🔧 BUILD Quarter Life Crisis. It's a thing. v.GN

[ASlowV6]

Very cool find. I love that there are people who are putting great effort into keeping their cars original while I am drilling holes in my mint condition factory dash and welding my floor to install foreign car seats.

As for speakers, you could use whichever 4 ohm speakers you like with a power resistor wired in series.

 

[v6buicks]

Very cool find. I love that there are people who are putting great effort into keeping their cars original while I am drilling holes in my mint condition factory dash and welding my floor to install foreign car seats.

As for speakers, you could use whichever 4 ohm speakers you like with a power resistor wired in series.

Haha I appreciate both ends of the spectrum. I just happen to loves these cars for what they are too much to butcher a nice one. That's what the Camaro is for.

Thanks for the tip. I wondered about that. In that case I would need to find some that fit the actual space. Apparently that's a trick in itself especially for the door speakers.

 

[ASlowV6]

You’ll notice a reduction in output since the resistor will be eating some of the power that the amp is putting out, but I can’t imagine you’re trying to crank it to 11 anyway.

 

[v6buicks]

You’ll notice a reduction in output since the resistor will be eating some of the power that the amp is putting out, but I can’t imagine you’re trying to crank it to 11 anyway.

Hmm that was also something I thought would happen. I don't really want that either. I emailed gbodyparts hoping they would have a suggestion. Brian seems to be able to pull parts out of thin air of he doesn't already make them himself.

 

[v6buicks]

A long anticipated package arrived.

It's not perfect, and I expected that. I'm just a little annoyed that the seller wouldn't tell me about any blemishes when I asked.

I can't be too mad though. Some of the uglies cleaned up with armor all on a rag. All that's left is the chewed up tape guide and the warped face. The next picture will show it best.

Before getting out of control I decided to just throw this in and hope it wouldn't bother me.

Removing the old radio made me feel a lot better because I confirmed one issue and discovered another.

The tape forward and reverse button faces are missing. I was never sure if anything was supposed to be there until I looked it up and got this one in better light. Is anyone else here observant enough to see the other problem? Hint: It's a mismatching issue.

I heek over these old labels. This is the new one. The radio I removed didn't have any which leads me to believe it was repaired or messed with at some point.

The new radio has an extra single wire plug on the back. The guy who upgraded it says he has no idea what's it's for, and has never used it. Odd. I wonder why Delco put it there.

I guess it's go time!

The tape deck is a bit disappointing because it works but it's glitchy enough that I don't see myself using it very regularly. Oh well. The important part is that the Bluetooth looks and functions seamlessly!

I'm extremely excited to finally have good tunes in this car. The radio signal is such trash that I never had a clue what the concert sound 2 hype was about.

That was a very unexpected detour though. The radio is almost never on in this thing unless I'm making a long trip. Since I have a truck now, that's pretty much going to be never again.

Whenever it start to warm up a bit, I still have to do body bushings and an exhaust R&R. I almost completely forgot that I blew out the AC too. Not looking forward to that almost inevitable evaporator job.

 

[bs009]

So I see the mismatch on the old radio's balancer/fader knobs.
I love these factory equalizer radios, I would totally do the same thing if I were you haha! Sounds surprisingly pretty decent in the video

Reminds me of the radio my brother swapped into his 86 lesabre back in the day before he swapped in the 00's pontiac equalizer/cd stereo so that's really nostalgic to me

 

[GTPpower]

The radio you took out is exactly the same radio john deere put in tractors. One of ours is almost like it, but it doesn't have a tape player and the face isn't gloss black like that.

 

[v6buicks]

So I see the mismatch on the old radio's balancer/fader knobs.
I love these factory equalizer radios, I would totally do the same thing if I were you haha! Sounds surprisingly pretty decent in the video

Reminds me of the radio my brother swapped into his 86 lesabre back in the day before he swapped in the 00's pontiac equalizer/cd stereo so that's really nostalgic to me

Yep! Not sure how that happened. The tape deck is completely fubar too. Might just sell it for cheap at the nats this year.

