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Delivery Day - 03/2025
This is my new 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible coming off the truck in March 2025. It has a 350, auto with a power top, AM/FM with factory 8-Track, air conditioning and a bench seat. It was a bit chilly that day but thankfully no snow, or worse, salt on the roads to drive through.
The truck driver pointed out a leak coming from the front end of the car after it was unloaded and after I had been grinning over my new acquisition. This turned my smile upside down rather quickly. And it was quite a healthy leak at that. A healthy fuel leak. I got it into the garage to let things cool down. And the fix turned out to be a bit larger in scope than planned. Of course it did.
First repair - 04/2025
Fuel was definitely coming from the fuel pump "area" and so with over 96k miles on the clock I decided to replace the pump and fuel lines there (read: pump actually worked fine). Once I had the car up on the lift I found an electric pump between the mechanical pump and the fuel tank. WT?
As you can see with the picture, I replaced the fuel pump and lines and replaced the water pump and heater hoses as well. Both were cleaned and painted Oldsmobile gold before installing, to keep the engine bay looking relatively pretty. I also pulled out that electric pump and replumbed the connections to the tank. New upper and lower hoses with a radiator flush, a new set of V-belts, and temperature sender completed the "leak" repair. I resisted the urge to pull the oil pan and front cover to do a timing set. We shall see if that was a smart move or not. I did notice that I had some movement in the wheel assemblies while I had the car up in the air. hummm...
Drives Nicely? - 05/2025
After some warmer weather arrived we took the car out with the top down for some errands around town (notice there are few leaves on the trees). It seems a previous owner put a shift kit in the transmission. I didn't have the money to deal with that so I pulled out the vacuum modulator and replaced it with an adjustable one so I could bring the shift points down to a lower RPM without shaking my teeth out during every shift. I was mostly successful with this as the car shifts good enough for me now. Cita likes convertibles.
Next Repair - 07/2025
So that wheel moved a bit you say? Ya. Some movement on the spindles and in the draglink assembly. So... New ball joints and a new steering assembly going in. That seemed to tighten things up nicely. After an alignment at the local Coop (they were really happy to work on the car) I was back on the road for the next issue at hand.
Making Her Look Good - 08/2025
This next effort was purely esthetic, or mostly anyway. The carpet was terribly faded -- nearly yellow in some spots. And while I was able to source carpet in the correct color, I would have been forced into purchasing a completely new interior (door cards and front bench seat upholstery) to get it all right. So I bought some spray paint and masked and painted the bottom carpet on the bench seat and the lower portions of the door cards. I installed some additional sound deadening material, and put the new carpet down. It came out great. But, I found some rust that had to be cut out and a patch panel welded back in. You just never know with these old cars with previous ownership.
The Story
I've had the Chevelle for over 18 years now and I've gotten a bit older since I started that project. So driving a stick with all that cam and racing clutch around town is getting less exciting. So I wanted something to just cruise around in. I found the Cutlass at a shop in Florida (alarms and bells should go off now) and fell in love with it (my folks had a '72 back in the day). And it was close to my favorite MOPAR color of burnt orange (FK5) known in GM land as Sienna (paint code 67). The vinyl top is in Sandalwood (code 61)
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