Alright, for those of you who have seen my '89 Oldsmobile Cruiser, you know it's wrecked kinda bad, no frame damage, it's just in an awkward place, the passenger side doors. For those of you who have not, there are links below. Anyway, the debate is this: My 1989 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, it's wrecked, we got it for free, the only thing that ties me too it is that it was made on my birth year, 1989. My fathers 1986 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser, it's been with the family since 1995, and it's beat to hell, but it runs, and drives pretty good, it does need a lot of cosmetic work. The 307 has a lot of life left in it, it only has about 100k on it since the last rebuild. So, what I was thinking was, take all the interior out of the 1989, since it's the same color as the 1986, and put it in the 1986, get new carpet, and a head liner, replace the speakers, and stereo while I have the car apart, go ahead and finish removing the stock ECM and backdate the 307 to a fully non-EGR setup with an Edelbrock square bore aluminum intake, and a Holley or Edelbrock 4bbl carb, with an electronic distributor. I'd part out the rest of the 1989, the tailgate would wind up on the '86, since the one on the '86 looks like it has been beaten with sledge hammers, the hinges are bad, and the window motor is about shot. The bumpers, grill, eventually the roof rack, a few pieces of trim which are damaged, ect. What do you think? Should I cannibalize the '89 to fix the '86? Anyway, pictures: http://s55.photobucket.com/albums/g139/Dead-Reckon/1986 oldsmobile custom cruiser 2011/?start=all http://s55.photobucket.com/albums/g139/Dead-Reckon/1989 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser/?start=all
Keep/drive the '86 since you know its history. Use what you want off of the '89. Do not bother with the carb intake ideas. Yes, I am one of those 307 hating morons. You know, it is VIN letter Y for a reason. As in Y the #$%^& did they do that?!?! Seriously unless you are going for some sort of Oldsmobile glory all original resto job, don't bother. The fact you want to change away from original means you don't, so save your money. Spend the $ on general all around car maintenance.
The '89 can be fixed. I'm pretty sure that with a bit of searching, you can find a fender and doors for it - with the woodgrain already on. The big question is the quarter panel. You'll need to find a N.O.S. roll of the Di-Noc for that. That's gonna be hard. To me, it would be down to these choices: 1) Fix the '89 and probably take off the woodgrain on the whole wagon - will require a complete repaint; or.. 2) Transfer the good parts of the '89 to the '86, including the tailgate, then de-wood the tailgate. Sounds like your idea is the easier of the two.
Seems like it would be easier to put a fender and two doors from the '86 onto the '89. Going the other way, you're transferring half of the '89 into the '86.
Dead Reckonsince you asked, then came up with a decent plan of your own, I'd go with your plan . Since it runs okay just enjoy it that way until something goes wrong with that engine.
How does that 89 run? As good or better than the 86? What's the mileage on the two cars? After looking at the pix I'm having a tough time making a decision so I would like an answer to the above questions. What's nice about this is that you have two cars with the same parts and the same color interior. One of my thoughts is to fix up the 86 and sell it and use the money to fix the 89....BUT...I would like my questions answered first. They are both pretty nice cars.
Sorry about the delay, we sold a 1950's Vendo Coke machine and almost sold a friends '85 Fierro yesterday, I've been a bit busy. To clarify, this is in no way a "All Original" restoration. The motor will likely be a Chevy SB V8, unless I get REALLY lucky and find an olds 350 somewhere. Anyway, it comes down to this: The '89 needs shocks, tie rods, center link, idler arm, probably ball joints, probably wheel bearings, probably brake work. It has an inspection sticker which expired in '09, so the car probably hasn't been on the road since '08. Also, it has a 130 some miles on the car, can't remember off the top of my head the exact number. The '86 has a ton more miles but everything has been replaced recently. The '86 has about 350-400k miles on the chassis, it had about 250k on it when we got it, trans went and motor went after about 10k miles, it had been rebuilt about 125k before. So that's 260 right there, odometer didn't work for a long time, so we guess-ta-mate it's got about 80-100k on the motor and trans. It's got new tie rods, center link, idler arm, front rotors, calibers, and pads, rear brake pistons, and shoes, and a bunch of other stuff we replaced last year I can't remember off the top of my head. The engine in the 1986 is a early 1985, it's pre-roller , so it's worth backdating, that motor probably has another 60-80k left in it. Every 307 past about mid 1985 used roller lifters. The 307 in the '86 has a beefier cam, aluminum pistons, and modified valve timing. It's just a stop gap, backdating it, the computer is kind of on its last legs and it's making the car run strange when it gets hot out. I know, I could work through the electrical and fix it, but it is so much easier just to replace the carb, intake, and distributor. Begone bygone solid state technology! About the only thing that's reliable on that car is the electric choke, doesn't matter if it's been sitting for two weeks, pump the gas two or three times, start it, give it another two or three pumps, it'll fire right up, hot, cold, weather doesn't matter, that car has never failed us. The front right fender on the '86 is damaged, if you noted that in the pictures, a deer hit it, the rear right quarter on the '86 is damaged. THe '86 has body damage, but it's a solid car, I'm not sure how solid anything is on the '89. Basically what it comes down too is, yeah, it's more work to take parts off the '89 and put them on the '86, but, the '86 is like a family pet, a loyal dog, it hasn't left us stranded before. The fact is, the '86 is something I can drive right now, I can get a parts car for the '89, it's an '83, but, I dunno if I want to go that route. So, if I where to restore the '86, I would need these parts off the '89, and I'd still have to buy some parts off that '83. Bumpers, both are no good on the '86, but the '89 has a good pair. Front right fender, deer seemed to hesitate on suicide by Oldsmobile, good thing, the header panel is fine. All the fill pieces, they've all fallen off, the ones between the bumpers and body. Grill, '89 has a good one, '86 does not, metal coating on the plastic is starting to bubble on the '86. Whole interior in the '86, it's just shot. '89 has an excellent interior. Hood for the '86, some idiot mall rats decided to sit on it when my brother took a trip to Game Stop... They almost fell the wrath of my brother and that car. The hood is bent, hinges are kinda screwed up too. Either way, I'm gonna need a passengers side quarter panel. I want to do a modification to the '86, however. I want to remove the rear windows, 'cause there is rust back there, and make it a panel wagon. There where a few wagons made like this, I think they where all flower cars for funeral homes though. And, that's about it for the '86 for the time being. It's not gonna be a frame off body restoration, not even close, I'm just gonna get it straightened out, repaint it tan after getting my friend to help me with some body panel work, including the panel wagon conversion (Yes, I know, blind spots). I have a friend who is pretty good at automotive welding, and the '83 has a good quarter. Either car is free to me in the long run, it's just down to these simple facts. The '86 is a running, driving, road worthy car, it needs an exhaust system to pass inspection this June, but the exhaust has been on there since 1998. I'm gonna go with a dual outlet single inlet flowmaster, since my father can get them cheap. It'll be the stock sized aluminum stainless line from the cat back. The catyletic converter is hollowed, with a pipe through it. It stopped up in 2007 and blew a head gasket. Yes, I know, this car ha an absurd amount of miles on the chassis, and, yes, I'm going to replace everything once I eventually swap it to a 350 or 327, or some other small block I can afford to by or build. There's a 327 HO out of a '65 Impala wagon for sale up at the junkyard, I wish I had money to get that beast, they where rated for 250HP, not much by today's standards, but that was a helluva lot back then. The '89, it's nowhere near road worthy, no where near able to pass inspection, and simply put, I don't think I have the resources to fix it properly. I refuse to attempt to fix a car and only go half way. I know I can fix the '86 back right, but I am not sure about the '89.
