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

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

I'll admit I had one of these in high school and wanted the nostalgia factor.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

To explain... My trailer is too tall and the ramps are too short, hence that sketchy shit going on. This is the trailer I bought to replace the one I rented to work, since they won't give back. So I need to do something about the ramps because this was a gongshow to get it on and off.

As to the car, it's an Olds 307 I think? Not sure what tranny they used, but it's a slush box. It shifts nice, fires up nice, runs good, pretty gutless but I think that's normal for an 80s V8. The PO's son abandoned it at his house for a decade, so it's a in a bit of an unknown state. Some of the interior is out, the vinyl roof is removed, and there's some crappy rust repairs. It looks like he deleted the A/C and the air pump, not sure if that's because deleting one meant the other one had to go? It came with a bunch of crap, half of it I have no idea what for.

The power windows work but are sloooooooooow.

Anyways, I don't plan to do much but fix whatever is immediately wrong and drive it.

[Snowracer]

love it, there is just something about G body cars

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

love it, there is just something about G body cars

Yeah, I'm pretty stoked about it. Seems like people want a ton of money for them now too.


I think I might have to splurge for some new tires. These ones shake and are pretty crusty. Too bad GM used the stupid 5x4.75 bolt pattern instead of either 5x5 or 5x4.5. Is there any modern vehicles that even use this pattern? I think it would look better with some 16s or 17s and rubber band tires, since the stock wheels are 14".

[Johnny5]

Ah that’s my neighbors lol I seen ya loading it up

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Ah that’s my neighbors lol I seen ya loading it up

Oh, you saw the shitshow of me with my collection of ramps, wood blocks, and ratchet straps.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Apparently 5x4.75 bolt pattern wheels aren't really a thing anymore.

What's up with the debate about 5x120 being the same/not the same? It doesn't look like it matters, all the wheels in that pattern have massive positive offset and won't likely work anyway.

[Scoobienorth]

I see Tony Angelo just posted a YouTube video stating the best “budget muscle car” to buy is a g body. You must be onto something.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

I see Tony Angelo just posted a YouTube video stating the best “budget muscle car” to buy is a g body. You must be onto something.

I'm not sure that it is. It was just the nostalgia. The same generation Camaro and Trans Am is probably a better base to build off of, given that the entire drivetrain in any of them is garbage. But the F-bodies are a better chassis for handling and aero. There is no love for the "turd gen" F-bodies, so you can get them in better shape and cheaper than a G now. The chain of events that lead to me buying this was quite stupid, I wanted to find a car just to cruise for the summer and looked high and low for a turbodiesel Mercedes, the only good ones were $10K+. Then I decided I'd find something more classic, and looked around a lot. There was an AMX in Alberta I really wanted but I didn't have time to get it before it sold. Then a 72 Buick Riviera came up that I thought I really wanted (it's still for sale) and had totally sold myself on. Luckily the seller sent me detailed pictures of the bondo before I drove an hour and a half to look at it. I was saddened it wouldn't work out and looked on Kijiji for the first time in years, and this sucker was on there. I think if I hadn't found this one immediately after being let down by the Riviera I probably would have held out to find a nice 3rd gen Trans Am with the WS6 package and body kit, because I've almost bought one multiple times in my life and it just never happened, and I still want to own one some day. There was also some 2nd gen Camaros/Firebirds that I wanted to snatch up earlier, but I didn't have my new trailer yet so it stopped me.

That said, I'm thoroughly enjoying this thing, and it was way less money than anything else I looked at or considered before this.


I do need to find out what the heck can be done about trim for the rear window with the vinyl top removed. I don't want to redo the vinyl, but it bothers me there's no trim without it.

I also need to figure out where the G-body tech is at. Most of the forums I've found posts on via Google didn't seem so good.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Snowracer is on it with some wheels and tires for me. The now obsolete bolt pattern and offset issues lead me to just buy new. I could use adapters and run some Subaru wheels or something else, but I hate adapters, and there wasn't really anything I found that seemed to be worth it.

Now I'm looking at options to lower it a bit. I want to put the new wheels and tires on first to see how much I can do, but I think 2" front and 1-2" rear shouldn't be an issue. Drop spindles for the front are fairly inexpensive and would be a good excuse to check the wheel bearings, tie rod ends, etc. I'm not sure if that's the best way to go though. For the rear you seem to be stuck buying new coils, the design of them means you can't even nip part of a coil off.

I'll have to do some more research.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

I'm not sure if this was what I was going for. Definitely needs to be lowered now.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Thread title updated because I guess I'm going to have to do more things to it.

I ordered some drop spindles and some random springs (S10 and Camaro) so hopefully I can lower it okay. I think I'll probably keep the stock front springs and just try the drop spindles for now. The rear is goofy because is uses springs that are tapered on both ends, but the Camaro coil isolators *should* allow you to run a more conventional spring without it being totally hack. Oddly enough there isn't really any good info I can find on measuring the ride height and determining where you're at versus stock, the 34 year old springs are likely bagged out but it's hard to say how much.

Also, apparently I need to make a new insert for my floor jack because this isn't a truck. It won't go low enough.

[arse_sidewards]

I fuckin hate lowered cars. If you're gonna rock pre-00s car you might as well leave it stock height or a little taller for ride quality. It'll never handle better than a modern car so you might as well make it ride better.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

I fuckin hate lowered cars. If you're gonna rock pre-00s car you might as well leave it stock height or a little taller for ride quality. It'll never handle better than a modern car so you might as well make it ride better.

I just want the stance. It's too tall. Drop spindles won't change ride quality any, it looks like there is enough space in the wheel wells for the drop. I'm going to try them before I swap the springs out in the front, but it can pick up a little spring rate before really affecting the ride quality, this thing was marketed to grandparents after all. The rear springs probably will be stiff enough to be noticeable, and I did more research and think I actually wanted to order a different P/N, but everyone orders the ones I did. Worst case I'm not doing anything permanent, and can change it back or try something else.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Got a steering wheel from Amazon warehouse deals. It was cheap. Really cheap.

But, I will say, these cheap Grant steering wheels are shit. Big gap between one of the pieces, and the colour is way lighter than it looks in pictures, either mine or the ones on their official site. If I actually paid list price for it I would be pretty upset, and reading the reviews it's not like mine is any different than the average one.

I think I'm going to try giving it a sand and stain at work to make it darker/redder to match the dash. Maybe.