Marriage: 1980 Grand Am and 2005 GTO Build Thread.

[smed7880]

Lost most of the weekend due to work and then got sick...yesterday was a on the couch day. Today i got 4 hours of car time. Cut up the old GAm frame and loaded it in my f150, removed glass/roof from rusty regal and saved the center section of the roof for patch metal, saved some liitle pieces.

Still need to harvest the rockers, some of the 1/4s, the bucket seat mounts, the console mounts (just cutting out the hump for now), the floor shift column and instrument panel, wiring harness.

Wont get any car time until next weekend.

 

[smed7880]

First day in many that the morning was actually nice. Another 4 or 5 hours of car yesterday.

Behold the power of the sawzall.

I should be able to finish cutting up Rusty Regal today and be able to finally clean up the driveway.

 

[smed7880]

Rusty Regal is cut up, no longer taking space in the driveway, and is loaded on my f150 awaiting delivery to the metal man.

Ive got good factory metal where i need it. Have to make some runs to storage, do some clean up, and do some reorging to get ready for underbody Grand Am repairs. I have enough patch metal. After unloading the metal im into Rusty Regal for $350 and for everything it gave thats a big win.

Finally some decent weather to work in, 80s!

Edit...well ok, 94, but thats a far sight better than its been. Did the storage run but still need to clean up garage and reorg...itll wait. Driveway is cleaned up and thats a win. Near as i can tell i avoided a nasty gram from the hoa by blocking the mess with the cars so it couldnt be seen.

Next weekend i can get back to her Grand Am. Ill get the S10 brakes on it, get the frame on the ground, and build my skate based pillars. Im going to tie in 3 sides for stability while im under it cutting and welding. Need to figure out what underbody stuff im going to do...will probably just clean it, scuff it, prime and epoxy.

 

[smed7880]

Delivered to the metal man. 1500ish pounds of metal in 2 trips. Rusty Regal all in cost $325...frame etc and no long drive to get it made it well bought. Will update project cost list tonight

 

[smed7880]

Thinking about chemical welding vs cut out/weld back in. I havent messed with chem welding but it sounds ideal for the patching i need to do. Maybe tack/spot weld in combo with the chemical weld??? Not sure yet.

Once i cut out the bad metal and treat it, then cut the overlapping patch pieces ill know exactly how much im dealing with.

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[smed7880]

Lots of delays due to work and my Torino. The battle with the shop hasnt been fun. I finally got the front clip back on and it went to the shop last tuesday for transmission leak repairs and fixing the crappy paint. Today was clean up the garage from Torinocation and blow the dust off her Grand Am project.

I didnt get much wrenching in but the corvette brakes are off, the dual caliper S10 front brakes are on, and it is sitting on its 14" rally ii fronts and 15" inch rally ii rears with skates.

Ill start reassessing the bottom of the car getting ready for metal repairs. I need to finish researching the chemical welding, and get my replacement pieces cut.

Im supposed to get my Torino back Wednesday...will see what happens. Either way wrenching will be happening

 

[smed7880]

Ordered the mma422.