Finally, Cutlass Pics

[gmpartsgirl]

[gmpartsgirl]

A few night pics....

[gmpartsgirl]

And lastly, a few from when we gave it to him, unfortunaely because the ex was coming I had had a few monster and vodkas and was a little shaky so the pics suck, but nevertheless here they are...

Edited December 27, 2008 by gmpartsgirl

[Brougham-Holiday]

Wow, that Olds looks great! Is that an '87?

[gmpartsgirl]

Yeah, '87 one owner. It's tough giving it to the kid for xmas, but I couldn't not buy it and he is crazy in love with it. Some of the pics aren't coming up on my end, think photobuckets giving me fits.

[Brougham-Holiday]

In a small way hes keeping the proud Oldsmobile legacy alive.

[gmpartsgirl]

Yeah, now he knows. I know I'm putting the car at risk with a teenage boy, but now he knows true car love, madness, obsession. What a REAL car is all about. The beauty that GM is capable of. I will make an Olds fanatic out of him yet. My first car was an '84 Brougham, as clean as this one. I'm living vicariously through him.

[Delta Force79]

Now thats a sexy Cutty, very nice indeed, best of luck with it.

[trinacriabob]

Wow, what a beautiful car! The departure of a plush cloth burgundy interior (which I have in my Regal and COULDN'T get in the LaCrosse) is the sad closing of another chapter in American automotive history.

I love your car. I didn't much care for the 78-80 Cutlass Supremes, but the 81-88(RWD Classic) series came back with a vengeance. The sloped back grilles and thinner, more Eldorado-ish taillamps made a difference. My favorites within that series are the 1982, 1984 (which I had) and the 1987, mostly because those years had the best grilles.

What I would like is a 1982 Supreme Brougham coupe - Light Jadestone Metallic / white top / jadestone cloth interior - 260 V8 - rally wheels - and low miles. I think that's asking for too much.

[Z-06]

Pristine.

[loki]

very nice. very clean

[bobo]

Gorgeous. That's one of my all-time favorite cars. Lucky kid.

[ocnblu]

Very sweet car... is that a hole in the air cleaner housing. or a label? I cannot quite tell. If it's a hole, I'll bet that ol' Quadrajet makes her moan like crazy under throttle. Edited December 28, 2008 by ocnblu

[gmpartsgirl]

My ex flipped the lid over on the air cleaner so he could hear the four barrel. LOL It's a great car, thanks for all the compliments, it was a hell of a find. He's in love and so am I.

[Drew Dowdell]

would you be my mommy?

[Cory Wolfe]

You can have an '84 parts car. *nods*

Edited December 29, 2008 by blackviper8891

[ocnblu]

Shoot, now I see it, yes, the lid is flipped over, DUH. That's a time-honored tradition. My cousin and I used to do that on my uncle's bronze '74 Grand Ville 2 door hardtop with a 455, so we could make 'er moan while cruising through town. I wasn't old enough to drive, of course, but he'd just thrash that ol' Pontiac when he wanted someone to hear those four throats sucking air.

[gmpartsgirl]

You can have an '84 parts car. *nods*

LOL still trying to get me to buy that car. Notice how I finally got one once I got his dumb ass out of the way? LOL

[daves87rs]

Looks good!

Now it's your turn to hunt one down.....

[knightfan26917]

WOW!!!!! He is one lucky kid, for sure!

VERY nice Cutlass ... love that 2-tone paint, too.

Cort | 35swm | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker ...RT 66 drive = Sept '09

WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort

"Another year comes to a close" ... Sylvia ... 'Reflections'

[2005 EquinoxLS]

VERY NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. AS nice as the 2 B-bodies I have. Better than the Pontiac in a lot of ways. I hope the kid realizes what he has. At least you dont have winter salt to ruin them if you drive them. Neither of mine have moves in weeks due to the snow. Even a sunroof which it seems you dont see very often. And the Interstate battery!!! I dont think I have enough of a thread to be able to turn my air cleaner cover over and be able to bolt it down. How many miles are on it? And does everything seem to run well?

[gmpartsgirl]

VERY NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. AS nice as the 2 B-bodies I have. Better than the Pontiac in a lot of ways. I hope the kid realizes what he has. At least you dont have winter salt to ruin them if you drive them. Neither of mine have moves in weeks due to the snow. Even a sunroof which it seems you dont see very often. And the Interstate battery!!! I dont think I have enough of a thread to be able to turn my air cleaner cover over and be able to bolt it down. How many miles are on it? And does everything seem to run well?

