Enter your username:
Do you want to login or register?
  • Forgot your password?

    Login / Register



    Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 LastLast
    Results 1 to 20 of 95
    1. #1
      Join Date
      Apr 2017
      Location
      TX
      Posts
      138

      1970 Cutlass convertible updates

      Name:  8-20-07%20SUN%20211.jpg
Views: 5366
Size:  51.9 KBName:  Picture 080.jpg
Views: 5393
Size:  31.2 KBThis is my Cutlass that I have owned since 1995 in its native setting at the drag strip. When I first got the car drag racing was all I cared about. All of my effort went into making the car faster in a straight line, brakes and turning ability were not of any concern. This car got me started in racing and I moved on to faster less streetable cars but those cars have been sold and I kept this one long term. With the responsibilities of raising a family and running a business I just have not had time to drag race as much and the Houston TX drag racing scene has died down over the years. The car has been driven on the street the whole time but it became dated and time for some changes. A few years back I replaced the TH-350 with a 700r4 overdrive transmission to make it more street friendly. I had a guy cut me off and bend up a front fender in 2012. I had to chase them down after they fled the scene but ended up getting some insurance money because they had no insurance. The car sat since then while I came up with the direction I wanted to go with it.
      Name:  20161121_125237.jpg
Views: 5445
Size:  342.4 KBThis picture is from November 2016 when I stated the updates. The rear suspension is Currie upper and lower control arms with UMI springs and braces. Varishock single adjustable shocks on all four corners and Helwig Tubular sway bars front and adjustable rear. The front suspension is Global West upper and lower arms with a 1" taller upper ball joint. The engine is pretty stout and does not make much vacuum for the brake booster. The brakes were sketchy at best, I fixed that by installing a hydroboost system and now it can stop on a dime. The 12 bolt rear end has all Strange parts and axles with c-clip eliminators from its days as a drag car. There are limited brake kits available for c-clip eliminator axle ends so I pretty much had to go with Wilwood's Forged Dynalite-MC4 Rear Brake Kit. I wanted to match the rear pretty close so I went with Wilwood's Forged Dynapro 6 Big Brake Kit up front.



      Name:  20170410_123206.jpg
Views: 5289
Size:  237.0 KBName:  20170410_123128.jpg
Views: 5328
Size:  329.3 KBName:  20170410_124437.jpg
Views: 5308
Size:  419.7 KBName:  20170410_123109.jpg
Views: 5300
Size:  270.7 KBAll of this work was a piece of cake compared to putting the Interior from a 2011 BMW 328i convertible in the car. I am a mechanic by trade and a bit of a perfectionist, I have never done any interior or upholstery work before. I can tell you that there is NOTHING perfect about putting a late model interior in an older car haha. The door panels were the hardest part, I just had to start cutting and forming to get them in. I have it roughed in for now and will finish it off when time allows. I need to get some new rims and tires, new convertible top and paint job to finish it off. I will update this thread as things slowly get done.


    2. #2
      Join Date
      Mar 2011
      Location
      Columbus, OH
      Posts
      216
      Country Flag: United States
      That interior is going to be insane when you finish. Keep us posted on your progress.
      1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass S

      http://fivelugs.com

    3. #3
      Join Date
      Apr 2017
      Location
      TX
      Posts
      138
      I am installing E93 convertible seats in my Cutlass. The problem is that they will time out and become unresponsive after a few seconds. If you disconnect the power or ground wires they work again for a few seconds and then time out again. I have tried wiring them different ways but no luck. I have done tons of research on this site and others but cannot find the solution. In other threads here people have had success by reducing voltage to 5v on one of the power wires. I did this but it makes no difference, same thing. Is there somebody here who has figured this out? I am about to just install them like they are with a toggle switch to interrupt the power supply but I would like to wire them correctly. I posted this in the interior section as well but the project updates section seems to get more views.

