1969Cutlass

So, here we go. Official build thread for my swap. First, I figure I should give some backstory on the car. The car is a 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass S that has been in my family since 1971. Its been passed from my great uncle, to my great grandmother, to my father, who then parked it in 1988. I drug it out in 2013 and got it running but it was 2014 before it was registered. This is what it looked like when I first got it home:






Eventually, I cleaned it up and got it on the road with the stock Olds 350, 2 speed auto, and 2.56 rear gears. Total cruiser




Further down the line, I did an SBC/Th350 swap and almost immediately swapped to a 4 speed manual and 3.55 gears.






I drove the car all over the northeast in 2015/2016, a lot of trips out to New Hampshire and Vermont, Mass, and one time thru Jersey into PA. No overdrive kinda sucks




Heres a pic from when I went to the sloppy mechanics dyno day spring 2016 and laid down 308whp


Eventually, I dipped the vinyl top black, changed up the wheels, and just drove it.


Anyway! Now we get to current events. I pulled the small block out and sold that,

Picked up an LQ4 from my buddy


Pulled the TH2004R off, not gonna be running it. At least not yet


Motor all cleaned up, stock harness off as I'll be running microsquirt.


Bolted it up to my TH350 with a 3000 stall mystery converter I had on the shelf and the big moment happened!










Then I decapped my stock truck injectors. If you aren't familiar with this, basically you grind the weld for the cap down on the end of the injector and pop the cap off and it flows about 75 lb/hr at stock fuel pressure 58psi. Yes, theres no cap, yes, they idle fine. I know a couple people running them. We'll see how it works for me.






So thats about where we're at. Hopefully gonna place an order for some parts today. I've got a GT45 69mm turbo, 3 inch intercooler, and a wastegate on the shelf and a budget to buy the rest. Goal is to have the car done by April so I can make the spring sloppy dyno day. Sit back and follow along, I've got some video to edit as I'm trying to document the whole deal and I'll throw pics up here.

Lsxford

iTrader: (6)

Thats gonna be sweet!

But 1 thing, that tranny should be a 4l60e or 4l80e not a 200r4. That is if its the trans that was originally behind the lq4. My guess its a 4l80e, which is about the only trans denmah runs

You could have people lined up to take that off your hands, if it is indeed a 4l80e. I would like to be the first person also lol

1969Cutlass

Thanks! I'm excited for the build. Actually that isn't the original trans, its out of my buddy's '85 Monte Carlo. He bought the 6 liter with no trans, we bolted it to his 2004R, dropped it in the monte and then he decided to switch directions and we made a deal for the motor and trans. I would eventually like to go 80e, not sure when that'll be financially feasible. I am keeping eyes open constantly for a TH400 or even a TH350 with a transbrake and manual valve body.

Lsxford

iTrader: (6)

We have the exact same builds nearly just with different vehicles and youre a little ahead of me. Ive decided on a 7875 or 7783.

im interested to see how the standard gt45 does on the lq4 tho, it should light off very quickly

You upgrading the cam or staying stock?

EdyJun

Interesting...

Lsxnafox

iTrader: (2)

Got my 4l80e from the local pick and pull for 150 bucks.

Lsxford

iTrader: (6)

Im interested to see how the decapped injectors do. Ive contemplated trying it too but theres not many people that have done it.

I know denmah did some and had them flowed and it was around 75-78 iirc but i dont believe hes used them yet. Im also interested in how they tune, like what data do you use? Some similar to the deka 80s would be my guess

SSZ

Im also interested to read how those decapped injectors do. I have some 80 pounders but the are for a truck intake. I have an LS6 intake on my engine and the injectors i have dont fit so i have been contemplating decapping the stock LS6 injectors.

