G-body FE3X Pro-touring project

[BigBlockOlds]

Have yet to post a full description of my project so thought I would take the time to do it today. Especially since I'm making a little progress. ;)

Car:

1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. Originally a 307/TH-2004R/2.56 car that was my first car when I turned 16. During college I had the rear rebuilt with a 3.73 gear and Aubrun limited slip unit. Later I swapped in a mild 455 BBO and then upgraded the TH-2004R to an Art Carr unit. Put a set of 17x8" Hopster wheels with 245/45 front and 255/45 rear and pretty much stopped there.

Here is a pic as it last stood:



The body was needing some major attention so I sent it down to a friends house to be repainted. We ran into a few things along the way and needless to say, ended up pulling the body off the frame and doing a complete overhaul.
I am now in year 5 of this build. Mostly due to a clear plan at the beginning and money but I should have it finished by summer of next year.

Engine:

Same as what was in it, the 455 BBO. But this time its under going a little bit more "racey" build.

1976 455 bored .060" over (468)

Crankshaft: 425 forged crank, offset ground to 4.25" stroke with BBC 2.200" rod journals.

Rods: Manely aluminum 6.990"

Pistons: Arias forged flat tops with 2cc valve reliefs
Compression ratio comes out 11.35:1

Camshaft: Custom ground Comp Cams hydraulic roller (still being spec'd at the moment)

Heads: Edelbrock performer RPM with 2.120" Int/1.710" Exh, chambers and exhaust runners/bowls polished. Intake runners smoothed but no real porting.

Intake: Offenhauser Super-Sonic dominator flange single plane. Modified for EFI

Throttle body: Edelbrock 1600cfm dominator flange

Controller: MSII with fuel and spark control

Exhaust: Kooks 2" primary/3.5" collector headers into 3" exhaust with X-pipe and Spintech Prostreet mufflers dumped before the axle.



Engine picture:




Transmission: Stock T-56 6 speed from a '96 SS (for now) This will probably need upgraded later.
Clutch: Looking at a SPEC stage III

Rearend: Ford 9" with Detroit Tru-Trac limited slip. Still undecided on gears.

Suspension.
Front:

SC&C StageII kit with Pro-lite lightweight adjustable upper control arms. HOWE racing tall upper and lower ball joints. Stock lower control arms with Global West Del-A-Lum bushings. Moog 5662 IROC springs with one full coil cut. F-body 36MM sway bar. Rebuilt F-41 quick ratio steering box. Bilstein shocks. C5 Corvette calipers with LS1 12" rotors

Rear: Edelbrock double adjustable upper control arms with spherical bushings. Currie-trac lower control arms with spherical bushings/poly. Moog CC635 F-body cargo coil springs. Bilstein shocks. Sway bar, still waiting on the SC&C pro-touring bar. LS1 disc brakes with 12" rotors.

Wheels/Tires
Front: 17x9.5" American Racing TTII Classics with 245/45ZR17 tires
(These will probably get changed out once the car is on the road)
Rear: 17x11" American Racing TTII Classics with 315/35ZR17 tires

Wheel pictures:





Interior:

Pretty much stock with a few upgrades.
Classic Instruments All American Nickle series gauges.
Stock dash dyed black.
NOS burlwood dash inserts.
Hot Rod Air A/C system
Procar Ralley 1000 front seats with recovered stock rear bench seat.
Sound deadening EVERYWHERE!

A few interior pics:







I hope to have a dyno video of the engine up by the end of the summer. Still need to assemble it. Hoping for something the neighborhood of 550HP and 600ft/lbs but I think my heads are going to be my limiting factor on this. :(

Thanks for looking!

[Chewy72ss]

I've seen this car before, but this is the first for some detail shots. Excellent work. The car look absolutely MENACING with those 315s out back. Thats the combo I really want to run, but I can't afford fat tires of that caliber. (Other than Sumi's, which I hear are garbage. So, good luck with them.)

Keep us updated...seems to be one sweet project.

[Tony_SS]

I love this project - keep up the great work!

[BigBlockOlds]

Thanks guys.

Regarding the Sumitomo tires, yes they are pretty much junk. I bought a set for my daily driver Intrigue just to see how they would be and while they made a huge difference in how it handled, I was replacing them after 15,000 miles because they were worn out!
But, at $110 each for the 315's they'll serve well as mock-up tires and the first sacrificial tires on the street. I can guarantee that whatever tire is back there once I get this car going again isn't long for this world anyway. So it might as well be a cheap set. ;)

In a few weeks I'm pulling the body back off the frame to run my fuel and brake lines, plus clean the underbody a little better and lay down some more sprayable sound deadening. My goal, (I don't know if its going to happen yet or not) is to have the car completely driveable by October/November of this year and then over the winter have my friend do the rest of the body work and paint it.

Thanks guys.

[Code Red]

looking good man though I'm more a fan of the w-30 hoods

[BigBlockOlds]

You mean like this one:



;)

There are two problems with the W-25 hood though. 1) It offers no hood clearance at all and 2) the hood scoop angles don't match the front of a G-body and it looks a little out of place, IMO.