I love the look of the old Din 1.5 stuff that was in so many American 80s and 90s cars. It's hard to make any aftermarket stuff look right in their place either. As long as they don't have blown out super high impedence speakers, the radios are totally worth saving and upgrading!

 

[v6buicks]

The radio you took out is exactly the same radio john deere put in tractors. One of ours is almost like it, but it doesn't have a tape player and the face isn't gloss black like that.

That's wild. Lol. I didn't know Delco was used anywhere else.

 

[v6buicks]

I was finally motivated on a day with decent weather and a wide open schedule, so the GN finally got new body bushings today.

GNX bushings were added as well. I find it so strange that GM put this hole in the G frame and flat spot on the body above it but didn't use it for anything until the GNX came out. I think every G-body kit comes with them at this point. You just slide it in there. No bolts.

I didn't take a lot of pictures because I just really wanted to finish it. There wasn't much to see anyway. Since the car is rust-free, all the bolts came out with no effort and were reused. Installing the new ones was more challenging. Body-on-frame my ass! These frames are spaghetti without a body attached which became apparent as I forced the rear frame horns apart about an inch with my foot because the holes wouldn't line up.

Anyway, it's done and the car rides like new. It feels like it gets up and goes quicker too which I think is due to cold weather and no KR! I'm not sure if I already solved the false knock problem or what, but this thing rips. No more clunks over bumps makes the car feel extra refined as well.

Soon I'll dive into doing the poly transmission mounts and installing the new exhaust, but I'm also on the hunt for a good detailer in my area. I barely trust myself to wash the damn thing, and I hate every minute of it. This thing needs to glow at the Nats this year because it may be the biggest one yet and I'm planning to enter into the show this time.

 

[bs009]

Have you noticed a lot of extra vibrations or anything like that after converting to poly bushings?

I've never tried without poly bushings but I feel like I have an abnormal amount of vibration in my car and have always attributed it to the poly bushings and considered swapping them back to rubber bushings.

It's crazy how flimsy these frames are from the factory for how much metal is there

 

[ASlowV6]

I initially planned on just replacing the bushings, but when I saw that the mounting points had some rot I decided to pull the frame to do some rust repair. I was blown away by how floppy the thing was. Boxing the rails, adding the trailer hitch, jounce and GP bars, and relocating the crossmember further back for the 4l80 made a huge difference.

 

[v6buicks]

Have you noticed a lot of extra vibrations or anything like that after converting to poly bushings?

I've never tried without poly bushings but I feel like I have an abnormal amount of vibration in my car and have always attributed it to the poly bushings and considered swapping them back to rubber bushings.

It's crazy how flimsy these frames are from the factory for how much metal is there

My test drive was brief, but I didn't notice anything unwanted. If the rubbers are shot, it will cause all kinds of hell on things. It's hard for me to compare poly to rubber because I've only ever replaced rubbers that were blown out and ancient. Everything I've heard about body mounts is that you will only have positive effects by going poly. Suspension mounting points are a different story. You want to be careful there.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

I didn't even know the GNX had an extra bushing or two. Subtle trick indeed.

 

[v6buicks]

I didn't even know the GNX had an extra bushing or two. Subtle trick indeed.

I'd be interested to feel how much difference it makes if any in a completely stock G-body. I get that most of them were grandma's church car, but having no bushing over the axle just just looks like a huge opportunity for flex.

Who knows. Maybe the car is actually quicker because of the bushings. If it's putting less power into folding the car up then that's power to the tires.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

I would have thought they would have at least stuck them into the "T" cars. I mean it was a suspension package after all.

 

[v6buicks]

I guess it's that time of year again: My annual GN discouragement. This time it didn't even do anything to make me feel this way.