      Thanks

      Dan

    4. #4
      Join Date
      Apr 2010
      Posts
      96
      I love this year Cutlas. Esp. the verts .

    5. #5
      Join Date
      Sep 2016
      Posts
      44
      good work on the interior swap

    6. #6
      Join Date
      Apr 2017
      Location
      TX
      Posts
      138
      Thanks guys, I will have an update with pictures soon.

    7. #7
      Join Date
      Sep 2013
      Location
      Houston, TX
      Posts
      246
      Country Flag: United States
      Badolds:
      I would love some pics showing how you mounted the BMW seats and how you reinforced the floors! I have a pair of seats from an '05 M3 convertible that I'm planning to use for my '72 442 convertible project. At first glance, it seems like the seats need to be lifted a little to clear the rocker panels and to be centered on the steering column. Did you have any issues getting yours centered? Thanks!
      Rodney
      Rodney Meyers
      72 Olds 442 Rest-mod clone

    8. #8
      Join Date
      Apr 2017
      Location
      TX
      Posts
      138
      I have not got them mounted yet, I had to do everything else on the interior first and the front seats last. There is a thread in the interior section called "new front seats" it has a lot of information on mounting and wiring these seats. I have not figured out how to wire the seats where they wont time out and become unresponsive. Have you tried to wire yours yet?

    9. #9
      Join Date
      Sep 2013
      Location
      Houston, TX
      Posts
      246
      Country Flag: United States
      i've bench tested mine with a battery charger. they didn't timeout on me but i may not have powered them up long enough to timeout on me. I will have to test them a little more thoroughly.
      Rodney Meyers
      72 Olds 442 Rest-mod clone

    10. #10
      Join Date
      Feb 2013
      Posts
      799
      Country Flag: United States
      Any chance you can post up a shot of the transition from the door panel to the rear quarters? I really like what you've done, just wondering what the transition looks like.

    11. #11
      Join Date
      Apr 2017
      Location
      TX
      Posts
      138
      Quote Originally Posted by JustJohn View Post
      Any chance you can post up a shot of the transition from the door panel to the rear quarters? I really like what you've done, just wondering what the transition looks like.
      I am not sure what shot you are looking for, I am going to work on the car this weekend and would be happy to snap some pics for you.

      Dan

    12. #12
      Join Date
      Apr 2017
      Location
      TX
      Posts
      138

      Interior progress

      Name:  20170428_114051.jpg
Views: 1450
Size:  90.6 KBName:  20170430_072135.jpg
Views: 1459
Size:  171.0 KBName:  20170430_140903.jpg
Views: 1453
Size:  132.5 KBName:  20170430_141340.jpg
Views: 1417
Size:  84.8 KB

      I got to work on the car a little bit last weekend. I have the front seats mounted and the console coming together. I ended up mounting them to the floor without brackets. The door panels I am using are much thicker than the originals so I have no way to center the drivers side to the steering wheel without them interfering with the door panel. The seat is about one inch inboard from the centerline of the steering wheel. The front seat rear inboard bolt is 7/16 grade 8 with a big washer under the car. The front inboard bolt is 3/8 grade 8 that also goes through my driveshaft loop bracket making it very secure. The three outboard bolts are 3/8 grade 8 with not much room for washers underneath because the are so close the edge above the frame. I will just have to live with what I can fit as far as structural washers. Instead of using a bracket or spacers to lift the rear of the seat I just took a BFH and beat the floor flat so the seat tracks sit flat but tilted to the back. The seat adjustment makes up for the slope easily and the seat feels comfortable and has plenty of room for rear passengers to get in and out. I posted a couple pics for Just John showing how the rear door panel meets the door jam. Keep in mind that this is just roughed in for now, I will try and make it pretty later. This interior project will look great when the doors are closed. It will never be show quality but it is good enough for me.

      Dan

    13. #13
      Join Date
      Sep 2016
      Posts
      10
      Country Flag: Norway

      Happy days!

      Hi Dan!

