How difficult would it be...

[jiggity76]

So the 89 International car I have is toast, pretty much rusted out underneath.  I was wondering if I could take a rust free body like a 92-94 coupe with the 3.4 DOHC motor and make it into a International car.  I have all the pieces and I think that the body and trim would interchange?  The rear buckets would just need the seat tabs welded in maybe?  Swap out the analog gauges to the digital one?  I don't know,  just typing out loud. 

[ManicMechanic]

It can be done.

[94 olds vert]

Most stuff will directly swap. The gauges will require some wiring to get it working.

[jiggity76]

That's what I thought too.  I could find a nice 89 or 90 body but would like to have the bigger motor. 

[jiggity76]

What about the body/trim clips?  Do they have the same clips or can you change those over if they are different?

[l67ss]

If you found a clean 89/90 you could always engine swap

[l67ss]

Has been my experience the cheapest way to buy a rust free car is to buy a roller

[jiggity76]

I thought that too but I also found a guy down south who has a 94 coupe with the 3.4 DOHC motor for a $1000 bucks.  It runs and drives good he says so I thought about just doing the cosmetics and I would have the big motor too.  Course I haven't actually looked at the car so could be a bunch of bull.

[l67ss]

Well if its a solid runner it'd be worth $1k for parts even if car itself is junk. Personally I'd rather 3800 swap

[jiggity76]

Looks to be solid, can't see any visual rust in the pics but I want to look underneath and in the trunk area.  I'd like to do a 91 International with the 3.4 since those are rare cars.  I already have the correct pie alloys and other bits for it.  The 3800 is a fantastic motor but I really like to keep it in the OEM family of motors for the Cutlass's.

[Imp558]

OEM is one thing, but you can't worry about bastardizing a bastard. There was no Olds engine available so it's Chevy or Buick, of the two traditionally Buick had more in common with Olds than Chevy.

[jiggity76]

Yeah, I guess I should of worded it better.  I like the idea of keeping the car OEM when it comes to the motor.  I don't want to put a 3800 in the car if it wasn't originally offered.  Don't care for the 2.8 but the 3.1 would be ok.  Also don't want the quad 4 and winner, winner for me would be the 3.4 DOHC.  I actually like the look (head lights) of the 88-91 cars better than the 92-97 cars too.  Really love the digital dash and the pie alloys!

[ManicMechanic]

OEM is one thing, but you can't worry about bastardizing a bastard. There was no Olds engine available so it's Chevy or Buick, of the two traditionally Buick had more in common with Olds than Chevy.

 

Ah, Quad 4 was an Olds engine.

[Imp558]

I stand corrected, forgot all about the Quad 4, that would be one choice for an Oldsmobile pure-bred. It was a pretty cool engine too with several mutations over the years.

[l67ss]

Meanwhile I have an 86 cutlass getting a 454 chev

[Imp558]

Okay now that one I'm pretty sure didn't have an Olds engine option. Right?

[l67ss]

Was factory 307 olds....roller can no less lol

[Imp558]

Damn my inferior knowledge of Oldsmobile history!

[l67ss]

I ran a cammed 403 in it back in the day. 307 was made until 89 or 90 in the big cars

[Imp558]

We swapped the 301 in my buddy's 79 Lesabre for a 403 when we were kids. That was a fun engine but the exhaust manifolds were a birch to work with.

[l67ss]

I had more issues with rocker guides

[Nas Escobar]

Has been my experience the cheapest way to buy a rust free car is to buy a roller

 

Or a car from the country side. Those people usually take better care of their cars. I bought my Buick in the middle of nowhere in Virginia. No phone signal to be found for a good 5 miles.

 

I thought that too but I also found a guy down south who has a 94 coupe with the 3.4 DOHC motor for a $1000 bucks.  It runs and drives good he says so I thought about just doing the cosmetics and I would have the big motor too.  Course I haven't actually looked at the car so could be a bunch of bull.

 

My question is how much "international" are you trying to transfer? The quad buckets interchange btw with no issues, it's the center console that may need to be "screwed" down if the victim doesn't have the 4 bolts on the floor. The digi cluster is easy to swap. 94 Olds Vert has/had it on his 94 vert. I plan on doing the same. It's just jumping wires and getting a feed from the ALDL for the RPM gauge. You also have to swap the oil sensor iirc.

 

Ah, Quad 4 was an Olds engine.

 

Turbo twin Cam (the Q4 that was bumped to 2.4) in a W Cutty FTW.

 

Okay now that one I'm pretty sure didn't have an Olds engine option. Right?

 

The G body Cutty had the Buick 231 as standard equipment and the weak 307 optional. The last Olds engine was put in a Cadillac (and the B body cars) and it was also the last carbed GM engine. As Fuel Injection started to become the norm, Pontiac and Buick seized to make engines (both stopped in 81) leaving Chevy, Olds and Cadillac with their own engines. Olds was the only carbed one and I'm not sure who had the first EFI. I want to say Chevrolet with their crossfire engine but it may be Cadillac with the 8-6-4 experiment they did in 81.

[jiggity76]

If I get real serious about it, I planned on finding a 92-94 Cutlass with floor shifter and console and the 3.4 DOHC motor, something like a SL trimmed car.  If I go with a 89-91 car, then try to get one that has the 3.1 and also floor mounted shifter with console.  That way I wouldn't have to mess with the shifter cables and just have to worry about the International front seat controls (thanks again Nas!) and all the other specifics should just swap over.  The only thing is and I mentioned this earlier is the body cladding clips on the 91-94 cars.  Would those work with the 88-91 cladding/clips?  I imagined that they used the same mounting holes for both International and non International console cars so hopefully that wouldn't be a issue.

[Imp558]

 Pontiac and Buick seized to make engines (both stopped in 81) leaving Chevy, Olds and Cadillac with their own engines

 

The 3800 was the last Buick, 1961-2008

[Imp558]

Buick, descendant of the Fireball

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buick_V6_engine