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The Return of Cutlass Supreme


darkwolf45

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So I started this project a few years ago now to rebuild my all beat to hell 1995 Cutlass Supreme that has been to hell and back, as well as fording a shallow river once..

 

To recap the project, in 2010 when I began there were rust spots in various places around the car. The rear bumper skirt had been torn up and literally glued back together. The paint had faded, clear coat gone in many places, the hood was rusting through, the front bumper was tied on with a piece of 550 chord, the front dash cracked virtually everywhere, cracked windhsield.. You get the idea.

 

So, in the course of this project, I have completely disassembled the entire front end, reassembled it, replaced all of the wheel studs after the ones for the drivers side front wheel all broke on me way to work one morning, repaired the driver's side fender (again) replaced the rear bumper skirt, replaced the A/C compressor, starter (that sucker lasted 17 years without a problem, not bad) scrubbed all the electrics under the hood, changed out the PRNDL switch, new running lights, reupholstered the driver's seat (227,000 miles took it's toll), fresh tires, new windshield, and complete paint job, top to bottom, front to back.

 

The aluminum alloy wheels (sawblade style) still need work (I am guessing sanding is in order as well as some painting and fresh clear coat), but I am basically calling the project complete.

 

Now we move on to the next stage, since the car has been restored to factory or better status. There are two items that have been a curiosity for me that I eventually wanted to explore. One is a direct computer link to the car's computer. I have seen the ODB to USB cables out there, so the question is just how do I want to do this?

 

How do I choose which diagnostic software to run? Do I actually want a mount inside the car to connect the computer to? Is there an iPad version out there at this point that I should consider? Finally, can my computer set up actually do more than just read engine data? FOr instance, can I hook up a system that actually has road maps and run music through the car's stereo/speakers?

 

Secondly- additional guages that are not in the cluster. Oil pressure, and electrical voltage come to mind as desireable, I'm not sure which others to consider. Where to I put said guages? One thought was to attach them near the front of the driver's door frame. Anyone done anything like this?

 

(yes, pics are coming soon)

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As far as I know, the computer for the engine (ECM) is one of GM's messed up hybrid OBD1.5. I do not know of a software that will talk to this. The stereo is a completely separate unit and if you have an aftermarket stereo with navigation, then sure you can run that and play it through the speakers. There are quite a few people that have made pillar pods to install aftermarket gauges into.

 

Good Luck with this.

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I might buy better wheels, but the project is to restore the car back to it's former glory, and the wheels are part of the original package, so cleaning them is part of it.

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The engine was still going strong and the frame was solid, so I decided it was worth the effort to fix it up again. I don't like sending a car off to the junk yard until the seats have rusted through, the frame is smashed or it just doesnt want to move under its own power anymore.

 

So basically since none of those things were happening, I decided to fix it up.

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The engine was still going strong and the frame was solid, so I decided it was worth the effort to fix it up again. I don't like sending a car off to the junk yard until the seats have rusted through, the frame is smashed or it just doesnt want to move under its own power anymore.

 

So basically since none of those things were happening, I decided to fix it up.

This:thumbsup: Why I still drive mine.
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That really does look great! Great color for that car too!

 

So I've never seen this come up, what did you do to replace the fender to bumper bracket with? It's the flat one with 2 studs welded into it that holds the bottom front of the fender to top part of the bumper warpped around the side - they always break on me when I take them off! I've got to figure out something for mine, can't seem to get them any more so I'm thinking about using a thick piece of aluminum and then drilling holes and threading them for bolts. Maybe I'm over thinking it?

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Those bumper to body brackets break. Especially here in the north!

 

I made my own from a scrap flat stock of steel and some bolts with nuts and washers.

 

I drilled holes in the steel and welded the pan head bolts to it.

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That really does look great! Great color for that car too!

 

So I've never seen this come up, what did you do to replace the fender to bumper bracket with? It's the flat one with 2 studs welded into it that holds the bottom front of the fender to top part of the bumper warpped around the side - they always break on me when I take them off! I've got to figure out something for mine, can't seem to get them any more so I'm thinking about using a thick piece of aluminum and then drilling holes and threading them for bolts. Maybe I'm over thinking it?

 

In all honesty, I didn't. The original plan was i bought a steel "L" beam and I was going to drill it in behind the mangled one and attached it to the frame with bolts, but I had a hard time finding a large enough drill bit to do the job. Since it was only one of the mounts that was damaged, I took a acetylene torch and heated the mangled bits until I was able to pound them and tist them into a useable shape.

 

That said, i recently saw a thread in here that had decent replacements. I wish I could remember the thread name, because they were perfect, and I wanted to look at going back under the bumper and fixing it that way. The only down side is that IIRC, these required spot welding, and I have no welding equipment or knowledge whatsoever.

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yeah, I have no welding capabilities either, that's what led me to think about threaded holes. I'm just concerned that aluminum, even 1/4", may not be strong enough?

 

I tried to drill out the holes in the original bracket but...man that's tough stuff! I went out and bought the strongest new drill bits I could find but I couldn't get anywhere.

 

I'll do some searching for that thread, if you think of the name post it up!

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