      Im just smiling from ear to ear!! Belive it or not, I bought almost the same interior from a 2008 E92 M3 yesterday and have the same plans as you have exept I have a 72 Cutlass 442 W29 clone
      After I bought it, I searched online for simular projects and you popped up!
      This is good info for me! I wonder how we managed to figure out things before the interweb
      I plan starting the interior project in june as I have 2 other projects going on with my Cut.
      I planned originally to only do front and back seats and center consoles, but looking at those doors makes me want to do the same.

      Subscribed and followed!
      Happy days

      Thanks!

      Morten
      Last edited by CutLS442; 05-04-2017 at 12:01 AM. Reason: More info

    14. #14
      Join Date
      Apr 2017
      Location
      TX
      Posts
      138
      Hello Morten, Best of luck with your project. I could not find anybody crazy enough to try this before me. A bit of advice on the door panels is to not modify the car to fit the panels, modify the panels to fit the car. I could easily put the original interior back in if I wanted to. I had no idea if I could make it work or not so I just started working on it and what do you know, somehow I made it happen. The rear door panels I had to grind and drill the plastic rivets till they are three separate pieces. I then fanned them out in the back and cut the front to fit the door jamb. I am trying to find a solution to the seats timing out after a few minutes of activity. Please let me know if you find a solution to this problem. If you search my post's you will find a lot of info on this subject but no solution yet. I believe the E46 are wired differently than the later E93 seats.

      Dan

    15. #15
      Join Date
      Sep 2016
      Posts
      10
      Country Flag: Norway
      The seats have a standby function that is controlled by a 5 volt signal from the canbus system.
      Not shure about the wire yet as im getting my interior tomorrow.
      I will test it and see if it works. I'll let you know.

      Morten
      Last edited by CutLS442; 05-04-2017 at 12:13 PM. Reason: More info

    16. #16
      Join Date
      Nov 2016
      Posts
      157
      You never had an issue drag racing a convertible without a roll bar? I figure I'll probably get booted on my first run. Anything under 13.49 without a roll bar getts tossed off the track around here. What times were you running?

    17. #17
      Join Date
      Apr 2017
      Location
      TX
      Posts
      138
      The tracks here were all eighth mile back in those days. I never had any trouble with tech or got kicked off the track. The fastest pass was 7.11 eighth mile.

    18. #18
      Join Date
      Apr 2017
      Location
      TX
      Posts
      138
      Quote Originally Posted by CutLS442 View Post
      The seats have a standby function that is controlled by a 5 volt signal from the canbus system.
      Not shure about the wire yet as im getting my interior tomorrow.
      I will test it and see if it works. I'll let you know.

      Morten
      I tried 5 volts from a 7805 transformer to the #3 post in the seat with no luck. I actually tried to wire it a lot of different ways but it will stop responding after a few seconds. I have decided to just put twelve volts to the seats with a switch and just turn on the switch when the seats need to be adjusted. The lumbar never times out.

      Dan

    19. #19
      Join Date
      Mar 2013
      Location
      Beaufort,SC
      Posts
      329
      Country Flag: United States
      Nice swap on the interior, can you use the body control module? Or is it a pwm 5 volts? or do you need 12 volts power and 5 volts reference like a tps switch?

    20. #20
      Join Date
      Apr 2017
      Location
      TX
      Posts
      138
      Quote Originally Posted by no go nova View Post
      Nice swap on the interior, can you use the body control module? Or is it a pwm 5 volts? or do you need 12 volts power and 5 volts reference like a tps switch?
      I thought I would not need any control modules for these seats, that's why I went with them instead of some other seats with integrated belts. There are some folks that have made them work but I believe those are from earlier E46 convertibles. I have a workaround by wiring them with a switch. When they time out you just break the twelve volt input with the switch and continue adjusting. I would just like to wire them without a switch if possible.

      Dan

    Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 LastLast




    Advertise on Pro-Touring.com