How I found my first G-body

[buold]

This post is long, but this is one of the coolest auto-experience I have had.

Well I live in Tn and have always been a car guy. Just got out of auto school have a degree in diesel heavy duty trucks, performance engines, and custom fab. I went looking for a car that would put my new skills to use. I came across this 1984 regal (I have always loved GN) on the internet car looked like it had sat for a long time but the price was cheap so my father and I went to look at it. The car was in a cow field but the owner (a cool old guy) had but air in the tires and was checking the oil. We started looking out the car, body was straight missing the body filler panels, only small rust. Engine ran good and the car moved on it own easily. So I start talking him down on the price but no dice. I said $500 is to much for a stock 307olds car and this is when he smiled. He said It is not 307 but a 403olds out of a 1979 trans am. Well I did not even know they made a 403olds or that they came in trans am. So I told him in around about way bull sh*t. He led me and my dad to a group of shacks, we went in a side door, and there is farm stuff everywhere, we follow me into the next room and there sets a 70s trans am on jack stands with no engine or trans. The car had been rear end really bad, the old man walks over to a bench and hands me a shaker scoop that has 6.6 on it. He told me the regal was his wife's old car and the 3.8l blown up; since they had little money him and his son but his old trans am drive train in to the regal. At this point I felt like sh*t because I gave this old guy a hard time. Well shortly after that I paid him full price and loaded up the car.

I think I got a great deal, and I am going to fix the car up for auto X and maybe do a regal/trans am theme.

 

[78mali350]

wow sounds like a very cool car. can't wait to see some pics. really cool experience too

 

[KrisW]

AHHHH.....

The beautiful music of Buick, Olds, and Pontiac coming together to form a masterpiece...

I love it!

Keep 'em coming!

 

[marcar1993]

The way life should be, bop working together.

I'm actually looking for a 403. And they came in full sized oldses and buicks, maybe even a couple full sized ponchos from 77-79. In addition to the t/a's.

 

[Vern]

Very cool. It should have a large 403 cast into the side of the block. The 403 was rather weak factory stock but can make a lot more power & responds to mods well. Generally it has weak windowed mains so you can't go to crazy on rpms or with nitrous but a 400 crank HP pump gas 403 can be built to be very streetable and reliable.

I think they made like 185HP & 300TQ factory stock. Check out FCR's website as they have built lots of 403s and loves them. Also check out engine builds on www.realoldspower and www.oldspower in general. Good find.

 

[buold]

yea I have already checked the block and its 403. I have been told about the weak windowed mains. But they are not as bad as people say. When I was in school I worked for a machine shop in town, and asked my boss about them. He told me he build 2 for a guy to run in his 1970 442. The first was just a street engine, the second was a street/strip. The main thing he said was run a main cap gurtal, its $400.00 from Mondello. Street/strip engine made low 500hp at the crank at around 5800rpm. He did say that they can not be bored out very much only like .020.

Here is a 403 build that Mondello built.

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/tech/0 ... index.html

 

[81malibag]

RE:My 1st G-Body

I found my 1 st G-Body at an old gas station, just sitting there waiting to be plucked! I offered $100 for it & the old man let me have it due to the previous owner having it towed in & not paying the bill & surrendering the title. I threw a battery in it, fired it up & drove it home on 5 cyl's. When I got home I did a complete tune up & it ran so smooth, you could only tell by touching it. All it actually needed was a fuel filter! That same car, many eng's & trans later & 15+ yrs of ownership sits in my garage with a 331cid w/T-Ram, T-10 4spd & 68' 12 bolt rearend w/4.10's.

 

[Bad78Cutlass]

Car Storys

Yeah its weird, you can find the best of cars or whatver in the worst of places ( barns, etc ).

 

[sui_winbolo]

Haha, that's great! Nice find!

How I obtained my GP wasn't that unusual at all. This car has only had two previous owners, some old lady and my brother in law. Basically this old ladies kids had to take away her license because she was running into many things with this car. There is a bit of front end damage to my car, mostly just the side panels that are damaged, the grill has been replaced. But it's not in too bad of shape.

Anyways my brother in law got this car and he drove it for just a little while. Maybe owned it for couple years. Well my dad needed a car since my mom rolled our van. So we were short on a vehicle. When my dad got it it wasn't too long before the v6 started knocking really bad. The car only had around 50,000 original miles, but I guess there's a known problem with this particular engine. The car sat for about a year and I asked my dad if I could have it. Well he gave it to me for basically my senior year/graduation gift.we got Pontiac 301 v8 for it and a different transmission and I've been driving it for over a year now.

 

[redneckracer305]

mine is a little long also, sorry

all 3 of the g bodys ive purchased have interesting stories but the first one was kind of cause i had to settle for what i was "allowed" to own,but not really cause i wanted a gbody but just not what i got. see i really wanted a monte carlo not even an ss,just a monte, or a 70s-late 80s f150 or bronco. well even though i was paying for a vehicle completly by myself and everything my mom wouldnt let me gat a monte. her reasoning was my uncle had 70s one and she said it would be to much for, not understanding they really werent all that fast. my step wouldnt let me get the truck i wanted cause he knew id be going off roadin and muddin with it and he didnt want to have to look at a jacked up muddy beat up truck in the drive way. so one day i seen this blue 69 elcamino at the little shoppin plaza parkin lot in my town from my school bus window, and i said wow thats an el camino, thats cool as hell, i gotta have it. so i got home and got on my bike and rode down to look at it. no joke it wasnt that rough for 2500,it would have been a steal.my folks said it was just a little to rough for there tastes. but my mom growin up around cars new i liked it so she kept looking and long story short came across the 85 elky i bought almost 5 years ago which is still sitting in the driveway with my brother as the new owner.i loved that car and my brother is even more obbessed with it than i am so its still in good hands. yeah and my step even tried to bribe me against buyin theelky by telling me hed buy me anylittle 4 banger i wanted and i wouldnt owe him a dime, and i said hell no i want the elco. and now im set on g bodys. got me one, my brothers got one, my fiances got one, and in the near future ma is gonna have one cause she sure loves drivin mine