1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Daily Driver LQ4 Swap

[1970camaroRS]

Picked up a set of 3rd gen Camaro bucket seats. They're red with white woven texture and red cloth inserts. Look perfect with the red interior. I unbolted the brackets on the existing seats, bolted them on the new seats and they went right in with a little bit of use of the persuading hammer. Cost me $50 for the seats and $5 for the cleaning materials. The 8.1L truck injectors from Rock Auto came today. They look brand new and check out to be the correct part number. The $27 shipped price is a steal! They are 31lb/hr versus 24lb/hr on the stock injectors. Ordering the transmission crossmember from Iceman racing tomorrow. Once that and the torque converter get here I can pull the Olds 350/350 combo and get to work.

Cost - $5634

[1970camaroRS]

Some minor updates. I installed the 3rd gen Camaro seats. They worked perfectly. I just swapped the mounting brackets on to them, shimmed up the rear a bit and the work exactly how I needed them to. Fixed a few minor things like the rear defrost, no power to radio, heater fan and transmission vac modulator line. Transmission holds 1st and 2nd much longer now and shifts harder.

BUT, the other morning I flooded it while trying to start and the motor locked up. I think the carb let go because it flooded out while it was warming up and running. The smell of gas in the air was unmistakeable. Guess I won't be selling the Olds 350 at top dollar now...good thing I already have most of what I need for the swap.

Research has shown that the truck exhaust manifolds won't fit on the drivers side, so I went hunting and found a solution. Many G-body guys use Pacesetter long tubes for 4th gen Camaros and massage them to fit in a few spots. I found a used set for $140 shipped. They will need to be cleaned up and painted. No biggie. Also picked up a B&M 4 speed auto shifter for $82. I'm almost down to just the little things on my list.

I have decided to leave the 7.5" rear with the open diff and high-way gears alone for now.

New total $5856

[milner351]

wait, what? it was sitting there idling and just locked up? fuel dilution in the oil and spun a bearing?

[1970camaroRS]

wait, what? it was sitting there idling and just locked up? fuel dilution in the oil and spun a bearing?

Yeah, it is a touch tricky to get it started in the morning. I suspect the seals on the carb leak. It goes very quickly from not having any fuel to having way too much and flooding out. I had been successful in getting it going for the past month, but that morning it started to run rough while I had the throttle up. When it returned to idle, there was a noticeable miss and then it stopped running. Tried cranking it and every 1/4 revolution the starter would struggle, then finally it just completely locked up. In the end, all it means is I will have to push it 15 feet up my driveway into the garage instead of driving it in next week.

[STINEY]

Reminds me of a factory timing gear shedding its nylon teeth.......

[1970camaroRS]

Shifter and headers showed up today. Sanded the headers, wiped them down, hung them from the rafters and shot VHT header paint on them. They look perfect! The shifter is in great shape too, just need to order a cable and I can integrate them into the console.

[1970camaroRS]

Been a while, but I've made great progress.

Ended up finding another 8.5" posi rear for a steal of a price. The stock 7.5" open rear had 2.56 gears in it. That simply won't work on a mild-cammed engine with an over-drive trans. This car will also be seeing snow and a lot of rain, so it really, very badly need the posi. The entire rear cost me $400 and is nearly brand new, had just been sitting for a while. I cleaned it up and sprayed some Rustoleum gloss black on it and it looks great.

While I was at it, I replaced all of the rear control arm bushings, installed stock Moog replacement springs and Monroe Sensatrac shocks and bolted the new rear in place. Also got the parking brake working correctly. Front suspension has a large after-market sway bar with poly bushed end-links, so I'm grabbing a 1" rear bar from QA1 and another pair of Sensatrac shocks for the front. Keeping the suspension in good working, very slightly better than stock condition. The 14" front wheels and tires really kill the handling, but the ride is nice, so that will remain unchanged for a long, long time. All of the wiring and hoses as well as the transmission and motor mount bolts have been removed. Just waiting on a replacement rear cover I'm getting as a Christmas present to show up from Summit and then I will yank the motor and trans out, clean and paint things, then get the new engine and trans bolted in place.

Also, no pictures, sorry. Sold all of my camera gear due to the lay-off and my desire to build this car without digging into my savings, severance or unemployment money. It's taking a lot of restraint to keep from going over-board with after-market parts. Just passed on a killer deal for a single turbo hot-side setup for a g-body. Also passed on CNC ported heads. Didn't buy adjustable rear control arms or stiffer lowering springs.

And the current tally of cost...lets not talk about that. In fact, this probably shouldn't be in the $5,000 challenge anymore.

[1970camaroRS]

Just got surprised with a set of Speedhut Gauges. 3-3/8" GPS Speedo and a matching Quad (Fuel, Temp, Oil PSI and Voltage). And a PSI conversion wiring harness is also on the way. I'm away from the garage for about a week though, so it's going to be a little bit before I have any more news.

[1970camaroRS]

Been a while, but I'm moving forward quickly. The rear-end is installed with poly bushings, new springs and monroe shocks. Cheap, easy, simple. Added a summit support cover and a QA-1 swaybar. I had to make some spacers to allow the swaybar to fit on the stock control arms, but that wasn't a big deal. Really wish I had a camera to share my progress with everyone. Only hick-up I had was the GN rear is out of a '86 and they use metric lugnuts insteads of the SAE lugnuts that my '78 Cutlass uses.

Also fitted the gas tank, removed the original hard fuel and and began to run the braided lines and wiring for the fuel pump. I coiled and stowed everything when I decided I was going to wire brush the frame and spray some rustoleum before completing the hose installation.

Replaced the front shocks to match the rears and got a close look at the ball joints. Thinking a minor rebuild of the front suspension is on the list now. The front already has a nice thick bar with poly bushings from the previous owner, but judging by the amount of rust on everything else, it's been a while.

Currently the Olds 350/350 is hanging loose on the hoist and the Cutlass' wheels are back on the ground. Waiting for a break in the weather so I can push the car out and toss the old lump on the side of the house and craigslist it. Might have to just go get a tarp looking at the weather reports for the next week. Then it's time to clean, clean, clean and paint. I'll have this thing put back together in no-time.

[Beagle]

I missed it - what was the gear in the 8.5?

[68scott385]

Glad to hear of the progress.

May take some legwork but rear lug studs are easily corrected to match the front. Slide caliper and a machinist sized drill bit will give the correct hole in the axles.

[1970camaroRS]

I missed it - what was the gear in the 8.5?

They are 3.42, stock Buick GN ratio. The 7.5" had 2.56.

[1970camaroRS]

Glad to hear of the progress.

May take some legwork but rear lug studs are easily corrected to match the front. Slide caliper and a machinist sized drill bit will give the correct hole in the axles.

Yeah, I just grabbed some metric nuts for the rear wheels for now. I will probably switch the front studs over to metric eventually.

[1970camaroRS]

And, the motor and trans is out and for-sale on Craigslist! http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/pts/4282186637.html

[1970camaroRS]

I was looking for 14" front tires to replace the dry-rotted tires I have and decided I should look for 15" wheels for the front to match the 15" rears I already have. Looks like someone did a 15/14 'big and little' back in the 80s. Good news is they're pretty good looking. Bad news is the 14" tire selection is terrible. Looked around the net and figured out the wheels I have are Enkei EK62 3 piece wheels. They are insanely lightweight, which is nice. But, they are extremely rare. Can't find any of them anywhere. Maybe I should sell them and pick up some cheap 17" or 18" wheels and tires?

They look like this: