I figured I'd start my own build thread here as well. I have a 1985 Grand Prix Brougham, originally with a 305 SBC & TH200R transmission that I'm rebuilding after letting it sit for nearly 20 years in my parents' yard.
This project is also being filmed as I go along, to which you can find the link to the playlist here. The playlist will generally have the same information I post here, in video form as well.
As someone in the tech field, I figured I'd apply TECHNOLOGY to this project. As such, I now have a Trello board for this.
Some background on this car: My mother had a mid-80's Grand Prix (V6) back in the early 90's, and when it was stolen, my father saw this one and bought it for her basically the same day. He wound up using it a lot, and it has a bunch of family history in it- He blew out the rear end by putting tiny 14" wheels on it, my brother shattered the driver's side window with a Snapple bottle as a toddler (which meant we got a new door as a door was cheaper than a window at the time), and I helped my father wire up a fancy (for the time) CB radio and antennae into the car. Sadly, in the early 2000's, the motor decided to grenade itself, and he made the decision to buy a replacement engine- A 400 SBC that was allegedly from a late 70's/early 80's truck. We tore the engine down and rebuilt it from the ground up, as the prior rebuilders did a piss poor job at it, and had to fix multiple issues they had created in the process. I have some fond (and some less than fond) memories of this rebuilding process that took place in my early teenage years, of rebuilding heads on top of our dishwasher, to accidentally setting the spark plug wires on fire when testing it, to sitting there inside the deafeningly loud headers-only car. Sadly, due to time and money, we never finished the project back in the early 2000's, in part because of leaking around one of the freeze plugs my father was not able to easily solve, and the car wound up sitting for nearly two decades, being occasionally hand-pushed across the yard from spot to spot to get out of our way.
Last year (2019), I finally approached my parents with an intent and offer to buy the car and get it on the road again, which they accepted. By the time that happened, it was too late into the winter to work on the car in the middle of a small field, so it was just this year (2020) that I got to working on it.
Some stats on the car, which are all as accurate as I can tell (due to the history of it, these may be subject to change as I learn more):
This project is also being filmed as I go along, to which you can find the link to the playlist here. The playlist will generally have the same information I post here, in video form as well.
As someone in the tech field, I figured I'd apply TECHNOLOGY to this project. As such, I now have a Trello board for this.
Some background on this car: My mother had a mid-80's Grand Prix (V6) back in the early 90's, and when it was stolen, my father saw this one and bought it for her basically the same day. He wound up using it a lot, and it has a bunch of family history in it- He blew out the rear end by putting tiny 14" wheels on it, my brother shattered the driver's side window with a Snapple bottle as a toddler (which meant we got a new door as a door was cheaper than a window at the time), and I helped my father wire up a fancy (for the time) CB radio and antennae into the car. Sadly, in the early 2000's, the motor decided to grenade itself, and he made the decision to buy a replacement engine- A 400 SBC that was allegedly from a late 70's/early 80's truck. We tore the engine down and rebuilt it from the ground up, as the prior rebuilders did a piss poor job at it, and had to fix multiple issues they had created in the process. I have some fond (and some less than fond) memories of this rebuilding process that took place in my early teenage years, of rebuilding heads on top of our dishwasher, to accidentally setting the spark plug wires on fire when testing it, to sitting there inside the deafeningly loud headers-only car. Sadly, due to time and money, we never finished the project back in the early 2000's, in part because of leaking around one of the freeze plugs my father was not able to easily solve, and the car wound up sitting for nearly two decades, being occasionally hand-pushed across the yard from spot to spot to get out of our way.
Last year (2019), I finally approached my parents with an intent and offer to buy the car and get it on the road again, which they accepted. By the time that happened, it was too late into the winter to work on the car in the middle of a small field, so it was just this year (2020) that I got to working on it.
Some stats on the car, which are all as accurate as I can tell (due to the history of it, these may be subject to change as I learn more):
- Came with a 305 V8 originally.
- Replacement engine is a 1974 6.6L 400 SBC, out of a Chevy B-Wagon (I have presumed it to be a Caprice).
- The casting code is CSY, which is very unique as far as I can tell. Several sites don't even have it on their reference charts.
- Transmission was replaced before we got it, changing from a TH200R to a TH350.
- The rear axle has been replaced, still working on researching what it came out of.
- The driver's side door is a replacement, still working on researching what it came out of.
- The dashboard has been modified to replace the basically useless giant clock with an actual tachometer.
- The car is intended to (and will likely have) a set of 3" Hedman headers.
- Carb is a 600 CFM Holley 4160 Street Warrior.
- At this time, most of the interior & body (sans the driver's door) is original.
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