Not your grandfather's olds...

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Slowski

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Oct 16, 2017
9
29
13
Portage, Indiana
Well I've been busy with work, family and the holidays. Time to start the slow going build thread now that I've gathered some parts up. The car started as a 1 owner 1979 cutlass supreme with 70,382 miles that's been sitting since 1987. This won't be your typical drag car build, I'm shooting to build a road race car.ive already decided to run ridetech suspension so I'll be saving up that huge chunk of change as I go.
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After the guy came to pick up the old drivetrain my cherry picker was freed up and I set off to pull the body. The apprentice from work wanted to come over and see my progress plus I figured I would need a little help to get it separated.
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I don't recommend doing it the way I did unless you plan to remove the drip rails from the car. A few days went by that I didn't mess with the car due to work. However while I was at work I made some new washers to weld in where the body mounts went that were rotted. I also cleaned up some seams and rewelded them, I guess there was no QC the day that frame was out together they were pretty bad...
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I used a flap disc when I was done just to shine it up.
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I only had 3 to fix which wasn't too bad.
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I was searching the interwebs for parts and I came across this low mileage lq9 with flowtech twin turbo manifolds, and ati balancer for $1,200 I think that was a pretty solid deal. The manifolds are for sale if anyone is interested. I plan on doing a na build with ITB's.
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Then yesterday I added a tube to strengthen up the frame in the rear. I'll be placing an order for some steel sometime this week so I can box, notch, and brace up the chassis. Christmas is putting a dent in my pocket book like usual. On the bright side though my girlfriend suprised me with my Christmas gift today. I got a sn95 8.8 rear. I know alot of guys run the fox body 8.8 but I didn't want to deal with swapping the axles to a 5 lug and these have disc brakes already. As for the axle being a little longer I will just get a different backspacing when it comes time to order my wheels as for the 8.8 being 5x4.5 "5x120" and the normal pattern of 4.75 "5x120.65" So, 4.75" is equal to 120.65mm. 120mm is equal to 4.72441". That is a difference of 0.65mm or 0.02559" of overall diameter. That is OVERALL. Which means it is half of that on either side of the diameter. Half is 0.325 mm or 0.012795". I just plan to run 5x4.5 all the way around I don't think it's significant enough to worry about.
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This week the plan is to abrasive blast the whole frame and rear end to get ready for all the chassis work.
 
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Slowski

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Oct 16, 2017
9
29
13
Portage, Indiana
This rendering is what gave me inspiration to do a g body build.
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For some reason it reminds me of the movie "days of thunder" lol idk why. I'm hoping to achieve this look when I'm done. I'm sure there's alot of purist out there that will disagree with what I'm doing, however I just wanted to build something different to bring to track days. I've done alot with Subarus and diesel trucks in the past so it was time for me to switch it up. The cutlass is my first frame up build, due to my daughter taking a interest in working on cars with me which makes it even more special. The other day she asked to learn how to weld and she picked it up very quickly for being 7, if I could post up videos of her that would be awesome but here's some pictures of her welds.
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her practice plate before attempting a fillet.
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I also got antsy and started to sand blast the frame a little bit tonight
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1evilregal

Comic Book Super Hero
Apr 23, 2009
3,056
4,357
113
Greensboro, NC
welcome to the forum from NC! looks like you got a flying start on the build! looking forward to watching the progress on this one! great to see your daughter taking interest in what you're doing, and looks to be a great welder in the making!

lots of combined knowledge in here, and all levels of mechanical ability, so never be afraid to ask a question, no matter how simple or complex.
by the way, your inspirational pic is my background on my computer.... looks like great minds think alike!
 
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Slowski

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Oct 16, 2017
9
29
13
Portage, Indiana
<yawn> another LS in a Cutlass. Yay.

Otherwise, I like the concept! Is your 8.8 an IRS? That would be killer in the turns.

Thanks, I considered doing an irs in the car however after reading many of hours on the Dynamics of getting it all to work properly to have a corner carving car I opted not to do it. Maybe another phase in the build after the car is built. Seeing as making a chassis from scratch would be easier than trying to get the factory one to work. Also the Ford irs out of the cobra would be my last option.. I would either run a jaguar xj or Corvette c4 irs unless I really wanted to burn a hole in my pocket and drop the hammer on a heits. I'm spacing the build into "phases" so phase 1 you can call it is basically having the lq9 in and running with mild mods such as a cam and headwork. Having the suspension dialed in is more important than a big hp car running around the track. "Phase 2" as I'm calling it will be either a 334ci destroked 6.0l with mast heads and ITB's or a 408 with itb setup. I don't plan on running turbos seeing I'm only wanting around 500hp. Thanks everyone for checking out the starting of my build, it will be a little slow right now due to Christmas coming up, but there will be a lot of stuff going on soon with the chassis!
 
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pontiacgp

blank
Mar 31, 2006
29,270
20,391
113
Kitchener, Ontario
That's an interesting build and it's great to see you have your daughter involved. I'm not sure about the title of the thread tho, there is a bunch of grandfathers in here with rides that would impress you....:)
 
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Slowski

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Oct 16, 2017
9
29
13
Portage, Indiana
That's an interesting build and it's great to see you have your daughter involved. I'm not sure about the title of the thread tho, there is a bunch of grandfathers in here with rides that would impress you....:)
My apologies to all the grandfather's on the msg board this offends lol. Hopefully getting some steel this week to start the torque box and rear bracing.
 
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pontiacgp

blank
Mar 31, 2006
29,270
20,391
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Kitchener, Ontario
My apologies to all the grandfather's on the msg board this offends lol. Hopefully getting some steel this week to start the torque box and rear bracing.

I don't have an Olds but my grand kids think my GP is faster than their dad's 4 series BMW....and never worry about offending grand parents because with our short term memory most of us have already forgotten what you said....:D
 
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pagrunt

Geezer
Sep 14, 2014
9,124
15,255
113
Elderton, Pa
Welcome to the site. What is your daughters cost per hour to teach welding. She is way better than I am, her pratice plate is better than my attempts.
 
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