GRAND PRIX 83 Grand Prix freshening

[DSM]

In an earlier post I mentioned I had added the remote passenger mirror. The mounting bracket for the mirror "joystick" and the trim bezel proved very difficult to find and this set actually came from a parts car in Canada. Fortunately my brother lives Calgary and was able to meet up with the seller and then bring the parts back on one of his trips home to the US.

This picture also shows the other option I added, the factory tachometer. This car came with the factory gauge package, but did not come with a tach. I've had a factory tach from my old '82 LJ sitting on the shelf for the better part of 30 years just waiting for a new home. To keep everything looking factory underhood, I added a reproduction tach filter from fullthrottlecorvette.

 

[DSM]

I still have a ton of work to do to bring the underhood up to par with the body and interior. I've done a few things so far. First, the blower motor was really noisy and had a nasty vibration, so I took the opportunity to replace it with a new Delco unit. The HVAC sticker was pretty tired, but OPG sells a replacement. And the blower relay had been replaced at some point in the car's past and was an eyesore, so I replaced it with an NOS GM part.

 

[DSM]

Despite the low miles, the original tie rod ends and idler arm were worn out. I replaced those with some Moog components I had left over from a previous Grand Prix project, and added a 36mm F-body front sway bar, S-10 urethane bump stops, and a set of Monte Carlo frame braces. I also added a 1" Suspension Techniques rear sway bar which was also salvaged from a previous project. I have a few more things planned but for now this at least took care of some safety issues and made a nice improvement in the ride & handling.

 

[DSM]

I won't go into a lot of detail here because it's been covered to death before, but my original inside rear view mirror was shot so I replaced it with an Impala SS auto-dim mirror with built in-map light which I upgraded to LED bulbs. Anyone one with a t-top G-body knows how bad the interior lighting is and this is "must have" upgrade.

 

[DSM]

In September we finally made our first car show and took home an "Outstanding" award for our class, getting beat out for first place (and rightly so) by the Catalina parked next to us. The Catalina was spectacular!

 

[DSM]

We managed a few fall cruises, but now the reality of Michigan winter has set in. I have some plans for the winter and will update this post as they evolve, but for for now it's quiet under the new Covercraft cover. In case anyone is wondering about the banner hanging over the car...and at the risk of dating myself....that is from the 1996 NHRA US Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park which Pontiac was the major sponsor. If you are unfamiliar with Raceway Park, the drag strip is actually part of a track also used for road racing. I was working as a race engineer in a series that ran the road course the week after the Nationals were there and the banners were still tied to the fences when we got there, so I may or may not have helped myself to a momento!

 

[superbon54]

Dang, you’ve got a nice ride! You don’t see many Grand Prix any more, so it’s nice to see one restored and kept relatively original.

 

[mclellan83]

Very well done, love to see you adding some upgrades as well