First off a bit about my background.
I like to say that
I'm a server and network babysitter, working as a system administrator for an
internet service provider. my usual interests are
definitely in the area of the brain: computers, video games, books. As a younger lad i dabbled in cabin building, electricity, electronics and chemistry,
admittedly on a very low level. My father is a mechanical engineer but never much helped me in my hands-on projects.
you could say that i was about as far as you can get from a "car guy", and in fact until recently had absolutely no interests in cars beside as means of getting from point A to B. What can i say, everyone is always talking about souping up their civics, accords, and other ugly
japanese trashboxes or
japanese-inspired
american pancakes. You hardly ever see a classic car, or any other kind of full metal
hot rods: plastics plastics plastics, it's what it's all about. And frankly, plastics are ugly as hell.
Enter the '86 Grand
Prix.
it's one of the last true
american cruising cars, the 86 was the second to last year that still had a rear-wheel drive and a large frame. Based on
GM's G-body that saw production between 1978 and 1988, it has 108 inch wheelbase (that is the length from wheel to wheel): a full 15" longer than my daily driver (a Toyota Echo 2000). Finally a car worthy of attention and at the price i couldn't pass it up.
This one has a rebuilt for performance Chevy 350 Small Block engine, up from the 305 block that comes "stock", that is when it is fresh out of the dealer lot. As i soon found out, these numbers, 350 and 305, stand for the total displacement of the piston (the amount of air/fuel that gets moved around by the metal thingies inside the motor) measured in Cubic Inches. in metric it would equate to 5.7 Liters and 5.0 Liters respectively. Hey, i did say i was a complete newbie
in short, it's a "drag race" car. it should in theory be able to do the 1/4 miles in 12 to 14 seconds: owing to it's high weight.
Now, the previous owner did modify the motor and repaint the body. it has barely any rust, something that is rather surprising for a '86. the frame is sound and the engine loud, as any self-respecting hot rod, but the interior and overall "look" is lacking: it's a 86, and it shows.
this blog is where i will be documenting my progress, or if you prefer, stumbling, of disassembling, cleaning, painting, and reinstalling everything. there is still some work to do on the engine, this will be here too when i get to it.
on with the show... and thanks {Deity} for Google