GBOTM Congrats superbon54! - June '18
- Thread starter GP403
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Congratulations from good old germany for the win. It´s a very clean, nice looking car and I like the look 👍
Post some more pics !
Post some more pics !
Allright, sorry for the delay, but here goes a write up. The pic below is the motivation for this build. I my dad was the age I almost am now (getting old sucks) and my 16 y.o. self was big on ambition and short on funds. This car was actually fitted with a 350 olds at the time, as it originally came with a 350 diesel that self destructed.
Fast forward 6 or 8 years, and I while on the hunt for a clean dash and uncut wire harness for my 2dr Malibu restoration, I won the bid for a sedan on eBay for <$25. I don't remember the exact price, but it was like $23.72 or something weird. The car had a clean dash and wire harness, no steering column, no powertrain and looked rough in the pics. I traveled 150 miles to pick it up, and upon arrival I couldn't help but notice the base model stripper car had a lot of surface rust but not a lot of rot.
At that time, I had owned or parted over a dozen G bodies, so had stacks of parts in my garage. The longer time went on, the more I thought "I'll build this car out of spare parts." First was to put a drivetrain in it. I rebuilt my first small block (on my own) with the goal of 300 hp for under $1k and stuffed it in the car behind a solid TH350 I picked up for cheap. That motor lasted about 250 miles before it self destructed. Lesson 1: Always measure bearing journals before purchasing and installing bearings, no matter what a seller tells you. I pulled the motor, tore it down, rebuilt it back up and reinstalled. Shortly after break in, there was a valvetrain noise. After troubleshooting, it turned out to be a wiped cam lobe. Lesson 2: Don't buy cheap cams and use lots of ZDDP with flat tappets. Cleaned everything up and while rebuilding, came across a set of built 305 heads for a price too good to pass up. Installed those and almost immediately after noticed coolant seeping out of the engine near an exhaust port. Cracked! Lesson 3: If a deal seems too good to be true on used parts, it probably is.
By this time I was done and pulled that motor in favor of a vortec headed 355 I had for the other car. My dad built that one for me when he blew up the original motor I had in the car. Well.... he still won't claim he blew it up, but bought the parts and helped build the new motor... 400+ hp that likes to rev didn't agree with the 2.41 open rear, so I sourced and rebuilt the rearend with a 3.42 posi. Later, the 7.5 self destructed under spirited acceleration and was replaced with an 8.5 with a 3.73 posi. I like the acceleration of the 3.73s, but the 3.42 was better all around without overdrive.
It was painted Patriot Blue in 2009 and most of the interior, chassis components and other bits were junkyard parts or pieces I had from parted junkers. I don't have much money in the car, but would hate to add up the hours of work. It garners way more positive attention than I could have imagined, and no, it's not a real police car. From here, I'll let the pictures do the talking.
![041000951332[00].jpg](https://cdn-0.gbodyforum.com/attachments/041000951332-00-jpg.90426/ "041000951332[00].jpg")
![042000951400[00].jpg](https://cdn-0.gbodyforum.com/attachments/042000951400-00-jpg.90427/ "042000951400[00].jpg")
![042100951318[00].jpg](https://cdn-0.gbodyforum.com/attachments/042100951318-00-jpg.90428/ "042100951318[00].jpg")
Fast forward 6 or 8 years, and I while on the hunt for a clean dash and uncut wire harness for my 2dr Malibu restoration, I won the bid for a sedan on eBay for <$25. I don't remember the exact price, but it was like $23.72 or something weird. The car had a clean dash and wire harness, no steering column, no powertrain and looked rough in the pics. I traveled 150 miles to pick it up, and upon arrival I couldn't help but notice the base model stripper car had a lot of surface rust but not a lot of rot.
At that time, I had owned or parted over a dozen G bodies, so had stacks of parts in my garage. The longer time went on, the more I thought "I'll build this car out of spare parts." First was to put a drivetrain in it. I rebuilt my first small block (on my own) with the goal of 300 hp for under $1k and stuffed it in the car behind a solid TH350 I picked up for cheap. That motor lasted about 250 miles before it self destructed. Lesson 1: Always measure bearing journals before purchasing and installing bearings, no matter what a seller tells you. I pulled the motor, tore it down, rebuilt it back up and reinstalled. Shortly after break in, there was a valvetrain noise. After troubleshooting, it turned out to be a wiped cam lobe. Lesson 2: Don't buy cheap cams and use lots of ZDDP with flat tappets. Cleaned everything up and while rebuilding, came across a set of built 305 heads for a price too good to pass up. Installed those and almost immediately after noticed coolant seeping out of the engine near an exhaust port. Cracked! Lesson 3: If a deal seems too good to be true on used parts, it probably is.
By this time I was done and pulled that motor in favor of a vortec headed 355 I had for the other car. My dad built that one for me when he blew up the original motor I had in the car. Well.... he still won't claim he blew it up, but bought the parts and helped build the new motor... 400+ hp that likes to rev didn't agree with the 2.41 open rear, so I sourced and rebuilt the rearend with a 3.42 posi. Later, the 7.5 self destructed under spirited acceleration and was replaced with an 8.5 with a 3.73 posi. I like the acceleration of the 3.73s, but the 3.42 was better all around without overdrive.
It was painted Patriot Blue in 2009 and most of the interior, chassis components and other bits were junkyard parts or pieces I had from parted junkers. I don't have much money in the car, but would hate to add up the hours of work. It garners way more positive attention than I could have imagined, and no, it's not a real police car. From here, I'll let the pictures do the talking.
Stock v6 sagged out springs in front, new Moog 5379 in the rear. I replaced the originals when the rear end blew up because one was broken and missing part of a coil.
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