Cutlass Project: Bandit Build Log

Version 2.0

banditcutlass — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:44:40 +0000

Well as you know this page is about the building of my Olds Cutlass project car. The current build will be fairly tame geared towards all around performance ~300hp, good handling, etc. Every now and then I come up with some more “extreme” ideas that I think will culminate into for now we will call V2.0. It will either be another G body or an F body that is geared to being the most extreme machine I could build and engineer on my own.

So far here is the short list of ideas that maybe incorporated into the next car.

Engine: GM V8 with fuel injection, twin Eaton M90 Superchargers, intercooler and Megasquirt for the control. This will either be a Chevy 350 4 bolt main block bored and stroked to 383, or the other possibility I am thinking is a Olds 350 DX block stroked to 411.
Transmission: T-56
Suspension: Purpose built for the car to make it the best handling possible.

Engine and Trans have landed

banditcutlass — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:28:45 +0000

Well it was a busy Valentines day, my lovely girlfriend (she really is the best) and myself drove an hour over to the next town over and picked up the engine and transmission for the car. Some quick details its a Chevy 350 bored .030 over effectively making it a 355, it is only a 2 bolt main block which just further makes me think this will be version 1.0 of the car, or that another G body (or possibly an F body) will come after this project. The transmission is a standard Saginaw 4 speed, I still need to figure out gear ratios on that.

He tossed in a very nice Edlebrock aluminum intake manifold that should match up with my Quadrajet carb nicely. Also as we were leaving I noticed 2 wheels identical to those on my old Camaro, he tossed those in for free so that was nice.

Its a new year and I have new parts!

banditcutlass — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:49:13 +0000

Well it has been kind of slow going on the car in fact it basically took a complete standstill for the last few months due to some family issues and school. I have not even picked up my engine or transmission yet, however I will be getting those tomorrow without fail (save a blizzard hitting).

Now then besides the engine and transmission I have a TPI fuel injection setup from a early 90′s Corvette on its way. This will be used for version 2.0 of the car in conjunction with a Megasquirt computer. For now I have 3 Rochester Quadrajet carbs sitting in a box waiting to be be picked over the best chosen and rebuilt. Then last night I had my new rear end dropped off, a GM 12 bolt non posi unit. Now the guy I bought this from had pulled it out of a ’68 Buick Skylark, it measures 60 inches wide so I will need to change the offset of the rear wheels. I found the axle code and had a hard time running it down, but apparently it had been swapped out at some point. The rear originally came from a GTO and is a 2.73 gear ratio.

Bumpers FINALLY!!

banditcutlass — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:15:52 +0000

Well its been awhile again but school has taken away my time for working on the car. I still need to clean out the garage so I can push the car in to work on it before winter hits. I have also lined up a guy to do my engine work (porting heads etc) then I will do the actual build.

Anyway I went back out to the yard and they were moving the Regal to get it in line for the crusher sadly. Well I got thinking about it and I’m having them pull the bumpers for me.

Now some that read this are going to point out the regal bumpers are WAY smaller than the stock Cutlass ones. This is a good thing! I hate how huge the stock bumpers are. So what I’m planning is to cut the bumper shocks down a little so that it pulls them in. This should get the bumpers to sit almost flush with the front end, actually it will stick out about an inch. This will give a look much more similar to a 60′s muscle car over the bloated bumpers of the 70′s.

More parts gathered

banditcutlass — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:36:05 +0000

Well this week I was planning on having my shop cleaned out so I could start stripping the car down and get the new engine. Well unfortunately I have spent the last few days laid up sick so I have yet to clean out the shop but it will happen soon.

Aside from that in the beginning of the week I went back to the wrecking yard with the dimensions of the stock rear seat for the Cutlass. As I posted earlier I pulled the leather seats out of a Pontiac Grand Prix GTP, well I measured up the rear and it was darn close so I grabbed that as well. Today the local farm supply was having a big sale and I picked up a few tools I needed including a new chop saw to cut some braces for the car. Also they had cans of rattle can paint for tractors and industrial, it gives a heavier coat and provides a tougher finish than regular rattle can paints. I got just regular old gloss black but still need to get some primer as they were out. The exterior of the car will be painted gloss black and the engine bay and interior will get a coat of flat black.

Alright finally getting to it…

banditcutlass — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:46:24 +0000

Well it has been a few months but things are finally starting to roll in for the Olds so that I can get the project under way. School and a severe lack of funds has kept it sitting basically untouched for a few months. Well there was one exception my girlfriend and I cleared out all of the weeds from under the hood. Yes I do have the coolest girlfriend ever.

Upon clearing out the weeds I discovered the engine under the hood was quite the lump, a ’78 or ’79 Pontiac 301, it was a sad sad day.

On the parts front the first thing I got was a set of aero mirrors off an ’83 Cutlass from the U Pull It down in Tigard OR. My buddy John was helping me that day and we would have pulled a front bumper as well except at the last minute john noticed that it was twisted. I have made a deal with the guy I got the car from for an engine and transmission he had in his shop that I will pick up soon. This week I made my first exploration of the local wrecking yard only to find only two G bodies in the entire place. I did manage to pull the core support cross braces from an ’83 Regal. On another note I also scored a set of black leather seats from a Pontiac Grand Prix GTP. Going to go back and look at the rear seat to recover my existing back seat.

More to come.

The Cutlass has landed.

banditcutlass — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:51:41 +0000

Welcome to my build log. This site is being put together to produce a log of my current project car, a 1980 Olds Cutlass. This project has gotten the name “Bandit” for a couple reasons, first I made out like a bandit because I got the car for free. Secondly as we were loading the car up on the trailer my uncle started singing “East Bound and Down” the theme from the Smokey and the Bandit movie and well it stuck in my head.

The car started off as a diesel and has had a Pontiac engine swapped in however that engine has thrown a rod (or so I’ve been told), so I’ll be hunting down a new engine to become the soul of this beast.

In following posts I’ll comment on progress, new parts going in, things that have worked and not worked as well as post pictures of the progress. There will also be some dedicated pages to some subjects like the engine etc.