New to me 1982 Grand National project basket case

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Texas82GP

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Apr 3, 2015
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Great progress. Is the tassel on the rear view mirror Class of 88 or 98?
 
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NCTyphoonKid

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I was into those cars before they were cool (not that they ever really caught on even now) so, when the time comes, I've got some in my parts stash. Hate to part with more, but, your car deserves them. Somewhere I've even got a dashboard from one a dummy parted out. (oddly enough, recently lost a complete set of those rims/centers/lugs to theft that I'm pretty sure we're sold for scrap based on where 2 of the recovered cars were found.)

Correct center caps are most affordably made by taking one set each of the repop black and the repop chrome bodied ones they started making for the 86-87 ttype wheels and taking the black/grey center medallion off the black ones, gluing in place of the colored medallion on the chrome ones.

Are they reproducing the chrome caps now? I know the black ones they are because I got the upgraded ones with the snap ring
 

Texas82GP

Just-a-worm
Apr 3, 2015
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Class of 93 I need to mail that back to them I didn’t see it when I loaded it up
I'm Class of '94 so that really puts it into perspective for me. What a cool car for high school. I'll bet it was still in decent shape then. A buddy of mine had an old T-Type (79?) In high school. Brown with a brown Landau roof. The turbo 6 was long gone but it had a 455 in its place. Split bench. It was a cool car. Another friend had a hot rodded Elco SS. I was very jealous of those cars and they are part of the reason I'm building my car the way I am: the car I wanted but couldn't have in high school.
 
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NCTyphoonKid

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Does anyone know of anyone that has done a 86-87 swap to a older Buick? The reason I ask is I’m trying to figure out what to do about wiring. I can get the underhood harness new. What I’m trying to figure out is how to go about the dash harness. I really want to keep the 82 gauge cluster as it is unique to the 82 GN. Anyone have any insight. I’ve started doing some research but haven’t really found much that useful
 

NCTyphoonKid

G-Body Guru
Mar 17, 2019
654
2,026
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I'm Class of '94 so that really puts it into perspective for me. What a cool car for high school. I'll bet it was still in decent shape then. A buddy of mine had an old T-Type (79?) In high school. Brown with a brown Landau roof. The turbo 6 was long gone but it had a 455 in its place. Split bench. It was a cool car. Another friend had a hot rodded Elco SS. I was very jealous of those cars and they are part of the reason I'm building my car the way I am: the car I wanted but couldn't have in high school.

Wow I’m class of 2013
 
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ck80

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Feb 18, 2014
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Are they reproducing the chrome caps now? I know the black ones they are because I got the upgraded ones with the snap ring

As of a couple years ago they were offering them as an alternative look for the 86-87 ttype rims. I do not know if they kept making them, but at the time gbody parts did.

Does anyone know of anyone that has done a 86-87 swap to a older Buick? The reason I ask is I’m trying to figure out what to do about wiring. I can get the underhood harness new. What I’m trying to figure out is how to go about the dash harness. I really want to keep the 82 gauge cluster as it is unique to the 82 GN. Anyone have any insight. I’ve started doing some research but haven’t really found much that useful

To be honest, there is no master list for the 82gn conversion the way that, say, the gnx was documented. Not all 215 have been accounted for, and the only "way" to authenticate the cars is whether the vin falls close to the known examples (they were not sequentially built together either, being randomly pulled within a certain date window) and the installation of the unique pieces - the only truly difficult to source of which were the dash bezels and guage clock delete plate. I'd say no matter what keep those in the car, or, you lose credibility it is what you said it is. (The lower pods for temp/pressure or boost were just standard deluxe pkg/sport coupe parts, the front air dam regularly damaged and swapped for 84-85 hot air type, etc)

As far as the swap goes, back in the day the only way to do that swap was to change the dashboard wiring harness, and thus, the cluster. The wiring is different and doesn't plug together. The demand was never there for anyone to try to develop an adapter to repin, if it's even possible.

I say back in the day because, back when a friend and I did a couple, things like the fast xfi system werent available yet - not even talked about. (Late 1990s) Maybe someone else has some other answer, but, likely an aftermarket standalone management system is the way to have both.

If you're into wiring to the point you literally strip 2 harnesses to pieces and build your own out of the two purely from scratch then maybe, just maybe, it's possible without a seprate management system.
 
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TURNA

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