85 Cutlass Supreme - The one tire fryer!
04-06-2016, 08:57 PM
#1
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85 Cutlass Supreme - The one tire fryer! A guy we worked with wanted a V-8 G-body, so we decided to hook him up.
He brought us the ugliest colored 85 Cutlass he could find.
Equipped with a 3.8 V6 and a 200 metric trans, with a 2.41 rear gear, it was pretty lackluster in the power department. Not to mention, pretty ugly.
We were given a budget of $1500, and he wanted a carb swap. I bought a new Summit 600 CFM carb with vacuum secondaries, electric choke, annular boosters, etc. Put it on top of an Edelbrock intake with an MSD 6010. That was most of the budget. We picked up some ebay F-body headers, a junkyard 4.8, and a TH350 out of a truck.
4 hours out, 4 hours in. Another 4 hours or so for hoses, wiring, fan, shroud, radiator, transmission lines, and motor mounts. MAYBE another 12 hours in the later decided cam/valve spring swap (Added $500 to the budget), spark tuning, carb tuning, burnouts, street tuning, lots of miles, youtube videos, and whatever other changes.
First start:
First drive:
First power test:
No more than 24 hours total under the knife and laying rubber, and we gave him back the Cutlass.
We dubbed it the one tire fryer because even with the 2.41 rear gear and 1400 stall truck converter, it does a wicked one-tire burnout.
He brought us the ugliest colored 85 Cutlass he could find.
Equipped with a 3.8 V6 and a 200 metric trans, with a 2.41 rear gear, it was pretty lackluster in the power department. Not to mention, pretty ugly.
We were given a budget of $1500, and he wanted a carb swap. I bought a new Summit 600 CFM carb with vacuum secondaries, electric choke, annular boosters, etc. Put it on top of an Edelbrock intake with an MSD 6010. That was most of the budget. We picked up some ebay F-body headers, a junkyard 4.8, and a TH350 out of a truck.
4 hours out, 4 hours in. Another 4 hours or so for hoses, wiring, fan, shroud, radiator, transmission lines, and motor mounts. MAYBE another 12 hours in the later decided cam/valve spring swap (Added $500 to the budget), spark tuning, carb tuning, burnouts, street tuning, lots of miles, youtube videos, and whatever other changes.
First start:
First drive:
First power test:
No more than 24 hours total under the knife and laying rubber, and we gave him back the Cutlass.
We dubbed it the one tire fryer because even with the 2.41 rear gear and 1400 stall truck converter, it does a wicked one-tire burnout.
04-06-2016, 10:20 PM
#3
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We are thinking about swapping in an 8.8 from a Fox or SN95 so that it gains a 3.27 gear and a Posi, but I really like the nickname..
The bad part is the TH350 shifts around 5000 RPM, and this thing has a 7000 RPM limiter. Its only starting to pull hard when it shifts, so we have to do something about that too. The rear gearing and the converter are killing it.
It comes back to us every few weeks for changes. We are putting fabricated valve covers and relocating the coils next.
Overall, the swap was very simple. We did have to fabricate a steering shaft using a combination of the original shaft and a 2000 silverado shaft. Worked perfect. Next time, I'll spend the extra $40 for the better ebay headers, these were a PITA to fit, they didn't hug the block enough, so we had to cut and re-angle the head flange.
Other than that, there wasn't much effort. The trans dropped straight in and we used the 700R4 driveshaft. We used the stock TH350 converter and the stock 5.3 flexplate with a cheap speedway hub spacer and drilled out the flexplate holes to match the TH350 converter. The stock metric 200 trans lines fit perfect. We even used the stock frame stands for the V6. We bolted mount adapters to the engine, bolted up a pair of stock SBC mounts, took the frame stands off of the frame and bolted them to the SBC mounts, and then sat the engine in and welded the mounts wherever they sat. Actually getting it in and mounted took maybe 45 minutes tops.
The stock truck power steering pump, pulley, and lines worked perfect, no changes had to be made. The stock V6 shroud fit with a little trimming to the fan blades on the LS water pump. We used the 4.8 upper radiator hose and the Cutlass lower radiator hose with a little trimming. If I had to do it over, it would probably take ~10 hours from driving a V6 into the garage, to having the LS tuned and driving.
The bad part is the TH350 shifts around 5000 RPM, and this thing has a 7000 RPM limiter. Its only starting to pull hard when it shifts, so we have to do something about that too. The rear gearing and the converter are killing it.
