Overwhelmed

[BuickMike]

Everytime i go into the garage and look at my GN it just depresses me. It needs so much work and I just don't know if I can handle it all. I haven't driven it in over 2 years since I blew a head gasket. I finally took the heads off of it to see what was going on. The passenger side head gasket completely blew out on cylinder #2. It looks like that cylinder was running lean. There was a channel worn through in the drivers side head gasket in #3. Probably from when I had a flat #3 exhaust lobe before. That explains all the blow by. The #1 exhaust valve is cracked like the liberty bell!! The crack goes all the way through. Basically, the heads need work. The cylinder walls look really good though. Even if I can swing getting the motor rebuilt I'm just going to be putting it into a rolling garbage can because there are plenty of other issues with the car. The paint is checked so bad that it looks like broken glass, the interior is shot, and the suspension should be gone through. I'm sick of keeping this car alive by patching as I go. I'm almost thinking I'd be better off parting it out and getting something that runs. What should I do??

Sorry, I just had to vent somewhere.

 

[Just a Six??]

Pesonally, I would part it out & start fresh or sell as is to someone who has the time, $$$ & passion to restore it. No fun working on it everyday when time & $$ is limited. Get a better car & start fresh! JMO.

 

[corsair231]

The body and frame, not just the paint, would have to be pretty bad to make it a candidate for part out over repair. Even if you parted it then you would have to pay for another car and may still have to do the maintenance stuff like the suspension anyway. If it's not a total basket case then you can say that you built it and you will know just what you have when you're done.

 

[chrisgarrett]

Never, ever be depressed. It's a state of mind that you can reject. Sell the crappy car that is making you sad and buy Phil's car. If Phil owns it, it must be solid. Life is short; be happy.
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/cars-sale/259083-my-86-t-type-sale.html

 

[BuickMike]

Never, ever be depressed. It's a state of mind that you can reject. Sell the crappy car that is making you sad and buy Phil's car. If Phil owns it, it must be solid. Life is short; be happy.
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/cars-sale/259083-my-86-t-type-sale.html

Man!! I want that!! Major bang for the buck, but I don't have that kind of cash available.

 

[BuickMike]

The body and frame, not just the paint, would have to be pretty bad to make it a candidate for part out over repair. Even if you parted it then you would have to pay for another car and may still have to do the maintenance stuff like the suspension anyway. If it's not a total basket case then you can say that you built it and you will know just what you have when you're done.

You're probably right. The frame and body are straight. I just don't know if I can handle all the time and $$$.

 

[need boost]

DON"T look at the big picture or it can overwhelm you fast. Do a little at a time. Say this week, I am going to clean the interior the best I can. Next week set the goal of getting the heads off the car and to the machine shop if money allows, if not just get them off and clean them up. Take little steps and it will be fun again, that way you will be making progress a little at a time and most importantly you will FEEL like you are making progress. Daniel Ray

 

[d0n_3d]

I have gone through the same scenario the past year and 2 months. When I split my factory 120k mile block and bottom end, I knew the car was going to sit for a while. So I decided that since the car had so many miles on it, I was going to overhaul EVERYTHING. I pretty much stripped the engine bay down to just bare frame rails and bought all new parts. I highly recommend NOT touching your steering linkage though. I do regret doing that. I didn't need to replace all that stuff. It was a pain to get everything lined up and I'm still going to need a professional alignment done once I get the car running. But I took out the plastic wheel wells, painted them black. Painted the entire engine bay black. Now I got the new motor and trans in, took out the old crappy wiring harness in favor of a new standalone FAST XFI harness, all new tubular suspension, Baer brakes up front, ran a completely new fuel system.

I've probably worked on my car every weekend since last year. I can assure you I am getting sick of looking at it and working on it. I just want to DRIVE it. I don't even care about racing it right now, just DRIVING it. I feel your pain. But like someone said previously, take it a little at a time. Do one thing one weekend. Something else the next...that's exactly what I've had to do. One weekend I spent wiring just fan relays and fuel pump. Next I had to do the steering linkage. Another I spent running new fuel lines. It's ALOT of work don't get me wrong but MAN think of all the compliments and thumbs ups you'll get when you do it right and take your time going through everything. Just my .02 cents.

 

[rmar]

Do you know how to eat a elephant?

One bite at a time......

 

[BuickMike]

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I guess it wouldn't be a big deal if there wasn't always something constantly putting the GN on the back burner financially. At first it was college, then it was no money from a crappy job. Now that I make good money, I have a house and a wife and kid to support. The house is the big thing. We put in landscaping, a pool, and I built a really nice detatched garage to put the GN and my '59 LeSable in so I can start restoring them. Right now I have about $3K saved up for the GN, but I also have the itch to get a used toy hauler so I can take my wife and 3 year old son camping. I'd like to have a hobby that includes the whole family. My wife isn't big on the GN and my son is not big enough to really get involved even though he is a hard core car guy. I kind of feel that if I do go with a trailer, then the GN will be put off several years. I feel like I'm stuck with it for better or worse since I'm not willing to sell the whole car for cheap and take a bath on it. I'd probably trade it straight up for a 21-24ft toy hauler though LOL. Honestly summer is almost over and the trailer can wait til spring. Maybe i should just blow some $$ on it and get started.

