New to me 1982 Grand National project basket case

[JAMCAR223]

Nice to see you saving another Buick. That car needs alot of love. In my opinion, your best bet is to find a non-running/wrecked/parting 86-87 T Type, and buy the whole car.

 

[NCTyphoonKid]

Nice to see you saving another Buick. That car needs alot of love. In my opinion, your best bet is to find a non-running/wrecked/parting 86-87 T Type, and buy the whole car.

That is what I’m thinking of doing if I can find a decent deal on one. It does need a lot of love but it will be worth restoring it may not be as disarable as a 86-87 car yet but I think they’ll come around at some point

 

[Turbo Zach]

I like your taste in cars. That is how I would build it too, if you can find a drive train cheep enough? I will be tuned in on this one.

 

[clean8485]

Very cool score. Would this car have had the 4.1 V6 originally? Liking the Lear seats too. I hope you can find the correct seat covers for them. Will be looking forward to the updates.

 

[MrSony]

BUICK 350s FOR LIFE

 

[MrSony]

Or maybe a 4.1 based turbo build?

 

[gnvair]

The cowl and the front of the roof where the tops sit is what worries me. I think once I get the parts car here I will remove the front clip and start examining on how to go about patching it in. I think most people are comfortable doing basic floor pan patches. I’ve never done it but am going to try it in small sections. If it doesn’t work out I’ll get a body guy to do it.

My 87 GN had a strange water leak on the left side that I was having a horrible time finding. I found some rust pin holes in the drain area below the wiper motor when I stripped the car down and media blasted it. Mine was small enough that once it was blasted I treated the metal and covered it with some seam sealer. Unfortunately you will have to remove the dash and everything in that area to replace that piece. There is some sound deadening in there that will catch fire when you weld so you will need to get all of that out of there first. If it was me, that would be the first area I would repair as that is most likely why the floor pans rusted away.

 

[NCTyphoonKid]

My 87 GN had a strange water leak on the left side that I was having a horrible time finding. I found some rust pin holes in the drain area below the wiper motor when I stripped the car down and media blasted it. Mine was small enough that once it was blasted I treated the metal and covered it with some seam sealer. Unfortunately you will have to remove the dash and everything in that area to replace that piece. There is some sound deadening in there that will catch fire when you weld so you will need to get all of that out of there first. If it was me, that would be the first area I would repair as that is most likely why the floor pans rusted away.

I planned on removing the dash anyway just to clean everything and put new insulation/sound deadener on the firewall was going to repair it then. The front of the t top bar also contributed to it I think

 

[clean8485]

I had a '81 Cutlass wagon several years ago, that developed a water leak along the top of the windsheild. Water leaked in there, then started rotting out the A pillars, then got into the insulation behind the dash. Once that insulation got wet, it wicked through all of the insulation and rotted out the firewall. That car had also rusted through by the wiper motor. It was going to be too expensive to repair properly, so I stripped the car of all useful parts, and scrapped what was left. I know you won't be doing that with your GN. Looking forward to seeing your repairs.

 

[NCTyphoonKid]

Very cool score. Would this car have had the 4.1 V6 originally? Liking the Lear seats too. I hope you can find the correct seat covers for them. Will be looking forward to the updates.

Yes it was a 4.1 car. Thankfully the seat covers and door panels are available so I’m going to order them probably at tax time just to go ahead and have them