It comes back to us every few weeks for changes. We are putting fabricated valve covers and relocating the coils next.
Overall, the swap was very simple. We did have to fabricate a steering shaft using a combination of the original shaft and a 2000 silverado shaft. Worked perfect. Next time, I'll spend the extra $40 for the better ebay headers, these were a PITA to fit, they didn't hug the block enough, so we had to cut and re-angle the head flange.
Other than that, there wasn't much effort. The trans dropped straight in and we used the 700R4 driveshaft. We used the stock TH350 converter and the stock 5.3 flexplate with a cheap speedway hub spacer and drilled out the flexplate holes to match the TH350 converter. The stock metric 200 trans lines fit perfect. We even used the stock frame stands for the V6. We bolted mount adapters to the engine, bolted up a pair of stock SBC mounts, took the frame stands off of the frame and bolted them to the SBC mounts, and then sat the engine in and welded the mounts wherever they sat. Actually getting it in and mounted took maybe 45 minutes tops.
The stock truck power steering pump, pulley, and lines worked perfect, no changes had to be made. The stock V6 shroud fit with a little trimming to the fan blades on the LS water pump. We used the 4.8 upper radiator hose and the Cutlass lower radiator hose with a little trimming. If I had to do it over, it would probably take ~10 hours from driving a V6 into the garage, to having the LS tuned and driving.
04-07-2016, 04:09 PM
#4
IMO, this is one of the best builds on here. Some of these guys are so busy polishing up this and that, when most of it will be oil, heat and carbon soaked in a few thousand miles anyway. This wins the award for simplicity, speed of swap, and actual functionality. Heck it just works, not perfect, but it works. Not a show car, not overly expensive, not overdone, just works! Good job fellas, where are you all located?
04-07-2016, 05:34 PM
#5
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Love this swap always like the Cutlass, i was wondering if i should go fuel injection or carb on my 5.3. Thanks guys you just made my mind up. Higher stall converter, posi rear with gears this thing is going to be nuts. Way to go.
04-07-2016, 07:58 PM
#7
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Thread Starter
IMO, this is one of the best builds on here. Some of these guys are so busy polishing up this and that, when most of it will be oil, heat and carbon soaked in a few thousand miles anyway. This wins the award for simplicity, speed of swap, and actual functionality. Heck it just works, not perfect, but it works. Not a show car, not overly expensive, not overdone, just works! Good job fellas, where are you all located?
The swap was very easy. If we had to do it again, it would be easier. The biggest problems was the headers. We replaced the steering shaft to fix clearance issues because the primary on #5 stuck out really far, and thats exactly where the huge stock rag joint is on the steering shaft. We took the lower part of the stock cutlass shaft, and welded up the upper of a stock silverado shaft. Bolted right up, worked fine.
Turns out, if we would have just cut the header flanges off and welded them on at a different angle to begin with, it would have saved all of the hassle from the start. No custom shaft, no dented tubes. I didn't have any stainless TIG filler, so there is a guy down the road with a sign out in front of his house that says K&S Fab that welded them up for free if I let him use a picture of my Nova in front of his shop sign as advertisement.
The 95 Caprice Wagon we are about to do should be even easier.
The tires in the first burnout vid and second were different, because was did enough burnouts to completely destroy the first set of tires. No hiccups.
As of right now, its looking like an 8.8 swap is in its future. It looks like I can have a Mustang 8.8 with a 3.08 or 3.27 Posi and adjustable control arms for less than $500. As of right now, he only has 4 grand in the car. Thats the price of the car, the swap, the trans, the wheels/tires. He's wanting the 8.8 rear and paint and having a total of 5 grand in it. Looks like he's going to Maaco.
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04-07-2016, 08:39 PM
#9
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Thread Starter
I dunno. They are BOP pattern and don't work on an LS. I have everything we removed from the car on craigslist for $250, and so far, haven't had a single person interested in any of it.
05-06-2016, 07:55 AM
#12
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Car is currently being painted, should be done very soon. Nice black paint job, removed the soft top.
Its also getting an 8.8 with a 3.08 gear. I haven't been able to talk him into a 700R4 conversion yet. The 4500 shift point on the TH350 is REALLY killing the power on this high revving 4.8.
Its also getting an 8.8 with a 3.08 gear. I haven't been able to talk him into a 700R4 conversion yet. The 4500 shift point on the TH350 is REALLY killing the power on this high revving 4.8.