July G-body of the month (Project in Progress)
- Thread starter 85Supreme
- Start date
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I'll put my current '83 Cutlass in the running. Pics of it can be viewed at: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2689026/1 ... ss-supreme
The Background Story
My very 1st car, a 1983 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, which my dad built for me was stolen on November 2, 2005. After 2 months of searching for it, I gave up and decided to just buy another one. In January of 2006, I won an eBay auction for an '85 Cutlass that resembled my 1st one, and an '83 Cutlass parts car from a guy named Jerry in Palatka, FL. Two cars for $250, I couldn't turn it down. Near the end of January '06, I went to pick up one of the cars. I took 3 of my buddies from high school with me in my '93 Nissan Maxima to pick up the car and tow it back with a U-Haul tow dolly. It took 6 hours to get there from Columbus, GA. We arrived in the midst of a heavy rain storm, and the lights on the tow dolly had shorted out. Upon our arrival, the Palatka Police pulled us over for the tow dolly lights being shorted out, interrogated us, and proceeded to search my vehicle for any illegal substances(another story). After telling them our reason for coming to their city, they burst into hysterical laughter and inform us that the guy I bought the cars from is a Meth addict and we probably wouldn't be able to locate him. Undeterred, and after they released us, we continued on to the address that the guy Jerry had sent to me on eBay. We arrived at his house at almost 11pm, and it was pitch black. It was gated and there was a big dog roving the yard. We made all kinds of loud noise and honked the horn for nearly 30 minutes, but to no avail. Eventually, the same cops that had pulled us over early that evening showed up and said that the neighbors had been complaining about all the noise and that we should just go home. So we left, and went to the nearest hotel. We woke up bright and early the next morning and went back to Jerry's house and caught him outside feeding his dog. He turned out to be a nice guy, and helped us to load the car unto the dolly. He gave me his personal number to call when I came back to get the other car. So we hit the road, bright and early, and got back home shortly before sunset. That was the trip for the '85 Cutlass.
At the end February of 2006, I returned to Palatka, FL to pick the '83 Cutlass from Jerry. This time it was just my stepdad and I. Once again, I was using the same tow dolly with my '93 Nissan Maxima to pull a car. We arrived in Palatka shortly after nightfall, and once again the dolly's lights had shorted out. As luck would have it, we got pulled over by the exact same cops that had stopped my friends and I the month before. They recognized me, the car, and the trailer though and helped to fix the lights. Then they started to tell my stepdad all about what had happened the month prior. After they let us go on our way, we went to same hotel I stayed in the month prior and called it a night. Early the next morning, I called Jerry and we went and met him at his house to pick up the car. Once again, he helped us to load it up and be on our way. We got the car home and dropped it off where it would just sit for about a year.
The Project Stage
For the next year, I debated on whether to keep the car or crush it. The visible exterior was rusting away. The rear had been smashed somehow. The hood was none existent. However, the interior was in fairly decent shape, it had an Olds 403 engine w/dual pattern TH350 trans, it had a factory power sunroof(I had never seen one with it), and the undercarriage was solid. In a series of events, I kept meeting new people through my dad and uncles who knew where I could find what I needed for almost nothing. Before the end of 2006, I had amassed replacement parts for all of the missing and damaged body panels, several other miscellaneous parts, and two complete Buick 455 big blocks(a '70 and a '75).
In 2007, my dad and uncle pulled the engine and trans out for me and I sent the car to a local bodyshop for some body work before it rusted away. To save some cash(cause I'd just bought my '94 Impala SS) I told them to just use fiberglass to fill all of the rust holes on the car. After about a month or two, they were done and I had the car delivered to my dad's house to begin it's next phase: engine work. I spent the next couple of months collecting all the parts that I wanted for my engine, thinking that I would do it one time and be done with it. After I'd gathered my engine parts, I was ready to start putting it together, but got sidetracked by another vehicle purchase(my '96 9C1 Caprice).