The sunroof is really rare, and it doesn't leak, but I told him to please not use it, just let it be. And yeah no salt, Oklahoma cars are the best, no rust anywhere. It has 109,000 miles on it. So the old lady put about 5k a year on. I was glad that it was 100k and not 40k, so it isn't all dry rotted and everything works. Its ALL still there, no check engine lights, purrs like a kitten. It is running a little rich, I need to get the carb adjusted, other than that its great. I did cut off the factory cat because it was clogged and put a turbo muffler on it for him so it would make a little noise for him. I think he realizes the magnitude of what this car is, I've discussed it with him and he's crazy in love with it. Of course it further intensified his desire to be a mechanic like his father which I don't want, other than as a hobby, not a living. This car is never going anywhere, if he ever decides he wants something else, I'll but it from him. I've had to give up all my babies for one reason or another, but this one is forever.

[2005 EquinoxLS]

Both mine have new catalytic converters too. When my Grandmother had the Bonneville it plugged up on her. Dad was just changing the Caprice as a maintenence thing. It doesnt seem like at least in my expeirience that check engines are much of a problem with these. The Bonneville will light once in the GREAT while if it is a mid idle but its rare. And you are right, mine too are for miles 117,00 for the Bonneville and 119,000 for the Caprice. Like you said enough use that they arent dryroted and that most of the things that go on these have been replaced. So they are good for a while again. Havent had to do anything with the carburetor with the Caprice, I think I can count on one had the times it ever stalled. The Bonneville is another story. Took 2 places and myself to get it rebuilt and running somewhat properly. I think there is a vacuum leak on that one but I have yet to really dig into it. People keep telling me I should get rid of the Bonneville since I now have the Caprice and the new Impala. I dont want to and if I do it someday it will be my choice not people telling me I have to. Again congrates on the car and I wish the 2 of you many trouble free miles of happy motoring.

[2005 EquinoxLS]

Question, it is my understanding that the mixture isnt adjustable on these computer controlled carburetors. Is that correct? I could be wrong since I am not real mechanical. I was tempted once though to see what it would have taken to convert the Bonneville to some sort of fuel injection.

Edited December 30, 2008 by 2005 EquinoxLS

[gm4life]

Great looking Olds I would need to stick a set of factory mags on here and you would be in buisness. Who orders bucket seats, a sun-roof with wire wheels honestly? Is it a 260, 305 or what? Great car tho.

[gmpartsgirl]

Question, it is my understanding that the mixture isnt adjustable on these computer controlled carburetors. Is that correct? I could be wrong since I am not real mechanical. I was tempted once though to see what it would have taken to convert the Bonneville to some sort of fuel injection.

We've adjusted them before. I don't really remember how we did it. The screw was sealed away somehow or some $h!. If I have to I'll buy a Quad from Edelbrock and a vacuum advance distributor and get rid of all the smog stuff. I'm trying to keep original as long as I can though.

[gmpartsgirl]

Great looking Olds I would need to stick a set of factory mags on here and you would be in buisness. Who orders bucket seats, a sun-roof with wire wheels honestly? Is it a 260, 305 or what? Great car tho.

I already found a set of the 15's with black inset on Ebay for $700. But, it has brand new tires so I told him to start saving his money. He can't actually get his license until spring, he only has a permit right now, and we don't have a lot of places close for him to work so until spring he won't be able to make much money.

[deftonesfan867]

If he doesn't want it.....

Beautiful car, my old Merc had the same color interior.

[gm4life]

That would be a sweet first car in great shape like that. My son would have killed for one, any RWD GM car would be fine with him. Those Olds mags with the black inserts will look bitch'n on that thing. I want photographs of it when they are on because that will be one kick-a$$ Olds. Also what motor is in it? Please say a V8 something... Neat car tho!

[gmpartsgirl]

Oh yeah sorry. It's the 307 Olds of course. Never had a V6 one. And won't have one with the 305 in it, thank you very much. Nothing against Chevy obviously but and Olds should have a BOP powerplant.

[Camino LS6]

Incredibly clean example!

Love to see it with the factory Olds Rally wheels.

[gmpartsgirl]

Incredibly clean example!

Love to see it with the factory Olds Rally wheels.

Oh man me too!! It's screaming for the right wheels. We'll get there, if I have to buy them. LOL

[Cory Wolfe]

LOL still trying to get me to buy that car. Notice how I finally got one once I got his dumb ass out of the way? LOL

Haha, well, it's like a rodent we can't get rid of. It was sitting in our yard with $500 written very largely on the windshield for 6 months. It's currently in the garage, as it no longer wants to start for whatever reason(s). I bet the carburetor finally gave up on it. I'd really like it to go to someone who has the ability to fix it up and keep it running, but alas, no one seems to be interested. Even those on here who swore up and down about it were all talk. Bitches.

