im back, with a new project

[Lightluss]

you guys might remember me, i did a restoration, and small build of my 1983 cutlass a little over a year ago.

since ive done that, the car has been sitting at the top of my driveway, and i cant find the heart to get rid of it. recently i bought a 2004 ford lightning as my daily driver. ive done a few bolt on's and now i guess you could call me a closet ford guy.

but thats besides the point, after having that as my daily the cutlass just isnt enough for me anymore. i didnt go wild on the build last time, but everything was built right. so this time, i figure lets push it a little more. i am going to be driving this car on weekends and stuff, and probably go to the track a few times a year. so i sold an old c10 i had lying around, and today i bought this.
http://newyork.craigslist.org/lgi/pts/1613644214.html
i got the motor, headers, and starter for $3100, picked it up and hauled it home. right now the cutlass is sitting with a dead battery and a cracked radiator, i plan to have this project done by summer. i have a few needs, wants, and concerns.

first i want to pull the old motor, transmission, and rear out. im going to clean up the engine bay, and repaint it. i plan on removing the heat/ac. i have an msd system in the car already so that will stay, and ill clean up all of the other wiring. im going to send out my turbo 350 to get built, and my 3:73 rear to get built, with more gear of course. im not sure of the ratio i want yet , i was thinking of just 4:11's because this car will be driven on the street too. the turbo 350 works great now, but all it has is a b&m shift kit, and i need more than that for the new motor. now, i have several concerns with the following elements of this build.
Driveshaft:
all i have is stock right now, i saw one on gbodyparts.com, but it was pricey, any other good sources for one?
Fuel:
i have a stock fuel system. i was thinking of getting a larger fuel cell (15 gal.?) making my own lines, and dumping the entire old system. or sump the tank i have now, and go with new lines, and a new pump? any good sources for a fuel system? just something to be able to support this motor.
Brakes:
i was going to leave the brakes alone for now, drums in the rear, and if i want to later on i can convert to disc all around.
Suspension:
all i was going to do for now, was get rear drag springs for the rear, and i have eibach springs for the front. again, later on i can improve the suspension all around. ive seem some of the front end rebuilding kits, and upper and lower control arms and stuff, do you think i should do more that just springs? i have 4 bilstiens on the car now, but thats the only modification ive made.
Cooling:
i have a cracked radiator, so whats a good, large, aluminum radiator for g bodys? i also have a dual electric fan set-up that runs off of a relay for the car. should i go with an electric water pump? or a stock gm pump?
Dressing the front:
i want the motor to look nice of course, and since i am deleting the ac, whats a cost effective front pulley set-up for small blocks? i have seen whole kits for over $1000, i dont need chrome pulleys or anything, but something other than the stock set-up.
Mini Tub:
i want to cut away the inner lip of the wheel wells to make room for tires, what else can i get rid of back there? is tehre an old thread on a mini tub?
Roll cage:
the motor is rated at 500-700hp with 800tq. with a t-top car, im guessing i need at least a 4-point cage in there. i didnt want to have to rip apart my interior again, but its necessary now. any good kits out there for g bodys? ive seen the jegs one.
Motor mounts:
what motor mounts should i use? are stock ones okay for this motor?
Exhaust:
im not sure that the headers i bought will work, but i got them because they opened up to 3''. i have flowtech headers on the car now but they are 2 1/2''. if i can make these work, id like to go with a 3'' system. right now i have a custom 2 1/2'' system with borla mufflers. i feel that the borla sounds nice, but is a little restrictive. i dont need an elaborate exhaust system. i was thinking dumping the borlas under the car?
Weight:
are there any other things i can get rid of to cut some weight? im not looking for a 2,000lb car, but every bit helps.

so those are my main questions, and pretty much all i will be doing on this build, plus small things like paint a wheels, once all that is done. i know i have so many questions and i dont expect any 1 person to answer any mroe than 1 of those questions, but any advice would help. i am pretty experienced and have experienced people working with me, but not familiar with g bodys. well, thanks for any advice, and ill start ripping out the old motor this week.

