To say that I've been poochy-lipped about my truck being wrecked the past few weeks is a massive understatement. After two weeks of no action from gmpartsdirect.com (Flow Chevrolet), I cancelled my order with them last Friday. They were really great about it. I got on the phone and sourced the parts I needed locally, that day. Saturday morning, I went over and paid for/picked the parts up. To say the parts were well packed would also be a massive understatement. I was really proud of GM for protecting the parts from damage in shipping unlike almost everyone else. I had to unbox everything to get it in my truck. To take the stuff in the boxes, I needed to rent a U-Haul. I picked up a new left front fender, a new bumper, a bumper "cap", the lower bumper "deflector" and both of the fender liners. Here's what $1250 looks like....
Later that afternoon, I took the fender and the bumper "cap" to the guy who painted Sean's Camaro and is painting Dad's Galaxie. Dad and Sean tagged along. The painter is doing me a favor by painting these parts. He isn't charging enough and he doesn't need any additional work. It's really great of him. He, Dad, Sean and I visited a bit. It was nice. It looks like he'll be getting on the Galaxie soon. I felt funny taking something over there for him to work on, ahead of Dad's car but did so with Dad's blessing/urging. I took the rest of the stuff to the storage and then found a quarter car wash so I could clean the truck up a bit. I normally run through a machine by my house but with loose bits flapping around that seemed like a bad idea. Cleaning it up made me feel a bit better about it. The painter said he was going to paint those pieces this week. Sunday morning, I had some chores to do around the house. That afternoon, I decided to take the truck to the storage and start tearing it down. I had gotten the grill and bumper cap off and was separating the grill from the bumper cap when Sean showed up (unexpectedly). My ambition hadn't been that high since I wasn't counting on having help. Sean had to be home with my nephew. His wife had come home, which freed him up and with his help we got it all torn down....
I actually feel better now that all the f'd up parts are off of it. It came apart good. When we left, we took the bent up bumper, the new bumper, and the new lower "deflector" home with us. In the next night or two I'm going to build the new bumper up at the house so it is ready to go on the truck. It's a bunch of clips and brackets and stuff. I probably won't mess with it tonight. Sean has a bad starter on his truck. He ordered a new one online and it is out for delivery right now. To show some gratitude for the help yesterday I want to knock that out for him when I get home tonight. I'll post some pics of the bumper project when I get it done. Hopefully I can pick up the painted parts Friday night or Saturday morning. If so, I think we may have this thing back together next weekend.
Oh, since my budget and plans were wrecked anyway, I said f-it and bought the coilover shocks and springs for the conversion. That's why I bought both new fender liners. Hopefully with the new shocks (adjustable Vikings) and maybe a little higher ride height in the front, the tires won't be rubbing through the top of the fender liners on the bumps anymore. I have Belltech drop struts on it now. They were great starting out but they are too soft now.
That's it for now. Let me know if I'm boring you all to death with this collision repair nonsense. I'm just telling the story of what I'm doing, like always, instead of working on my Grand Prix.
Best,
Jared
Later that afternoon, I took the fender and the bumper "cap" to the guy who painted Sean's Camaro and is painting Dad's Galaxie. Dad and Sean tagged along. The painter is doing me a favor by painting these parts. He isn't charging enough and he doesn't need any additional work. It's really great of him. He, Dad, Sean and I visited a bit. It was nice. It looks like he'll be getting on the Galaxie soon. I felt funny taking something over there for him to work on, ahead of Dad's car but did so with Dad's blessing/urging. I took the rest of the stuff to the storage and then found a quarter car wash so I could clean the truck up a bit. I normally run through a machine by my house but with loose bits flapping around that seemed like a bad idea. Cleaning it up made me feel a bit better about it. The painter said he was going to paint those pieces this week. Sunday morning, I had some chores to do around the house. That afternoon, I decided to take the truck to the storage and start tearing it down. I had gotten the grill and bumper cap off and was separating the grill from the bumper cap when Sean showed up (unexpectedly). My ambition hadn't been that high since I wasn't counting on having help. Sean had to be home with my nephew. His wife had come home, which freed him up and with his help we got it all torn down....
I actually feel better now that all the f'd up parts are off of it. It came apart good. When we left, we took the bent up bumper, the new bumper, and the new lower "deflector" home with us. In the next night or two I'm going to build the new bumper up at the house so it is ready to go on the truck. It's a bunch of clips and brackets and stuff. I probably won't mess with it tonight. Sean has a bad starter on his truck. He ordered a new one online and it is out for delivery right now. To show some gratitude for the help yesterday I want to knock that out for him when I get home tonight. I'll post some pics of the bumper project when I get it done. Hopefully I can pick up the painted parts Friday night or Saturday morning. If so, I think we may have this thing back together next weekend.
Oh, since my budget and plans were wrecked anyway, I said f-it and bought the coilover shocks and springs for the conversion. That's why I bought both new fender liners. Hopefully with the new shocks (adjustable Vikings) and maybe a little higher ride height in the front, the tires won't be rubbing through the top of the fender liners on the bumps anymore. I have Belltech drop struts on it now. They were great starting out but they are too soft now.
That's it for now. Let me know if I'm boring you all to death with this collision repair nonsense. I'm just telling the story of what I'm doing, like always, instead of working on my Grand Prix.
Best,
Jared
