1981 OLDSMOBILE CUTLASS SUPREME

   Back in 1987 is when I first purchase my Cutlass.  Because the smog laws
are strict in Cali, I had to choose a project car that would not have any
problem being smogged.  The 1981 Olds not only was a good looking rear
wheel
drive vehicle but also came with diesel models that are smog exempt.  To
this day I have never had to get a smog check and hopefully never will. 
 

I had built small blocks (mouse motors) in the past and decided
this time that I wanted something with more torque and power, an engine that
would stand out in a crowd.  So I decided to build a big block (rat) Chevy engine. 
Using a 1971 big block from a Chevy truck, I had the block bored .030 over and stuck in some TRW 9:1 flat tops. The crank and rods are clean stock and have only been turned once to .010 under.  The heads I chose are closed chamber for a little more compression.  The hydraulic lifters ride on a Crane cam with a 590in lift and 300 duration with Crower roller rockers pushing open Miloden stainless valves and closed by Crane heavy duty springs.  I topped off the engine with an Edelbrock torquer II manifold and Holly 850 double pumper carb. 

Later I installed a B&M street blower with a 6 lb boost pulley which gives the engine an additional 100+ hp.  I can light the tires up at 35 mph now.
The air filter and breather are K&N and all fuel and water lines
are steel braided for longevity.  (50,000 miles and never had a hose pop!) 
Hooker headers send the exhaust to a set of 3 chamber flowmasters.

In the picture to the left you can see the ignition system. 
From right to left is the 80,000 volt coil, the Hyfire ignition amplifier and a nifty little box on the left is an adjustable ignition timing module. By
changing the Potentiometer from 10K ohms to 100K ohms I am now able to retard or advance the ignition timing 10degrees by turning a knob on the dash. 

A
must to keep the engine from pinging when the blower kicks in.  The siren
is part of the page alert (a pocket pager) alarm system, not one of those
annoying alarms with motion detectors that wakes you up in the middle of the
night for no reason. This siren only goes off if the doors are opened as I wired it to the courtesy light switches in the doors. 

There are two things that an engine need, one is clean oil and the other is cold water.  So I went down to the radiator shop and had them build me an oversize 4 core radiator and I fitted the front of it with two 14" electric fans.  The inside is fitted with a large auxiliary transmission cooler and a heavy duty flex fan blows tons of air on the engine without robbing it of  horsepower. 

The shroud was
cut slightly to allow room for the tranny cooler lines and blower pulley. 

The chrome can next to the power steering pump is a Frantz oil
filter like they use on diesel trucks.  It fits a roll of Scotts toilet
paper and keeps the oil extra clean. The engine has two batteries.  I
managed to squeeze in a size 27F deep cycle on one side which cranks the engine really well. 
The other battery is just a spare connected in parallel.  The round box next to the windshield
washer bottle is a cruise control unit I installed.  That's right!  I
don't think you have to give up luxuries like power windows and cruise to have a
fast car.  
 

More on this car at http://cahans.com/olds