Cutlass

[olds]

Hello all, I have been trying to find a site to keep lists and details of everything I've done to my project. This one seemed to fit my project the best. I'm 21 years old and have had an 86 cutlass supreme since I began driving. I don't drive it anymore, but it has transformed into an ongoing project.

I would like to include pictures later to show everyone.

I haven't touched the exterior yet, all modifications have been on the interior and the engine I am building. Here's the vision of the car -

Engine - 383 with AFR 195cc heads, dual plane intake, forged everything bottom end, 750 cfm Holley carb, etc.

Drivetrain - ford 9" rear with 3.70 LSD, aluminum driveshaft, 700r4 or 200r4, the goal is to use the 400hp at the wheels most efficiently (ideas here would help a lot)

Interior - completely custom. Nothing will be stock but the windows and a few side panels :) I will need to post pics of this later.

Suspension - the reason I picked this forum. If any olds buffs are on here, the FE3X was a concept for creating a 1980's G pulling car. The final result was a moded 442 which could pull .97 g's around a skid pad. This is my goal to reproduce the concept.

Exterior - will match much of the FE3X concept car. All black, like the grand national.

Thanks for reading, hope everyone is cool here.

[olds]

Engine work so far:

I began driving to Dallas from Houston for a gen 1 4 bolt engine which claimed to be rebuilt, cost - 800$. This was the first engine for me, and like a dummy I didn't take off the oil pan to check around. After getting the thing home, I checked it out and found the crank wouldn't turn, there was no valvetrain besides old assembled heads (which looked good). The most distressing thing was the engine was a 2-bolt, which I figured I could work with a block, but a 2 bolt wasn't what I wanted. I took everything out after looking at a few bearings which were new but scratched up. One of the main bolts was even missing.

It seemed someone threw some new bearings on and called it rebuilt. Oh well, lesson learned.

I took it to a machine shop and lucked out - these guys are the best, if you are in the north Houston area, will recommend them to you. I had them magnflux and mike the old block, which they said was salvageable but explained the cost of work that needed to be done.

They gave me a 2-bolt gen.1 block in better condition for FREE. Although I did pay around 400$ for the machine work.

Block work:
gen 1 chevy 350, 2 bolt main
boiled, magnafluxed, line honed
clearance for 383 crank, bored .30 over, honed with 300/350 grit
brass plugs, (ARP main studs and windage tray in future)
painted Olds gold - they didn't have the color so I painted it myself

They did such a good job on the block, I brought it back to them for the bottom end assembly. I am currently waiting on prices and will choose the best 4340 kit for the money. The reason for the kit is, in theory, there won't be any clearance issues as if I had bought the pieces separately.

More to come later on the interior...

Here is the look I am aiming for:
http://www.fe3xolds.com/DOWNLOADS/dvII.jpg

[XcYZ]

Cool, welcome. :thumbsup:

[ProTouring442]

Welcome! I had an '86 442 for a while, until some lady ran a red light...

Post some pics of your project!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

[RomsMotors]

Good Choice in project car. Here the link to my cutlass project. I also attach a few pic of the car.

http://www.lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=4070

[89 RS]

Sounds good, look forward to seeing more on your project.

[98ssnova]

dude just roll with it and lesson learned. Cool to see a project like this coming together keep up the good work and take the knock as lession learned and don't do it again.:thumbsup: Good job bro

[olds]

Thanks for the posts everyone,

The short block is assembled after a long delay :thumbsup:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3315/3225058390_d501c44f5a_m.jpg
flat top hypereutectics, .030 over

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3517/3225058400_18c2cac6ae_m.jpg
no spider girdle, but will be running comp cams retrofit hyd. roller lifters for some extra power (also roller rockers)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3438/3225058408_933bf14f34_m.jpg
cam is degreed, it's a comp cams XR282HR with intake and exhaust duration at 282/288, and valve lift at .510/.520

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3257/3225058410_66013305a4_m.jpg

My budget only left room for a cast crank and I beam rods, which are pushing the limits on what this engine can do - they max out around 500 hp so I'm sucking it dry in terms of performance as it will put out right around 500hp/tq. I have a feeling this whole car will be built right on the threshold of street performance and high performance due to my college budget. I just don't want anything to crack or snap (a throttle stop will be one of the first additions to the top end list). The two bolt should hold up nicely with ARP studs rated at around 600 hp so the crank and rods are the weakest link of the set up. Hopefully they'll be stout through some decent revs up to 6 grand.

[olds]

more engine pictures:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3398/3225058414_691248aaf2_m.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3409/3225058426_3e60399d73_m.jpg

The heads story - I wanted to go with AFR's 195cc intake runner heads, the regular type, which flow about 270cfm at .500 lift. I looked around for the best deal but couldn't bring myself to spend 1500$ on a pair of heads. So the search continued until I found the new patriot freedom early SBC heads. They just started making them and they're the standard run-of-the-mill aluminum heads you might buy from any company. In short, they aren't AFR's, dart, or brodix. I called them up and they told me to call one of their distributors who had some promotional goodies for the first short while that the heads were being introduced. Talk about luck, I called them up and they had a pair of new patriot freedoms with a 195cc intake runner that were bowl blended (which I believe patriot also offers), pocket ported, dual springs set up for the roller lifters, and all at a price of 750$. Thats half price the AFR's for damn near the same performance take 5 or 10 hp. I also received a flow bench test which sets them at 255 cfm at a .500 lift. The other interesting thing is between a 500 and 600 lift airflow increases significantly, at a higher percentage than the AFR's (not saying the 600 lift is higher than the AFR's, but these heads close the gap considerably during this lift but fizz out afterward). So I bought a cam with a 510/520 lift to take advantage of this fact while saving vacuum for the street. The next luck with heads came a few days after I bought the patriots when I ran across some 283/327 heads someone had bolted onto an old 350 at a junkyard. If anyone wants the 327 heads we might work out a price - just send me a message and I can send you pictures.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3317/3225108208_a46106aa54_m.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3372/3225108216_0e8b9a19ec_m.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3399/3225108220_2464be27c4_m.jpg

