More Cutlass Fun

I realize this is not the G-body forum, but I wanted to get the Cutlass as nice as possible for Cars and Coffee (which as noted elsewhere was NOT this weekend!!)...... ANYway, thought I'd share my two other projects finished this weekend.

First, since I bought the car it's had broken glass inside the passenger headlight, and gets moisture inside when I wash the car. The previous owner gave me a used headlight assembly in the parts pile that was in the trunk, so I finally sucked it up and went to install it.

It took a little while to figure out how this mounted. Wasn't sure if I needed to remove the grill and bezel assembly to get it out. Turns out it's held in with four bolts, and you can slide it out and down between the radiator support and the bumper itself.

Took pics as usual. Such fun!

My Cutty has a black eye!



Old and new headlights. Old one still has moisture in it.

New

Old


Pointing at the mounting bolt holes for bolting into header panel



Let there be LIGHT!


My other project is one I'm sure many of you have done. It's not a "correct" fix, but looks a lot better. I went to Hobby Lobby and got a silver caligraphy pen, and re-painted all the "chrome" dash trim around the wood and insterments. After 23 years the chrome had almost totally worn off around the gauge cluster itself, and was pretty much gone around the wood panels too. I'm a fat guy and my hands shake a lot, but I think it came out pretty good!





Such fun! New door panels, headlight, and fixed the dash trim all this weekend. Not bad!

-Mike

I still hate the dash mat. ; )

Good work on that headlight Mike and I bet you detailed that area surrounding the headlight.Thats a good idea about the caligraphy pen and the dash
turned out great considering the fat shaky hands and all.I am not fond of dash mats but I am blinded by the glare without them.My OCC has the same
color dash as your cutlass and even at night the glare from overhead lights is fierce.As always beautiful work on a beautiful car.Now all you need is a
cammed 455 and a full hotchkis suspension and that Cutlass will be badd to the BONE!!!!!!!!
Take Care
Jim Gordon

81X11 wrote:

I still hate the dash mat. ; )

Times infinity!

You spend all that time and effort "fixing" what ain't broke, and you leave the friggin' dash mat on? What the Hell is wrong with you?

lol

I hate the cracks around the defroster vents more than the dash mat. With the mat off I see the cracks and feel like my car is broken.

I've got to save up $100 for a new dash cap. As soon as I do that 442 carpet cover is going on Craigslist.

And yes it needs a 455. ; )

No, it needs a turbo 5.3.

Or a 455 LSx.

I'm keeping it all Olds powered. 350-403-455. Just need to find a good one at a good price!

let me look for a crack free Cutlass dash pad for you once the weather clears up, I've never seen a cracked one up here. Malibu/elcamino/ montecarlo dashes crack but I've not seen a cracked cutlass dash....
The issue will be finding a cutlass in the local yards

From what I understand they are a bear to remove. It's all one piece...huge.

all G bodies dashes are are fairly easy, pull the gage pod, radio/climate control face plate, glove box door, and the filler panel under the steering wheel, then there are total of ten nuts/bolts to remove, loosen the steering column hanger nuts and the dash comes out, on the back of the dash there are some attatchment points for the wire harnest that need to be pulled/cut about 20 mins to pull one.

I'm sure you know how to get along with SEM vinyl colour application?

I actually got a tan crack-free dash with the car, but wasn't sure if painting blue would look right, and also was concerned because it looked like a bear to swap.

I may go try to find the right color blue SEM stuff and tackle the project. You got me motivated....

spend an afternoon, take your time and don't rush. start with painting the dash pad out of the car. Preparation is important and don't panic when the first coat is drying and looks like it's gone all fish eyed on you, let it dry then do a secound coat. thin light coats are best and you'll need three to four coats to be happy

Do I need to prime it with something first?

nope just needs to be cleaned really well with some vinyl prep to remove all oils and armorall residues.

I may tackle it. My Dad is using the Roadmaster this week and I've been diving into the Cutlass to-do's a lot.

The car is going to the body shop on Feb 15th. The only rust on the car is the lower doors on the inside, common on G-bodies, and I'm having that fixed before it comes through. He's cutting out 2-inches of metal, treating inside the doors, and then welding on new patch panels. I don't want the rust to come back, he's doing it the right way.

Car has been in Texas over 10 years now but originally was sold in the Chicago area. Underside is really clean, it is NOT a salt car, but it's not Texas-native clean either. I think water got in the doors at some point and didn't drain well, as these are rusting from the inside out.

It's possible to find rust-free doors down here still, but once I consider getting rid of dings, painting new doors, getting them hung, making sure the power windows and locks worked, and aligning the glass, I just think it's easier to fix what I have now. The exisiting doors DO NOT rattle now, and with only 93K miles on them, the windows and locks still work well, they don't sag, and the glass is air tight and does not bind on the weatherstripping (all issues I had on my '85 Grand Prix and DO NOT want on my Cutlass).

See the rust in this pic, under the door? Yucko!


One plus is being a northern car and then being garaged since it's been here, the interior is not all faded out like most blue Texas interiors.

Bit-by-Bit!

-Mike