VEHICLES > PROJECT CARS/TRUCKS
1970 Oldsmobile 442ish Cutlass
Der Bugmeister:
I'm sure I posted the story and photos of this car here somewhere, but darned if I can find it now. Possibly lost in one of the forum crashes I guess. Anyhow, 5 years ago I bought a 1970 Cutlass S that had been sitting untouched in a storage locker for 20 years. The car was complete, the body and paint had been done not long before it was parked and it had a non-original 260 V8 in the engine bay. Front disc brakes from a 1969 442.
One of the previous owners had removed all the Oldsmobile and Cutlass badging, and put the 4 4 2 numbers on the hood tooth. Yes, they're supposed to be straight but the guy thought they looked funky like that.
I was expecting an unrealistically high price on the car after years of paying storage on it, but his asking price was incredibly low...so we shook on it. He threw in a bunch of other stuff including a core SBO 350 which have since been sold and reduce the overall purchase price even more.
Der Bugmeister:
We aired up the tires, rolled the car into the sunlight for the first time in 20 years, primed the oil, cleaned the points and fed her some clean gas. She started relatively easily and sounded better the more we let her idle. The brakes were present...although more of a suggestion than anything resembling a real stopping force. I drove her home (about a 15 minute drive) then made a couple runs through town with the family onboard. Only had a one day pumpkin permit.
Der Bugmeister:
Once home, she got her first bath in 20 years. Yes, that was drywall tape hanging from the ceiling and clumps of paste on the hood back at the storage locker. Cleaned up great.
Der Bugmeister:
After that day of attention, she went into hibernation in the shop while I debated what I wanted to do with her. Replacing the engine was a definite intention, so the 260 and transmission came out a few years ago. The initial plan was to replace it with a strong running 350 for the short term, then eventually upgrade to a 455. Long story short, I figured the 455 probably wouldn't happen if I got her running with the 350 so the engine bay is still empty to this day.
In the interim I sourced some 442 grills to replace the nearly new Cutlass Supreme grills and replaced the late '70s GM Rally wheels with original Oldsmobile SS2 wheels (14" front, 15" back). I had a 442 wing painted satin black and mounted that on the trunklid and have an aftermarket OAI (scooped hood) hood for a more aggressive look. I also picked up a donor car with a black bucket seat interior (http://garagegazette.com/index.php?topic=819.0) and some other parts to swap.
Der Bugmeister:
After retiring from the Navy, I got a couple nice lump sum payments for pain and suffering, some of which is being diverted to building this car the way I want it. This is something I only get to do once, and I'm gonna do it right. Acquiring the car itself was remarkably inexpensive. You couldn't do the metal work on a rusty car for what I paid. This makes it easier to spend a lot of money on the drivetrain, when I wouldn't usually want to do it. I'm building this for me, not for resale value!
Here's the plan:
Engine: Rebuilt 455 pushing upwards of 500 HP and over 500 ft lbs torque. I'm sourcing most of the parts from Bernard Mondello Racing and having a local shop do the machining, assembly, break in and dyno. This will probably be the biggest slow down factor of the build - waiting for parts and for the build.
Transmission: Tremec TKX 5 speed with hydraulic clutch. This is a relatively new transmission design and fits the GM A bodies without tunnel modifications. The vendor that will be supplying the transmission also provides a complete conversion kit for switching from automatic to manual trans. The donor car will provide everything needed to delete the column shift...steering column/housing, speedometer without the PRNDSL, console.
Rear end: GM 8.5" 10 bolt posi upgrade
Interior: Convert from white bench seat interior to black bucket seat interior. Plus sound proofing, stereo, etc
I had a decent 1969 455 candidate which had been sitting for about 17 or so years now. Tore it down, looks like it's had some work done in the past (rod bearings are .010 under and rods have machinist's markings). The crank was a CN casting which seems to be desirable. Olds 455s had unmarked castings, N or Nodular castings and CN castings which are also Nodular. Depending on who you talk to, the CN is better or the CN and the N are both the same. Both are better than the unmarked ones.
The block and crank are with my machinist now for hot tanking and suitability assessment. Once the crank gets the thumbs up, it will be sent through a friend to be drilled out for the manual transmission pilot bearing.
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