Space City 1982 GP Build

[Texas82GP]

I'm new here, not sure if anyone is really interested but here goes. I bought an 82 Grand Prix Brougham last September. I bought it sight unseen off of ebay and had it trucked down to Houston from Iowa. I've always wanted a G-Body. Now I have one. I think I was naïve. I thought I was buying a car that I could drive and just do small cosmetic changes to it. I didn't really want another big project. I'm helping my dad finish his 62 Ford Galaxie that he's been working on since the early 90's and my brother and I are getting close to finishing his 78 Z28 that we've been working on for the last nine years. His was a basket case. I learned to weld on that car. Long story short, it wasn't time for another big project but I've been yearning to have a classic car of my own and it had to be one of these cars.

The car was a diesel/automatic when it was new. When I got it, it had a 400 small block Chevy and a Saginaw four speed. It was originally a gold car but has new red paint. The paint and body are nice. Here are some pics of the morning I unloaded it out of the 18-wheeler...

 

[Texas82GP]

I'm not crazy about the burgundy interior. I'm not a big fan of the pillow top seats either. A black interior is in store for this car with buckets. I'm going to get rid of those casket handle door pulls as well.

 

[Texas82GP]

When I raised the hood I had the "what did I get myself into feeling." If you look at the first picture I posted you can see the puddle of power steering fluid on the driveway that was deposited before I could even take pictures. I don't know the back story of the car but it looks to me like someone spent a lot of time on the paint and body and then just took the 400 out of something and just stuck it in there like it was. It was a leak-a-saurus. There was no attention to detail on the engine install. I can pick this photo to death. Plug wires are way too long and hanging off of the a/c accumulator. You can't see it in the photo but the return lines from the hydroboost and the gearbox were tied together in a total contraption and it was a leak-zilla. Admire the double rubber radiator cushions on the top passenger side of the radiator. I could go on and on. The guy who put the engine in the car was just looking to get it going.

 

[Texas82GP]

I initially decided to just keep the scope of the project small and slowly make improvements. The first thing I did was put a set of the S10 "ZQ8" wheels on it and bigger set of tires. I don't seem to have a picture of the car with these on it. the night I went to put them on, the sloppy stock shifter put the transmission in second and reverse at the same time at the bottom of the driveway. That was fun. A Hurst Competition Plus shifter moved to top priority.

After getting the shifter in, I drove the car to work a few times. It's a 60 mile round trip. The car was fun overall. It leaked everything and made mess everywhere it went. It also wanted to run warm in traffic (this is in October). It would also get to running bad in heavy traffic which made it a bit nerve racking.

 

[Texas82GP]

The last time I drove it home from work I got stuck in some really heavy traffic. It got up above 220 and was not happy. When I got it parked the passenger side window wouldn't roll up. I decided the car needed some TLC to make it more enjoyable to drive. I had not anticipated major mechanical work when I bought the car and frankly I paid to much for what I got mechanically. Oh wells.

 

[Texas82GP]

I decided to pull the 400 to clean it, paint it, reseal it and pull the heads to see if the steam holes were drilled in the heads. The heads were the iron Chevy Bowtie Phase II heads. This was just after Christmas. Wonder if the oil sender plumbing was leaking?

 

[Texas82GP]

Wonder if the oil pan was leaking?

 

[Texas82GP]

After several nights of scraping and cleaning with carb spray and a small wire brush, here's where I was at

 

[Texas82GP]

The 400 evidently hadn't been decked. The VIN stamping on the passenger front end of the deck was still very clear. I decoded it as a 72 four bolt main from a Caprice. It had started life as 2-barrel backed by a TH400. I pulled the heads to learn that it had been bored 0.030 over at some point. It had dished pistons. The cylinders all had a significant ridge at the top. The steam holes had not been drilled in the heads. The performer intake was a bad match for the bowtie heads. I decided it needed rebuilt if it was going back in the car. What to do? I decided to sell it and move on. I sold it on Craigslist and it was a hot item. I sold all of it. Carb to oil pan. Balancer to flywheel. Time to start over.

 

[Texas82GP]

I decided on a 350hp 350 from Pace. It's a Goodwrench shortblock with Vortech heads. Then they put a Lunatti flat tappet 218/218 .458/.458 110 cam. That gives it an advertised 350hp and 410 ft. lbs. This was in February.