1980 cutlass longterm project

ok, i figured id start a build thread for my cutlass. for couple of reasons, 1 to help motivate me when i feel unmotivated , and 2 , to document what promises to be a huge-*ss project, and finally, im sure ill need some advice from some of you guys who are more experienced with the G bodys ( yeah yeah, i know technically mines an A body ) since i grew up in a mopar household. its basically a rolling body. no interior, no motor or transmission.





it doesnt look much different than it did when i drug it home a month or so ago, but i have been doing little things to it. the genius i bought it from lost the keys to the trunk/doors between the time i bought it and the time i picked it up so we had to remove what was left of the back seat and climb through to get the trunk open, which was harder than it sounds because the trunk is where all the trim pieces and tail lights are located, along with the gas tank he removed for some reason. i also had to get the hood open, the cable was frozen, that was a treat. been kind of just cleaning it up and figuring out which way i want to go with it for sure. the guy i bought it from threw in a small block 350 and an engine stand to go along with it. after getting itt home i ran the numbers and figured out it is a 86'ish ( block says 86, heads say 87 ) 285/300 horse crate motor. i dissasembled it and everything appears to be in pretty good shape. not sure if im gonna use it for this car or not or what im gonna do with it yet. the heads are 1.94/1.50 64cc models. the block looks all stock. it also came with a polished edelbrock RPM airgap intake. so for $900. i think i did pretty good. few pics of the motor

dave1978 said:

Looks pretty solid looks like it has a Calais header panel does that mean it's a floor shift bucket seat car as well?

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good eye, yup , it was originally a calais. im not sure if it had buckets or not, the interior is long gone. although judging from the munting holes i see id sy it may have been buckets. jimmy genius i got it from was stripping it to make a race car. guess the 15 lbs of plastic interior panels was to much for him to now i got to relocate an entire dam interior. the only thing left is the dash and steering column. at least those are the right color ( black ) and in good shape. the dash has a couple very small cracks in it, easily repairable. pretty rare for a car that lived its life in south florida where the sun shines 365 days a year . and yup, it was a floor shift. the entire car , and trunk is stuffed full of parts i need to get it cleaned out this week so i can see better and get some pics. plus see what i got. i know all the trim, tail lights, rear valance panel, gas tank, and a heap of new parts are in it. i gave away alot of the new parts to a friend of mine, i wont be needing them. they were stock small block stuff, if i use the small block its gonna be all aftermarket. some of the stuff new in the box that was in it incude, motor mounts ( kept) , alternator, starter, distributor cap and button, plugs, wires, rear drums, ( all given to friend ) . for some reason theres two different drive shafts in it to. there both in the inside of the car, so i got to figure out which one i need, and im swapping rear ends, so maybe i cant use either. i have to verify still, but im assuming its got the 7.5 rear in it, id like to go with a 12 bolt posi. i know the ford 9" is easier to find, but i have a hard time putting a ford rear in my GM. you hear these olds purist bitchin about a chevy small block in a cutlass, as far as im concerned its gm to gm, and then they go and put a ford rearend in. that cracks me up. i think pretty soon im gonna have some exterior trim for sale ( got to make up my mind for sure, right now im 80% sure im going to not use it ) or trade so if anyones looking hit me up. im not sure what the panels on the bttom of the car are called, but they are in great shape all the way around. if i can get them off without mangling them im sure someone would want them. ill post a couple pics. these pics are from the drivers side, they look this good all the way around.

Intragration said:

cutlass79 said:

the 78-80 cutlassis are gbodys not abodys

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OP is right, '78-'81 Cutlasses are technically A-bodies. They didn't become G-bodies until '82 when the A-body went to FWD, although it was really just a change on paper, the platform didn't change. Looks like a straight car, good luck with it!

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i thought they started with the G body in 81, not 82. 78-80 was considered an A body, then 81-88 was considered a G body. although your correct about the platform not changing, they just changed the name basically. correct me if im wrong, and i could be . and yeah, its pretty straight, but it needs alot more work than it shows. they just primed over the original paint, and theres some suspisciously rough feeling spot under there, im gonna strip it one panel at a time and see what i find, i suspect some filler and bad bodywork. i definitely need to do some work at the seam where the quarters meet the roof. i have seen some sh*t work before, but nothing like what the factory left. holy crap. fortunately i grew up in a family thats heavily into cars and restorations. heres a link to my dads webpage http://www.melvena.com/ . i recommend you check it out if you are interested in some hardcore restoration work. especially if your in the ohio area and need some work done. and dont be fooled by the page, he does more than just mopars. unfortunately i now live in south florida so i cant have him help me out.

Oldsmoletick said:

Looks like a good solid car to start with, good find.

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thanks man. it took me a LONG time to find one this clean in my price range. back when i was 15, in 1990 , my first car was a 80 cutlass. just like any kid with his first car i had big plans/dreams for it. unfortunately, before i even got my license me and a couple friends snuck it out of the driveway and went joyriding. this was the end result.

i have always wanted to finally finish that project, but kids, wifes, money always got in the way. now 22 years later the kids are a little older, the wifes kicked to the curb, and moneys not quite as tight as it used to be, so i started looking hardcore for one last year. came across this one on craigslist so i went and looked at it. i didnt have all the cash for it at the time, but i explained my situation to the seller, and he was kewl as hell about it, he took a down payment and let me pay it off when i could. it involved a certain amount of trust on my part, the guy basically could have told me to take a leap and kept my $700. but he didnt, and i finally got to drag it home a couple months later. the end result will look very similar to this one i found on youtube. . only difference is mine wont have the black stripes, and ill be using weld dragstars i think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REUXucqh ... re=mh_lolz

anthonychacon80 said:

Your original 1980 looks like my 1980 that is also my first car. Seeing yours all smashed like that made me depressed. I hope mine never ends up like that!

p.s. What shenanigans caused a wreck that terrible!? That looks like you and your friends were LUCKY to walk away from. Or did they?

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we were 15, and drinking and driving. i grew up in central ohio out in the country, and there was a small road with a hill on it you could catch air on. we got the "bright" idea to jump it, my friend was driving on the last jump, and lost control of the car on the landing. we ended up hitting a grove of medium sized trees, snapped 3 of them off about a foot above the ground, the 4th tree flipped the car and then it fell on the car. there were 4 of us in it, and there were 4 life flights and 3 countys worth of emergency personell at the site. they had the entire road shut down for hours. and as far as "walking away' , thats a relative term. they found me walking about a 1/4 mile from the scene of the wreck going for help, we were in the middle of nowhere. i had broken every bone ( theres 26 bones in a foot btw ) in my left foot, shattered left ankle and leg, and ended up having surgery on both knees. also took about 400 stitches in the face to sew it back together, practically had to reattache my nose and left eyelid. still missing a small piece of my right ear to this day . my friends werent as "lucky", i managed to pull one of them out of the wreckage, the other two were trapped. im not going to list the long list of injurys they all suffered, just suffice it to say, 22 yrs later we all still bear the scars. and were all lucky to be alive. my son is 17 and just got his license , and im so grateful that he isnt like his old man, he actually has some common sense at that age , hes a dam good kid . my cutty project is on hold for a minute while i buy him a car, thats where all my extra cash is going this month and next. i gave his mom money for a car already, somehow he got no car and she got new carpet so im just gonna buy the kid a car. trying to find him something a.s.a.p. so i can get back on my cutty.