[2005 EquinoxLS]

We've adjusted them before. I don't really remember how we did it. The screw was sealed away somehow or some $h!. If I have to I'll buy a Quad from Edelbrock and a vacuum advance distributor and get rid of all the smog stuff. I'm trying to keep original as long as I can though.

It would be good to keep it origional. I am the same way with the 2 of mine. They are the same as they came from the factory. Though with as primitive as the controls are on these I wonder if the right person with the right know how could get an Edelbrock carburetor and vacuum advance distributer to actually run better and with less emissions than the factory setup. Or like I had said, I wonder if a throttle body fuel injection setup could be made to work with these? There seems to be little in the way of performace parts for these engines. Though I am sure what works for an Olds 350 could work for a 307 as well. Good luck in the work on this car. It should be a fun expeirience for the 2 of you.

Edited January 8, 2009 by 2005 EquinoxLS

[gmpartsgirl]

I always buy parts for a 350 when I get stuff for these, the only problem really is the ports on a 350 intake manifold don't match. It looks like we are gonna do away with the smog $h! and put the edel rochester mech quad on her with vacuum advance. The valve covers are leaking pretty bad so while we're there we might as well. We'll sacrifice gas mileage but the poor girl is suffocating under all that crap. So much can be had from this little 307 darling without a lot of work. Going to adjust the shift points too. Its driving me nuts how soon it shifts. Just going to do the minimum until the new engine is built, still arguing with the idiot ex about whether to build a 350 rocket or a 455. I have a guy who can get me either, never opened, never bored out. The kid isn't really ready for 455 horsepower but for the money, it makes more sense to build to a big block. What do you think?

[gm4life]

I always buy parts for a 350 when I get stuff for these, the only problem really is the ports on a 350 intake manifold don't match. It looks like we are gonna do away with the smog $h! and put the edel rochester mech quad on her with vacuum advance. The valve covers are leaking pretty bad so while we're there we might as well. We'll sacrifice gas mileage but the poor girl is suffocating under all that crap. So much can be had from this little 307 darling without a lot of work. Going to adjust the shift points too. Its driving me nuts how soon it shifts. Just going to do the minimum until the new engine is built, still arguing with the idiot ex about whether to build a 350 rocket or a 455. I have a guy who can get me either, never opened, never bored out. The kid isn't really ready for 455 horsepower but for the money, it makes more sense to build to a big block. What do you think?

Bigger is better... That also applies to ladies rear ends too. Anyways good luck with it, but if the 455 isn't much more you'd be seriously nuts not to go for it. You always can give your son a Buick Century to drive instead and keep the Olds for you!

[gmpartsgirl]

Well before its all over, I'll end up with the Olds. He'll get a 240 or something. I really want to build the 455. Just seems like the best choice if we're gonna go to all the trouble.

[daves87rs]

Agreed....

[gm4life]

Well before its all over, I'll end up with the Olds. He'll get a 240 or something. I really want to build the 455. Just seems like the best choice if we're gonna go to all the trouble.

Ata girl.

[RoadmaSSter]

What a beautiful Cutlass!

[regfootball]

really is a great car. awesome.

i love the old slider hvac controls and that stereo had to have been put in MILLIONS of GM products, with the equalizer. ah the good old days.

[Mike D.]

I like the Cutlass Supremes of that era a LOT more than the Cutlass Ciera. We had a UPS brown 83 Cutlass Ciera with a V6. It definetely wasn't a rocket.

[2005 EquinoxLS]

Sounds like you already made your choice. If you dont mind the fuel economy a 455 could be the way to go here. I agree with you that the 307 feels strangled as it comes from the factory. Mine on the '81 does and supposedly that one has bigger ports than the later ones did. Good luck in what you do. On ly nice thing though about the 350 versus the 455 is that the 350 is more of a bolt in operation where the 455 you have to modify things a lot. Hmmmmmmmmmm maybe in 20 years when the 307 gives out in the '81 I should try a 455 huh?

[gmpartsgirl]

It's a tough choice what to do. I've always been able to get respectable power out of my 307's with minimal work, just making them breathe. It's hard to make a car this clean not factory anymore, and yes the 455 would require a great deal more work, beefing up the suspension and so on. If I do anything I suppose the 350 would be the cheapest and simplest way to go. I had a very impressive 350 in my last '87 and had a ball with it. We'll see, only time will tell.

