pro-touring Olds project

[68cutlass]

Hi everyone. I figured it was time to stop searching everyone else's posts and start getting involved. My name is Mark and I'm a high school Physics teacher and coach in Southern California. I'm restoring/modernizing my first car, a 1968 Olds Cutlass. I'm originally from Indiana, and the car has been in my family since new, so its seen way too much salt over the years. I've prepped a "new" frame for it and I'm in the process of building up the suspension (AFX spindles, SC&C pro-lite UCAs, etc.) The car will be powered by an Olds 455 w/Eldebrock heads, backed up by (tentatively) a shrifter-controlled 4l80e. Thanks to everyone who posts on this site, you've given me untold amounts of information to get me started on my project. I especially want to thank Mark at SC&C for taking the time to listen to my goals for the car and help me come up with a plan to reach them.

[ProdigyCustoms]

Welcome to the board, sounds like a really cool non Camaro project.

[68cutlass]

Thanks Frank. Yours is one of the opinions I pay especially close attention to. Your projects are amazing, especially your son's camaro. Keep up the great work!
-Mark

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Welcome to the site, Mark.

[ProTouring442]

Welcome! Sounds like a cool project, but I may be a bit biased! Let's see a few pics, please.

Shiny Side Up!
Bill
'72 442 "Inamorata"
'89 ASC/McLaren
www.FQuick.com/ProTouring442

[gearheads78]

Got a 66' Cutlass drop top myself in the planning stages. Lets see some pics and welcome to the site.

[67 caprice]

Welcome It's always cool to see a non-protouring car become a protouring car.

[68cutlass]

Thanks for responding guys. The last pictures I took before I started taking pieces off was on regular film, but I'm going to see what I can do to get something downloaded. Hopefully I'll be able to finish putting the new suspension pieces on the frame and take some pics of that. I know it helped me to see other people's setups with the afx spindles. Bill, I've been looking at your 442 for awhile. Actually you and CHILI (on realoldspower.com) are at least partially responsible for me attempting the protouring route with my Cutlass. How dark is the red on "Inamorata"? My '68 is the original "scarlet" red, but I've been thinking about something darker when I get to that point.
-Mark

[ProTouring442]

Thanks for responding guys. The last pictures I took before I started taking pieces off was on regular film, but I'm going to see what I can do to get something downloaded. Hopefully I'll be able to finish putting the new suspension pieces on the frame and take some pics of that. I know it helped me to see other people's setups with the afx spindles. Bill, I've been looking at your 442 for awhile. Actually you and CHILI (on realoldspower.com) are at least partially responsible for me attempting the protouring route with my Cutlass. How dark is the red on "Inamorata"? My '68 is the original "scarlet" red, but I've been thinking about something darker when I get to that point.
-Mark

Hey, I know Chili! Been chatting with him on and off since I saw his car in some mag (don't rememeber which one).

My red is 2002 Pontiac GTO red. More of a bright, primary red.

Wow, never been the inspiration for someone else's build before, thanks! I guess I'll really have to get back on it now!

Get those pics posted, and keep us informed!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill
'72 442 "Inamorata"
www.FQuick.com/ProTouring442

[442typhoondude]

I'm another new Olds guy. I got a 1985 442 that's been sitting for too many years, and I'm looking to finally start in on it this summer.

I had no clue there were so many Olds guys into the whole pro touring/G-machine thing.

[olds87]

Nice to have some Olds guys here. I got a 87 cutlass, also just bought the AFX spindles for my car from Mark at SC&C.

[68cutlass]

Mark at SC&C is the absolute best. Iv'e talked with him on the phone now on a couple of occasions, and he'll take the time to thoroughly answer all of my questions, even though I'm sure he's heard them a hundred times before. He obviously has a incredible amount of knowledge about A/G-body suspensions. He's been especially good about recommending what makes sense performance/cost-wise for my build (which will be 99.9% street car). He has recommended other, lower-cost, vendors for some of my parts, when he easily could have told me that I had to have the more expensive parts he was carrying. That's when you know you are dealing with someone reputable.

James, I've seen in posts before that you've been looking at the Intro 5-stars. That's what I'm probably going to put on my '68. Dave Nace, the owner of Intro wheels, is also a good guy. I went to his showroom in Montclair a couple of months ago and talked with him about what I'm doing (c5 brakes on an A-body). I've since seen him at two Good Guys shows and he has come up and initiated the conversation about my project, which is amazing considering the number of people he must talk to every weekend at a show. He's very approachable, where some vendors act like you are taking away from their break time by asking them about their product. It's nice to have people like Mark and Dave out there supporting this hobby.
-Mark