Greetings! I have an 87 GN with 15,000 original miles on odometer. I purchased the car in 2021 from a woman who's husband had passed away. He bought the car new in 1987. I had helped her husband 20 years ago with getting his car up and running right after sitting for 10+ years covered in a building. I told him "if you ever want to sell this thing to please let me know." He passed away in 2021 and six month later his wife contacted me about the car. We worked out a deal and now the car sits in my garage. I have not put many miles on the car over the last 4 years. I decided that this was going to be the year I would start to take care of some of the projects I had been putting off. One of the projects was to track down and correct a very minor and intermittent body squeak from the rear passenger area of the car. The body bushings on my car appear to be in good condition. Low mileage, stored inside, no winters seems to help. (Who would have thought?) It is missing the typical lower bushings that most of these cars did. I purchased the lower bushing kit and the #5 bushing kit and began my search for a rear seat brace. My first turbo Buick was an 86 T Type with astro roof. It had Kirban type bars installed in it when I purchased it. I began to hunt around the web to see who was selling rear seat braces these days. I came across several people talking about the GNX style braces that they had installed over the years and a few people mention the Turbo Farm/Chad Dickey brace. The Turbo Farm brace was getting praise from around the net for being well built, powered coated and heavy duty. I found a youtube video of Chad doing an install. I watched the video and decided that I would try to get my hands on one to install in my car. Chad had posted his phone number on another forum. I texted him out of the blue and asked if he had any braces ready to go. He replied that he did and sent me his PayPal address. I sent him $250 and a few days later a package showed up on my doorstep. Chad kept in good contact along the way providing a tracking number and an offer for extra help/guidance when install day came. The brace was well packaged and perfect when it arrived and came with 13 high quality 1/4" stainless steel structural rivets. The brace has 13 holes. You get 13 rivets. Don't lose these. Don't use these to "test" your rivet gun. The youtube video that Chad made of the install was very helpful. It is direct and to the point. Chad comes off as a no nonsense kind of guy. I like that. If you plan on purchasing and installing this brace, watch the video a couple of times. Make sure you have the same tools on hand that he uses in the video. Installation took me about 6 hours and that was with some interruptions and taking my time. I waited 24 hours to remove my car from jack stands and to let the panel adhesive cure. Driving the car post install, the car felt tighter and steering felt more responsive. I have not noticed the body squeak since installing this brace. I am very pleased with this product and the entire experience dealing with Chad Dickey. Sometimes sending money to strangers on the internet does pay off! Hope this helps others thinking about this product!
Tool/Supply list I used for installation of brace
(3) 18" Locking C-clamps (vice-grip style)
(2) 6" Locking C-clamps (vice-grip style)
(1) 6" Medium trigger clamp (the ones used for wood working projects. I think mine was made by deWalt but there are many others)
1/4" Rivet gun (My local tool house let me demo the new Milwaukee Fuel M18 rivet gun. It worked awesome!)
1/4" Cobalt drill bit
Cordless Drill
Small torpedo level
3M 08115 Panel bonding adhesive (Available from local auto body supply store. Also available on amazon. This has 90 minutes of work time and cures in 24 hours)
3M 08571 Applicator gun
Angle die grinder
3M 07481 2" Scotch-Brite Roloc discs
Small shop vacuum
Nitrile gloves
Paper towels
Installation Tips
If you don't have an air conditioned shop, find a day where the weather is not going to be too hot. You will be spending some time in the back of a car with little air movement. A small fan and shade would be a big help.
Remove the passenger side front seat before starting interior disassembly. Only take a few minutes to do and gives you much more room to maneuver when doing the installation.
Remove the interior 1/4 glass trim from both sides. This will help in getting the carpet package tray out in one piece. If you have rear defrost on your car, be careful when removing the 1/4 glass trim where it meets the right rear and left rear corner of the rear headliner support. The defrost wires run in this area and will likely hold you up. Go slowly and don't yank on anything. A small flat screwdriver was helpful in pushing the wires above the trim pieces to aid in removal.
Use some sort of panel bonding adhesive in addition to the supplied rivets. I Used 3M 08115 as it is super strong and has a working time of 90 minutes. (There are many other types of adhesive available. Use what you have or what you can get access too. There are some single stage adhesives available that use a standard caulking gun.) I followed the video instructions and used adhesive on all the flat spots for extra support.
You will have to remove four seat belt anchors for this installation. (Two holding the rear seat back and two in the 1/4 trim for the front shoulder belts) My car used a T50 Torx bit. Make sure that your torx bit is fresh and that you get it fully seated before removing these bolts. I prefer to use hand tools to remove these. I was able to get all four bolts out without much trouble but the threads on the bolts didn't look great when removed. I ran a M12X1.75 tap through all of the anchor points and ran the bolts through a M12X1.75 die to clean them up before re-installation. I also applied a little bit of grease to each bolt before re-assembly.