[olds]

Some body work:

The rusty roof needed some work so it was sanded, rust cured, primed, and painted. I used a two stage primer (not a real two stage, just filler and sealer) and sprayed some flat black and clear on the top. The idea was to get a satin finish but it will end up looking high gloss because of the clear. It's a shade under that deep black look from using high gloss black, it's almost a dark gray/black color. I use spray cans and only spray cans working one panel at a time because that's what I'm accustomed to. I've done some paint jobs with spray cans and people think I'm lying to their face :lol: they don't believe it. I have tons of hours left on the paint, most of which will be color sanding and buffing, but this is just the start. You'll be able to use it as a mirror just like any paint job when it's finished, but it isn't a show car or trailer queen.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3453/3225108228_37f0cd503a_m.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3400/3225108230_436b9d92fe_m.jpg

Here's where some ideas could be helpful - I am thinking about this dark gray/black glossy color for the entire top, then the line which follows under the windows across the side of the car make a 1 - 2 inch deep/high gloss black stripe, then a simple flat black on the entire bottom of the car (that way rocks and chips won't worry me because there won't be any finish on the bottom half). How does that sound? Any other ideas would be awesome, the theme is black.

Here's the car as it was a few days ago and in the infant stage of its build. Let me know if the bare fiberglass bones for the front clip looks good or dumb, I need some input before I go head first into that project (it's just a base, the final product - if that decision is made, will be clean and follow body lines).

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3357/3225108226_e8b2961959_m.jpg

[oldzzy]

Welcome to the site, and nice sounding project. I remember seeing the Fe3X in Lansing at an Olds show when they first built it and that it was badass then.... i think it's still badass now!

[andrewmp6]

Looks go so far,The w30 hood usbody and few other sites sell them.The rest of the fiberglass good luck on.

[WSSix]

best of luck. I love Gbodies. I had an 86 Grand Prix and loved it eventhough it was a weak 3.8 V6.

Also note, when looking at flow numbers, you can't compare the numbers really directly unless the same bench flowed the heads back to back. Too many variables to compare them other wise. Use the numbers as an idea as to where the head flows air period, not how much. Also, flow numbers from .2-.4 and .5 sometimes matter way more than anything else. Think about a cam as going up a hill and coming back down. You spend way more time in the mid range than top. I'm sure those heads will work well for you. Patriots are a great bargain head.

[Cutlass2181]

looks awesome so far, especially the motor. I am also rebuilding a cutlass with a Chevy 350, bored 30 over w a comp cam. although your block looks a little cleaner than mine
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa50/douchenozle/83%20Cutlass/IMG00028-20090123-1241.jpg
Keep up the good work

[olds]

Thanks everybody, I'm having fitment and welding issues with my oil pan and pickup, but when it's on I'll get some more pics.

[olds]

Progress is slow, I've gotta study for classes. But here's some more pics, the engine is startin to look like something now. :_party:

Old engine pulled:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1365/3270503438_6ce63fe13f_m.jpg



New engine pictures:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1292/3269682817_4fce7ddcbe_m.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3441/3270511154_eda2f11542_m.jpg

[olds]

Here she is in the car, next step is to take it all out and install torque converter. Then clean up the engine bay

here's a pic without wires or headers:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3406/3599752336_9ee91f7453.jpg



If all goes well, it should be driving in a week:thumbsup:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3336/3603215385_d6b341ae2b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3352/3603218345_96966284bc.jpg

By my estimate it has somewhere between 430-470 hp and 450-510 tq on the motor. I'll get it on the dyno when I can afford to swap a 9" rear.

I got a deal on a built th350 with shift kit, going with the 442 theme (/FE3x body) I had to get a hurst shifter. My torque converter is a redneck perf. 3000 stall and should be tons of fun on the street. I'm still not positive if the tranny has a full manual kit or I can switch between drive and manual for the best of both, but I'll find out when I drive it.

I went with a holley 4150 770 cfm street avenger series carb, air cleaner is the biggest one I could buy and so is the fan. I wanted a 2" cowl hood, but since the air cleaner is too big, I'm going with a 4" one (which I honestly don't like as much on these cars). Hood should be installed in a few weeks, I'm going to cut up the header panel and customize it - tastefully - and clean up the engine bay. The plan is to do all this by next month. Hopefully.

[67rstbkt]

Looking good; my first project was an 87 Cutlass. I miss that car :thumbsup:

[olds]

Looking good; my first project was an 87 Cutlass. I miss that car :thumbsup:

You should've kept it! :drive: It was my first car and it's my first big project. I've painted a few cars, swapped an engine, but never redone everything till now

[67rstbkt]

You should've kept it! :drive: It was my first car and it's my first big project. I've painted a few cars, swapped an engine, but never redone everything till now

I was moving out of state and had to sell it, but I learned a bunch working on it, so no regrets. Keep posting progress pics, it's looking sharp :thumbsup:

[70rs]

Welcome, and nice project. I had never seen that Fe3X before, that is a really cool car. Keep the updates coming please.:thumbsup: