V8TV Forum

(http://www.v8tvshow.com/images/stories/71OldsHeaderPic.jpg)

looks like a sweet project!

I have read about the details over at www.realoldspower.com
  8)

Hey Joel -

Thanks for your comments - we're excited about the Olds, and we're trying to have it finished for the Year One Experience next spring.     I hope.     We'll keep you posted!

- KO

My wife loves this car, she had a 70 Cutlass when we met, it was a big mistake selling that car.. :-[ I cant wait to see the final results.

Here's the main page on the olds...

http://v8tvshow.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=27&Itemid=79

We're excited to get back on this one after SEMA.   

The "S71" 1971 Olds Cutlass S project is seeking a new owner.

(http://www.v8tv.net/V8TV_S71_new_wheels.jpg)

We at V8TV began this project about 6 months ago, but the owner of the car had a change in his personal situation, so we are seeking a new owner to finish this car for.

The new owner will end up with ownership of the completed car after we complete all aspects of the full frame-off restoration and pro-touring upgrades.

As you can imagine, this is a special circumstance, as we are a TV/ media company, so many of the parts were provided by sponsor donation, so we cannot  charge for those items.     Essentially, the owner will be buying the car for the cost of the vehicle in it's current state plus the related labor / service / material costs associated with the restoration, engine build, interior, etc.

Here's the first video featuring the car:

http://v8tvshow.com/content/view/28/79/

The asking price will be revealed via email, but it will be in the $45k range.     Interested parties are encouraged to call any restoration shop and request a comparison quote on a full rotisserie restoration complete with bodywork, paint, interior, chassis restoration and modification, engine build, turbo system, wheels, tires, and electrical restoration.   Add to that the opportuinity to watch the project come to life with daily online video updates, and  you'll soon see that this is an extremely competitive offer. 

(check out our 1969 Chevelle build online http://v8tvshow.com/content/blogcategory/56/90/ for an example of the work we do and the kind of video coverage this car will receive.)


ABOUT THE CAR

The S71 began as a 1971 Olds Cutlass S, ordered with nearly every 442 option except for the 455 engine.   It came from the factory equipped as follows:

- Viking Blue paint w/white stripes
- Outside Air Induction hood
- Bucket Seats
- 4-speed manual transmission
- 10-bolt limited slip rear axle with 3:42 gears
- FE2 sport suspension
- Dual exhaust
- Disc brakes
- Dual sway bars

The upgraded S71 will feature:

- Turbocharged Olds 350 power
- 4-Speed transmission upgraded with Gear Vendors overdrive unit
- Full tubular suspension
- Upgraded sway bars
- Upgraded disc brakes
- Restored body, paint, and interior to factory colors with 442 style stripe added

This is just a basic overview of the plans for the car, complete details will be provided upon request.   

Target completion date is May 16, 2008,  for the YearOne Experience, but no guaranteed date of completion is expressed or implied.    There may be several other required event appearances for the car in 2008 as well, possibly SEMA.

We already have most of the parts in-house, and we need a new owner to keep this project moving.   The owner will be able to watch the project come to life via our daily weekday video updates covering the build on www.v8tvshow.com!

Please email info@v8tv.net if you're interested in owning the S71 today!

We're moving forward on the "S71" project... we'll be posting some bodywork beginnings next week, but right now we're gathering ideas about chassis mods.   We'd like to stiffen the original Olds chassis, so we'll probably be boxing the frame and adding some cross bracing, similar to the chassis sold by RS Performance.

(http://rsperformanceconcepts.com/gallery/66chevelle/images/(3).jpg)

We're beginning the bodywork on our 1971 Olds project, and we're trying to save all the original steel if possible.   This time, we're patching the lower fenders, as these cars - all GM "A" bodies in general - seem to have rusty holes in their fender bottoms.   The design allowed them to hold leaves, pine needles, and dirt at the bottom of the fenders, and this debris eventualy rusted them from the inside out.   We obtained some patches from YearOne, and today we're cutting out the old and installing the new.   We fabricated new supports to replace the rusty backside braces to keep the rust away for good.

Just got home from the shop - we blew apart the original chassis tonight, and fixed some bodywork issues.    We have the opportunity to put in some long days on this car this month, so we're trying to get as much done as possible.   The goal is bring the car to the YearOne Experience in May, 2008, so we've got alot of work to do!

- KO

Update from the shop... oh, man... it's getting ugly.    Just cut out the rear wheel tubs and 1/2 the trunk floor.   Today's all about drilling spotwelds, plasma cutting, and air chiseling the old panels out.     No more rusty-crusty for this car!    Video to come soon...

