New GP owner

Nice to see a site dedicated to these cars! I used to hang out at montecarloss.com but haven't in a few years since the GP project has been on hold and I've been busy with an 84 Z28.

Here is the current project as it looked during some test fitting of the new body panels back in 2003:




The short summary - 85 GP, 2+2 nose conversion, custom fiberglass rear spoiler, F-body power mirrors, Caprice headlamps. 400 Pontiac, Th200R4 trans, 8.5" 3.73 rear, lots of suspension work, Autometer dash, etc. There are more details and more pictures here: http://www.motortopia.com/album/browse/ ... le/v/10242

I've owned a bunch of GPs - 81, 82, 83, two 84s, the current 85 and an 86. My very first project car was this 83 GP which my uncle and I built in '89 from a metallic brown turd into this:


My favorite one though, other than my current car was my 84 LE t-top car


More pictures here:
http://www.motortopia.com/vehicles/brow ... /mid/10556


Don

Derision said:

Welcome to the site!

Nice GPs, though I have to ask... yellow? Why...?

Click to expand...

That car was painted in 1989....it seemed like the right thing to do at the time!! Bright colors were in....


andrewmp6 - I built the Wilwood setup from scratch. I detailed the build-up in this thread over at montecarloss.com. There is a guy named Ed Miller on that board who is now selling a bracket kit to do the same thing.

I don't know how long it took to get the Lauren 2+2 nose to fit - I lost track - but it was significant. I'm sure the cost to pay someone to make it fit right would have exceeded the cost of the parts, and the parts aren't cheap.



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Vern,
The car will be painted dark metallic blue, right now leaning towards GM code 25U which is called "Deep" when used on the Pontiac Solstice (its also used on some 2006-up Chevy trucks). I won't sticker it up as a 2+2...not sure what I'll do in that regard but it will be pretty minimalist for sure.

The motor is pretty mild. At the time I built the motor in 1996 I was planning to use the car as more of a daily driver, and I was living in Connecticut and had to deal with emissions testing. I built the motor with that in mind – a mild cam (068 Ram Air cam), 8.7:1 CR, EGR intake, dual cats etc. Its a very nice running motor – broad powerband, smooth idle at 750 rpm, runs on pump gas.....but time and technology have moved on in the last 12 years. Once the car is back from paint and I get it all sorted out, I'll probably just drive it for a while and enjoy it as is (the motor still has less than 1000 miles on it). But I've been collecting parts for the next motor – the key ingredients being a Motec EFI system and a pair of GT28 turbos – with the goal of going mid 11s on pump gas and keeping the same idle quality and driveability I have today. I've got extensive experience with boosted motors in my day job (powertrain research at Ford)....if we can push Mustangs out the door with 550 hp from 330 cubic inches (with a warranty and clean emissions) then there is no reason 406 inches can't do something similar with the right application of modern technology!