1978 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Daily Driver LQ4 Swap

[1970camaroRS]

Busy dude! Wondered what happened other than winter.
You'll figure it out..

Congrats on the wee one!..

Yes, winter was a factor. I should have been full of updates, but I was working and my transmission broke. I should have a flurry of updates soon.

[mopar57]

Another favorite project, I know the Camaro didn't turn out as expected, but is truly a multi-purpose machine! Congrats and look forward to your progress.

[1970camaroRS]

I do wish I had stuck it out with the Camaro, it would have made a really great track toy. But I ultimately needed something I could use every day, and the Camaro wasn't going to do it for me anymore. Worked well when I was a 20-something, but I'm not that anymore. I'm going to get this nitrous program working this summer, then a big change is coming next winter. Real big.

[SuperBuickGuy]

You coming snow wheeling with us? cool, we require you carry your own insulation - and I think you'll be okay (all our rigs are soft-tops).

[1970camaroRS]

You coming snow wheeling with us? cool, we require you carry your own insulation - and I think you'll be okay (all our rigs are soft-tops).

What is that supposed to mean?

[SuperBuickGuy]

you said you had a surprise for us....

[1970camaroRS]

you said you had a surprise for us....

Gotcha. And I do have a surprise. But it all hinges on getting a job that pays me properly so I can pick up a cheap daily driver and turn the Cutlass into something I can take time tinkering on. The basic plan is to sell off the heads, cam, intake setup and the nitrous system, install the large chamber 317 heads I have along with a factory 90mm intake and using a pair of 78mm turbos for power. A friend of mine almost talked me into doing it this winter, but the logistics of this being my daily driver made me put it off until my financial picture improves and I can buy a reliable and boring 2nd car for temporary transportation while my car is down.

[SuperBuickGuy]

At some point I need a recap of what you did to your motor. I have a Denali that's going to donate its motor to a good cause - namely my 1976 Corvette - and I want to basically copy what you did on your NA motor (though that said, I may yet put turbos on it)... it's the higher compression motor which all by itself would be a damn good motor for the C3 - it'd basically double its stock hp an drop weight....

[1970camaroRS]

Want to buy my heads, cam, and intake? LOL. Cam is supposed to be on the really big size for a stock cube 6.0L, but should work well in a lightweight corvette. The cam I had before was a good bit smaller. Only thing I changed between the stock-bottom-end motor and the forged .060 over 375" motor is the camshaft. Was a 231/235 113 LSA cam and it's now a 239/244 111 lsa. Heads and intake are the same, the big FAST LSXrt intake and 102mm FAST throttle-body and PRC 5.3L stage 2.5 heads, 60cc chambers. On a LQ9 that will give you close to 11.5:1 compression depending on gasket thickness, which is nice.

[1970camaroRS]

My 4L80e shifts so hard now that the cheap rusty 3rd gen Camaro seats I had broke.



The insert just pulled right out. The previous redneck owner cobbled this together and completely butchered the floors since it was a bench seat car and doesn't have bucket seat brackets. So, I decided it was time to confront that problem and pulled both seats and the carpet.



It was all soaking wet and had to weigh 80lbs. So, how did the floors look? Like shit.



Tons of holes and rust. Not what I want to deal with right now. Looks like a complete floorpan replacement is in the near future. I decided to just temporary fix for now and snipped a bunch of 20g sheet metal patches and beat them to fit and epoxied them in place. This was after I wire wheeled the whole thing and vacuumed it out. Then I sealed over the whole thing and put down a coat of rustoleum. Got the seat bracket for the Scat Procar cheapie seat installed. Had to make some brackets for the inside parts. Super solid now.



And the seat installed.





I got the center console reinstalled and put the floor mats back in it and I'm good to go for a while. I'll eventually install a passenger seat, but for now I can't afford it and it never gets used anyway. Just need the back seat for taking my kiddos to school in the morning.

Next up will be the 102mm nitrous plate install and the cold-air intake...finally.

[1970camaroRS]

Car's running pretty damn good too.

https://youtu.be/OakcwEnbGXo

[1970camaroRS]

Did the new CAI today. Put the MAF back in, and installed an Omega IAT sensor.



Only had to cut out a small bit here to fit the 4" tube.



You can see where I put the IAT sensor.



Filter goes out front.



You can see it through the grill.



The next part of the plan is to cut a hole in the bumper, install the bellmouth then make another section to replace the filter and attach to the bellmouth for the ram-air effect.

I had to install the Nitrous Outlet 102mm Nitrous plate and ran into two issues. 1, the included fasteners were too long for the LSXrt intake. 2, the fuel fitting interferes with the throttle cable. I suppose I need to run a 90 degree fitting for this to work. For now, I just plugged it to stop it from causing a vacuum leak.



Worked on the MAF tune and the car drives pretty damn good with this setup. It's pouring down rain here, so no WOT...but the off-idle and mid-range are so much better than the SD tune.

[1970camaroRS]

After some discussion with Nitrous Outlet guys, I ended up with a plate for drive by wire throttle bodies. I'm going to try to make this work since I like the fittings being on the same side as my nitrous feed and fuel system. I ordered an an3 90 degree fitting that I hope clears the cable, but I doubt it will.

I may have to lower the cable in the braket a bit to cut down on the angle at idle which is the only place it interferes. The cable moves down and away from the fittings as the throttle rotates.



Looking at the way I have the cable attached, I believe I can flatten the bottom of the washer and slot the hole all the way until the nut is flush with the bottom of the bracket. This should cut down the angle on the cable at idle by a few degrees.

[1970camaroRS]

Did some work on the nitrous system today.

Installed the NX purge solenoid and Speedhut nitrous pressure gauge fitting. I have to tighten the fitting common to the purge, it leaked like I hadn't tightened it at all. Probably needs paste to seal I bet. Oh well, this was mostly mock-up and wiring.



The Speedhut nitrous gauge made up to look like my existing gauges from them. I just pulled the Innovate wideband gauge out that I never use and stuck the nitrous gauge in there. Still have to finish power and light wiring, but the harness to the sending unit is all done.



Bit of a rat's nest to clean up, but it all works.



And now the crown jewel of the system. The $18 amazon generic "race car" switch panel! Master system switch, push button for purge, one switch for heater and another for stand-alone fuel pump. I will relabel them with the label maker from work this week. This cheap POS actually works really well. Just yanked the ashtray cover out and tek-screwed the plate into the console. Oh, and there's a new boot in-work for the shifter.

[1970camaroRS]

Worked on the pssssssht pssssssht discharge location. All of the nitrous leaks from the npt fittings are fixed. Also installed the 90 degree an3 fuel fitting. It did not resolve the interference issue. If I run it as is, I'm afraid the cable will fail, or worse, the fitting will.

Anyway, some purge goodness.

https://youtu.be/-jEH7mubv-8

https://youtu.be/rlBfHQ_T8_4