You will have to scuff up the powder coating on the brace and on the interior metal for the adhesive to adhere. This will create dust. Have a shop vac at the ready to suck this dust up as has a tendency to get on your hands and clothes and could transfer to other interior upholstery.
If the brace does not sit flush with the rear seat back metal, don't worry. Use the clamps and let the clamps muscle them into place. I used a trigger clamp during my mockup as it is easy to release and make adjustments with. I also used a torpedo level on the top of the brace to make sure I was as level as possible. I used the locking c clamps to bring everything together as shown in the install video. You really can't over tighten the clamps. If you did not have to use much effort to close the jaws of the clamps, you are not tight enough. Release the clamps. Adjust. Try again. Once you are happy with your final mockup, make sure the rivets fit in all the holes you drilled into the body. If some do not go in easy, use your drill and 1/4" bit to auger the holes open slightly more.
When using the panel bonding adhesive and during final mock up, use nitrile gloves. These adhesives have a way of getting on your hands and transferring to clothing and upholstery. Not easy stains to get out.
Take your time. This job can be easily completed in a day for the average person with some mechanical ability. Faster of course for the pros out there! If you are in the southeastern Nebraska area and need to borrow any of the above listed tools, let me know! I am happy to help.
Tool/Supply list I used for installation of brace
(3) 18" Locking C-clamps (vice-grip style)
(2) 6" Locking C-clamps (vice-grip style)
(1) 6" Medium trigger clamp (the ones used for wood working projects. I think mine was made by deWalt but there are many others)
1/4" Rivet gun (My local tool house let me demo the new Milwaukee Fuel M18 rivet gun. It worked awesome!)
1/4" Cobalt drill bit
Cordless Drill
Small torpedo level
3M 08115 Panel bonding adhesive (Available from local auto body supply store. Also available on amazon. This has 90 minutes of work time and cures in 24 hours)
3M 08571 Applicator gun
Angle die grinder
3M 07481 2" Scotch-Brite Roloc discs
Small shop vacuum
Nitrile gloves
Paper towels
Installation Tips
If you don't have an air conditioned shop, find a day where the weather is not going to be too hot. You will be spending some time in the back of a car with little air movement. A small fan and shade would be a big help.
Remove the passenger side front seat before starting interior disassembly. Only take a few minutes to do and gives you much more room to maneuver when doing the installation.
Remove the interior 1/4 glass trim from both sides. This will help in getting the carpet package tray out in one piece. If you have rear defrost on your car, be careful when removing the 1/4 glass trim where it meets the right rear and left rear corner of the rear headliner support. The defrost wires run in this area and will likely hold you up. Go slowly and don't yank on anything. A small flat screwdriver was helpful in pushing the wires above the trim pieces to aid in removal.
Use some sort of panel bonding adhesive in addition to the supplied rivets. I Used 3M 08115 as it is super strong and has a working time of 90 minutes. (There are many other types of adhesive available. Use what you have or what you can get access too. There are some single stage adhesives available that use a standard caulking gun.) I followed the video instructions and used adhesive on all the flat spots for extra support.
You will have to remove four seat belt anchors for this installation. (Two holding the rear seat back and two in the 1/4 trim for the front shoulder belts) My car used a T50 Torx bit. Make sure that your torx bit is fresh and that you get it fully seated before removing these bolts. I prefer to use hand tools to remove these. I was able to get all four bolts out without much trouble but the threads on the bolts didn't look great when removed. I ran a M12X1.75 tap through all of the anchor points and ran the bolts through a M12X1.75 die to clean them up before re-installation. I also applied a little bit of grease to each bolt before re-assembly.
You will have to scuff up the powder coating on the brace and on the interior metal for the adhesive to adhere. This will create dust. Have a shop vac at the ready to suck this dust up as has a tendency to get on your hands and clothes and could transfer to other interior upholstery.
If the brace does not sit flush with the rear seat back metal, don't worry. Use the clamps and let the clamps muscle them into place. I used a trigger clamp during my mockup as it is easy to release and make adjustments with. I also used a torpedo level on the top of the brace to make sure I was as level as possible. I used the locking c clamps to bring everything together as shown in the install video. You really can't over tighten the clamps. If you did not have to use much effort to close the jaws of the clamps, you are not tight enough. Release the clamps. Adjust. Try again. Once you are happy with your final mockup, make sure the rivets fit in all the holes you drilled into the body. If some do not go in easy, use your drill and 1/4" bit to auger the holes open slightly more.
When using the panel bonding adhesive and during final mock up, use nitrile gloves. These adhesives have a way of getting on your hands and transferring to clothing and upholstery. Not easy stains to get out.
Take your time. This job can be easily completed in a day for the average person with some mechanical ability. Faster of course for the pros out there! If you are in the southeastern Nebraska area and need to borrow any of the above listed tools, let me know! I am happy to help.
