BUILD THREAD 86 GP 2+2~Blown 6.0

[81cutlass]

How did the custom front wheels hold up?

Good. They have been sitting since I filled them with 40psi in 9/15 so they have sat for 3 months and have not leaked. They tracked down the road at 75 with no issues and were stable and didnt shake up to 120.

I'd do it again.

If I could clone myself I'd start Jake's custom wheels and widen and narrow steel wheels for order 🙂

 

[TURNA]

Well i will be your first customer!!!

 

[81cutlass]

Oh hey thats right I have another project car.

Blah.

Anyways I turned the 2+2 into a parts car today....

The wagon needs a radiator since the stock 3.8 rad was TINY and the upper rad hose interfered with the intercooler piping and it was too narrow for the electric fan.

I looked at the 2+2 and saw the radiator I bought new about 2 years ago and the giant anaconda upper rad hose running across the top and decided it was time to put a dual pass in and clean it up.

Stock replacement left, griffin dual pass 19x31 right.

And for the people who wonder how I mounted my intrepid fans, cut the stock brackets off, pop riveted them inside and used some 3/4x.125 strip running top to bottom.

New rad is too wide to fit into the stock isolators so I broke out the portaband and chopped them up.

Good e-nuff

Core support had a goofy flare out on the top so i ground that off flush

And mounted

Made an upper support bracket, i need to weld a tab to move over to the side and grab the fan mount bar

 

[Injectedcutty]

Does the hood clear the rad cap when closing? I'm gonna need a new unit and have been looking at the dual pass ones since the 5.3 is taking shape but wanna make sure I can shut the hood and it clear.

 

[motorheadmike]

Does the hood clear the rad cap when closing? I'm gonna need a new unit and have been looking at the dual pass ones since the 5.3 is taking shape but wanna make sure I can shut the hood and it clear.

I hope so - because I have the same rad in the wagon. 😱

 

[81cutlass]

Finished up the rad install.

Welded up the upper support and made the mirror image for the right side from the pattern I made last night.

Painted the rad support bars and welded a stud in the top on either side.

The upper rad hose is actually a stock g body upper hose that I cut and placed, perfect fit!

I'm happy overall, still need to mount the intercooler resovoir since it was sitting right in front of the new upper rad hose outlet. I either need to move it inboard to the center of the car which I'm not excited about since I'd rather not blow hot air onto it and warm my cooler water, or move it closer to the fender but it gets in the way of the ac hoses. Neither locations really excite me. TBD

 

[Streetbu]

Move the battery to the trunk and you'll have all sorts of room for it! Plus the weight distribution will be much better 🙂

 

[81cutlass]

Now that the wagon is mostly done back to this pile.

The next stage of the build is focusing on reliability, comfort and looks. Basically oil pan, AC, and wheels/tires.

My zr2 8.6 has worked well (besides the snapped axle) but it's too wide since the 17" ralleys don't come in 6" BS so it's back to the drawing board a bit. Going stock width and upgraded axles to kill two birds with one axle build.

This time I'm welding the 7.5 axle tubes in the 8.6 center section and using Moser 30 spline 8.5 axles.

First up is build some alignment parts. Built one of the two diff carrier bushings and it's using a 1" rod to align it. I need to build my other bushings but I chipped my cutting insert and can't find the replacement ones I had. I need to order some new ones.

Plan is to cut the 7.5 tubes off, put them in the lathe and turn the OD down so they slip into the larger 8.6 axle tubes and weld. My 8.6 plate has the UCA mount and the lower arms are stock g body stuff. Will run the 4wd 8.6 zr2 disks with 2wd rotors. My fixture will keep everything clocked to keep pinion angle right and my shaft and bushings keep the bearing alignment all collinear.

All this because 8.8 swaps don't keep the right geometry and 9" stuff is inefficient gear sets and 2 grand to even get started. Hope to be in this for under $750 for a posi disk 3.73 30 spline stock width rear.

 

[Northernregal]

I'm digging this fabrication!

Adapt, improvise and overcome!

 

[81cutlass]

Swapped the c5 wheels back on, the 2+2 is officially back to driving duty!

Rained Sunday and cleaned the remaining goop off the roads.

Overall runs as good as it did last fall. I did have a cap on the radiator barb that is intended to go to the steam vent line but since mine vents into the water pump, I had just capped it. Turned out it wasn't snug enough and as soon as it got hot it blew off which sprayed coolant all over the headers and caused a big steam show when i was at a stop light in traffic. ooops.....


I also forgot how out of balance the old 275/40/17's where up front compared to my 15" skinnies i ran most of last fall. They are basically bald and worn out of round a bit in a few spots. They need to go! I have usually waited for discount tire online store to offer $75 bucks off and free shipping to buy tires but now that they tax online sales, I don't get that extra 7% off, and lately they have only been giving out sales for ONLY sets of 4 tires unlike per tire. Since I don't have my narrow rear axle built or the 17x9 wheels since I don't know if they will fit, i won't have a matching set of wheels for a few months. I was hoping the fronts weren't as bad and i could run them another few months but they are shot so it's time to just not save the $100 I used to and buy a set.