Thanks for the technical posts on the PROM and electrics. If you have photos from the journey, you are absolutely allowed to write up a retro/time warp thread on the restoration.
BUILD THREAD Restoration Complete - Final pictures
- Thread starter justacruzr2
- Start date
Nice!! A co-worker had the same exact model and color. She loved that car. Someone tried to steal it but she had a fuel cut-off and it only got a few houses away. I told her I would buy it when she was ready, but as far as I know, she still has it.
Give me a couple days and I'll have some more. Thanks.
Some of these pictures are a lttle before when I was done. You will notice that in a couple of them, the body side moldings aren't on yet but you still get a good view. The hood molding and ornament are NOS as are the wheel opening moldings, the front bumper fascias and the adhesive backed chrome strips that are attached to the fascias. The body side moldings I bought from a place on the internet. They're a pretty good match for the originals. The doors came from Desert Valley in Phoenix. Nice rust free desert doors. The left front fender is NOS. The front and rear lower quarters I used patch panels. Where did I find patch panels for a Grand Prix? I didn't...they don't make any. So I started comparing pictures of Cutlasses', Regals' and Montes' to see which would come closest and then improvise from there. Turns out, the Regal lower front is a perfect match, except for the wheel opening curve, and the Cutlass lower rear is also a good match, except for the wheel opening curve. Since I didn't need the wheel opening curves, only the middle sections, I just trimmed them to fit the repair area. Also, the Cutlass patch needed a bend near the bottom to match the GP's body line. That was done with an industrial sheet metal bender. I also replaced the rocker panels. The hood, roof and trunk lid needed nothing other than sanding. When all was completed I rustproofed the inside of everything. During this project I had the whole car apart except no body off the frame. Didn't need it. Underside was pretty clean. Just sandblasted it, primed it, sealed the sheet metal seams, painted it and then undercoated it. Suspension, steering and brakes I replaced with new. Transmission needed rebuild since I had to get a re-buildable trans to replace the one that was attached to engine I was swapping from my other GP into this one. This one had the 231 six. It was a 305 with what I thought was a TH350C. Turned out it was a TH250C. A medium duty trans that is usually used with the 231 six. What is was doing on a 305 is anyone's guess. And from the outside you can't really tell the difference between it and a TH350C. On the engine I replaced all the gaskets and seals, the cam, gears and chain with double row steel ones (no nylon teeth and you should have seen the slack in the old chain), lifters and oil pump. If you ever change your oil pan gasket, do yourself a favor. FelPro makes a one piece gasket that is much easier to replace and you won't get leaks at the corners. And the gasket won't squish out when you tighten the bolts. All the lines (fuel, evap, brake and trans) I replaced with either NiCopp or stainless steel. Instrument panel is all LED as is the dome light. I repainted the guage needles with flourescent red instead of the original orange. The instrument panel really stands out at night and is easy to see and read. I also replaced the headliner and the landau top. Well that's the short story. To go into every detail of what I did would fill a book. So many things I replaced with new parts. It's easier to say that the only things I didn't do were rebuild the trans (friend did it for me for free), paint the car and do the front end alignment. Despite the fact it took 6 summers to complete, I really enjoyed doing it. Now it's time to get back to finishing my 70 Plymouth Belvedere that I put on the back burner to do this one. And then there's my 69 Galaxie and 63 Galaxie to do too. I'm going to be busy for a few years. Hope I live that long (laughing). Thanks for looking and all your compliments.