 

[79loserbluebu]

Welcome back to the dark side

For the driveshaft I would just have a driveline shop build you one. I got mine for something around $350 and it's a beast I doubt I'll ever have issues with it. What rear end do you have? Some 7.5"s are solid and some like to explode, it's basically like playing Russian roulette. My friend has an 11 second MCSS with a 383 and TH400 bone stock rear with 10" tires and boxed LCA's and sprayed a 200 off the line and it's held up quite alright. A good upgrade is the GN/442/turbo Regal 8.5" but they are starting to get harder to find. I think they make bolt in G-body 12 bolts and 9" rears now.

For the brakes if you wanted to do something to them after you drop that monster small block in, you could slap some aftermarket pads on like SSBC or Brembos. Also for the rear you can use 1st gen S10 manual wheel cylinders. The piston area is larger than the stock G-body wheel cylinders. I plan on doing that during the summer after I finish all my other tasks.

For the suspension you can always box in your own rear lower control arms for some added strength. When you start putting more tq down to the rear wheels they do like to flex. Also you can get some already boxed or adjustables. You can also get some air bags that go inside of the coils because G-bodys tend to lift toward the driver side.

For the pulley system you can go with a mid 90's B-body serpentine or a 3rd gen F-body serpentine and get the A/C delete pulley from a local parts store. I picked up a complete F-body setup with bolts for $150 off of eBay 8) . You can also completely remove the smog pump and go with the alternate belt routing to save a little weight up front.
http://www.thirdgen.org/serpentine

Certain Cutlass's came with aluminum hoods and core supports, and you can find aluminum bumper supports to drop your weight down, but they can be pretty pricey. If I was personally worried about weight I'd rather start taking the interior out before spending the money that some do to get the aluminum pieces.

That's all I got really, not sure about the engine mounts or fuel system or roll cage since my car is a street car. But hey it's not hard.

Got any more pics of the car?

 

[Lightluss]

thanks SO MUCH for the reply, if i get a few more people as good as you, i should have all my concerns worked out in a week, and i can get started!
an answer to your question, yeah ive got plenty of pictures of the car. their from last year, but its just been sitting.
http://s203.photobucket.com/albums/aa50 ... 20Cutlass/
theres the album of the car, with some other random sh*t in there. but anyway,
i work at a napa auto parts, so small stupid parts wont be a problem at all, and crossing numbers and all that is also not an issue.
what you said about the rear made me think, i have a 12 bolt, 3:73 that i just put in about 6 months ago, i would consider putting in nice axles, and swapping bigger gears into it, doing it ourselves instead of getting it sent out. that could potentially save me some money.
thanks for the tip on the wheel cylinders, ill defenitly do that twoards the end.
now about the serpentine system, ill def. remove the smog pump, because im not passing any sort of inspection anyways, ill have to steal an old sticker somewhere. would a system like this be all that i potentially need? i havent shopped around for prices, this is just the first one i saw.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SBC-FRON ... 3a46e5341b
if so, that could knock out my water pump, and power steering pump.

 

[Lightluss]

bumpp

 

[Blake442]

God dammit that's a lot of reading... And welcome back!
I had to skip this thread the first time I saw it cause I had a couple beers in me and it was just overwhelming. :lol:
Here's my 2 cents...

First off, DON'T REMOVE YOUR HEATER! I still have no clue as to why so many people think this is a good idea.
If you want to get rid of the A/C, that's fine, but you WILL regret removing it entirely.
Swap to the factory non a/c set up if you want to clean up the engine compartment.
That's what I did in both my Oldsmobiles, and I couldn't be happier with them.
I don't know what region of the country you're from, but trust me, unless it's a race track only car, don't do it.

2,000 lbs is never gonna happen. You'll be lucky to even get it in the neighborhood of 3,000 with a full interior still in it.

Change your mufflers if you want, but 2-1/2" should be fine for your set-up.
I'm not a fan of dumping the exhaust in front of the axle. LOTS of interior noise that way.
It's cool at first, but the novelty wears off pretty quick and then it just becomes mind-numbing.

"500-700 horsepower" is a pretty broad claim.
Any plans to have the motor dyno'd before you install it?

If you're deleting things in the engine compartment, don't waste your money on a serpentine belt system.
Even better, swap in a manual steering box from an S-10, and you'll only need one belt to run your alternator.
I've also never been a big fan of electric water pumps on street cars, but maybe that's just me...

