So I bought a Cutlass Supreme - Project Upggrayed - For a double dose of G Body pimping

[arse_sidewards]

And here I was thinking that looks nice from the pics.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Finally found some time at work to put in the interior in the back.

I tried reattaching that headliner with 3M Super77, and I sure screwed it up. I did realize using it above your head in an enclosed space is absolutely not pleasant. Whatever, at least the headliner is not straight up flapping in the breeze when I have the windows down. If I ever pull the whole headliner I'll fix it better.

I couldn't get the rear lower seat cushion to release, so I didn't put in the seatbelts for the back seat. Seems like it's bent. It's probably seen some action.


Also found more random parts under the pile of interior bits. Jute pad for who knows what? And probably a taillight harness? This thing has come with at least a few straight up non-Cutlass parts, so it's difficult to sort through some of this shit.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

More "most lamest build thread evaaaar" updates.

I bought a cupholder thing. And it sucks.

It was this thing from Amazon:

Which clearly isn't of any use because it's meant to go on a headrest for somebody in the back seat.

Hacksaw fixed that though:

Bolted it through the bottom of the ashtray, because I didn't want to modify anything that would be obvious later. This way if I take it off I can just leave the screws in to plug the holes.

It had a funky angle though that wasn't going to work...

Having not left myself any option to attach it elsewhere or shim it, I resorted to the big ol' electric heat gun thingy to warm it up and gently reshape it:

Obviously this is a horrible way to do this. However, I was already not super impressed with the product, so I figured why not. This plastic melts at a low enough temperature the whole thing might just melt if you park the car in the sun on a hot day though. I put some screws through the hinge on it too, as that seemed to help make it more rigid. I could reinforce it with some aluminum or whatnot, but I'm not really digging it enough to want to bother.

Installed:

I hate it. It does hold a soda can reasonably well though. Or my phone. Not sure about nuggets and dipping sauce, it might not be up to the task. It's quite flimsy.

I think I'll look at other options, but Amazon.ca really didn't seem to have much that was super ideal from all my searching. And wow does my carpet look dirty in the last picture.

[arse_sidewards]

Yeah, most of that mass market car organizer crap is flimsy shit. One good bump with a limb, toolbox, pet, etc. and it's generally done for.

I would do what they did in the 80s and build a plywood center console. You can always glass it if you want it to have the spill resistance of plastic.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Yeah, most of that mass market car organizer crap is flimsy shit. One good bump with a limb, toolbox, pet, etc. and it's generally done for.

I would do what they did in the 80s and build a plywood center console. You can always glass it if you want it to have the spill resistance of plastic.

That was my next plan. I figured I'd try this because it looked reasonably clean the way it came.

Turns out there is a commercially available cupholder that replaces the ashtray. So I might look into that.

Or just run this one.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

More numpty updates. I got sick of having two CDs that are okay at best, and a bunch that I hate, since I actually threw away most of my CD collection only a month before buying this car, which I guess was a mistake. However, the Pioneer head unit that is in this is absolutely worn out and constantly goes dead unless you wiggle the faceplate. So I dug out a Bluetooth/no CD head unit I knew I had around.

Very reassuring box for the product. You can tell it will be high quality.

I thought the last guy actually had done a reasonable job of splicing the harness in. They had bought the actual adapter plug and everything. These heat shrinked lumps I had assumed were twisted together and soldered AKA lazy linesman's splice.

I cut one open out of curiosity...

Nope! No solder. Just twisted together. Honestly I'm impressed, who has heat shrink, knows how to use it, but then thinks just twisting wires together is totally okay?

New splice job done with Raychems.

Installed and working.

Sound quality is much better than before... Not sure how much of that is due to not having the wires just twisted together. I'd assumed the speakers were going bad, but there's no evidence of that now. This head unit is definitely not high quality though, the volume knob is horrible right out of the box, and the UI is pretty stupid. However, I think it will do the job for the time being. If I do upgrade to something else I'll ditch the bulged double to single DIN adapter, since these Bluetooth only units are only a couple inches deep anyway.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Well, the ol' tranny is slipping bad in 2nd and 3rd now when under load. Works great in OD. Unfortunately it doesn't have anywhere near the power to stay in OD, so once it kicks it down a gear it slips and you slow down more. If you're careful you can milk it along, but it's pretty undriveable now.

I even tried a bottle of that Lucas transmission fix, and it actually is WAY BETTER in 1st (always slipped) and 2nd isn't as horrible, but 3rd is still completely useless. I can't actually say anything bad about the Lucas snake oil based on that.


Anyway, not sure what the hell I'm going to do about it. Kinda bummed, was hoping it would make it to fall. For being such a pile of crap the car got nothing but positive comments everywhere I went with it.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Oh, but I had a contingency plan. Even if it's a bad one.

Minor issues... The truck is 4wd. And I've done no research on the swap. But I got a good deal on the truck, that's all the matters.

[Johnny5]

I believe the tranni in that cutlass would be 700r4 if it had overdrive and that truck is prob a 4l60e. One has pretty well no wires and the other is a wiring nightmare and is arguably the worst tranni put into a Chevy truck.
Why not rebuild that 700r4? If it’s just slipping a guy could prob get away with disks and seals.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

I believe the tranni in that cutlass would be 700r4 if it had overdrive and that truck is prob a 4l60e. One has pretty well no wires and the other is a wiring nightmare and is arguably the worst tranni put into a Chevy truck.
Why not rebuild that 700r4? If it’s just slipping a guy could prob get away with disks and seals.

It's not a 700R4. It's a TH200-4R. Which isn't considered to be the worst transmission ever built, but it certainly isn't good, given that 140HP roasted it.