In the grand scheme of things, I've taken a pretty nice but mechanically neglected car and turned into a less nice but very smooth runner. The remaining things left to do are mostly items which I'm dreading. The exhaust won't be a big deal, and judging by the amount of rust I picked out of the muffler holes it could fix my KR issue too. We'll overlook the finnicky 80s car aspect for now. The AC is messed up again and I almost guarantee it needs an evaporator. Gross. I don't wanna do it. The transmission makes some undesirable noises. I don't know what that's about because it shifts hard and on time every time. It makes me nervous that an expensive repair that I'm most likely to farm out is upcoming though. Beyond that, it's paint which I'm not rich nor patient enough to have redone. I don't wash or maintain this car's paint properly and frankly that kind of work just hasn't been my jam. Gav graciously reached out and is planning to chat with me about how I can work on not making this thing worse than it is. Even if I can learn to love washing my cars (correctly!) I think it would just send me down the "this car needs paint" rabbit hole.

In the end, I'm more of a wrench and the nice paint stuff is too good for me. Even if I could overlook the paint (which truly stresses me the hell out) I've done what I've wanted to do with it, and the story just feels over unless I keep writing new chapters (break it s'more). I like driving it and the crazy amount of attention it brings, but I could still get in another car that needs my help. If I had space to store cars that I don't use, I'd for sure keep this. However, I don't even have space for the cars I do use, and much less for an expensive classic car that has original paint.

Reach out if you are looking to buy a pretty nice Grand National.

 

[sktchy]

Might be worth taking a peak at converter bolts and flexplate before you condemn it? Does this have the 200 4r like the Montes?

 

[GTPpower]

Dammit. Everytime you mention selling this thing, I hover over the private message button.

Then I think about the 442 I have in storage that hasn't been touched in 15 years, and think about how my wife would just laugh if I brought another car up.

 

[v6buicks]

Dammit. Everytime you mention selling this thing, I hover over the private message button.

Then I think about the 442 I have in storage that hasn't been touched in 15 years, and think about how my wife would just laugh if I brought another car up.

I didn't know you had a 442.

Might be worth taking a peak at converter bolts and flexplate before you condemn it? Does this have the 200 4r like the Montes?

It's not that kind of noise. It kinda groans and rattles in reverse. Hard to describe. Otherwise it's fine.

 

[sktchy]

X2 on the 442

 

[Five-0]

If you’ve had your fun with it and did what you wanted with it, sell it and find the next toy. It hurts, but it’s what keeps the joy of
The hobby going IMO.

 

[v6buicks]

Just had a nice phone call with Gav'sPurpleZ regarding what I'm doing wrong, what a good detail shop is going to do for me, and how I should go forward. I didn't realize what little I did was so harsh on the finish, and how simple it is to maintain a good coating. I took notes and have some products to buy and try out.

Nothing is more frustrating in this hobby than putting everything you can into car and not being able to keep up. If I can continue to keep this car looking respectable after an expensive professional detail and ceramic coating, it should be able to buy itself more time in my garage.

 

[ASlowV6]

Being at your breaking point with a hobby that you’re supposed to enjoy sucks. Sometimes all you need is a little more information or a different perspective to reignite your passion, and other times it’s good to know when to call it quits. I’ve wanted a GN since I was a little tiny kid but I’ve always talked myself out of it for the same exact reason you’re struggling with it right now. I know the pressure I would put on myself to keep it clean/original/healthy would stress me out so bad I wouldn’t enjoy owning it.

 

[v6buicks]

Took the car for a long drive the other night and I had very mixed feelings. Keep in mind that this is the first long drive on the new body bushings.

First of all, I couldn't sit at a single stop light without someone giving me a compliment or thumbs up. Even though the ideas I have for replacement are arguably cooler, I can guarantee they won't gather the same kind of attention. This car makes me feel good in a type of way that no other car will.

As for ride quality, I am noticing a very light vibration, but it's dependent on engine loads and rpm. I blame the poly engine mounts for that. I went way overkill by doing poly on both sides. Any mild build like mine should have rubber on the passenger side. I learned that long after they were already installed. Oh well.

I also still have KR but a little less. I'm noticing the car either shits and gits or it feels like its bogging while not down shifting and pulling up to 3 degrees of timing. Again, I'm not going to look too deep into it until I get the new mufflers on because these old ones could be chambered for all I know and they're for sure packed full of rust.

Today would be a perfect day to start taking care of that if I didn't have a family of birds nesting in my attic.