1969Cutlass

Sorry for the delay everyone, for whatever reason I'm not getting thread reply notifications via email or anything. I'll see if I can turn those on. Anyway, general update is I've ordered new mounts and adapter plates since the dirty dingo sliders that came on the motor are for later frame stands and won't work for me. Hopefully those will be in by Monday and I can mount the motor and start on the hotside piping. This weekend I'll probably knock out fitting a ratchet shifter in there with the bench seat, cause I ain't giving up that bench

I've actually got a buddy of mine putting a LQ4/GT45 setup in a LTD too, hes not done yet either though. I'm hoping it'll spool quick and just be really good at rolling burnouts. For now the cam is staying stock, but when work picks up again and I've got some spare cash I plan on getting an LJMS cam and maybe a bigger turbo. I'm not very familiar with the 77/83 but I hear great things about the 7875. I think when my goals outgrow the GT45 and I need to upgrade I'm just gonna go nuts and get the VS Racing billet 80mm S480 clone. $789 and so far it seems to be making real solid numbers for other people.

Not sure if its a legal thing or what, but there are literally no pick and pulls in my part of NY. The nearest one is like 3 hours away in PA. Junkyards want $800 for an 80e here.

A couple guys in the sloppy group are running them in their cars and seem to be very happy with it. of course winter hit and no ones out getting track results or anything. A FB friend of mine just got his car running with decaps and is tuning on it now. Hes gonna send me a base tune and I'll tweak it.

Car injectors are taller than truck injectors right? I could see that being a problem. Would aftermarket rails let you run the 80s? I haven't seen anyone decap LS6 injectors, I guess it depends on how easily accessible the cap is. Some of the flex fuel injectors or whatever have the cap sunk down into the injector and you can't get to the weld without destroying the injector.

truckdoug

iTrader: (25)

i just had some of those decapped flex injectors flowed, came out to like 73lb/hr. ought to support as much as the 69mm gt45 can throw at it..which is a great turbo btw. easy 500whp on a super conservative tune.

run that 200r4, especially if you have a stall for it. if you get the TV cable set up right they are plenty strong especially in a turbo car that applies power smoothly over the rpm. Probably want to avoid power downshifting though.

GN guys had them holding 1200hp in the 90's with some billet parts and proper TV cable set up. getting that TV cable right is the real key though as you probably know. Set wrong it'll shift like a bag of soggy dicks and burn up real fast.

what are you doing for axle & gears? ford 8.8?

love the oldsmobiles from that era. power + comfort. i have had 2 64's (one a real 442) a 65 and a 67. Always wanted a '69 or a 70.

back then I could have bought a real w31 car for like 10 grand lol *kicks own ****

1969Cutlass

Yeah I have the part number for the ones I decapped written down somewhere, someone else had the same part number decapped and flowed and they were around 75lb/hr so I figure they'll get me where I wanna be with the gt45 and stock cam. I thought about running the 2004R, but all I have for it is a bone stock converter, TV cable is missing and I don't want to adapt it to the LS, the history of the trans is questionable (like only had 1st gear in the monte lol) and I don't have a shifter for a 4 speed auto. Right now I've got a TH350 with what i figured out to be a B&M Holeshot 3000 stall 10 inch converter in the car. Not sure how well that converter will work out with this setup but we'll see.

As far as the rear end, its got an 8.2 10 bolt BOP rear end out of a '68 Lemans in it that has bolt in axles and 3.55s. When that pops I'm planning on an 8.8. They're all over local for cheap. And yeah, Oldsmobiles are awesome! I bought a '66 last year, didn't do much with it, and sold it to my dad who wants to have it done to cruise in spring. The earlier cars 67 and older are super cool and have a style all their own from the 68+ cars and I'd love to have another. I don't hang around Oldsmobile groups much, they get absolutely furious when they find out, god forbid, I'm not running an Olds motor lol.

truckdoug

iTrader: (25)

yeah i used to build and race olds motors in the late 90s early 2000's

after wasting soooo much money trying to get decent power i gave up and went to the dark side, lol. caught so much hate from 442.com and the other olds forums.

i still wonder what a LS powered V-body (gto platform) olds would have looked like. le sigh.

i like the th350 plan.

