Finally giving some much needed love to the Cutlass

[GutlessSupreme]

Well after sitting for over a year the Cutlass has become my DD once again in the past 2 months. I'd be driving my "step brother's" (step dad's, really) Mazda B2500 since the TSTE's still been on the fritz. The Cutlass was parked a year ago when I swapped the bigger brakes over to the TSTE, and then I never had the money to put replacement parts on the Cutlass to get it road worthy again.

 

It's been nice to me, I gotta say that. After being parked for a year and not started/moved at all, well it smelled a bit lol but after charging the battery and a fresh oil change it started right up. Since putting it back in action I replaced the struts on all 4 corners with KYBs (the boxes for the back said GR2s but the fronts said "G-series" or something like that.. I got them from rockauto and they looked the same as the ones I had put into the STE so w/e I'm not worried about it). The rear got KYB mounts/boots and I just got Delco mounts for the mount from GMPD (special order ).

 

The rear were definitely stockers @ 155k miles and were dead, the fronts were old GR2s from the STE struts but every corner was creaking so I did them all. Of course every corner is still creaking the monoleaf pads in the rear are gone (are replacement pads available, or just those leaf helper blocks?) and the front needs bearing plates, at least. Stupid me had my alignment done before I replaced them. The rear wheels have visible negative camber, even with the bottom strut bolts as far as I could get them (the KYBs are slotted whereas the stockers were not). gay. Those damn aux springs were a BITCH without the proper compressor, otherwise i would've been a 3 hour job tops.

 

The front cartridges I had to bend significantly forward or backward to get the top in the mount, otherwise they hit the body. Is at normal or is that a sign that the subframe isn't where it's supposed to be? The alignment sheet did show the caster out of spec on both sides, but I guess total was within spec. Fuckin places only fix toe anyway some alignment.

 

I have significant banging coming from the front end, I have a brandy new Delco tranny mount waiting to go it because the stocker is toast. I hope that eliminates it, but the thing with the struts/front caster makes me thing the subframe bushings are whack too. They look ok, but who knows

 

Anyway since I hate fixing things (why I've temporarily abandoned the TSTE in the garage ) and love modding things, the Cutlass also has gotten a '91+ HUD finally I had to fix all the hack wiring from when I had added a DIS a long time ago, so that took me forever. The damn alignment dial is broken - the part which grabs the ball end of the cable is broken away from the dial half, it's supposed to snap in it looks like, but there's definitely tiny pieces floating around in there. So for now I just have the cable coming out of the sport pod next to the switch since I no longer have a DIS and don't have the proper bin that goes next to the HUD dimmer switch.

 

I still have to block off the hole in the defrost vent, and of course the damn thing's maroon so I have to find a paint that will match my blue interior, but it's in and all wired up and works great the images is a little off to the right so it's a little crooked, and the check gauges light doesn't work but I half expected it not to because of Ken's writeup. I didn't have the proper pin on the cluster connector so I added one, but it doesn't seem to do anything so I guess it's internal to the cluster. The dash cutting went pretty good, but the fucking alignment slider that clips into the bottom of the mounting bracket apparently doesn't come close to the tab on the bottom of the HUD unit when it's on the dashpad, so I had to jack up the rear of the bracket with washers and added some thick tape to the slider surface and it makes contact now. Gonna suck to get it lined up again though, when I fix the defrost vent and paint the HUD

 

I also added the 2nd gen STB that was on the TSTE (I put my convertible bar on there). The car handles kinda sucky though, even with FE3 springs up front (FE1 monoleaf in the rear, but not sagging). No rear sway bar doesn't help, but I think my tires blow too. I'll live with it though, it just needs to get me places until I feel like finishing the TSTE.

 

Upcoming work includes replacing the tranny mount, fixing my driver door window motor assembly (bolts are a little lose and are tearing up my door's sheetmetal inside, it jumps down an inch when the window gets halfway down), replacing rear strut pads, replacing driver's side parking brake cable, replacing the driver's side caliper (again ), and I probably have a brake line that's on it's way out in the rear. I'm putting in unbroken factory foglights soon I hope, and I need to work on a few rust spots that are popping up. All the suspension bushings in the rear are dryrotted to shit, so hopefully I can get a set of GMPP trailing arms in they and maybe replace the control arm bushings when I do the monoleaf pads.

 

I suppose that's it for now, I have HW to do I'll have some pics up later of the HUD and whatnot.

 

Thanks for listening

[White93z34]

actually last I checked you CAN buy replacement rubber pads for the monoleaf, napa sells them.

 

I feel your pain on those damn aux springs, I did them ONCE without the proper tool, now for the next time I now have the proper tool for the job.

[Venom]

Nice to see you got the Cutlass up and running again. Now we just need some new pics LOL.

[BXX]

actually last I checked you CAN buy replacement rubber pads for the monoleaf, napa sells them.

 

I feel your pain on those damn aux springs, I did them ONCE without the proper tool, now for the next time I now have the proper tool for the job.

 

AUX springs??

 

 

The stupid black rubber looking springs I have seen on the rear of some W's?? What were those for??

 

BTW, Its good to hear you arent neglecting her so much anymore..

[logikf1ve]

I'm surprised you still have that damn thing.

 

Not bad, not bad! 8)

[GutlessSupreme]

I'm surprised you still have that damn thing.

 

Not bad, not bad! 8)

 

YOU DO NOT HAVE A CONQUEST!

YOU SON OF A BITCH!

[mra32]

I'm surprised you still have that damn thing.

 

Not bad, not bad! 8)

 

YOU DO NOT HAVE A CONQUEST!

YOU SON OF A BITCH!

 

thats what I said.

 

I was $500 away from owning one that needed an alternator and my Dad pulled the plug. So ghey.

[White93z34]

 

AUX springs??

 

The stupid black rubber looking springs I have seen on the rear of some W's?? What were those for??

 

 

honestly I am not entirely sure, I think to help level the rear of the car?

[logikf1ve]

YOU DO NOT HAVE A CONQUEST!

YOU SON OF A BITCH!

 

Haha...Why yes, yes I do.

 

Put off some work on the T/A to get it, but that's ok.. It's a sexy mother... and worth every dime :-D Small block Mopar swap FTW!

[Brian P]

they're weird but they kind of plant the monoleaf more firmly onto the knuckle, and it helps to "regulate" the rear suspension movement. I really didn't notice much of a difference when I removed them from my '90 Olds.