78 Grand Prix project

[85GPLef41]

If it was legal for me i would love to do a 455 swap

I'm on board with the 455. I'd love to see it in person some day. Are you the type that would journey to MN to go to Car Craft?
I'm also with you on the power-per-dollar idea. Bragging rights just aren't worth the money. If the power puts you back in the seat, the engine runs the way you want and responds well to the throttle, and does nice smoky burnouts, you win.
I've got a buddy that's into drag racing. He has more $ in his car than I'll have into 2 hot rods, my truck, snowmobiles, and all my tools combined and he still wants more power!

Also, (IMO) a nice wide torque curve is more important than a high power curve

This site needs the smiley with the tub of popcorn 8)

Man i would love to do that!! The 455 idea in my 85 wouldn't get pass the inspection stations.... :x I hope to get my LS1 swap started and completed soon!! I hope one day to build up my g body up to car show status and worthy of showing off 😀 HP is addicting though, but i have never really had a high HP ride before so i hope the ls swap would suffice for a bit.

 

[G-Body_Vet]

Man i would love to do that!! The 455 idea in my 85 wouldn't get pass the inspection stations.... :x I hope to get my LS1 swap started and completed soon!! I hope one day to build up my g body up to car show status and worthy of showing off 😀 HP is addicting though, but i have never really had a high HP ride before so i hope the ls swap would suffice for a bit.

If I could start from scratch I'd do the LS swap instead. I have too much invested in the 455 to start over. Don't get me wrong, the 455 makes for a nice neighborhood brute to terrorize the locals with. There's also the nostalgia factor, raw torque, the sound of a true Pontiac mill and the fact that you can say you have a 455 under the hood :wink:

The LS on the other hand offers modern tech, fuel injection, light-weight, and more potential. They both have their place I suppose. Maybe one day I'll get to toy with an LS engine. I have this really unconventional idea of trying to put one in a fwd 79-85 Riviera, Toro or Eldo. I'd also like to do it to a 76-79 Seville.

 

[85GPLef41]

Man i would love to do that!! The 455 idea in my 85 wouldn't get pass the inspection stations.... :x I hope to get my LS1 swap started and completed soon!! I hope one day to build up my g body up to car show status and worthy of showing off 😀 HP is addicting though, but i have never really had a high HP ride before so i hope the ls swap would suffice for a bit.

If I could start from scratch I'd do the LS swap instead. I have too much invested in the 455 to start over. Don't get me wrong, the 455 makes for a nice neighborhood brute to terrorize the locals with. There's also the nostalgia factor, raw torque, the sound of a true Pontiac mill and the fact that you can say you have a 455 under the hood :wink:

The LS on the other hand offers modern tech, fuel injection, light-weight, and more potential. They both have their place I suppose. Maybe one day I'll get to toy with an LS engine. I have this really unconventional idea of trying to put one in a fwd 79-85 Riviera, Toro or Eldo. I'd also like to do it to a 76-79 Seville.

Trust me i have a lead on a built Pontiac 455. I would like to have a ALL Pontiac Grand Prix.. The Eldo idea almost came a reality for me last year when i Almost picked up my buddies 84 Eldorado.. That ride was clean! The LS engine swap was kind of a necessity for my build..

 

[G-Body_Vet]

Nothing too special going on in the g-body garage tonight. I finally got around to removing/stripping/coating the passenger side control arms. I got tired of looking at the grimy 455 HD fan and decided to strip and paint it. Polishing the blades crossed my mind at first but it was more work than it was worth. I'm also an advocate of using the factory fan & fan clutch, luckily I just happened to get a 7 blade fan with my 455. I'm still not sold on the extra cost & hassle of swapping to electric yet. Flex fans are totally off the list too.

After degreasing with Purple Power...,btw it started to remove the paint

Proof that retards have been around for a long time

half-assed polished a few blades

Primed, yes I'm impatient so the heat gun sped things up a bit

Started 1st coat of paint. Pic looks kinda shitty though

 

[motorholmes]

Proof that retards have been around for a long time

Yeah sometimes that stamping doesn't even help. I put the clutch disc in backwards on my kid's Saturn last year even though it said "front" on it
So I'll take any help I can get

 

[G-Body_Vet]

Proof that retards have been around for a long time

Yeah sometimes that stamping doesn't even help. I put the clutch disc in backwards on my kid's Saturn last year even though it said "front" on it
So I'll take any help I can get

Maybe that was a little harsh huh? I still have my blonde moments from time to time. Last night I looked for my safety glasses for 10 mins and they were on top of my head. Beer doesn't help it either 😀

 

[zuma83]

oh man oh man. how did u get that controle arm so clean. what kind of paint did you use . lookin sweet

 

[G-Body_Vet]

oh man oh man. how did u get that controle arm so clean. what kind of paint did you use . lookin sweet

I blasted it with Black Diamond 20-40 grit coal slag, then used a rust converter on it for the small stuff. The paint is KBS Coat, like POR-15, Rust Bullet, etc. I bought it in a "frame coating kit" they sell but I've been using it on just about any metal surface that I don't want to rust again......ever!

 

[deanlemans81]

Are you the type that would journey to MN to go to Car Craft?

Are you kidding? I've been wanting to go to the CC Summer Nationals for years. I either had a job where I worked weekends or didn't have anything worth driving up there. Road trips are one of the main reasons I wanted a built 200-4R so bad. The Power Tour and a Route 66 drive are on my list too.

x2, I`m hoping to have my car ready for a road trip like those myself next summer. Power tour will have to wait until it hits the north-east one day but I would love to get to CC or the GM nationals in Carlisle. I hope it will be done and reliable enough for a good roadtrip next summer.
Dean

 

[G-Body_Vet]

I got a little more work done to the frame tonight. I took the entire brake line, vapor line and parking brake cable off first.

I didn't feel like fighting to get this nut off...

....and since I'll be replacing all of these cables one day I decided to cut it

I rarely mention it but I do label the things I know I'll forget

This is what I used for blasting tonight

Ready to go hunt ZOMBIES! I switched out the glasses for goggles. I highly suggest a blasting hood/mask instead of what I'm using. Once you start getting into the bigger grit media it will get everywhere. As covered up as I was it still blasted my forehead, got in my ears and was even in my shoes. Take your protective gear seriously!

After a little blasting. I really just wanted to knock off the thick flaky stuff.

Need to order a frame? :lol:

High-tech rinse system for the rust converter

It may not look like I got much done but it takes quite a bit of time to coat the area when the lower trailing arms, upper spring cups and the backside of the area that connects both sides of the rear-frame.