 

["Turbo-T"]

If you did sell the car now and took a bath on it you'd kick yourself later.

I agree take small steps. Work on getting it running first. Then maybe work on the interior. Then move to the exterior. Or you could do it vice versa but at a minimum get it running.

 

[Boost231]

give nick micale a call. he has helped me alot and is located pretty close to you. im sure he can set you up with some good deals. you can find his info at arizonagn.com stick with it. my car has taken over 10 years to get all fixed up and its still not done.

 

[Whut]

Without reading the thread beyond the first post I can say I relate. I bought my GN because I wanted one again and was like a dumb, I saw a GN, I bought it, I didnt care. It was a PILE that needed a lot of work. I got lucky that the seats and dash were in good shape but that was about it.

You say your paint is bad. I have actually had people ask me if I dried my car with sand paper.

It looked like this,

And now like this,

I dont have a ton of cash to throw at this hobby, I am pretty stretched just because I finally commited to building the motor and then got laid off but I did everything with research and cost vs quality in mind. It may take a while, my car is currently a three year project that really doesnt have an end. I have completely restored the car and now it has one heck of a motor in it.

One thing to check for paint work is local high schools and community colleges that have auto body programs. They can do the work for nothing, just the cost of materials in some cases. For me, that second picture is a Maaco job, I knew the manager, the guy that prepped it liked the car, I was there every day checking on it, and the work came out nice for the price.

 

[BuickMike]

My paint looks JUST like that. I'm hoping to do some kind of budget paint job if I keep it. My thoughts are that I disassemble the car, get a baking soda blaster and blast the body to bare metal, make a auto body friend and get them to fix the dents, get a reputable shop prep, spray, color sand it, and assemble it myself. As far as the motor goes, I'm just looking to build it with forged pistons, ARP studs, stock crank and rods, mild cam, and mild ported / rebuilt heads. I'll do as much of that work myself. It's still alot of money for me.

 

[Boost231]

if you need help with paint a friend of mine owns a paint shop down in tucson. its called photofinish and seth or chris is who you would want to talk to. they did the paint on my car. also this is what mine looked like. hang in there.

 

[Whut]

My paint looks JUST like that. I'm hoping to do some kind of budget paint job if I keep it. My thoughts are that I disassemble the car, get a baking soda blaster and blast the body to bare metal, make a auto body friend and get them to fix the dents, get a reputable shop prep, spray, color sand it, and assemble it myself. As far as the motor goes, I'm just looking to build it with forged pistons, ARP studs, stock crank and rods, mild cam, and mild ported / rebuilt heads. I'll do as much of that work myself. It's still alot of money for me.

I spent about $1500 total on my paint job and that included chemical strip and fixing little dents here and there. I enlisted the help of northerngn to strip the car myself. The more we took off, the less lines would be on the car so we took off the handles, locks, spoiler, sail panel, bumper fillers, mirrors, emblems, and the shop took off the window trim. I had to then put it all back together but it saved me over two grand in labor alone and I got a better quality job out of it.

My motor was blown like yours. Foolish of me to run 30 PSI with 110 and turn the alky off with only 42lb injectors. I ran out of injector, went lean and blew that sucker sky high. I went with a .020 build, BMS stroker crank, Carillo rods, GN1 heads with race port, ported stock intake, JE slugs, 212/210 roller cam, T&D roller rockers, and 135# springs. It wasnt cheap but when I finally got to sit in the car and start it up it was all worth it.

 

[WHITE T]

Mike,

Either keep it.. or sell it to me!

I will put it on the list of things I need to do.... I want to restore a GN.

I see ya every 6 months.. we can talk about it

If you are serious Pm me!

 

[GNBRETT]

I say hang on to it. I think half the fun is the anticipation of actually getting to drive it. It's been quite a while since I have had the opportunity to drive mine but I greatly look foward to going out to my garage and starting it to go for a cruise.

 

[stack1]

It's been said a dozen times but take it one step at a time. The body and paint have nothing to do with being able to drive it. So save that for last. I have a $hitty repaint from a previous owner on my car, but I could care less untill I get it mechanically sound. It also helps that mine is a white car, black is sooooooooooo unforgiving.

 

[BuickMike]

One thing I forgot to mention in my original post is that I've had this car for 10 years now. If I only had it a handful of years I wouldn't be so burnt out.

At this point it's all or nothing. I'm sick of just patching it up to keep it alive. I feel like if I just do the motor and leave the body alone I will regret it later because I will still want to take apart the front clip anyway so I can strip it bare. Maybe I should have a project kickoff party and invite you local guys over to help motivate me and help with some wrench time. Did I mention I have a keg of Alaskan Amber in the garage??