First car reborn

[Drkuhar]

I got my monte carlo cowl to core braces put on the cutlass this weekend. I wire wheeled them down and sealed and painted black. The location dimples in the cowl were there when i pulled the rubber off and once drilled out they bolted up. I put some 3m stip caulk around the stud to seal it from water leaking out of the cowl.
On the front mounts i had to add about 1/4" of washers to clear where the cutlass core support brackets had a lip on them. This also helped clear the overflow tank on the passenger side

 

[Drkuhar]

I got my gp bar painted and decided to paint my jounce bars also so it matched. When i put it on i forgot my milwaukee m12 magnet light under the car and lost it on the test drive.

Hopefully in the next few weeks i can get my g force crossmember installed. Right now my pipe on the drivers side angles down and back up and only clears the crossmember by 1/4".

 

[mclellan83]

Glad to see you are still making adjustments to a really good looking car

 

[Drkuhar]

Glad to see you are still making adjustments to a really good looking car

Thank you

 

[LeftLaneOnly]

Very nice work

 

[blk7gxn]

WOW!! What a beautiful transformation, GREAT WORKMANSHIP!

 

[Drkuhar]

This weeks progress turned into a few steps back unfortunately. I went to put the new crossmember in and it hit the floorpan and my current exhaust doesnt line up with the openings.
When it wouldnt clear the floor pan i decided to check the body mounts and visually the number #3 under the doors and the #6 behind the wheels looked bad so i tried to pull the bolt and it was rotted down to nothing and broke.
Currently drilling a hole over all bodymounts and soaking with deep creep. New body mounts and bolts coming up.
I wish i had done this while it was apart and before it was painted. Live and learn

 

[Drkuhar]

So new body mounts and bolts are all in. It raised the car 1/2" both number 6 positions behind the rear wheel bolts broke and were down to nothing. Everything else came out. I used the red prothane kit and a bolt kit that was on amazon.
My number 3 positions I had to drill the included washer out for the top as the car had a stud that stuck down. Both of my number 2 frame positions looked good. As did all of the other frame locations. I had to used the locator holes to move the body just right so everything would line up.
I used a hole saw to access the cage nuts for the number 6 positions and just used nuts and washers ond those. I have 2 1/2" body plugs coming to put in those holes. Still waiting on a new torque wrench to torque them down with.
My car also had the number 5 bushings which surprised me but the kit had new ones so they got changed also.
I didnt expect the old bushings to be in such bad condition or i would have done this before the body was done. Now to get it buttoned up and back to my exhaust hopefully

 

[Drkuhar]

So i got to drive my car for a bit after doing the body mounts and all of the braces in the front. What a different ride experience now. The car rides totally different and in a good way. Definitely a huge improvement. There was some sounds i used to hear that i believe was the body mounts moving that is gone. The front end is tighter and the suspension feels more responsive.


Now i can continue with my new exhaust and gforce crossmember. Too bad my headers are back ordered until February.

 

[Drkuhar]

I had a bit of time and ordered one of the 84 hurst olds matchbox cars from 80lemans. I drilled the rivets and pulled the body apart. I used model paint close to my color and made my car and glued it back in the package. Something cool to hang in the garage