For the gas tank, I'd look into a stock baffled tank with an in-tank pump from a GN or TBI Monte.

3.73 is about as steep as I'd want to go with a 3-speed trans (that's what I run, and am considering something like 3.23)
Especially since they're pretty new gears, I'd run them for a while and see how you like it.

Rebuilding your steering and suspension is always a good idea.

I got a nice new aluminum radiator off eBay a couple years ago for only $180 and it fit perfect and works great.

That's about all I have the attention span for at the moment... 8)

 

[beermonkey9417]

whats kewl about the lightning is its the same motor thats in the ford gt. YAY HP!

 

[MrHernandez]

Check jrmotorsports.com for a cage and a few other performance goodies, it's a circle track site, also speedwaymotors.com parts you need may be listed under metric chassis...good luck with the build

 

[dogsht]

You are striping her down to a pump gas drag car to go stop light to stop light. Actually I assume pump gas since I can't see the motor link and you want to run it on the street. But really for how you will use this car; no heat/AC 3 speed & 4.11s it wouldn't have to be and you could get more power out of race fuel. 500HP is do-able but 800TQ is not happening with a small block. Anyway no need for a serpentine system. Like suggested go the manual S-10 steering route then all you need is an altenator belt. No you can't dependably use an electric water pump on a driver but it should be all right for the amount this car will get driven and if it fails its not like you are going to be out of state.

Ford 9 ready made conversion is what I would suggest because you are going to want to set it up to hook and come out hard. The first 60 feet is everything for a stop lighter or drag car. You may not need mini tubs. I know I was planing on just a frame notch to run a 295/65/15 drag radial which is 29" tall & if memory serves me had an 11.5" section width. I assume with a cage you won't need the other braceing but fwiw to keep my T topped GN from twisting up the A pillars I used the criss cross brace in the trunk. It worked fine with 1.8 60 foots but you should set something up to leave harder especially if you want to come out with spray. Weight reduction is always money well spent a fiberglass hood the lightweight aftermarket core support the replaceing the bumper shocks and mounts with aftermarket aluminum mounts all take a lot of weight off the nose. One thing to keep in mind before you drop the AC/heat etc is that once done the car's resale market if not resale value drops ie nobody else wants it other than another racer looking for a cheap drag car roller.

PS I run that same hood only I made mine functional. You can check it out in my pics.

 

[Lightluss]

blake,
thanks for actually reading, and the response, i know what you mean, sometimes i find myself browsing forums after a rough night.
as far as the heat goes, i never really used it, and im not going to have the car out if its that chilly out, im not doing it to drop weight, just to clean up the engine bay. regarding the exhaust, my friend just did his mopar over, and he dumped his 3'' exhaust about 2/3 down the car. yeah its loud, it sounds great, and that def. what im looking for, im not gunna be cruising on the parkway with this car at all.
i know 500-700 hp is a broad claim, thats exactly what i said to the builder. the motors never been turned over, he said thats what it was estimated to make, i am as clueless as you, but its going to be an amazing improvement from what i have now. i plan on having the finished car dynoed, it is what ti is when im done, im not going to complain.
you really think 3.73's are good enough, i guess i could leave the rear for now, maybe to axles at least because im going to want to launch the thing.
as far as steering and suspension goes, maybe ill do rear upper and lower control arms, along with the springs. but do they sell some sort of kit for the front, just to freshen everything up, maybe sway bars tie rods and bushings. and how much would i be looking at for a kit?

thanks for reading, again.......

 

[Lightluss]

dogshit, (haha)

i was planning on doing that criss cross trunk brace, thanks.
the motor was built to run on pump gas, but with 1.4:1 compression, it mightttt be pushing it, who knows until we try, if i have to it will be no problem to mix 93 and race gas, ill probably end up doing that, just for cruising around town and stuff.
i already have a serpentine system on the car, but i would really like to get some sort of kit that would actually look nice in front of the motor. but are you guys saying, lose my power steering, and go manual? yeah, it will clear up room, but theres some power steering kits out there that also look nice. im not too concerned with the weight, i mean the car is what it is, i can drop weight later on if i really really need to. i also made that hood functional, its kindof ghetto, but it works. but i will def. go with a fiberglass cowl hood, probably 2''. again, thanks for readying