Doug_B. Posted September 20, 2015 Report Share Posted September 20, 2015 Hi, new to the forum, new W body owner though I have worked on a few of them over the years and I've had just about every body style cutlass at some point or another. I rescued this one from a garage, it has 150K on it but was owned by a retired GM factory employee, and garage kept. The car is in pretty good shape, no rust on the rockers or door bottoms, couple nicks in the paint and lots of fine scratches but no real damage to speak of. It had been sitting 7 or 8 years, I had to replace the fuel tank, fuel pump and filter, the radiator, water pump, thermostat, serp belt, radiator hoses, battery, rotors and pads all around and a few other small maintenance items. The car runs decent, heat cycles properly, but the transmission needs rebuilt and I knew that going in. It is a little more than I want to get into in my garage, so I'll be farming that out to a transmission shop hopefully in a few days. Currently my driver window has me stumped, the window pops out of track but I don't see anything wrong with the works.. tomorrow I'll verify the passenger side works right then pull that door apart and compare. I think the tracks are suspect, and that I may be missing the insert in the front. I'm spending too much, especially once I get it on the road and start replacing steering and suspension parts, but its still better than paying too much for a used car lot car and getting something that still needs most of the work I'm doing or have done to this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imp558 Posted September 20, 2015 Report Share Posted September 20, 2015 welcome, the Cutlass is beautiful! the window track thing is fairly common, there are guides that are glued onto the glass front and back that come off or become worn. as far as the transmission goes it's feasible to upgrade to a 4T65. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich_e777 Posted September 20, 2015 Report Share Posted September 20, 2015 Welcome, easy cars to work on and most parts are cheap and easy to find. Ive had my 94 for about 10 years, and don't plan on getting rid of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psych0matt Posted September 20, 2015 Report Share Posted September 20, 2015 Welcome aboard, I miss my cutlass but love my GP even more! These cars are pretty easy to work on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug_B. Posted September 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 20, 2015 Thanks for the welcome, I do agree they are easy to work on, except for the transmission R&R. I prefer the Bonneville type setup with a removable dog leg on the frame, this drop the whole subframe crap severely limits what I can do in my home garage without a lift. It is also difficult to convince a transmission shop to put in a non-stock transmission.. so 4t60 it is.. I figure worst case scenario I have to replace the engine down the road, but the chassis is in super shape and I should be able to get many years out of it. I drove an A body for the last decade, this is definitely a step up from that platform. I always liked the grand prix as well, the decision to get this mostly boiled down to what I could find cheap.. I bought this car for 400 bucks, and depending what the trans work costs me I should have about 3500 in it when its road ready. Not bad when you compare it to what a used car lot would sell you for that money Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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