I was gonna get hot 'n heavy on the engine after New Years of '08, but the 4L60E trans in the Caprice died on me in January. After getting that fixed, I noticed that the fiberglass on the car's body was already starting to crack. I took it to another bodyshop and had all of the fiberglass removed and replaced with new metal(like I should've in the 1st place). It took about two months to get the bodywork done. Around summer of '08, we got to work taking the '75 455 engine apart and getting it prepped to go to the machine shop. I get a phone call from the machine shop 2 days after we dropped it off informing that the block had a deep crack running the entire length of the valley pan area. I was pissed. I spent the next weekend with my dad breaking down the '70 engine and prepping it to go to the machine shop. We dropped it off the falling week, and again I get phone call 2 days later. However, this time they were letting me know that my engine was done and ready for pick up. We picked it up the following day, and my dad had it put together and ready to drop in the car in less than a week. After finally getting the frame pads mounted in a good position, we dropped the engine in and bolted it up to the same old TH350 that came in the car. The next big obstacle to getting the car on the road was mounting the headers. The driver side header went on without a hitch. The passenger side was very problematic. I changed my starter to a mini-starter, and had the middle tubes rerouted 2-3 times before they finally fit. After all of that I finally got to hear the car run in December of '08. Then it was on the backburner again.
I left to join the US Army in January of '09. My basic training lasted until April. From there I went straight into my advanced individual training in Augusta, GA which lasted until November of '09. I left all of my cars with my dad while I was away. He tried driving the car, but the old trans that came w/it couldn't take the torque. My dad replaced it w/another rebuilt BOP TH350 that he had. I arrived at Ft. Hood, TX the day after Thanksgiving in '09. For Christmas of '09, I bought a few new parts for the Cutlass which I wanted to install myself as soon as I saw it again.
January 2010 I bought an '03 Z71 Avalanche to use mainly as a tow vehicle for my cars. I towed the car out to Ft. Hood, in the spring and drove it only on weekends to break in engine. Gradually, I started driving the car more and more, eventually making a few hard passes with it on a desolate back road not far from my house. After only 3 such occasions, the trans "gave up the ghost" and died on me one Saturday. I towed the car back to GA that summer and had my trans guy rebuild it with his best parts and a custom stall converter. I got my car back after a week, and it has been a blast driving since then. The car is still in GA awaiting my return from Iraq so that I can get back to work on it.
The Final Product
My car still needs a ton of work to be complete. I believe in getting the powertrain done first, and I keep adding more performance parts to it. I still haven't decided which rear end I want to use yet. Whatever I decide, it will have 4.10 or 4.11 gears and positraction. I'm also thinking about getting the Gear Vendors over/under drive system installed. I've yet to decide on a color for the car, but I'm leaning heavily towards a HOK Kandy red. One of the biggest reasons for my car not being painted is that I need a cowl induction hood to fit the single plane intake I want under it. Not to mention, my hood doesn't close all the way right now with the Holley carb and Edelbrock dual plane intake. As most of you know, I'm a big rim rider. I don't like sitting high though. I'm planning to tuck 26s with mostly stock suspension except for stock B-body springs, UMI double adjustable trailing arms, and a mini-tub treatment. I want my interior to be mostly stock with cloth seats and everything black or gray. As with any project, it'll probably never be completely done(especially the engine), but I just want it to be something I can have fun with on the weekends on the street or at the track.
I want it to sit like the one below:
The Background Story
My very 1st car, a 1983 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, which my dad built for me was stolen on November 2, 2005. After 2 months of searching for it, I gave up and decided to just buy another one. In January of 2006, I won an eBay auction for an '85 Cutlass that resembled my 1st one, and an '83 Cutlass parts car from a guy named Jerry in Palatka, FL. Two cars for $250, I couldn't turn it down. Near the end of January '06, I went to pick up one of the cars. I took 3 of my buddies from high school with me in my '93 Nissan Maxima to pick up the car and tow it back with a U-Haul tow dolly. It took 6 hours to get there from Columbus, GA. We arrived in the midst of a heavy rain storm, and the lights on the tow dolly had shorted out. Upon our arrival, the Palatka Police pulled us over for the tow dolly lights being shorted out, interrogated us, and proceeded to search my vehicle for any illegal substances(another story). After telling them our reason for coming to their city, they burst into hysterical laughter and inform us that the guy I bought the cars from is a Meth addict and we probably wouldn't be able to locate him. Undeterred, and after they released us, we continued on to the address that the guy Jerry had sent to me on eBay. We arrived at his house at almost 11pm, and it was pitch black. It was gated and there was a big dog roving the yard. We made all kinds of loud noise and honked the horn for nearly 30 minutes, but to no avail. Eventually, the same cops that had pulled us over early that evening showed up and said that the neighbors had been complaining about all the noise and that we should just go home. So we left, and went to the nearest hotel. We woke up bright and early the next morning and went back to Jerry's house and caught him outside feeding his dog. He turned out to be a nice guy, and helped us to load the car unto the dolly. He gave me his personal number to call when I came back to get the other car. So we hit the road, bright and early, and got back home shortly before sunset. That was the trip for the '85 Cutlass.
