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On my birthday I picked up a 1964 Cutlass with the Sport package. It's in ok shape, but there's going to be a laundry list of things to do. This is my second Olds; I had a 1965 98 LS in the mid- to late-nineties. I'll post more pictures soon. I will have a ton of questions, most of them probably stupid. Any help will be appreciated. Feel free to hit me up on FaceBook.
Nice. That's a Sports Coupe, apparently a Cutlass Sports Coupe but the cowl tag will tell for sure. The reason for my original question was that Olds offered a relatively rare F85 V6 Sports Coupe in the 1964-65 model years. The car was for all intents and purposes a Cutlass but since in those years Cutlii were only offered with the "Cutlass" 330 motor, Olds couldn't call it a Cutlass with the V6.
Def not the original 330(?)...I was told that it was a Chevy 350 crate motor. Don't know when it was put in...don't know how many miles are on it. The air cleaner has a fading Oldsmobile decal, but who knows what that means. I've only had the car for a little less than a week, and there are plenty of mysteries to solve. Hopefully, this weekend I'll be able to get some work done on it. I've been working too much to give the car a deeper looking into. If someone had a list of questions at the ready...
Def not the original 330(?)...I was told that it was a Chevy 350 crate motor. Don't know when it was put in...don't know how many miles are on it. The air cleaner has a fading Oldsmobile decal, but who knows what that means. I've only had the car for a little less than a week, and there are plenty of mysteries to solve. Hopefully, this weekend I'll be able to get some work done on it. I've been working too much to give the car a deeper looking into. If someone had a list of questions at the ready...
It's an Olds motor, not a Chevy. The block casting number above the water pump will tell you exactly which one.
Forgive the delay in relaying work done and and problems encountered. Life can intrude on when working on an old ride.
As of right now, I can't get the engine to fire. Fine two days ago, but in truth, each time I started the car it would take a little bit longer to fire up. It feels like as if it's flooded...I'm smelling way too much fuel for its regular start up. I've cleaned up the carb as much as a can, but don't see anything apparent. Next step is if it's getting spark; wires and distributer cap are pretty new, but I will check the rotor in the cap to be sure. It's be odd for that to be the case after decent start ups in the past.
Work done since acquisition:
Surface rust in trunk brushed out and painted/sealed.
Back decking under rear window removed and recut/replaced with new masonite and carpeting/upholstery. New 6 x 9's put in and just hooked up. Actually sounds decent.
All chrome inside of car brushed out. A lot of pitted surfaces that have never been attended to, but the chrome brightened up quite a bit.
Me and my buddy striped the seats of the (non-original) upholstery as it's easier to do so at this point. Got new foam inserts for the front seats in place and he welded the busted springs. Huge difference. Stripped all the foam out of the backseat and waiting to do that next.
The car had a missing turn signal stalk. Ordered one before I even got the car...and it got stolen from the mail. Only thing I have ever gotten stolen from the mail was a virtually one-of-a-kind part. I ordered another turn signal stalk only to find out after pulling the steering wheel was that the turn signal switch was toast (of course). Side note is that the horn wiring was clipped, but the horn is a little further down the list. Turn signal is still inoperable even after a new turn signal module was put in, so we're working on problem solving the rest of it. Also discovered is the front running lights/turn signal light wiring harnesses are totally crumbling. Does this circuit need to be complete to work? Good thing my left arm ain't broke.
Brake lights work after a new brake light module was installed. Brake lights are nice.
Sway bar is bent. New sway bar links installed. That was rough.
Next up (in no particular order):
Front disc brakes. Looking for a kit the will fit original rims.
Gauges for oil pressure/water temp/voltage meter install where the old speaker perforated cover for the AM radio. I will probably need advice on firewall placement and wiring help for lighting.
Rear seat belts, plus a kit to weld in for a child seat.
Interior restoration. It's not bad at all. No sun visors came with the car.
Foam replacement in back seat.
Both rear windows don't function. All windows need attention (car has B-pillars). Just got the tools to pull the handles. I imagine nothing has been greased in 59 years.
Massive rewiring project. To include phone/USB outlets. Also, my cigarette lighter in the front is kaput. The wiring underneath the dash is a nightmare.
Gear shift **** snapped off. Will replace.
Floor lighting and tearing apart the center console. Oddly enough the RPM gauge still works (sorta) and lights up.
Speedometer need calibrating.
Horn. Align steering wheel.
Forgive me if any nomenclature is incorrect. It's either been a long time, I didn't have the time to research it or I just don't know what the hell I'm talking about.
Any and all advice will be appreciated. See attached photos. I will include more soon. Let me know if I need to start a separate thread for these topics. Oh yeah, what carb is this? 2 barrel Rochester?
You have your hands full. Like most of these cars unless you spend big dough buying it up front. Many similar issues I dealt with on my 69 cutlass even after spending substantial money to buy it. Yours looks like a good solid, straight car. It'll be sweet when it's done. Best wishes, brad
This APPEARS to be a 1968-1976 350 Olds block. An in-focus photo from directly overhead would be useful. The VIN derivative stamp on the driver's side will tell you the exact year of the block.
I haven’t read anywhere it was a LS swap on his 65 Ninety-Eight, only that it was a 65 Ninety-Eight LS, (Luxury Sedan). I had one and it was a real cruiser!
The carburetor appears to be a 1968 or 1969 Quadrajet. You can decode the Fisher Body data tag at http://datatagdecoder.com. As Joe mentioned above, we need a better picture of the engine casting number; also you should post the large casting number of the cylinder head as seen at the front of the driver's side or the rear of the passenger side head. In the Tech Editor's Desk forum there is a "sticky" Low cost A-body disk brakes which may help you decide on a path to putting front disks on your car.
May 30th, 2023, 06:17 PM
