Space City 1982 GP Build

[Texas82GP]

You got more space there than what I had in my first place with my wife.

It's by far the most space I've ever had to work with and it doesn't suck.

That place looks huge! Enjoy all the new space. We'll be expecting bigger, more frequent updates. No pressure.

I thought my updates were already exhausting?

Required update in 3...2...1...

Hutch

Hutch, it's good to have you in here. An update is coming right after this one. What's going on with your car? I don't think I've seen anything new lately.

1. I had to stay out of this thread for a while due to being on mobile data only (huge pics up in here).

2. The project is moving along nicely!

3. I remember moving out of our tight little town house garage and into a double, and later this fortress - good luck staying organized once you start hoarding.

Thanks Mike. It's good to have you following along. Sorry about the big pics. I'm taking the pics with my cell phone and I'm posting them unedited. I guess I could edit them to a smaller size first but that's just another step in this computer work. Thanks for the positive feedback. I'll be able to stay organized. My OCD won't allow otherwise.

Don’t let the missus know you have project space. It’s been killing me this last 2 weeks.

No missus here. I'm not willing to compromise on when I come and go or how I spend my money so I stay single. I realize I'm in the minority and God Bless you guys who have a wife or significant other. It's just not for me.

Glad you got everything over and set up Jared! That locker is huge! I'm sure it will be much nicer having everything in one place and much more room to work in.

Thanks Kevin. We already enjoyed the benefit of all of the space today which I will elaborate on in my update which will come after this post.

Looking good Jared. Your GP looks almost small in there.

It really does Jeff. This storage bay was intended for a good sized RV so that's why it looks so small. It also looks like the front end is sitting pretty high. There is still plenty of weight to put under the hood so we'll see but I'm guessing I'm going to be trimming those MOOG springs.

Holy crap!

I know!

the GP looks like a compact car in all that space! thinkin you need to send it to me and get yourself a 59 caddy with all that room!

glad you've got the space to do things easier now, it'll make the time you spend on it that much more enjoyable!

Hahaha! I don't think you need another car any more than I do Darin.

 

[Texas82GP]

My brother and I went over to the storage today to peel back the carpet and cut the new hole for the shifter in the floor. We had the goal of getting the transmission sitting on its mount and sitting on the crossmember. When we tried to get the mount on it after putting the engine and transmission in the car, we realized the hole for the shifter would have to be cut in order to be able to get the mount in and get the crossmember in.

We started by pulling the driver's side bucket seat that I temporarily installed yesterday to move the car. Then while I ran to the auto parts store to buy a Torx bit set to remove the center seat belts, Sean pulled the sill plates and the kick panels. After the seatbelts were out, I pulled the lower portion of the back seat. Look what Sean found underneath it....

Pretty cool huh? I bought my car from Iowa and it still has the original 1982 Iowa inspection sticker on the windshield under the rear view mirror so it seems the car lived in Iowa its whole life until I bought it. So it looks to me like the car was driven to New York City (around 1,000 miles) at some point in its life. I'm guessing it was parked in one of the WTC parking garages which I think is pretty cool. I'm going to frame it and hang it in either my room or my office at work.

We got the carpet out and the floorboards are a little crusty. I expected this based on the musty smell that the car had. I also expected it since there was rust damage on the firewall near the wiper motor and since the drain at the bottom of the HVAC case was hopelessly plugged with dirt. Here's a look at the floor pans....

The driver's front is pretty clean...

The driver's rear has a little crust but not too bad...

The passenger rear is a little worse but isn't too bad either....

The passenger front is the worst but is still 'solid'. There are a few pinholes already. I know the guys on TV would put floorpans in the car but not me....

My strategy for the floorboards will seem familiar for you guys that have been following along. I'm going to vacuum them, scrape and wire brush, vacuum and then treat them with Rustoleaum Rusty Metal Primer followed by two coats of Satin Black enamel. The pinholes will be addressed with seam sealer.

Moving forward, we worked on cleaning up the butcher job for the Saginaw shifter that the previous owner did. Keep in mind, I cleaned this up some in 2014 when I changed the shifter to a Hurst Competition Plus....

Here is a look at the floorboard after we trimmed up the previous owner's opening and cut the new hole for the T5 shifter...

The picture above will give good perspective on where the F Body T5 shifter falls relative to the stock G Body Saginaw shifter. Sean and I are going to fab up a patch this week to cover the forward hole.

After all of this Sean and I got under the car hoping to get the T5 sitting on its mount. I jacked the transmission up until its 'spine' was hard against the tunnel but there still wasn't enough room to get the mount in and get the crossmember in place.

I'm using a G Force 700R4/T5 crossmember. I have an Energy Suspension mount that I bought from G Force and a stock 91 Camaro T5 mount. the stock mount was close to going in with the transmission hard on the tunnel. Somehow, I have the parts combination wrong. If any of you have done a T5 swap with a G Force crossmember, let me know what mount you used.

I ordered another mount from Energy Suspension tonight, from Rock Auto, which is noted as a shorter mount for "custom applications" so we'll see. It is supposed to be here Thursday night. Between then and now Sean and I will fab the tunnel patch and I'll be working on cleaning, scraping, wire brushing my floor pans. Yay!!

That's it for now gents. As always, thanks for tuning in.

 

[pontiacgp]

The Eagle has landed.....

I'm glad the Eagle has landed and we didn't hear "Houston, we have a problem"...

 

[pagrunt]

I wish my floors were that crusty. But that WTC ticket is something that I'd hold on to if I found it.

 

[Northernregal]

I found grandmas grocery list under my seat. That’s definitely way cooler!

 

[MrSony]

That WTC ticket is awesome.

 

[fleming442]

I would have thought that the T5 would have fallen into place. The tunnels on these cars are pretty tight, though. The shorter mounts do help.

 

[Texas82GP]

I would have thought that the T5 would have fallen into place. The tunnels on these cars are pretty tight, though. The shorter mounts do help.

The regular Energy Suspension mount and the stock mount are about 2" tall. The shorter mount is said to be 1.62" tall so I'm hoping it will do the trick. I'll just have to double check the driveline angle when I have a driveshaft.

 

[joesregalproject]

That ticket is so cool. I'd definitely frame it. All that was under my Regal's backseat was old cigarette packs and empty heroin stamp bags. No needles, thank God. Yeah, I think the PO may have been a drug addict.

Your plan for the floors is exactly what I would do. Wire brush, paint them, and seam seal the pinholes.

 

[Longroof79]

Jared,
Your floors are definitely better than most that I've seen....including mine. Your WTC observation deck ticket is a cool find. I've been up there once back in the '80's. What a fantastic view..
It's too bad it's ancient history.