[ponchoman49]

A good buddy of mine bought a sweet black 87 Cutlass Salon coupe from an older gentleman with the exact same burgandy bucket seat interior as your car. It had around 62k miles with the 307 Olds and 200R-4 automatic trans and factory 2.56:1 rear gears. It ran sweet and smooth but was a gutless wonder and I timed it with a stopwatch from 0-60 in 14.9 second! The 85-90 version of the 307 used 7A heads instead of the 80-84 5A versions and used a roller cam. The 7A heads are smaller and spiral shaped which increases the ram effect of the air/fuel mixture. This is great for mileage and around town response but top end power suffers. A good running 7A roller 307 should start very easy and have response very similar to a fuel injected engine if in proper tune. My buddys felt doggy all the time and a heavy throttle foot was needed to get it going. The first thing I did was have the entire exhaust system checked. They checked everything from front to back and found a partically plugged original cat converter and a rotted air injection tube dangling. That explained the strange wheezing noise whenever the car was cold. With a new high flow converter in place and the air injection hose in place the car definately felt better but still not nearly up to par. It was starting hard and stumbly, until warm and hesitated at more than part throttle. With the converter done we re-timed the 0-60 run in 12.5 seconds. Hmm, more room for improvement here for sure. Next was a complete tune up. Yes this car looks to have had the original AC Delco spark plugs with the circular built in groove and litterally no electrode on 4 of the 8 plugs. We stuck in a set of NGK plugs and new Autolight 8.5 MM wires. The cap was replaced with one with brass terminals along with the rotor. The filters were all swapped out, oil changed, tranny serviced and I checked to make sure no codes were stored in the computer. With this done we re-checked the 0-60 time and it dropped to 12 seconds flat. This prompted us to check the timing. Olds 307's like to run with 20 degrees of base timing. With the proper terminals jumpered on the ALDI port under the dash to disable computer control of the distributer we saw 14 degrees of base timing with the engine fully warmed up. Ha, another problem found. I therefore advanced it to the proper 20 degrees. Well it had more power but pinged like a bastard with full operating temp. Ah the famous Olds plugged EGR passages at work here. The valve it'self was working but after removing the carb we noticed the passages to it were plugged right up with carbon! After several hours of drilling, scraping and pounding out the carbon in the passages we decided that the carb should have a good going over. Luckily an ol timer in the area knows these Quadrajet carbs real well. We brought the carb to him and he completely rebuilt it, replaced a bad choke pull off and flow tested it on another running 307 he had in the garage. After buttoning up the newly rebuilt car, EGR passages cleaned out, proper timing and a complete tune-up we took the car out for another run. It was definatley a LOT quicker feeling by seat of the pants feel. The stop watch confirmed with a much better 9.5 second run. The engine started a lot easier, ran as smooth as silk but... It was using gas like a 455. Something was still amiss. The exhaust was black and smelled rich so we knew something was still wrong. My dad thankfully still had his old dwell meter for point ignition systems. This comes in very handy on a computer carb. When connected it can check and see what is going on with the mixture control solonoid. A proper spec for the 307 is 30 degrees on the 6 cylinder scale at idle. Ours was moving from 40 to zero and then 40 again. Replacing the oxygen sensor solved this. When the carb was rebuilt the two factory anti- tamper mixture screw plugs were drilled out so we had access to them easily enough. With the new sensor in place we tweaked the screws until we had a steady 30 on the dwell or about 2 1/2 turns of both mixture screws. This totally got rid of the rich exhaust and mileage nearly tripled to nearly 27 on a pure highway run of about 200 miles. The engine was very responsive, smooth and effertless to get up to speed. I did a little more tweaking on the carb and bent the restricter tab that keeps the secondaries from opening more than a 1/4 of the way. I also released some tension on the spring so they opened quicker. The secondary metering rods on the 307 are the fattest DD rated ones they every stuck in a Quadrajet. The thinner they are the more fuel flow you will get. And it's only the primary metering rods that are under computer control in these cars. Wide open throttle is not controlled so we found a set of thinner rods at the junk yard out of a 70's Delta 88 with the 350 rocket and stuck them in. This made a noticeable difference on top end performance but the poor old 200R4 was starting to suffer from all out testing and tweaks. It would shift late, bog and get caught up from lockup and overdrive. The 200R4's shifts and line pressure are controlled via the TV cable that attaches to the tranny from underneath and terminated on the drivers side of the car. I noticed that when the accelerator was snapped open quickly, the cable didn't always come back with it. Time for a new cable. We installed that and set it to specs and the tranny was back to smooth shifts. 0-60 times were now down to 9 seconds flat! Quite an improvement from 14.9. We were going to install a set of 3.23 rear gears in the Cutlass but sadly hard times hit last year and he was forced to sell the poor old Salon. It would have been interesting to see how the gearing swap would have improved things but alas nothing came of it. Maybe another Cutlass 307 will be in our future.

Edited February 9, 2009 by ponchoman49