- KO

Thoughts on disassembling the body on our 1971 Olds "S71" project.    This time, it's spotweld separation 101.   We'll feature more on this topic when we begin the reassembly of this car using an HTP QuickSpot II spotwelder.   This time, we take a look at some of the disassembled panels and see how they came apart.   

Next video - sparks fly!

The cutting tools are out, and the gloves came off... it's time to cut out the rusty steel in the back of the car and get ready to install the new panels.    Here's how we cut the rear wheelhouses and trunk floor sections out.   

Hey Kevin, this is great!
I've gotta a 72 Cutlass S that my grandfather bought when it was almost new. It needs all the same components replaced that you are replacing. I'm thinking of doing the 442 clone thing. Not to sell as a fake of course, just because the looks are killer. And I want a driver anyway, not a trailer queen original resto your afraid to get dusty! Besides, I told my kids the car is not to leave the bloodline! So watching you guys do the S71 is sort like outlining my future restoration exactly. This is awesome!! i hope you'll be selling a full length DVD of the S71 job when you're done (Like the Royal 69 Camaro). Will ya???? please please please?

Thanks...

Mike

Hey Mike,

You bet we'll make a DVD of the whole thing, just for you.    (And anyone else who wants to buy one!)

I'm glad to hear you've got a cool car you're planning on restoring... we've got a long way to go on this one, but you'll be able to watch the whole thing happen here.

Thanks for posting!

 -  KO

Thanks Kevin! I wish you guys were in my neighborhood so I could come help with the S71! ;D But oh well, I'll just keep watching on v8tvshow.com!

Kevin, the Olds is looking good, brings back memories from the Buick! Nice job on smoothing that frame too. Just watched the suspension, spotweld andpatched fender segments, keep up the good work.

S71 Update:  Tonight, the guys were busy cleaning up the original chassis, grinding sloppy factory welds, adding new welds where needed, and planning for the addition of new steel to strengthen the frame. 

The V8TV crew has been making improvements to the S71's chassis, namely adding reinforcing steel in areas where the original frame was "C" shaped to completely "box" the design.   This will help the chassis resist flexing and improve overall handling and traction.   One design modification was the need to re-engineer the transmission crossmember, as it no longer will use the original mount holes because their access was closed off with the reinforcements.    Once the chassis was welded solid and ground clean, it was treated to a single stage enamel paint coat in a satin-black factory appearing sheen.   

We just recieved an email informing us of the history of the stamped numbers and letters on our Olds firewall...

Hi!
Thanks for a good show! Could you please relay this info to the team
 rebuilding th 442. He was wondering about some letters stamped on the
 firewall.. Here it is!

69 70 71 72 442 cutlass W-30 Firewalll detail stamps. This is the
 stamper to put the stamps on your fire wall. This would have been on every
 cutlass, 442, W-30.These were put there, buy fisher body and stamped on
 the fire wall closer to the pass side upper portion .These were an
 inspection stamp.The letters mean nothing to do with build codes.The
 letters were issued to a person who did the inspection. There were many
 stamps issued to 3 shifts of people 24 hours a day. So these would never be
 the same for all cars.They may be the same for a 6 hour shift but that
 is it.I have made them in 10 different combinations that i have seen.
 If you look at original cars you will see them every time.These are the
 details that separate the nice and correct cars from just ok cars.

Best regards
Morten Herredsvela



- Thanks Morton!

The follow up to the spot welding blog... here's some techniques on plug welding and using a commercially available electrical resistance spot welder on restoration projects.   

That was a great blog. I called HTP for a price on the spot welder and was suprised. It did not seem to bad. I am going to have them send me more info.  If I start a project that needs new metal down the road I  will strongly consider it.

They work really well, obviously.    The machine says 2mm+2mm max panel thickness, but we've burned 3 panels together successfully also.    It's a tremendous time saver!

Here's the trunk floor, wheel house, and rear tail panel install on the S71 Olds.    The sheetmetal work is nearly finished, as all we have left is the quarter panel repairs and the upper dash repair, and those are coming soon!




(http://www.v8tvshow.com/images/stories/videos/71Olds/S71TrunkFloorInstallLead.png)

We finally made up our minds on how we wanted to fix the quarter panels without destroying the original panels.     Here's the approach we took to fixing the wheel lips and bottom edges.   

The original dash was pretty rusty, so we replaced it with a piece from a rust-free car from Desert Valley Auto Parts. 

