79 Olds Cutlass Wagon school project...

[bonecrrusher]

Nice driveway shot - looks bitchin.

[SRD Art]

Thanks man, I appreciate that.

[barrrf]

I love these projects. Build what you have. Do it all yourself. Makes it totally unique.

Youre an inspiration.

[gbodyj]

Your a brave man, glad ya made it safely, what's your overall impression of the wag or was it hard to tell being that it was loaded down?

[srh3trinity]

There are some great details and ideas in this car. Welcome to the south!

[SRD Art]

Thanks everyone!

OK, finally I have some spare time for updating, going back in time to Utah and the front suspension assembly...

This shot shows the Speedway Motors circle track "spindle savers" installed. Not sure they're necessary but they're a little extra inexpensive insurance and should eliminate any potential flex in this area.



...and my custom front 10mm thick, hub and wheel centric spacers for the front wheels. Next to them is the universal 3/4" spacer I used with the GTA wheels. With the custom ones there's no slop in mounting, so there's no driving vibration caused by the spacers getting offset when mounting the tires.



I measured, re-measured, and repeated the process several times to be sure I had something that would fit without issues. It paid off, there's barely room between the caliper and the wheel but it keeps the wheel/ tire assembly neatly tucked under the fenders and now there's no rubbing while turning.

[SRD Art]

After I got the front suspension done I moved to the dash wiring to get the later model steering column and switches installed. The main reason for swapping these was because my 79 column was damaged pretty heavily when the car had been stolen and I really couldn't stand not having wiper delay.

I did a lot of research on this and read that it was kind of a pain to swap these over. I was a bit nervous about the whole process but once I got in there what I found was that it was a relatively very simple swap. Anybody with an early g-body could do this...

First off, the steering column wiring is almost exactly alike between my 79 and the 85 Cutlass columns. The 85 column had some sort of additional plug near the bottom that took a little research to figure out. It went into the engine computer and after a little debate on the g-body forum and a bunch of research with different wiring diagrams I finally found it safe to assume it was a simple gear indicator switch and I could leave it unplugged in my car. My guess was correct, it didn't affect function at all.

Next on the list was to swap the headlight switch wiring. The 79 dash had the typical push/ pull headlight switch with the dash light dimmer activated by turning the knob. The junkyard 85 Cutlass switch is a push button with a separate wheel that adjusts the dimmer. I think just this alone will give the interior a cleaner more modern look.



Here's a photo comparing the wiring for the newer switch and the 79 wiring. Notice they're the same.



I pulled the pins from the 79 switch and trimmed and spliced them into the wires for the 85 switch. Pretty basic wiring here.



The process was basically the same for the wiper wiring, wherein the wiper switch is now on the column rather than on the dash. I did this back in August, so if memory serves me right, the 82+ g-bodies got a re-designed wiper motor that has reversed polarity. To do this steering column swap YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST SWAP TO THE NEWER WIPER MOTOR TOO. On the right is the wiring from the column, the left is the 79 wiper switch. The main difference is the green delay wire, which needs to be wired directly to the green wire coming out of the newer wiper motor rather than spliced into any dash wiring. On the switch in the photo you also see a black and white wire that is the light for the 79 switch. I left this unplugged and eventually conveniently spliced into it as the power and ground for my aftermarket gauge lights.

[SRD Art]

Pictured here is the 85 Wiper motor mocked up. One of the motor's mounting tabs, upper left as pictured, did not line up with the 79's mounting holes, see how it is offset about 3/4". Simply drilling a new hole and using a nut and bolt solved that issue. Everything works great, and having the switch on the column and using the delay system has been really nice.

Also pictured here is the later model master cylinder. The 79 came with a small bore iron unit. While at the junkyard I picked up a booster that accepts the later 1 1/8" aluminum master. I ordered the new master from Oreily's, punching an 85 Monte Carlo SS into Oreily's online website search for the part number. Unfortunately the factory g-body brake proportioning valve is mounted down on the frame right next to the header, kind of a dumb place to put it. When I install the disc brake rear axle I'll update all the lines, eliminate the factory valve, and use an aftermarket valve located away from the heat.

[SRD Art]

Installation of the newer column did require one slight mod- the mounting plate was mostly flat and the 79 firewall curves back on the lower right as pictured. A few light taps with a hammer curved the plate to match the firewall contour and all the bolts then lined up fine. As I said before, overall this was an easy install.



Once all the wiring and fitting it in place was done, I prepped the ugly brown 85 steering column by hitting it with 320 grit paper, then a quick once over with wax and grease remover and I rattle canned it with semi gloss black. My Grant steering wheel replaced the goofy factory unit.



Here's the final install. I'll be keeping my eye out for a column from a floor shift car here in GA, as I never saw one in the junkyards in Utah...

[SRD Art]

Unfortunately I had to sell the 5.3 LS engine to help finance all the small stuff you don't think about when putting a car together. I kept the headers though, and will most likely be doing a 6.0 instead. Got a few other things the car needs before I can take on that again. In the mean time...

With the column done I turned my attention back to the engine bay. Remember the broken 406 from page two? I finally got around to seeing what I was up against after the valve spring broke.



Really there was no major damage. The valve licked the piston putting just a tiny dent in it, but nothing more.



Another problem I found was that the factory harmonic balancer started to have issues, a good portion of the rubber ring was missing.



This motor had about 70K + miles on it but the cylinders all looked good, it doesn't burn oil and holds between 50 and 60 lbs of oil pressure so I decided to just clean it up go over the top end.



To make sure there wasn't any damage to the cam I pulled it out and inspected it. No damage found so I reinstalled it with a new double roller chain. Then the cover went back on and I added a new balancer. Sitting in a dark corner I've had some heads I experimented on about 15 years ago when I was learning how to port heads. They're just generic GM 400 heads but with the gasket match, improved port flow, blended bowls, new guides and a fresh valve job, this motor was a perfect reason to dust them off and pull 'em off the shelf. I threw those on with the Proform airgap dual plane intake and the new 600 Summit carb. I painted the top end of the engine semigloss black while the bottom end was VHT "Metallic Copper" engine paint. I designed and had printed some stickers and applied a couple to the valve covers. As of 5 months later the stickers haven't been affected by engine heat and still look new.





The cap is not one of those correct-a-caps, I simply bought a universal set of MSD wires where you make them to your own desired length and carefully set them up in a clean way. Here's the specs on the motor...

.030 400 small block Chevy, stock crank and rods with ARP bolts
high pressure oil pump and aftermarket pump drive
8.7:1 Eutectic pistons and plasma moly rings
Comp XE268 cam with true roller timing chain
ported factory heads with 1.5 /1.6 roller tip rockers, Comp's cam matched springs
air gap dual plane intake with Summit 600 Vac secs carb
factory HEI with Pertronix "Flame Thrower" upgrade kit and MSD wires
Hooker full length headers
Moroso alternator overdrive pulley, factory crank and water pump pullies

It's a pretty mild and basic budget build, though I'm guessing it makes about 300-325hp and 400-425 ft lbs at the flywheel. According to Comp Cam's online dyno speculation, it's torque peak should be right around 2200 rpms. Out driving it sure pulls hard from 2200 on up to about 4500, which is perfect for autocross. It'll do for now while I hunt down a decent 6.0 LS donor...