justinpba
06-14-2014, 08:51 PM
Hi all,
My name's Justin and I've got a 1972 Olds Cutlass. Long back story: My dad bought this car for $1500 when I was 14 (summer 1998). It was bright orange with a white vinyl top, 2 barrel, single exhaust and about 180K on it. It looked pretty good, but there were some pretty hokey things going on under the hood.
I took it to auto shop that year, ran a compression test and decided to pull and rebuild the tired 350. Rebuilt it .030 over in class and added some goodies like cam, carb, intake, headers and brought it home. In my idiotic youth I pulled all the air conditioning equipment. At 15 I attempted my first burnout and found out just how bad the tranny was! Had the TH350 rebuilt with a shift kit and was cruising when I got my license. After I made it go, I needed to make it stop, so back into shop class it went my junior year for a disc brake swap and a rebuild with polygraphite (it was all over Car Craft back then). So now it's going and stopping great, time for looks. The school I went to actually had an auto body shop so the car got painted my senior year in its current blue (though it still had the vinyl top). So just before leaving for the Navy in fall of '01, I swiped a pole, so while in boot I had a new fender installed and had the vinyl removed. While stationed on the east coast the car stayed in California and I had the interior redone in black cloth.
When I was moved back to the west coast the car became my daily again. For one Washington winter that is. After the routine of driving from my apartment complex to the gas station down the street with my head out the window while I let the defroster get going I decided I needed more modern car so I bout a Volvo S60 (which will become relevant later) and parked the Olds, only driving it here and there. Shortly before separating from the Navy I sold the car to a kid that worked for me with the promise that I'd get the first shot if he ever sold it.
After getting out, moving back to California, getting married and having a kid and having a few projects (47 Olds, 80's Chevy truck, bikes) that never went anywhere my awesome wife proclaimed "just go buy your old car back!" She dug the car as it was what I was driving when we met. I explained that I couldn't just demand to buy the car back, but as luck would have it, a few months later I got a call from the guy who bought it from the guy I sold it to. He was getting out and wanted money. I asked my wife and she said "when do we leave?" We flew up to Washington the following week and bombed down, only breaking down a few times! The car had been stored outside and only driven about 300 miles in the 5 years since I sold it, so it was a little rougher than when it had last been mine, but it was my first car! After driving around for the last couple of years and reliving the old days I took a good look at my now 13 year old tires and realized this car should not be on the road, so it's been parked for the last couple of months while I come up with a plan.
I've picked up a 455 (stayin' Olds powered!) and plan to pull the body off the frame to build the car I always wanted it to be when I was cruising as a teen. I've talked to Marcus at SC&C and Ramey over at UMI and have some idea of the direction I want to go. I don't plan on autocrossing, but I do plan on making it my DD again, so it'll be pro-touringish. So the plan at this point is a 455, possibly with EFI backed by a T56 with either a decent 12 bolt or Strange S60. I'm leaning toward a UMI kit, though I'm on the lookout for deals or abandoned projects. I do plan on boxing the frame with the Hellwig kit and as for brakes I'm not sure but I am sure that I'll be running 15" or 16" Torq Thrusts. I just think that these cars look better with lots of sidewall. I'll repaint and add a W-25 hood and on the inside I'll redo the interior featuring seats out of a C70 (see, I told you it was relevant) as that Volvo was the most comfortable car I've ever sat in. I plan on starting this winter, so don't expect to see a build thread anytime soon, for now I'm just gonna buy new tires, but I figured I'd introduce myself before I start asking a ton of questions. Anyhow, thanks for reading my long intro and on to the pics!
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/50e5f27cb5d946fc846aa1696ce1963c_zpsd1fb-1.jpg (http://s275.photobucket.com/user/justinpba/media/50e5f27cb5d946fc846aa1696ce1963c_zpsd1fb1ea9.jpg.h tml)
Outside Grant's Pass on the way home
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/1346615743236_zpsf576273c-1.jpg (http://s275.photobucket.com/user/justinpba/media/1346615743236_zpsf576273c.jpg.html)
Replacing PS belt outside Portland in a hail storm
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/ResizedImage_1373427742056_zps9b78e331-1.jpg (http://s275.photobucket.com/user/justinpba/media/ResizedImage_1373427742056_zps9b78e331.jpg.html)
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/DSC_0995_zpsd07b1fd4-1.jpg (http://s275.photobucket.com/user/justinpba/media/DSC_0995_zpsd07b1fd4.jpg.html)
And here's what I'm currently finishing. '69 FLH in a '58 frame with progressive suspension and front end and brakes from a 2012 road king. Upgraded suspension on an old ride, that's Pro Touring right?
