If you dig through the BangShift project car forums, you will find our $5,000 Challenge. The premise is simple: build the baddest mother you can for under five big bills. It doesn’t have to be pretty, but it has to be functional, and it’s very do-able. BangShifter “1970camaroRS” and his 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme are a great testament to what can be done on a strict budget. When he acquired the car in late 2013, things weren’t looking great financially. So he threw the Cutlass into the challenge and while he did blow the budget, it wasn’t by much, and the items that he did spend money on were carefully selected for maximum value and worth. Add to that, one major stipulation: the Cutlass had to be daily-driver material.
Under the hood resides an LQ4 6.0L that’s been fitted with fuel injectors out of an 8.1L V8 and is fed from a Grand National fuel tank. It’s hooked to a GM 4L80E automatic that was treated to a Trans-Go shift kit and a 3,000rpm Circle D converter. Power heads out back to a set of 4.30 rear gears which spins the Enkei wheels and General tires. The body was taken down to bare metal and cleaned up, fiberglass bumpers replaced the railroad ties front and rear, and the car was shot with Rustoleum Charcoal Gray Metallic. Rampage H4 headlight conversion lenses replaced the sealed-beam headlights. Inside, 3rd generation Camaro buckets keep him comfortable, while all-new gauges keep a watchful eye on what’s going on underhood.
Since the swap, the Olds has had over 3,000 miles put on the combination with minimum work needed to keep the engine and trans happy. And as his fortunes swing for the better, some more parts will be installed. His goal is to take it out for the Northwest Drag Weekend, where the work will finally pay off with solid times in the quarter.
Click here to check out the project thread: 1970camaroRS’s 1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme LQ4 Swap
That is one really supreme Cutlass.
Thanks!
Glorious. Simply glorious.
Just don’t look too close at it! The year of parking lots, road debris and weather have taken its toll. Lucky me…I just sand the bad areas and spray some more rustoleum on it.
And it sounds really good. Its easy to forget that the LS series of engines can have a mean sound.
With 4.30 gears that car is going to fly!
It sounds really, really good at full song. There’s a tunnel I pass through every day on my way to class and I go WOT through it whenever no one is infront of me.
Oh, and yes, the 4.30s really makes it get going pretty quick at any speed.
Late to the party as usual, but I was at first a little disappointed by the LQ engine. They’re good, don’t get me wrong, but they’re just a little too LS and the Olds 350 really is a cool engine when massaged properly.
Then I followed the thread and saw how much effort and thought went into this build and how the engine was just what the builder had on hand in his garage.
Now I get it and I’m thoroughly impressed by the sum total of this build, the poster did an awesome job cobbling the best bits he could find into a really nice daily-driven sleeper car on a shoestring budget. I love it.
Thanks! It’s amazing what happens when you have very little money and a lot of time. Plus, the Olds 350 and trans was sold for $600 on a car I paid $1200 for. It was way down on power, carbureted and 3-speed. Now it has boatloads of power, is fuel injected and a 4-speed overdrive.
I am thinking he will have have doubled his budget before it ever sees the race track.
Yes. But don’t tell my wife! I got it driving for under $5,000. However, with the gauges, heads, cam, and FAST intake….yep, you’re just about right.