This is going to be awesome man. Glad to see someone appreciate an Olds haha. I also saw something on it over at ROP, I'm a member over there. I got a 1970 442, can't wait to see the final product, and see how it does at the track, turbocharged 350rocket eh? that would be a beast haha. It looks as if it is coming along great. Keep up the great work bud! I see you guys get a lot of parts at Yearone, if you can't find it there, you should be able to find it at OPGI, they have good parts, I have ordered a few times from them, if not, there are guys close by to me who specializes in Cutlass restoration located in Stillwell, Kansas, here is their website www.oldsparts.com

Hey Chino!

Sounds like you've got a very cool Olds.     You mention in your "welcome" section post you've got a 455 with a 3:73 10-bolt rear axle.. how is that rear end holding up?    Is it stock?     

We're getting to the engine build pretty soon... we've decided to keep the original 350 with the car, but we're building a diesel block stroker turbo for the car.    Should be about 428 cubic inches... Bill Trovato at BTR Performance is working the details now.     Looking forward to this one!

Thanks for the encouragement and the oldsparts.com link... we'll check it out!

- KO

The 442 I got is nothing special really haha, but thanks alot for the compliment. The rear end is practically brand new, the guys in stilwell at BAP rebuilt the rear end for me with a later year cutlass housing, and did a lil fabrication to get it to fit the 68-72 cutlass. The Eaton posi unit in it is brand new, so everything is holding up great. As for the upper control arms, I went with the e-brock fully adjustables and e-brock boxed lower trailing arms. I had a pair of ebrock antihop bar that I was going to install on it before, but it was for the correct year rear end for my 70 442, so with the new rear end from a later year, it didn't fit, and is just sitting around, practically brand new lol.

BTR Performance are very good, Bill Trovato knows his stuff, and one of the most trustworthy olds performance builder, you are in great hands. I was talking to Bill, and was going to ask him to build the BBO 496 stroker for me, but an emergency hospital bill came up, and shorted me a few grand, so now I just got a 1968 455 on the stand, and going to build it myself, and just take my time with it, never rebuilt an engine before, so it would be a cool learning experience. The 428 that you are going to build will be good for the car. The diesel block is a small block am I correct?

You are welcome on the encouragement, you guys are doing good things here, I love muscle cars, and you guys are making them nice and powerful, and as for the oldsparts.com guys, they are very reliable as well, they know their stuff. Have a good one KO

Chino

We got the body back from the media blaster yesterday... it only revealed a couple small surprises. 

Not realy a 2 d ht, but i  was cleaning out the garage and look what i found !!! ( gonna clean  more often  :-[ ) well ...been sittin here since 1989 got to get it out so i could install some earth heating eqp.


 (http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8122/bild001bd8.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)


Not a bad car att all, hardly any rust att all, just had to change the starter, who i fixed 18 ysr agoe ( took me 2 days to finde it, cleaning again...)


(http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/4995/bild002fa3.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)


awh....runnin...350,350 holley 600 vac. edelbrook valve covers, cal custom....



mmm...just love the early spring out door, mud qrawling, freezzing ( sweden- above the artic cirkle ) where did the damm nut go, nose dripping, neigbor yakking, car playing.
so get out your fancy garage´s and get back to basic...


URL=http://imageshack.us](http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/7253/dsc00043nh0.jpg)[/URL]


Just the ursual hod, fender, dorr, front HELL !! always yelling out my anger when i se ya "pros" putting newly painted car parts together without chiping the paint....


(http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/5246/dsc00049hq1.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)


Aww....runnin..nothin fanzy 350 / 350 holley 600 vac. some edelbrook valve covers, cal custom air. just have to install the rear windows, crome trim..(.hmm dont realy know where to get the mounts ?? )...


(http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/2734/dsc00062vx0.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
 

Sneezingduck -

Are you in Sweden?  I saw the plate on the front of the car, and the sticker on the back window, let alone the color of the houses...

I have relatives in sweden...

Stefan

Sneezingduck

That looks like a fun project car.  Say a family car that car 11's at about 120 through the traps.  ;D

The S71 Olds gets a bath in PPG DP series primers... DP90 in black for the bottom, and soon DP60 in blue for the interior and exterior before filler work begins.

We just finished installing the complete Global West Negative Roll suspension system on the S71 Olds... now it should handle both the highways and the road courses with ease.    The Negative Roll system adds tall spindles and improved geometry to keep the tires planted, and the Baer Brakes will help haul it down from speed.  Here's a clip on the front suspension install.

 Global West Suspension  (http://www.globalwest.net/)

 Baer Brakes  (http://www.baer.com/)

 YearOne  (http://www.yearone.com/)

Hey Kevin, what happened to this project? Is it just on the backburner for a little bit or what. I'm enjoying the other stuff, but I'm the guy with the 72 Cutty and I was way into this! Your killin me :-\

The Olds is alive and well, just moving kinda slowly.     It's getting bodyworked now, which always seems to take time.    We changed directions a little on the engine and have been chasing parts there, too.    We'll be posting new videos on the Olds soon.   Thanks for hangin' in there!

