My 83' Cutlass Supreme Brougham

[rucai]

I recently purchased a 1983 Olds Cutlass Supreme Brougham with some friends for $500. Originally it was just going to be a car to just beat the crap out of (burnouts, donuts, offroading, etc), but now I am actually like the look of the car and am interested in fixing it up. Mostly cosmetic work would be done to make it a stylish cruiser car for the summer and a bit of engine work to make the car pull a bit more. The first night I took it out I thought that it would be no problem to do burnouts (V8 RWD), but I couldn't seem to pull it off. I do have a bumper for the that just needs to be installed so don't worry about that rusted out piece of crap and I have a tape deck for it too that needs to be installed. Regarding the engine should a 305 be able to pull pretty good, is there a governor on the car or what cause I was stoked on this car to be able to smoke some civics with fart cannons lol. Also I want to put a mean sounding exhaust on this car preferably one that isn't to expensive. Any ways here are some pics of the car and I was wondering what you guys think I should do to the car, btw I don't want to spend too much money on it.

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[sui_winbolo]

Looks like it's in excellent shape! The interior really reminds me of my '83 Grand Prix. Glad to hear you're going to fix it up instead of beating the crap out of it.

 

[rucai]

I mainly want to fix it up because the body styling is very similiar to the Buick Grand National, which is an amazing car and I would like to a have a similiar vehicle with decent performance and looks. 🙂

 

[Furtrader]

Hmmm, something about that car appeals to me....

 

[outsider_27]

Not a bad looking car. As far as performance, it is a 305, not much known for performance. But you can do a few things, headers and true dual exhaust to make it breathe a little better. That and a little steeper gear in the rearend should do enough to make it noticable. Have fun with it.

 

[rucai]

I have been researching the performance of the 305 apparently my particular engine is only pushing around 140hp which is surprising to me because it is a V8. I'll probably just mainly focus on cosmetic with this car then. The paint has minor surface rust and blemishes, what would be the best way to fix that I like the two tone brown and beige, so I was hoping to keep the color.

 

[ponchoman49]

Your Cutlass should have the LG4 vin "H" 305 4BBL V8 instead of the Olds 307 "Y" motor from the US. The Olds 307 put out 140 HP. Not sure about your Canadian 305 but i'm pretty sure it put out more than 140HP for several reasons. The C4 computer controlled US 305 equipped cars were factory rated at 150 HP in the Monte Carlo and Grand Prix. Prior to 1981 with no C4 emissions system the 305 LG4 4 BBL engine was rated from 155-165 HP so I would think your engine is closer to those levels. Without the computer there is several easy hop ups you can do to this engine. The Quadrajet carb has relatively lean secondary metering rods so a switch ot thinner/richer rods is a good place to start. The secondaries can be adjusted for quicker opening rate also. The distributer is another good source of cheap power. Find a good distributer re-curve kit and have someone that understands these engines install it. A Monte SS spec 305 cam also goes a long way in waking these engines up. Check out what kind of rear gears you have. These cars usualy came with highway gears of 2.41:1. A switch to 3.23:1 is advisable with this engine.

 

[O. D. Showtime]

Welcome to the site! Good choice on fixing it up..these cars are getting harder to find in decent shape. Where abouts are you located?

 

[cutty]

looks like a solid starting point

 

[rucai]

Today I drove the car, definitely feels a bit sluggish, like my cavalier pulls more than this thing and sputters when I tromp on it. My friend thinks that it could be the curberator, so we are going to see what we can do one of these days so I can get this car up and running decent for the summer . Trying to get the bumper off of it was a pain in the *ss though because the bolts were all rusted out, I have a nice shiny one to put on so the car will look significantly better.