1972 Cutlass

[bbcowboy]

Great looking car Bill....

[Bill Howell]

Borrowed junk block from fellow forum member David Hamilton √
UMI motor mounts √
Quicktime 6039 bell housing √
Spare ZF housing I had laying around √

Let the test fitting begin....

I know the trans tunnel will need some relief, just not sure how much yet, but this will certainly make that decision easy and correct. Plus I can be sure to get the motor in the correct position without all the bulk of complete engine.
Got a meeting tonight, but will be ready for some fine tuning tomorrow.

[Bill Howell]

I have had several people in conversation ask me who was doing this work, and where it was being done. The answer to the first question is that for the easy stuff, I will be doing most of the bolt on duties. I do have help for the wiring, etc but this is meant to be a home project, done by me.
To the second question, I used to have a Toy Box in one of my warehouses, however, when a client offered a great monthly rent for that space, I opted for the coin over the space, hence, here is the current work space. As you can see in the last shot, it also serves as my DD parking spot at night. I do have a lift in the back (this was the original one car garage on house and I added a 24x24 double garage years ago in front of that space). However the bay with the lift is VERY TIGHT with doors opened so I roll the car out to the main garage when I need to work under the dash. So while this is certainly better than being in the yard, it is tight and a bit time consuming to move everything out of the way to park the Jeep nightly.

[analyte]

I get the working in tight spaces...lol

That ZF is huge!!

[andrewb70]

Hey Bill,

Did everything bolt up right to the block?

Andrew

[Bill Howell]

Haven't bolted flywheel clutch or pp yet Andrew. this is just to get the tunnel cutting done and in the correct spot. Flywheel do fit the crank, but have not had time to set that up and measure for bearing, etc.

[andrewb70]

Haven't bolted flywheel clutch or pp yet Andrew. this is just to get the tunnel cutting done and in the correct spot. Flywheel do fit the crank, but have not had time to set that up and measure for bearing, etc.

I would install the bellhousing to a good engine before bolting on the flywheel or clutch. Then install the trans and see how the input shaft mates with the pilot bearing. Then get your flywheel and clutch together to measure for the bearing.

Andrew

[Bill Howell]

Holley Oil Pan and Baffle came today so I bolted it to the mock up block just to be sure we are good on fitment there. Moving on with fitment number 1. lot of tunnel cutting in my near future. The contact with tunnel on left side is just the bracket that holds the shifter module, so yes, got to loose a ton of real estate in that general area and about 7 inches rearward. All is good though, let the cutting begin.

[car_designer]

Bill, this is definitely a build thread I will be following. Always nice to see another Cutlass build.

I've been debating the direct-fit VHX gauges for my '72 Cutlass but wasn't sure how easy they would be to read. You posted the perfect pictures for me and they look great. The current aftermarket gauges I have are hard to read at night (small font and blue backlit) so wanted to avoid doing that again.

[andrewb70]

Bill,

That transmission is a HOSS! My recommendation is that you cut that tunnel enough to raise the back of the trans as high as possible. Slide a slip yoke inside and get it so there is 1/4" of clearance between the yoke and the transmission tunnel. With the LS engine and the lowered ride height, this will make the front u-joint operating angle as small as it can be. You may still need a CV driveshaft, but the smaller the operating angle, the better.

Andrew

[Bill Howell]

If you love original, please look away, this may hurt your eyes.
First picture is of virgin, 43 year old floor pan. The last two are of the cut to fit pan with tranny in place. Yes, that is a lot of cutting, but we decided to cut it enough to be able to get the drive angle at 0 to 1 degrees. This means that we will have to cut past where we are now for driveshaft clearance but while we were cutting, might as well get it right. This seems to be an issue with most A-body builds, so rather than fight it, we will just fix it going in.

[Bill Howell]

As to the clearance at oil pan and drag link, here is a shot, both full left and full right. The UMI motor mounts seem to have everything placed in the right spot. At this point we have motor set back as far as possible. May have to tweak that a tad for intake clearance at firewall later.
Last shot is a picture of angle of back of transmission.
This is all approximate location today, tomorrow we will drop the JRI coilovers down to correct ride height. Right now front is sitting a bit high since no motor/tranny weight.
We also got the clutch/brake pedal brace out today. It has to be drilled out to 5/8 to accept the new rod that came with new clutch pedal. Brake pedal had a sleeve in it that when removed made it the right diameter to accept the new rod, so that looks pretty simple. Brake booster off, to add bracket for Hydraulic M/C.
Good day, plan to get more done tomorrow. Stay tuned.

[Bill Howell]

Last shots for today.
First shows a shot of approximate final location of rear of transmission. Second shows how much more of the tunnel has to go to make room for driveshaft. Yes, more work now to do it right but certainly better than leaving the drive angle all wrong and the problems that creates.

[snappytravis]

Looks good.. Should be a sweet ride..

[andrewb70]

Bill,

You probably don't have to cut that whole trans out if you use a CV driveshaft.

Andrew

[Bill Howell]

Finished up the drive train angles today. Engine is -1, Driveshaft angle is -2, and pinion is (at this point) +1 but with the DSE adjustable upper trailing arms, I can adjust as needed for torque compensation. My mock up trans is hollow inside so I took a fence post, as you can see to imitate a driveshaft and placed the other end over the pinion nut. As you can see, that works pretty good to check angles.

Ended up just cutting the entire tunnel out, just to be sure no clearance issues, since that seems to be a common problem with A-bodies.
We also got the clutch pedal, Master/Cylinder installed which in itself is no simple task. However after many in and outs for trimming, fitment, we marked that off the to do list and once everything was right we have a great full motion with correct arc there too.

Loaded the car and took it over to my buddies place in Maryville. He can get the new (higher) tunnel in this week after work. After that, it should be wide open with assembly.

[Bill Howell]

Big Brown Truck showed up again today, this time with a cool(ing) piece. The Sparky and the guys at RnD knocked this one out of the park and I can't wait to test fit it and get more pictures of it in the car. All the parts and pieces are starting to come in now, just a few more and once I get it back with new, raised tunnel installed, they will all find their new home.

[Motown 454]

Nice radiator Bill.

[Justin@EntropyRad]

Cool build!

[Bill Howell]

Got decent start on the tunnel rebuild. First things first, might as well add a driveshaft loop while we are this far into it now right?