At the end February of 2006, I returned to Palatka, FL to pick the '83 Cutlass from Jerry. This time it was just my stepdad and I. Once again, I was using the same tow dolly with my '93 Nissan Maxima to pull a car. We arrived in Palatka shortly after nightfall, and once again the dolly's lights had shorted out. As luck would have it, we got pulled over by the exact same cops that had stopped my friends and I the month before. They recognized me, the car, and the trailer though and helped to fix the lights. Then they started to tell my stepdad all about what had happened the month prior. After they let us go on our way, we went to same hotel I stayed in the month prior and called it a night. Early the next morning, I called Jerry and we went and met him at his house to pick up the car. Once again, he helped us to load it up and be on our way. We got the car home and dropped it off where it would just sit for about a year.
The Project Stage
For the next year, I debated on whether to keep the car or crush it. The visible exterior was rusting away. The rear had been smashed somehow. The hood was none existent. However, the interior was in fairly decent shape, it had an Olds 403 engine w/dual pattern TH350 trans, it had a factory power sunroof(I had never seen one with it), and the undercarriage was solid. In a series of events, I kept meeting new people through my dad and uncles who knew where I could find what I needed for almost nothing. Before the end of 2006, I had amassed replacement parts for all of the missing and damaged body panels, several other miscellaneous parts, and two complete Buick 455 big blocks(a '70 and a '75).
In 2007, my dad and uncle pulled the engine and trans out for me and I sent the car to a local bodyshop for some body work before it rusted away. To save some cash(cause I'd just bought my '94 Impala SS) I told them to just use fiberglass to fill all of the rust holes on the car. After about a month or two, they were done and I had the car delivered to my dad's house to begin it's next phase: engine work. I spent the next couple of months collecting all the parts that I wanted for my engine, thinking that I would do it one time and be done with it. After I'd gathered my engine parts, I was ready to start putting it together, but got sidetracked by another vehicle purchase(my '96 9C1 Caprice).
I was gonna get hot 'n heavy on the engine after New Years of '08, but the 4L60E trans in the Caprice died on me in January. After getting that fixed, I noticed that the fiberglass on the car's body was already starting to crack. I took it to another bodyshop and had all of the fiberglass removed and replaced with new metal(like I should've in the 1st place). It took about two months to get the bodywork done. Around summer of '08, we got to work taking the '75 455 engine apart and getting it prepped to go to the machine shop. I get a phone call from the machine shop 2 days after we dropped it off informing that the block had a deep crack running the entire length of the valley pan area. I was pissed. I spent the next weekend with my dad breaking down the '70 engine and prepping it to go to the machine shop. We dropped it off the falling week, and again I get phone call 2 days later. However, this time they were letting me know that my engine was done and ready for pick up. We picked it up the following day, and my dad had it put together and ready to drop in the car in less than a week. After finally getting the frame pads mounted in a good position, we dropped the engine in and bolted it up to the same old TH350 that came in the car. The next big obstacle to getting the car on the road was mounting the headers. The driver side header went on without a hitch. The passenger side was very problematic. I changed my starter to a mini-starter, and had the middle tubes rerouted 2-3 times before they finally fit. After all of that I finally got to hear the car run in December of '08. Then it was on the backburner again.
I left to join the US Army in January of '09. My basic training lasted until April. From there I went straight into my advanced individual training in Augusta, GA which lasted until November of '09. I left all of my cars with my dad while I was away. He tried driving the car, but the old trans that came w/it couldn't take the torque. My dad replaced it w/another rebuilt BOP TH350 that he had. I arrived at Ft. Hood, TX the day after Thanksgiving in '09. For Christmas of '09, I bought a few new parts for the Cutlass which I wanted to install myself as soon as I saw it again.
January 2010 I bought an '03 Z71 Avalanche to use mainly as a tow vehicle for my cars. I towed the car out to Ft. Hood, in the spring and drove it only on weekends to break in engine. Gradually, I started driving the car more and more, eventually making a few hard passes with it on a desolate back road not far from my house. After only 3 such occasions, the trans "gave up the ghost" and died on me one Saturday. I towed the car back to GA that summer and had my trans guy rebuild it with his best parts and a custom stall converter. I got my car back after a week, and it has been a blast driving since then. The car is still in GA awaiting my return from Iraq so that I can get back to work on it.
