Colton's '84 Cutlass Supreme Brougham

[olds307 and 403]

I did that to this one to give good clearance with the front axle. I didn't have to touch the Summit mini starter on the Olds. The Sanderson headers used on both, give plenty of room for the full size starter, my exhaust routing on the CSC and front axle on the 4x4, makes it necessary.

 

[mac61891]

Been a while since I have updated. It has been a while since I have been able to do much to the Cutlass, though. I was needing to shorten my drive shaft for the TH400 long tail. I hated to do that because it was going to be very short. I have had a 700r4 in the barn I bought from my Dad's cousin. He pulled it out of a truck that he scrapped because he had had it rebuilt not too many miles ago. I bought an adapter plate from Speedway and swapped it in instead. The shaft is already the proper length for that unit. I was pleased with the Speedway plates fit. Tack welded the nuts I was not going to be able to get at and bolted the trans in place.
I can also reuse my OE cross member, but I am going to Fab one up that fits tighter to the body for exhaust clearance.
I need to order a radiator. The one I thought was going to work, could, but I do not like how much of the support will need to be cut back to make it work. Hope to have the car on the ground and moving next week. I still need to order a solid steering shaft though.

 

[mac61891]

Well, I found some time to work on the Cutlass in the last couple weeks. Not much time, but did get the 700R4 installed and a cross member fabbed up. I also found the radiator that I had in the car with my SBC and was able to reuse it instead of ordering a new one for the car. I filled the engine and trans with oil and attempted to crank it over, but my SBC mini starter that I modified to run is not quite right. I had it spaced too far from the fly wheel, something I did not check properly during install. Unfortunately, the mounting block will need to me machined down to bring the clearance in. I worked on that some this morning, but still have too much clearance. I am not sure that I will be able to machine it down enough to work. I may have to bite the bullet and order one for an Olds.

 

[mac61891]

Last evening, before I left work, I spent some time getting the replacement Olds Mini starter installed and had to clearance my header, again. It all seemed to fall into place really well after the clearances were worked out. Got it back off of jackstands and tried the starter this morning. It does engage and turns the engine over. Big win for me at this point. Belts, ignition wires, coolant and it could drive out of the garage. Need to vacuum it and reinstall the split bench.

 

[mac61891]

Got my ignition wires routed and power hooked into the HEI. The Cutlass started and moved under it's own power yesterday. First time in over two years that it has happened.

 

[Flyers9928]

Gotta love that feeling.

 

[mac61891]

It does make you smile.

 

[mac61891]

Well, I drove my car home yesterday after church. Made the 23 mile drive well, if a little noisy with nothing after the headers. Needs some adjustments to the timing and mixtures, but ran well.

 

[mac61891]

I licensed the car a week or so ago, and made some final tweeks before driving to work (23 Miles). I Hung some exhaust that I was able to use from the Toronado donor car. It is so much quieter, maybe too quiet. I found a couple of fluid leaks that I was able to get taken car of. I will need to get a new fuel tank though. It leaks near the top. The 700 shifts nice and smooth. I do need to get a different Trans stick and tube because the one in it does not clear the air cleaner well. I need to get it cleaned up, yet. And my radio does not work, so I need to get that figured out.
It will be my daily driver until winter.

 

[mac61891]

I have not had to work much on the Cutlass as it has been running great. I did make a couple carburetor adjustments last week, but it has been a champ. I can not give exact fuel mileage, as I have not installed my new electronic speedo. I have some stainless that I think I am going to use as a base to mount my speedo along with some other gauges to keep track of things. I had a Sport-Comp tach given to me, but I don't believe that I am going to install it in this car as I really don't need it, and it is HUGE.
I will post pics of the cluster as it progresses.