I started thinking about a change of career as well.
About the car. It is an '84 Cutlass Supreme Brougham that I bought in 2010 for $300. I am the third owner and the second had it long enough to put all new brakes and ball joints on it as well as 4 new tires. Then, the 3.8 locked up on him coming home from work. We are friends and after about two weeks of sitting, he stopped by the garage and asked if I wanted the car. $300 and it was mine. It sat for a couple months because my original plan was to put a SBC with a 5 speed in it that I had all of the parts for. I thought I did, anyway. My engine was a 2 piece rear main seal and my flywheel was from a one piece and therefore would not work. So, it got side lined while I scrounged more parts.
Right around New Years, I bought a '93 GMC with a TBI 350 and 4L60 that had hit a deer and was totalled out. I pulled the engine and transmission out of that thinking that now I had my engine for my swap and the transmission could be resold or installed for a client through the garage.
Then I met my wife. I spent all of my spare time with this wonderful woman so the swap was not making much headway.
One night, shortly before our wedding, I had trouble sleeping. I was concerned about money for our honeymoon and it was keeping me up. So, shortly after 1130, I went to the garage and started working on my Cutlass. I set the engine in the car and was preparing to pull the seats and carpeting to access the floor for the shifter hole that needed cut, when I decided that the auto would work just fine for now and would take less time. Maybe I could have it running before the wedding.
I installed the engine and trasnmission, modified the trans cross member and shortened the drive shaft all before breakfast. That afternoon, with my help working in the garage, I started on the wiring. About two days later with an aftermarket pump installed right infront of the tank, I had the car running and driving.

 

[mac61891]

I was married shortly afterward and we did not take the car on our honeymoon because the suv just made more sense for us. But, we put a lot of miles on the old girl. The drivetrain had some higher miles, but ran very well. It leaked oil out of the rear of the intake, so I had my help at the garage on a slow day, pull the intake and replace the gaskets. That took care of my oil leak, but shortly after that, my wife drove it to town with the youngest, and the car came back with a slight knock. High mileage engine was getting tired, so I parked thr car until a viable replacement could be found.
Early last year, I went to talk to a retired exhaust guy about 472ci Cad motor that I knew he had (he got it from me when I was in high school). He offered me the Cad and transmission but only as a part of a package that included a 78 Toro with a 403. I made the deal and decided that the 403 fit my desires a little better. For some reason the whole Olds powered Olds was becoming more appealing.
So, since I changed careers early last year as well, I had to put the car on hold again just due to time and lack of frame brackets for the V8 Olds. I finally located the brackets I needed from a fellow forum member a few weeks ago and so has started another thrash on the '84. I had to hang the engine/mounts/brackets in the engine bay to help locate the correct holes to mount the brackets with. Once that was done, I bolted my 403 into place. Next came my long tailed th400 from the 73 Sedan DeVille. Since, I was short on help, and I was having trouble with a couple broken exhaust bolts that I had forgotten about before installation, I pulled the engine back out. :evil: I removed the bolts, bolted the trans up and slid the whole thing in together. Installed the FlowTech Header on the passenger side with no issues. The drivers side was giving me a fit, so pulled the steering shaft and was attemping to remove the dipstick tube only find a rust whole in it. It broke off last night and during my attempt the remove the remainder from teh block, it broke off flush.
So, now the oil pan has to come of to knock the tube our from the bottom. I am going to attempt to remove the pan in the car rather than pull the motor again, but I may have to.
On the bright side, though. I believe the header will fit now after I used the Ford Wrench on one of the tubes.

 

[mac61891]

Some pics.

 

[mac61891]

Drivers side.

 

[mac61891]

Some engine pics before the trans was is.

 

[hurst1979olds]

Looks like a good build. I will be watching this one.

 

[mac61891]

Thanks, I appreciate it. I am hoping it comes out as nice as I see it in my head. I had to order a new dipstick tube today because of the broken one. The only reasonable option was chrome and I don't want chrome, so I will scuff it up and shoot it flat black when it gets in.

 

[mac61891]

Well, Saturday I started to work on the oil pan removal so that I could knock the broken dipstick tube out of the block. I worked for about 10 minutes before I decided that I would be far better off to remove the engine again to get the pan off. So, I dropped the transmission and pulled the engine back out of the car. After a quick parts run for the new pan gasket, I shot coat of Universal Gold on the block, not because it is period correct, but because I like the Gold over the blue. I painted the pan black and the valve covers will come off to be cleaned and painted black as well.
I got the engine set back between the rails and bolted the transmission back up. I still need to modify the transmission cross member, or make on th will work with the TH400 and dual exhaust. I did fit the headers back on. The driver's side needed some help with the Ford Wrench, but it clears fairly well now. Some hose modifications are needed as well for the PS pressure hose. The box on the car has the o-ring style fitting and the pump/hose from the Toro has a Double Flare.
The dipstick tube comes today in the mail. I will get a couple more pictures this evening if possible. I also have an ignition switch coming for my CTS that needs installed so it may be tomorrow before i get back on the Olds.

 

[mac61891]

Last night, I swapped out the PS pump for the unit that was on the car with the 350 Chevy. Now my pressure hose works. I also installed my dipstick tube. I am not totally happy with that. I bought a super cheap chrome unit because the oe was around twice the money. It drives in firmly once, but when I had to remove it to tweak it for clearance, it was loose on installation. I used some silicon to seal it and shoved it back in. It will work until I purchase something else.
I also put my accel distributor into stock form. When I pulled the engine out of the Toro, I may have left an ignition box that I was unaware of, because the vaccum advance had been removed and it had another plug coming out the back. I hooked the pick up back to the module and installed a vaccum advance. I will get the alternator installed this evening. I was going to install the a/c, but I neglected get the manifold from the toro. I also need to get a starter and radiator.
It was dark when I quit, so I will get pics tonight.

 

[MrLightning]

I also installed my dipstick tube. I am not totally happy with that. I bought a super cheap chrome unit because the oe was around twice the money. It drives in firmly once, but when I had to remove it to tweak it for clearance, it was loose on installation. I used some silicon to seal it and shoved it back in. It will work until I purchase something else.


ive got two stock Olds 350 oil dipsticks if interested PM me.