The Final Product
My car still needs a ton of work to be complete. I believe in getting the powertrain done first, and I keep adding more performance parts to it. I still haven't decided which rear end I want to use yet. Whatever I decide, it will have 4.10 or 4.11 gears and positraction. I'm also thinking about getting the Gear Vendors over/under drive system installed. I've yet to decide on a color for the car, but I'm leaning heavily towards a HOK Kandy red. One of the biggest reasons for my car not being painted is that I need a cowl induction hood to fit the single plane intake I want under it. Not to mention, my hood doesn't close all the way right now with the Holley carb and Edelbrock dual plane intake. As most of you know, I'm a big rim rider. I don't like sitting high though. I'm planning to tuck 26s with mostly stock suspension except for stock B-body springs, UMI double adjustable trailing arms, and a mini-tub treatment. I want my interior to be mostly stock with cloth seats and everything black or gray. As with any project, it'll probably never be completely done(especially the engine), but I just want it to be something I can have fun with on the weekends on the street or at the track.
I want it to sit like the one below:
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here is my 78 cutlass calais
i have a build thread that tells you the story and has a bunch of pics
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=12477&start=0
i have a build thread that tells you the story and has a bunch of pics
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=12477&start=0
Well, everyone's entitled to their opinion, but if you consider a car that has 20 miles on the clock with mismatched wheels, no paint, no trim and no interior finished, you've got some low standards.
[/quote]
Nice ride, but imo its not a work in progress. Well it is, just like everybodies. But your description implies That you've Don everything basically. And we gotta see pics of some progress man haha..rules are rules. 😀[/quote]
[/quote]
Nice ride, but imo its not a work in progress. Well it is, just like everybodies. But your description implies That you've Don everything basically. And we gotta see pics of some progress man haha..rules are rules. 😀[/quote]
bought mine last year had been searching for an elky for bout 3 years they have been my dream vehicle since i was a kid.while i worked at taco bell i was going to college for automotive.well we worked on everything and were buildin a drag car.sitting there i thought man i want my own project so when i got home i was talkin with my dad and he said he knew someone with an elky.the next day i came home from work he said call this number well i did and it was a guy he worked with.he said he will sell it too me cheap cause he knows i love it.it was but a week later i brought it home and it looked a lil rough but ran and drove.it was his daily driver and the second he let me drive i fell in love 🙂 this was it then...
...i loved it but things had to change.first thing was my wheels lol had no money for new so painted the old ones and they didnt have caps so i bought some.they arent chevy but they look good...
....we did most at home and what we couldnt do at home i did at school or he took to his work where he painted them...even my wife helped 🙂
lol we had fun putting this all together ...
...
...we had a stock pile lol and i had to clean up the 40's 🙂...
....
....we have made this truck into a family thing...
...we have been to many shows as a family and this started out as my thing now its a family deal which i can say im proud of.me and my dad wrench on this thing alot and its our pride and joy.it may not be the nicest but i know we worked hard on it and its BUILT NOT BOUGHT!!!!! now that im out of school we have time to do the bigger things on it and travel to bigger better shows 🙂 ....might be adding some monte SS rims but not sure...well thats all i got for now...
HELLO FAMILY HERE IS A LIL STORY ABOUT MY GBODY PROJECT ! I HAVE A 1987 MONTE CARLO SS T-TOP I BOUGHT HER A LIL OVER A YEAR AGO I PAID $2000 THE GUY SAID IT HAD BLOWN HEAD IN IT SO I TOOK HER HOME COME TO FIND OUT IT WAS JUST THE VALVE GUIDE SEALS THAT WERE BAD AND I ALSO TUNNED THE CARB A BIT EASY FIX SO I DROVE HER AROUND FOR 6 MONTHS SHE WAS PERFECT BUT I WANTED MORE OUT HER SO I DECIDED TO SWAP MOTOR AND transmission SO I DID I PULLED OUT STOCK 305 AND 2004R STRIPPED ALL OLD PAINT FROM ENGINE BAY AND REPAINTED IT AND REPLACED IT WITH 355 SBC MILD CAM 600CFM EDELBROCK CARB HOOKER HEADERS AND A MSD IGN KIT AND I WENT WITH 700R4 transmission W/TRANSGO SHIFT KIT! I ALSO REPLACED STOCK RADIATOR WITH A 2ROW ALUM RADIATOR AND 2 12" ELEC FANS. NOW I AM BEGINING TO STRIP THE INTERIOR SO I CAN SEND HER FOR PAINT !
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