A while back I posted that I was putting a late model Hemi in a G body Cutlass, figured it was time for an update.

This 87 Cutlass has been in my family since new, it was even my daily driver 25 years ago. Long story short I inherited it a year ago, it had been sitting in a garage for 8 years, the body was in great shape, but the interior was trashed and was mechanically worn out as to be expected at 280,000 miles. So I figured the only thing to do with it was to make a bracket car out of it.

I had it painted and then installed a stock width 4.30 gear 9" with adjustable upper and lower arms to the otherwise stock suspension with some careful measuring I was just able to fit a 28x10.5" tire in the stock wheel well, the front suspension was left totally stock. Then I installed an S&W 8 point cage. Since the interior was trashed, I went with a fiberglass Malibu dash, aluminum door panels and a single Kirkey seat. I kept the power windows, it gets hot in Florida! Its all steel except for the hood, I had to go with a 4" cowl hood for carb clearance.

As far as the engine and trans, I went with an FTI (what else?) Powerglide and converter. I originally built the gen3 Hemi for a street car with fuel injection an automatic trans and A/C, so it's a mild motor, pump gas compression and a mild cam with only 222°/226°@ .050, so it is a smooth idling engine, I went with a carburetor over FI for simplicity. I did have to have custom 2" headers built because nothing that is made for the Hemi would fit the narrow Cutlass chassis. I am also running mufflers, because mild motors sound like crap with open headers IMO.

Now here's the good part, with no time for testing, two weeks ago I went out to Gainesville to run a bracket race in super pro/electronics for the car's maiden voyage, figured at least I'd get 4 passes, 2 time runs and then buy back after 1st round. Well with a little luck, I ended up going 7 rounds to get the runner up. The car worked pretty well, but needed a few tweaks. So this past weekend after making those adjustments, I went back to G-ville for the last bracket race of the season. This time the car was pretty much deadly ( I had a couple of teen packs and an .008 pack in the semis) and it picked up almost .2 from the previous outing. Somehow, the old guy behind the wheel did pretty good too. I was able to win several very tight races and won 7 rounds to make it to the final again, where I came up .001 short in a very tight race. To come home with $1400 in my first two outings was beyond my wildest expectations, to say the least.

The car runs 6.60's, not bad for a 3300# car with a pump gas, smooth idling motor through the mufflers.

Guess I should have built this car years ago! LOL

This message has been edited. Last edited by: "The Bender",

Take a bow, seriously. It's great when things fall into order and we have to celebrate those times they do.

great job!

Photos please!

Great job my friend, car came out extremely nice and seems to be a badass combo to with the Hemi

Parking lot "testing", with street tires......LOL

This message has been edited. Last edited by: "The Bender",

And one before picture...

I’m hearing!
You’ve been quietly going rounds, doing well and having fun! Great Job Brian!!

The term; Sleeper comes to mind!

Thanks, Barry.

In two races this car has a 13-2 round record, I know that won't last, but it's cool right now!

Awesome!

You think the Hemi is superior to an LS motor, or just wanted to do something different?

quote:

Originally posted by SlyFox:
Awesome!

You think the Hemi is superior to an LS motor, or just wanted to do something different?

Not really superior, but probably just as good. The bottom end of both are very similar and strong. The stock heads are pretty darn good on both. There is much more in the aftermarket parts department available for the LS vs the Hemi.

For me I wanted something different, plus I had the Hemi pretty much sitting around unused, so it was a no brainer for me.

Critique this launch.

There is more rear tire to fender clearance than when it sitting still. Probably normal with the stock rear suspension.

Not enough air in the rear tires. That's a nice car for sure.....

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ferndaleflyer,