Space City 1982 GP Build
- Thread starter Texas82GP
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The 5 speed will be nice. Maybe someday I'll buy a modern transmission. Naaaaa who am I kidding 1 to one with 4:10s on the highway screaming! LoL
Pimpin' ain't easy, and ironing sucks!
TKX just obsoleted the TKO. Looks good on paper.
Since this project has drug out for so long, I thought it would be helpful if I did a quick recap, mostly in pictures...
I bought the car in September 2014. I joined the forum about a year later. Here's what I started with....
The car had a SBC 400 and a Saginaw four speed in it. It was sort of fun to drive. It had originally been a diesel/automatic car and the swap was a total hack job. It leaked everything like sieve. I really regretted buying the car, initially. This is probably what it looked like when it rolled off the line....
I took the car apart in December of 2014. I initially was going to reseal and repaint the 400 but came to the conclusion it was worn out. It had already been overbored 0.030" so I sold it in favor of a crate engine....
It's a 350 SBC. It's a two-piece rear main block with the provisions for a mechanical fuel pump. It has Vortec heads on it and a mild Lunatti cam. It's rated at 350HP/400 ft. lbs. if I remember correctly. I bought it from Pace Performance.
Sometime around March of 2016 I finished up the front suspension rebuild and Blazer brake swap. The front suspension and steering is all Moog stuff and is stock with the exception of the 5660 springs. I also swapped to a quick ratio (F41) gearbox...
Next I went to work on cleaning up the firewall and reconditioning the HVAC case....
Then cleaning and painting the rest of the engine bay....
The engine was still at my house, but was pretty detailed on the stand....
At the end of 2017 I replaced the power antenna, painted the inner fender wells and the engine compartment was starting to come together....
The engine went in right at the end of 2017....
Followed by the T5. I'm using a WC T5 out of like a 91 Iroc. I'm using the 83 Camaro mechanical linkage bellhousing. I have a Centerforce clutch in there. In this picture, the trans is just sitting on the G-Force 700R4 transmission crossmember as the middle section is way too tall....
To be continued---->
I bought the car in September 2014. I joined the forum about a year later. Here's what I started with....
The car had a SBC 400 and a Saginaw four speed in it. It was sort of fun to drive. It had originally been a diesel/automatic car and the swap was a total hack job. It leaked everything like sieve. I really regretted buying the car, initially. This is probably what it looked like when it rolled off the line....
I took the car apart in December of 2014. I initially was going to reseal and repaint the 400 but came to the conclusion it was worn out. It had already been overbored 0.030" so I sold it in favor of a crate engine....
It's a 350 SBC. It's a two-piece rear main block with the provisions for a mechanical fuel pump. It has Vortec heads on it and a mild Lunatti cam. It's rated at 350HP/400 ft. lbs. if I remember correctly. I bought it from Pace Performance.
Sometime around March of 2016 I finished up the front suspension rebuild and Blazer brake swap. The front suspension and steering is all Moog stuff and is stock with the exception of the 5660 springs. I also swapped to a quick ratio (F41) gearbox...
Next I went to work on cleaning up the firewall and reconditioning the HVAC case....
Then cleaning and painting the rest of the engine bay....
The engine was still at my house, but was pretty detailed on the stand....
At the end of 2017 I replaced the power antenna, painted the inner fender wells and the engine compartment was starting to come together....
The engine went in right at the end of 2017....
Followed by the T5. I'm using a WC T5 out of like a 91 Iroc. I'm using the 83 Camaro mechanical linkage bellhousing. I have a Centerforce clutch in there. In this picture, the trans is just sitting on the G-Force 700R4 transmission crossmember as the middle section is way too tall....
To be continued---->
In early January of 2018, I moved into the bigger storage....
It was clear the T5 wasn't going to work with the split bench as I had originally planned. The project got bigger. Most of the interior came out of the car and the floorboards got primed, painted and much of the seam sealer got redone....
Followed by a lot of X-Mat....
The transmission crossmember got modified to correct the driveline angle and make the transmission fit in the car correctly.....
A NOS third brake light was added....
The opera windows and the rear windows were lightly tinted....
The underside of the floorpans from the transmission crossmember back were cleaned and undercoated....
The trunk was given the correct jack, a new spare (the car had neither when I bought it) and a finishing kit was installed....
Most of the interior pieces were painted black....
The dash was removed and painted in about March of 2018....
To be continued ---->
It was clear the T5 wasn't going to work with the split bench as I had originally planned. The project got bigger. Most of the interior came out of the car and the floorboards got primed, painted and much of the seam sealer got redone....
Followed by a lot of X-Mat....
The transmission crossmember got modified to correct the driveline angle and make the transmission fit in the car correctly.....
A NOS third brake light was added....
The opera windows and the rear windows were lightly tinted....
The underside of the floorpans from the transmission crossmember back were cleaned and undercoated....
The trunk was given the correct jack, a new spare (the car had neither when I bought it) and a finishing kit was installed....
Most of the interior pieces were painted black....
The dash was removed and painted in about March of 2018....
To be continued ---->
I got off the car in mid March of 2018 to help my brother "finish" his 78 Z28. Then I ended up at Dad's for the rest of 2018 and a good bit of 2019. Mom passed in February of 2019. I did the 4L85E swap on my truck that spring. Then the truck got wrecked and I fixed it. Then I bought the Roadmaster at the very end of 2019 and did a lot of work on it during the first half of 2020. At the end of November of 2020, I got back on the car.
I started with fixing the passenger side window which wouldn't roll up the last time I drove the car, in November of 2014.....
Then the dash went back in on January 2 of this year....
Followed by the headliner that just got redone in black and installed last weekend....
That's most of the story. There was tons of detail skipped but the rest of it is all in this thread if anyone wants to go back and relive it. Thanks for the interest friends.
I started with fixing the passenger side window which wouldn't roll up the last time I drove the car, in November of 2014.....
Then the dash went back in on January 2 of this year....
Followed by the headliner that just got redone in black and installed last weekend....
That's most of the story. There was tons of detail skipped but the rest of it is all in this thread if anyone wants to go back and relive it. Thanks for the interest friends.
I finally went through the entire thread.
Attention to detail and care on the underhood, floors, and basically anything you touch is superb. I'm too impatient to make everything that perfect lol.
I never knew GP's had the opera light option like yours does until I saw a 83ish GP at the salvage yard last week and your car had them.
Have you seen any other GP's with those opera lights? When do they come on?
Attention to detail and care on the underhood, floors, and basically anything you touch is superb. I'm too impatient to make everything that perfect lol.
I never knew GP's had the opera light option like yours does until I saw a 83ish GP at the salvage yard last week and your car had them.
Have you seen any other GP's with those opera lights? When do they come on?
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