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/2dd86fd42d2ce4ee19e6dfb1228b669d_zps0d6c-1.jpg (http://s275.photobucket.com/user/justinpba/media/2dd86fd42d2ce4ee19e6dfb1228b669d_zps0d6c7ae5.jpg.h tml)
My name's Justin and I've got a 1972 Olds Cutlass. Long back story: My dad bought this car for $1500 when I was 14 (summer 1998). It was bright orange with a white vinyl top, 2 barrel, single exhaust and about 180K on it. It looked pretty good, but there were some pretty hokey things going on under the hood.
I took it to auto shop that year, ran a compression test and decided to pull and rebuild the tired 350. Rebuilt it .030 over in class and added some goodies like cam, carb, intake, headers and brought it home. In my idiotic youth I pulled all the air conditioning equipment. At 15 I attempted my first burnout and found out just how bad the tranny was! Had the TH350 rebuilt with a shift kit and was cruising when I got my license. After I made it go, I needed to make it stop, so back into shop class it went my junior year for a disc brake swap and a rebuild with polygraphite (it was all over Car Craft back then). So now it's going and stopping great, time for looks. The school I went to actually had an auto body shop so the car got painted my senior year in its current blue (though it still had the vinyl top). So just before leaving for the Navy in fall of '01, I swiped a pole, so while in boot I had a new fender installed and had the vinyl removed. While stationed on the east coast the car stayed in California and I had the interior redone in black cloth.
When I was moved back to the west coast the car became my daily again. For one Washington winter that is. After the routine of driving from my apartment complex to the gas station down the street with my head out the window while I let the defroster get going I decided I needed more modern car so I bout a Volvo S60 (which will become relevant later) and parked the Olds, only driving it here and there. Shortly before separating from the Navy I sold the car to a kid that worked for me with the promise that I'd get the first shot if he ever sold it.
After getting out, moving back to California, getting married and having a kid and having a few projects (47 Olds, 80's Chevy truck, bikes) that never went anywhere my awesome wife proclaimed "just go buy your old car back!" She dug the car as it was what I was driving when we met. I explained that I couldn't just demand to buy the car back, but as luck would have it, a few months later I got a call from the guy who bought it from the guy I sold it to. He was getting out and wanted money. I asked my wife and she said "when do we leave?" We flew up to Washington the following week and bombed down, only breaking down a few times! The car had been stored outside and only driven about 300 miles in the 5 years since I sold it, so it was a little rougher than when it had last been mine, but it was my first car! After driving around for the last couple of years and reliving the old days I took a good look at my now 13 year old tires and realized this car should not be on the road, so it's been parked for the last couple of months while I come up with a plan.
I've picked up a 455 (stayin' Olds powered!) and plan to pull the body off the frame to build the car I always wanted it to be when I was cruising as a teen. I've talked to Marcus at SC&C and Ramey over at UMI and have some idea of the direction I want to go. I don't plan on autocrossing, but I do plan on making it my DD again, so it'll be pro-touringish. So the plan at this point is a 455, possibly with EFI backed by a T56 with either a decent 12 bolt or Strange S60. I'm leaning toward a UMI kit, though I'm on the lookout for deals or abandoned projects. I do plan on boxing the frame with the Hellwig kit and as for brakes I'm not sure but I am sure that I'll be running 15" or 16" Torq Thrusts. I just think that these cars look better with lots of sidewall. I'll repaint and add a W-25 hood and on the inside I'll redo the interior featuring seats out of a C70 (see, I told you it was relevant) as that Volvo was the most comfortable car I've ever sat in. I plan on starting this winter, so don't expect to see a build thread anytime soon, for now I'm just gonna buy new tires, but I figured I'd introduce myself before I start asking a ton of questions. Anyhow, thanks for reading my long intro and on to the pics!
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/50e5f27cb5d946fc846aa1696ce1963c_zpsd1fb-1.jpg (http://s275.photobucket.com/user/justinpba/media/50e5f27cb5d946fc846aa1696ce1963c_zpsd1fb1ea9.jpg.h tml)
Outside Grant's Pass on the way home
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/1346615743236_zpsf576273c-1.jpg (http://s275.photobucket.com/user/justinpba/media/1346615743236_zpsf576273c.jpg.html)
Replacing PS belt outside Portland in a hail storm
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/ResizedImage_1373427742056_zps9b78e331-1.jpg (http://s275.photobucket.com/user/justinpba/media/ResizedImage_1373427742056_zps9b78e331.jpg.html)
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/DSC_0995_zpsd07b1fd4-1.jpg (http://s275.photobucket.com/user/justinpba/media/DSC_0995_zpsd07b1fd4.jpg.html)
And here's what I'm currently finishing. '69 FLH in a '58 frame with progressive suspension and front end and brakes from a 2012 road king. Upgraded suspension on an old ride, that's Pro Touring right?
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/06/2dd86fd42d2ce4ee19e6dfb1228b669d_zps0d6c-1.jpg (http://s275.photobucket.com/user/justinpba/media/2dd86fd42d2ce4ee19e6dfb1228b669d_zps0d6c7ae5.jpg.h tml)