Project Bencar -> Saarcar

[RobertISaar]

updating as often as i can!

sitting at it's temporary home:







has 95 LQw1n and 4T60E ready to drop in after the A/C compressor gets swapped out(incident with the engine lift caused that ). currently the car and engine/trans are sitting in my father's barn waiting to go on the lift. the underside of this car is AMAZING for being a northern car and having ~202,xxx miles on it if the odometer's correct.

anyways, just little odds/ends are the only things needed to get it drivable again, namely alternator and axles, but the 90 will be donating a lot of it's useful parts for all of the missing parts we've come across so far.

questions:

what all options do i have for alternators?
SWRC stuff: this car has a leather steering wheel, and i have the SWRC pad, and there's a little slot cutout behind where the pad would go, but nothing to plug it into? there's an aftermarket HU in it ATM, but i'm really planning on searching for the xx-93 GP CD units.



i have quite some interesting plans for this car.....

also, bad news, Nunzi: no shift rod included, though i did get to play with a flatbar shifter when i was down in indiana and i don't blame you for wanting to get rid of the mushroomhead.

[tornado_735]

WIN!! Good to see you Saar! I cannot wait to see what you do with this beast

[94 olds vert]

Subscribed! I will be eagerly awaiting your updates.

[95cutlass]

That car needs some work but would be sweet fixed up!!

[RobertISaar]

i'm for certain going with a gloss black over the entire car, with the exception of the existing red stripe on the moldings, i'm going to scuff those up and shoot a just BARELY brighter color red on them. i'm debating making the very bottom section(lip?) the same color of bright red as well.

opinions?

the wheels i'm planning on keeping for now, spraying them either a semigloss or flat black over the entire surface, polishing the hell out of the face sections(the pieces of the pie that haz not been eaten), clearing the hell out of them and rolling on them that way.

i REALLY like the CS leather AQ9s and quad rears. the fact that they're murder red is kind of a downside, but oh well.

the exhaust seems to be a full 2.5" front to rear, has a high flow cat, a res and a single flowmaster on it. supposedly it sounds secks with a LQ1, though i'll find out soon enough.

tune in next time for the potential of pics.

[94 olds vert]

I would like an exhaust video somewhere down the line. A black car with red piping on the cladding would be the sex. I wouldn't paint the bottom of the cladding red.

I would do gloss black on the pie faces than polish up the inserts. A black car with red interior is going to be win!

[RobertISaar]

I would like an exhaust video somewhere down the line. A black car with red piping on the cladding would be the sex. I wouldn't paint the bottom of the cladding red.

I would do gloss black on the pie faces than polish up the inserts. A black car with red interior is going to be win!

so, quite similar to how the 83-88 MC SS cars were? that's what it reminds me the most of.

paint the faces, polish the inserts? one slip out of the inserts while polishing and the paint would need to be redone. that's the reason why i'm liking the idea of doing the opposite. that and it will look similar to how they are from the factory, except instead of the slate/light blue color on the inside, it will match the car a little better.

[94 olds vert]

Either way you do it would look fine. As long as one side gets painted and the other gets polished.

[ScoobyDoo82]

As for your SWRC controls, my 88 had the plug for it but theres also a module that needs to either be wired inline with a harness under the dash, or plugged in (I never looked into it much). So even if you have a steering wheel that has a plug, the pad wont work unless you get the module. I was pissed when it didnt work with my 88 . Oh and my 89 didnt even have the plug at all.

[RobertISaar]

As for your SWRC controls, my 88 had the plug for it but theres also a module that needs to either be wired inline with a harness under the dash, or plugged in (I never looked into it much). So even if you have a steering wheel that has a plug, the pad wont work unless you get the module. I was pissed when it didnt work with my 88 . Oh and my 89 didnt even have the plug at all.

now that i've looked into the diagrams, that's the "radio interface module" or something similar to it. the newer units(94-up) used a simple resistor network to indicate what button was being pressed, where the early units used an actual communication signal.

how well do the 88-93 CD units take to stuff like bumps? the rear suspension is going to be quite stiff and i'm wondering how bad CD playback is going to be...

i hate to do so, since i like how well integrated the factory radios are, but i may have to go aftermarket and either get a model with anti-skip built into it(preferred) or find something that will play from external memory. i hate how gaudy and cramped the usual aftermarket head unit is though.

if the early units aren't so great, how about the 94-96 units?



otherwise, not a whole lot of progress. tore apart the rest of the interior to remove the alarm system that was there. though i do need to figure out how to properly retain the rear console. i MAY be dropping the tank to deal with a fuel pump with a faulty check valve, so drilling/tapping in the area won't be that much of an issue.

[ManicMechanic]

It will be a blessing if the 1990-93 CD player even works, much less skips.

Mine never skipped though.

[RobertISaar]

It will be a blessing if the 1990-93 CD player even works, much less skips.

so..... buy from trustworthy forum members only?

knowing the yards around me, if the thing even powers up, it's considered good enough to not be able to return.



were the 94-96 units any better? at least with those, i can build my own resistor network and use the existing SWRC, would just need to gut it first.

[Galaxie500XL]

Saar, I bought a NOS AM/FM/Cassette/CD for my '95 Cutlass, it was around $150.00...but, being new, I've had absolutely no issues for well over a year now...don't know if you want to spend that kind of money, but I spent nearly that much buying one broken stereo after another.

[ManicMechanic]

I might be able to find a Pontiac CD player...I know where a few are at for $25/each...And I can get a warranty.

[RobertISaar]

Saar, I bought a NOS AM/FM/Cassette/CD for my '95 Cutlass, it was around $150.00...but, being new, I've had absolutely no issues for well over a year now...don't know if you want to spend that kind of money, but I spent nearly that much buying one broken stereo after another.

yeah, 150 for a NOS unit, while not bad, is more than i want to spend on a factory unit. at that point, i can PROBABLY find an aftermarket unit i could live with.

I might be able to find a Pontiac CD player...I know where a few are at for $25/each...And I can get a warranty.

so, in general, if they work, they work? 25 isn't bad at all with a warranty, then i'll just need to find the interface module and i would be set for a head unit.



and from the way my amp is intermittently popping in the MC, i'm thinking i either need to find a new amp or use the high-level inputs on it. i seem to have really bad luck with RCA connectors/cables.