So I probably won't be using this hood I have and going a different direction. Not using the cowl hood in the picture above either.

My latest idea is something like this:

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...aps/BB0455.jpg

Or without the "stinger"

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps/BB04554.jpg

Or I may make my own stinger that matches the body lines a little better.

But the body work is still a ways off.

Thanks,

[GBodyGMachine]

Looking good

[WS6]

love these cars. Keep it up, you're doing great.

[jackfrost]

Andy,

looks awesome! can't wait to see your car and Joe's car together. and hopefully together w/ my car some day...

keep up the good work.

[Crossupbill]

How did you mount the C5 calipers to the Gbody spindles. Pics, drawings, part numbers?

[Tony_SS]

I think a small 2" cowl would look nice... not really into the whole stingray thing.. kinda overdoning it.

[BigBlockOlds]

How did you mount the C5 calipers to the Gbody spindles. Pics, drawings, part numbers?

I bought brackets from Ed Miller that adapted the calipers to an LS1 rotor since the calipers don't clear my wheels with 13" rotors.

As far as adapting to the spindles, I cut the original caliper mount ears off and then enlarged, drilled and tapped the stock dust shield holes to mount the caliper bracket.

I'll have to see if I still have pictures.

[CRCRFT78]

the hood scoop angles don't match the front of a G-body and it looks a little out of place, IMO.

I love the hood but would have to agree that it would look alot better if it was straight instead of being angled like that. Keep us updated.

[bnickel]

oh man, i love the G-body Cutlass, one of my favorite (non-ford) cars ever. i'd love to have a t-top H/O or 442 myself one day, or a clone would be ok too. i'd probably put a buick GN turbo motor in it though, or fuel inject the 307

[BigBlockOlds]

Andy,

looks awesome! can't wait to see your car and Joe's car together. and hopefully together w/ my car some day...

keep up the good work.

Thanks man! Hopefully this time next year it will be finished...Well, at least driveable. I don't know if they're ever finished.

[BigBlockOlds]

Little more progress today. Even though the engine isn't assembled yet I did get my heads back and bolted them on and did a test fit of the engine in the car.
I wanted to mainly check my clearances on the A/C firewall box I made since I did it without the engine here. I also test fitted the Kooks 2" headers which I must say, fit like a glove. Its weird dealing with a set of headers that just about drop into place. The also don't appear to hang as low as the Dynomax headers on my brother's 403. Which is a good thing considering his scrape every now and then.
I also hooked up my throttle linkage and gas pedal and for the first time in 5 years I could press the gas pedal and "feel" engine at the other end. I have to say this throttle body moves really smooth throughout its travel.
Tomorrow I will finish powder coating the valve covers and fuel rails and then work on fabbing up the A/C compressor mounts.

Here's a few pictures:

[SaturnVUEguy]

Engine looks nice!

[BigBlockOlds]

Well, its been a while since I posted any progress. Probably because I feel like I'm going backwards lately as opposed to forward. :(

The engine is finally being assembled thankfully and should be done in a week or so. I was waiting forever for a custom hydraulic roller and as it turns out, there apparently was a shortage back in the summer. So I bought an off the shelf Crane grind (242/254 dur. @ .050, .595"/.595" lift, 114LS) to use for now.

Pulled the body back off the frame as I needed to get fuel and brake lines installed which is turning out to be a minor ordeal trying to bend my own.
I also notice the paint on the frame was holding up nearly as well as I had hoped so I took a wire wheel to the whole thing and will be getting it media blasted in a few weeks. Then my neighbor will be shooting it with automotive paint and primer.

Anyway, here's a few pictures of the chassis from a few weeks ago when I welded in the control arm braces:









And few I took last night (with the cell phone) off more of the frame bracing, Ford 9" rear and brake hose bracket that needed fabbed and welded on:











Right now I'm waiting on my weld-in watts link setup from SC&C to arrive so that I can get it installed, finish fabbing the fuel/brake lines and then get everything off to be blasted.

I'm hoping (fingers crossed) in a few weeks I can finally post pictures of a completed, painted, rolling chassis with engine, transmission and rear end all installed!

[bonecrrusher]

FYI your '96 SS tranny is out of a Z28, the SS didnt come back into production until 98 when the LS1 was dropped into the Fbodies.

Car looks awesome, what company crossmember is that?

You've got me thinking about an 80's Malibu Wagon with an LS1/t56 and some turbos....... hehe.

[86Cutlass383SR]

Andrew things are lookin. purty good!!! I'm doing somthing simular as you are, just not quite as radical. I've got an 86 Cutlass I'm working on.

I'd be interested on what all you had to do to run tire that size tire in the back. I see you narrowed the frame, did you have to mini tub the rear wheelwells?

I'm running the aftermartket T56. My Spec Stage 3 clutch/pp was fairly stiff and it was either on or off. No modulating the clutch. I ran it with my mechanical clutch setup so since you are going hyd that might make a differance too.

If you still have the W25/W30 hood and you want to sell it please PM me on it. I've been looking to buy one anyway. Let me know either way.

Doug