1969Cutlass

Yup. I started pricing out an Olds build 3 years ago when I got the car and remembered I wasn't rich and went Chevy lol. The motor was a trade, the trans and converter came out of my Trans Am I did a T5 swap on, the turbo intercooler and wastegate were cheap swap meet finds, so far I have less into this build than 1 performer RPM Olds head that flows 250cfm lol.

truckdoug

iTrader: (25)

ugh lemme just cry a little bit about spending more on a set of CJ batten heads that cracked repeatedly than my whole current turbo Ls vehicle...in 90s money too

1969Cutlass

At least you aren't sinking even more money into Olds stuff lol

Also, general update, these came in the mail today! Still waiting on the moroso solid motor mounts though, hopefully those get here Monday. These are Black Path Racing plates from their ebay store, $32 including all the hardware, they seem very sturdy and well machined. We'll see how fitment is. For the price, had to try em.

1969Cutlass

Alright, mediocre update. Haven't really gotten a whole lot done, the mounts took forever to get in the mail and turned out to not even fit with these adapter plates in the first place . So, I'm just gonna weld something up like I should have done a week ago. But! I did get the intercooler mounted (most of the way) and got a bunch of parts in the mail. I got my turbo and wastegate flanges, my flex pipe, and my V bands. I also got my intercooler piping and silicone couplers for the GT45 outlet and the LS TB inlet. I hung the GT45 in the bay just to play with positioning, I've decided to just hang the bastard out the hood similar to the aussie Chevelle though not as high. Around 3/4 of the turbo hanging out is where I plan to be. With a hood stack and tractor flapper, of course. Purely for hilarity. Also tonight I bought a 94-96 Caprice tank off ebay along with an Aeromotive 340lph drop in pump and some push lock hose and required fittings, tomorrow I'm gonna replenish the bank account and buy the microsquirt and few sensors and bits I'll need. Anyway, pics

truckdoug

iTrader: (25)

hell yeah thats the fun part!

Jimbo1367

Cutting exhaust/cold side piping is only fun **IF** you have the proper tools, IMO. LOL. This should be a fun car. I bet it was fun driving with over 300RWHP. Just wait til you're done.

1969Cutlass

We'll see if it pans out that way lol

I've got quite a few tools of destruction (cutting) but I only have a harbor freight 90 amp flux core welder, so the hotside will definitely be getting heat wrapped, just to cover up the horror

When I had the 308whp 350 SBC in it I also had a 4 speed manual with a 3.11 first gear and 2.52 second gear and 3.55s so it was a riot. The car only weighed 3357 with an iron headed small block, factory cast 11 inch flywheel, cast iron saginaw, steel wheels, bench seat full interior, and all seasons so it wasn't bad. I just want to go faster. Much faster. I'm hoping between the lighter LS motor and aluminum wheels, but added weight of the turbo and piping and fuel system and automatic trans, that it'll end up staying under 3400lbs, and preferably under 3500 with me in it.

truckdoug

iTrader: (25)

flux core can weld great if you take some steps to make sure it's up to the task

biggest problem I see is people have to polarity set up to run hardwire/gas shield so you need to make sure the leads are hooked up DCEN....there should be instructions on that inside the wire spool door.

practice on some scrap first, flux core runs hot so you'll wanna turn it down. and I have the best success removing the shield gas nozzle so I can see right at the wire where its beading up. also a slightl tilt towards dragging rather than pushing seems to help too.

nice clean (acetoned) bare shiny metal and tight gaps between butts and it'll be just fine.

the best welders i know started out doing stick and flux core. it makes you really think about prep and technique.


also heavy is good in a turbo car. you wanna make that motor WORK and create lots of exhaust heat and velocity to spool the snail. my 3800lb truck was an absolute beast with the 69mm GT45 and a small cam in a 5.3. NO traction in any gear with 255 street tires.