'72 Cutlass "452"

[Eric W]

Hey all, just joined the forum. Lots of great inspiration here! This is my in-progress build of my 1972 Cutlass S. I call it the 452. (You Olds guys know what this means).


Major build plans include the following
- Full ridetech Coilover setup
- C4/C5 brakes all around
- Tremek tko 5 speed
- Wheels/tires (obviously)
- Olds 455, planning Holley HP Efi with multi-port.


Main goal of the car is to try and get to some Auto-cross and track day events. Not sure how many I'll do, but it will get driven a lot.

Quick back story... Car has been in the family for many years, starting with my godfather (mom's cousin). This was the first car he bought at 16 sometime in the mid 70's. After a couple other family members my dad ended up with it in the late 80's with the plan to fix it up for my mom, who owned a '70 cutlass back in the day. In the 20 some years he had it, not much progress was made. He did change the rear quarters and swap in a running olds 350. I've had a lot of years to imagine the perfect build for this.

Eventually I talked my dad into letting me take over this project. While he wanted to just get it running, my plans were different. Pictures below show the state of the car when I took over. (which was several years after the date stamp, but car was the same.)


And a rendering I drew of the finished product! (even the rendering isn't finished yet...)

[Eric W]

Once I began work, a full teardown was in order, and the frame went off for blast and powdercoat.

[Eric W]

While the frame was gone, I gave the rear-end the same treatment at home. Its an Olds 8.5" 10 bolt with the bolt in axles

[Eric W]

Once the frame came back from the coater is when the bank account really started to feel it. Full ridetech system with adjustable coilovers was purchased and installed.

[Eric W]

A call was then placed to Kore3 and brackets, hubs, flex lines, and c4/c5 rotors and calipers were headed my way. A long way from the original 4 wheel drums! The images shows the brackets I used to mount the flex lines to the axle. I also drilled and tapped the rear axle flanges for 1/2-13 studs... because racecar. I know... studs are crazy long. My buddy had them laying around at his race shop.

[Eric W]

This is where the project sat untouched for about 2 years. The first year was because I picked up a second job, and was working 80hrs a week for a year... car fell down on the priority list. I was living at my parents' still at the time, and wanted to buy a house. The second year was because I bought a house, and spent all winter remodeling the entire 28x30 garage ( still haven't done anything on the house... priorities)

If anyone is interested, here is a link to the build thread on my shop.... which I should really update. It was a basketcase as far as electrical was concerned. Luckily my friend is an electrician!

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=256517


So, in the past few months progress has resumed once again. Main focus right now is rust repair. Car is solid from the rear seat back forward, but the trunk is a wreck. I have the majority of the trunk cut out right now, and I've already recieved new pans, body mount braces, and fuel tank braces. Here is how the car is sitting right now. ( or a few weeks ago anyway)

[Eric W]

And here's the current state of the back end of the car. Bit of work left to do, but this is the main area of rust on the car. As you can see by the picture of the body brace/mount, it was a bit rough. All four bolts at the back of the car had to be cut when the body was taken off the frame. Cage nuts broke loose on every one....

Rust repair is by no means my favorite thing in the world, but I'm determined to get through this

[Eric W]

And that brings this build up to speed! For now anyway. Questions, comments, concerns, and motivation are all welcomed!

[camrat68]

Awesome! I wish I had that much room to work. :D


Jim

[Eric W]

Awesome! I wish I had that much room to work. :D


Jim

Thanks! I really lucked out on the workspace. The amount of not-to-code building really help me negotiate a really killer deal on the house.