Ok great! Thanks. Can't wait to see more! You guys (and girl) are awesome.

Thanks for that!    We are really excited about this car and hate that it's taking so long, but the Olds world is definitely different from the Chevy world!     

Please tell me that you're sticking with Olds power. Way to many small-block Chevies and LSx out there already (not that the LSx engines aren't a heck of a powerplant...) I'm already appropriating ideas for my own '70 Cutlass S from S71, I was hoping to steal a few tricks from the turbo Olds 350 as well. :)

I'll let the cat out of the bag... we're going to be building an Olds Diesel-block based 428 cubic inch stroker.   We have the block, still looking for a clean Olds 330 forged crank to offset-grind and resize for Chevy rods, going to use big block Chevy rods to make the stroke.   The diesel block handles all kinds of overbore, so it should be a fun project.    Then it gets the turbo.    Olds power!

Yeah, that'll work! Can't wait to see it.
I've been on a lookout for a 330 crank myself. Gotta have forged stuff for boost, ya know. :)

Those 330 cranks are gettin' a little hard to find.    It's cool that Olds used forged stuff from the factory, and I bet they built zillions of 'em... I wonder how many are being recycled these days... the yards are turning stuff over like crazy.   It's a shame.   Like the stolen manhole covers... they way almost 200 lbs, and thieves are getting $11 a piece from scrap yards.    Seems easier to me to just get a job!

Hi guys,

Great work on the S71, I watched all the videos and I admire the balance you find between originality and streetability. A friend of mine here in Holland has a similar '70 Cutlass, only a 4-door. It's a bit of a rustbucket, but it's still great fun to drive. Your restoration is very inspiring, and maybe we will make our Dutch Olds into a project as well. When the DVD of this resto comes out, you have another buyer here!

Dean

Thanks, Dean!  I imagine restoring an Olds in Holland is a bit of a challenge, especially a 4-door!  Keep us posted on what you're working on!

Thnx for the quick reply Kevin! You'd be surprised how many parts we can get in Dutch shops, or by ordering directly from the US. The real problem is that there are no salvage yards for US cars over here. There's a crack in the windscreen, so we must start searching in the US for a good replacement screen.

We found a set of the original Cutlass sports wheels, that will certainly look a lot better than the rusted aftermarket chrome wheels it's on now. But first we have to get them straightened, balanced and coated. No chance for a rotisserie resto for us, just working on it bit by bit.

Keep those vids comin'!

Dean

Quick update on the Olds - we got the paint in, and we're going to be shooting this one a killer color from the DuPont  Hot Hues  (http://pc.dupont.com/HotHues/webengine/hothues/Controller) line.   It's called Warp Speed Blue, and it's very close to the original color but tuned up a bit in the intensity department.    Check it out!

Wow looks like a lot of metalic or what ever it is in the paint shouild look great. I went to the link and the colors look good.

Let's get it on.......... :o

Just wanted to say,

I have been following this build and really looking forward to see it with color

It's been a while since we posted an update on the S71... it's getting pretty complex, and we want to do this one right, so it's taking some time.  Anyway, here are some shots of the body going back on the chassis... a nice turning point!

Click on the little pics to see the big ones!

The engine choice has changed a little too. It's still an Olds motor, but we've decided to run a 350 Diesel block based engine. We sourced a DX block from a running 1981 Olds 98 Regency and pulled it apart to see what's inside. These pics show the internals of the Diesel block and the large webbing and overall meatier guts of this block.  It's also a factory roller lifter setup. The next post we'll show you the stock 350 block for comparison. The new recipe as outlined by Bill Trovato at BTR Performance calls for an offset ground Olds 425 crank, high-strength big block Chevy rods, custom pistons, MAHLE coated bearings, and a trick Comp valvetrain to build a 428 cubic-inch Olds stroker. We're running Edelbrock aluminum heads and intake, an MSD ignition, and a complete FAST EFI system on the car.

Here you can see the smaller internal webbing supporting the main caps and the otherwise less meaty block of the original 350 engine from the S71 Olds.   

Title: Re: 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass "S71"
Post by: Kevin O on November 19, 2008, 05:45:22 PM

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Title: Re: 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass "S71"
Post by: Kevin O on November 19, 2008, 05:49:14 PM

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Title: Re: 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass "S71"
Post by: andyo on November 20, 2008, 07:14:40 PM

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