Well
the motor runs, the wiring is almost complete, so it's time to deal with getting
some red back on Big Red! Tonna's been waiting 12 years to see this thing run
again! She rode about a half a mile in it when we met in '94 and then the GS was
relegated to the side of the house. Donnie has never seen this car even close to
running, so he's also ready to take it for a ride.
March 3, 2007 Well almost time to get it painted! I dropped about $1500 for the 2 stage PPG base coat, clear coat acrylic urethane. For some reason, red is the most expensive color you can buy. The 1 gallon alone was $550! That doesn't include the reducer or hardener. Oh yeah, then there's the clear, the requisite hardener and reducer, throw in some sealer with miscellaneous stuff and you can run the cost up quick! I bought a quart of single stage urethane to do the underside of the trunk lid and some of the small pieces. Donnie and I celebrated the paint finally getting started. Shortly after we began celebrating, Donnie and Tonna asked me what these small cracks were? Arrrgggg! The body work has been done for years, but the week before I want to paint, something starts acting up! The cracks appeared were where the factory quarter panel meets the roof. This used to be smoothed with lead, but I used fiberglass many years ago. I don't know why it did it now, but it's better than right after I sprayed the first coat of paint! The next day, I ground the seam out and reglassed it, primered it and got it back in shape for paint. Hopefully next weekend, we start on the body.
March 10, 2007 I got the roof & quarters painted. One thing I learned. Don't use plastic sheeting right up to the body. I was shooting the deck lid as well. It was sitting on the engine. I shot the sealer coat on and then the base coat of color. When I went back for the second coat of color, I noticed the sealer flaked off of the plastic sheet and went in the paint. Luckily I noticed it then. I'll sand it a little and shoot it with the other parts. None of the flakes landed in the paint on the main body. The bubble hood respirator worked great! The clear coat has some nasty chemicals in it that a half face negative pressure respirator doesn't filter too well. I'll let it sit until Monday and then sand it with 1500 grit to get the little nubs of dust out of the paint and then buff it to a nice smooth shine.
March 12, 2007 Took the 1500 grit sandpaper to the car to get rid of the small bits of dirt and 2 small runs in the clear. Buffed it out with compound. There's a few small areas that could be buffed once more, but I'll wait until the rest of the body is bolted back together and do it all at once.
March 15, 2007 I completed painting the 2 doors, the trunk lid and the rear spoiler. They'll sit until Saturday when I can sand and buff them out. Tomorrow I'll paint the hood and front fenders, then I'm done painting!
March 16-19, 2007 I finished sanding and buffing all of the rest of the parts and got the doors back on the body.
March 24, 2007 I got the rear spolier and GS emblem back on the trunk lid. Cleaned up the hood scoop grates, but they haven't been bolted down yet. I got the wheel well moldings, fender emblems and door handles back on as well.
April 7, 2007 Well with the body almost al back together I decided to pull the motor back out. It wasn't sounding right at idle. It had been sitting for 10+ years on an engine stand. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have done this in the beginning. So out it came last weekend. Made a trip over to TA Performance in Scttsdale and ordered a set of aluminum Stage 1 Street Eliminator aluminum heads. I already have a set of aluminum Stage 2 heads, but since I won't be running a monster cam and compression, the Stage 1's will make a better street car. Tomorrow, the engine goes down to the Evil Toymaker, Larry Peto at Larry's Engine & Marine. I'm hoping for a solid 450-500 horsepower. We shall see.......
May 16, 2007 Larry Peto wanted to build a custom piston for the 455 even though TA stocks JE pistons for the 455. I've been trying to split the bill up between TA and Larry's since this is the third different motor Larry's built for me and I've know Mike at TA since 1985 and TA has an extensive background of Buick knowledge. Anyway Larry came up with these JE's that combined with the TA aluminum heads will give a 10.5 to 1 compression ratio. TA also supplied the Sportsman connecting rods that are good to 800 horsepower. Throw in the TA composite intake gasket, dual-grooved Teflon coated cam bearings and updated seals for the rear main and timing cover replace the antiquated rope seals.
Of course after dropping all this stuff at Larry's and he started questioning my plans for the oil pan. I had a good stock pan, but Larry wanted to improve the oiling better given the quality of parts we're using already. So I went back and picked up one of TA's 8 quart fabricated oil pans. Back to Tucson next week.
July 20, 2007
Well, I picked the motor up from Larry's Engines & Marine. With a mild cam that has a nice smooth idle, it made 503 horsepower and 547 ft/lbs of torque. It made over 500 ft/lbs of torque from 3000 rpm on up! Ought to make for a nice street car. I put it back in the car this weekend. Still have some little stuff to get done before I can fire it up again. Then I can start putting the front end on and complete the wiring.
August 14, 2007
I fired the motor up this past weekend. One advantage of having the motor tuned on the dyno, hit the key and it ran perfect. No messing with timing, carb jetting etc. So, on to getting the frontend back on the car. I completed installing the Hurst line-lock on the front brakes. This really makes burnouts at the track easier! I stripped and refinished the inner fenders. Hopefully this upcoming weekend I'll bolt the inner fenders to the front fenders and bolt them back on the body. Then I can finish up the wiring for the headlights and electric fans. Those twin fans on the Ron Davis radiator really move some air, but are a little noisy. Hopefully you won't hear them as much once the whole front end is back on the car.
August 27, 2007
Well, I finally got the front end back on and reasonably lined up. I've never been real good at getting the fenders and hood to all line up perfectly. What a pain! But, for now, it's close enough. In a little bit when it doesn't feel like a billion degrees in the garage, I might mess with the panels again. Now I can concentrate on finishig up the wiring for the lights and battery as well as get some of the minor parts for under hood like the hood adjusting bumpers and cowl seal.
November 12, 2007
Finally got the new tires and rims mounted. I went with the Centerline Auto Drag mainly because I had 3 of the rims and the front tires already! I'm still struggling with the front end height. I loosened all the control arm bolts up, put all the weight on the suspension and still, no change. It's about 3 inches too high. I guess the springs were made for all GM A-bodies. Given the 100 pound lighter engine weight, compared to the 454 Chevy and the aluminum heads, it's too light in the front. Guess I'll be ordering some new springs today. I was thinking about the Moroso drag springs anyway!
November 26, 2007
Well, after jacking around adjusting and readjusting the front control arms with weight on the front end, then more weight on the front end, and then as soon as I put the car back on the ground, we're back to that altered look. So, as much as I hate messing around with coil springs, I pulled one side out and chopped a coil off. Seems to have hit it just right. With the stock ralley wheels on the height is right about where the book says it should be. Even with the shorter Centerline/skinny's set up it seems to look OK. I might eventually go to 15X7 Centerlines and some new tires, but for now I'm satified and can move on to the rest of the car!
December 3, 2007
Pulled the other spring out and cut a coil off of it. I think I just about got the stance right. It will settle a little more when I put those big old bumpers back on!
IT'S ALMOST DONE! GO TO THE NEXT PAGE!