I'm not planning to put the 4L60E behind the Olds 307. That wouldn't work, since the Olds motor is BOP pattern, and as you have correctly pointed out the 4L60E isn't going to work without a computer to control it. I want to put the whole 5.3/4L60E in. The 307 is also horribly tired. The 4L60E is already roasted too, so we got that part out of the way. But it made it to 250000km in a 1/2 ton pickup truck that suspiciously has a gooseneck mount in the bed. Pretty certain it will do just fine in my car with a stock 5.3.

[Johnny5]

Ah I thought ya was just robbin tranni out. Gooseneck eh? People do strange things to half tons sometimes. Had a guy haul in a skid steer with most the weight on the tongue of a f150, thing was frowning so hard, hitch just hanging on for dear life and about 4 inches to the ground

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Ah I thought ya was just robbin tranni out. Gooseneck eh? People do strange things to half tons sometimes. Had a guy haul in a skid steer with most the weight on the tongue of a f150, thing was frowning so hard, hitch just hanging on for dear life and about 4 inches to the ground

The parts truck allegedly was on a farm in Alberta. So god only knows what it hauled.

I've looked at a couple different 1500s over the years for parts, more than one of them had broken frames from being so badly overloaded. I recall one that was used by a mason, he would put whole pallets of brick in it and added airbags so it "would handle the weight", and then was confused that the frame broke. Personally I think this sort of shit is part of what gave the 4L60E such a bad rap. Along with the fact that you could throw a few mods and a tune at a 5.3 and suddenly be pushing 400HP and similar torque through one, and that wasn't exactly in the design.

Anyway, I've got a shift kit to go with the rebuild kit for it, so I can't see it being a real problem as long as I keep the engine stock. Also I picked up a 2wd mainshaft for cheap because it was stock that was being liquidated, and the 2wd tailhousing was only $80. Now I just have to figure out how to get this crap into the car. I don't like how most of the aftermarket motor mounts work, but I guess if everyone is doing it I shouldn't overthink it. It looks like the trans shift linkage will work, which is good. The truck oil pan will clear, but it's quite low, so I might just order a different one. The S10 conversion shorty headers appear to be fine, so that's good, they're cheap on Amazon or eBay. Looks like an Astro van EFI sender/pump assembly will go in the gas tank too, and the tank was new a couple years ago as per the PO. Cooling, no idea yet. Wiring to make it run is easy, gauges and whatnot are another matter.

Realistically I should pull the insurance because I don't think I'll get this done before it snows.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Trying to chase down parts for this given that everything is generally a month or two out. Typing this out more to collect my thoughts.

I ordered a knock-off Holley 302-1 conversion oil pan, allegedly the truck pan will fit but it might scrape pavement so I decided to NOT go that route given how good our roads are. This pan is quite shallow, there's some debate if it's a good idea or not, but so be it. Ordered the dipstick too. Windage tray for it is in my Rockauto cart. Might get a good gasket too and save the headache of whatever the pan ships with.

Ordered some super sketchy shorty headers off eBay because allegedly the truck manifolds won't fit. Who knows if these will. Wouldn't be the first time I had to hack up an eBay header.

I have a set of motor mount "clamshells" in my Summit cart, UMI Performance 90058, waiting for confirmation they work. If they do I can order any of the generic mount adapter plates. The issue is you need clamshells from a SBC car, and since I have the Olds motor what I have is useless. Finding a good set from a SBC car probably won't be easy.

I have the fuel pump for an 87 Grand National in my RA cart. It seems to be the best option. Going to check out the integrity of my tank, but I believe it's only a few years old so it should be fine, if it isn't I'll order a GN tank too. The carb and EFI tanks are the same other than the EFI ones have a baffle for the pickup, or so my research seems to indicate, so it should work with either but it might die while cornering with low fuel if you don't have the baffle. The better long term solution is to cut your trunk up (spare tire mount) and put the bigger plastic tank out of a newer Caprice (I think) in with the basket style pump/pickup; I'll consider going down this road if I decide it's worth it. This engine (2000) has the fuel regulator on the rail with a return line, so no need for the Corvette regulator. I guess I should order a EFI compatible filter though, not sure where to put it (have to see what they did on the GN?).

No idea on radiator and hoses yet. Might just rig 'er up with some random pipe and hose, but allegedly there is OEM radiators that will fit.

Throttle cable should work. Transmission shift linkage is supposed to work. Stock power steering hoses from the car are supposed to fit.

I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of things.

[Johnny5]

Ya should ditch all that tech from the old days and install all the electric car stuff. No oil pan to scrap hahaha

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Ya should ditch all that tech from the old days and install all the electric car stuff. No oil pan to scrap hahaha

But, I've thought about it. Unfortunately there's no good junkyard parts. The motors and controllers aren't TOOOOOOOOOOOO expensive to buy new, but to even get 200km of range you're at over $10K just in batteries (not including shipping). Realistically you'd have 20 g-notes into it to make a decent around town driver. It just doesn't make sense until parts are available for less, and the aftermarket support is better, and even then you're still only building something that would get used around town.

The car is just a cruiser, I drive it to work or to get groceries, and I'm not going to drive it in the winter. It would be super comfy if it sounded like an electric drill instead of a massive exhaust leak. People have an insatiable urge to come talk to me about it when they see it, and I find that to be pretty amusing. I think it would blow their minds if I answered the most common question of "What motor is in it?" with "It's got a Hyper-9" instead of "Oh, it's just the Olds 307". Also there's a bunch of purists on the G-body forums that I'd love to fuck with. They gave me an absolute earful for throwing out the AIR injection pump because "Now it can't be restored numbers matching."

Maybe in 10 years. Tesla stuff is becoming more common and guys have hacked it pretty well at this point. I think if I can make this 5.3 work I'm going to be more than happy for now though.