I have a GP I recently bought, and it's in great shape. Was a family owned car and I am the new 4th owner. I bought it from a guy who bought it from his brother-in-law, who bought it from his dad, who bought it brand new. It's been babied all along, has 113,00 original kms, a 350ci transplant with a thm350 and stage2 shift, headers and true dual exhaust. Along with the car came a folder with every record of service and all receipts since new, and also tucked in there was the holy grail, yes, the original build sheet! It was never driven in the winter throughout it's life, and was in storage since 2001. Has no rust on body or frame and a pretty well mint interior. Must be a drainage issue off the trunk maybe, but there are two small holes about the size of a quarter on each end of the back bumper. Was a great find, and it's an awesome ride!
Very few minor issues with it and probably to be expected from a 31 year old car, and one that has sat this long. But a couple small things, like just had to find a dead short to get the signals working. Had a blown rear brake line, so I bent and replaced both sides. Had leaking master cylinder which I have replaced with new. Needed some lucas in the transmission from coming out of storage for so long. All shifts are good and hard now. Ran good after a carb clean, but could still use new plugs etc. Needs some wiring tuned up to fix power windows which only work periodically, and might just be the switches from my tests with an ohm meter. The original clock is missing from the cluster, but I would prefer to put a tach in there if I can find someone with one to sell.
Has a problem with the electric choke not always coming off high idle sometimes, it's a holley 600cfm, and last night, wouldnt start easily and would seem to run very rough and not idle at all for me. When I turned it off, and I tried to start it again, I had to treat it like a flooded engine, but would still only run rough and would not idle, needed to keep my foot into it to keep running, so I left it where it was and need to diagnose further as to what's going on with the carb. Probably should just get a kit and rebuild maybe. When it was running rough, my guess it was burning very rich by the smoke out the tail, choke was off and plate fully open at the time. Doesn't seem to have any vacuum at the carb when I pull off the line going to the advance on the distributor. Not sure if that is normal or if should only have vacuum at higher throttle there. To be honest, I havent had a carbed engine for over 20 years so forgive me for forgetting my basic mechanics.
I will need some help with putting her back into tip-top shape, but she is a beauty and well worth the time. An 81 Grand Prix is the car I had my father rent for me to take my date to my high school grad 31 years ago. Always wanted to keep that car, but here I am 31 years later and reliving one of the happiest times in my life again with this one I have finally bought.
Sorry if this was rather long-winded, but if you're here reading on a gbody forum, I think you know exactly how I also feel about these cars.
Very few minor issues with it and probably to be expected from a 31 year old car, and one that has sat this long. But a couple small things, like just had to find a dead short to get the signals working. Had a blown rear brake line, so I bent and replaced both sides. Had leaking master cylinder which I have replaced with new. Needed some lucas in the transmission from coming out of storage for so long. All shifts are good and hard now. Ran good after a carb clean, but could still use new plugs etc. Needs some wiring tuned up to fix power windows which only work periodically, and might just be the switches from my tests with an ohm meter. The original clock is missing from the cluster, but I would prefer to put a tach in there if I can find someone with one to sell.
Has a problem with the electric choke not always coming off high idle sometimes, it's a holley 600cfm, and last night, wouldnt start easily and would seem to run very rough and not idle at all for me. When I turned it off, and I tried to start it again, I had to treat it like a flooded engine, but would still only run rough and would not idle, needed to keep my foot into it to keep running, so I left it where it was and need to diagnose further as to what's going on with the carb. Probably should just get a kit and rebuild maybe. When it was running rough, my guess it was burning very rich by the smoke out the tail, choke was off and plate fully open at the time. Doesn't seem to have any vacuum at the carb when I pull off the line going to the advance on the distributor. Not sure if that is normal or if should only have vacuum at higher throttle there. To be honest, I havent had a carbed engine for over 20 years so forgive me for forgetting my basic mechanics.
I will need some help with putting her back into tip-top shape, but she is a beauty and well worth the time. An 81 Grand Prix is the car I had my father rent for me to take my date to my high school grad 31 years ago. Always wanted to keep that car, but here I am 31 years later and reliving one of the happiest times in my life again with this one I have finally bought.
Sorry if this was rather long-winded, but if you're here reading on a gbody forum, I think you know exactly how I also feel about these cars.
