The "Phoenix" Build Thread

[Nasty Wendy]

The Phoenix is off of the jackstands!!! I got the brakes bled and dug out some black mesh 15" wheels I had stashed in my shed. I have some drag radials on them so I cleaned them up and bolted them on. Backed the car up a few times to pump the brakes to get the rear clickers to adjust the shoes. Pulled back into the garage and there she sits. It is so close to a test drive I can taste it. I have to get some new tires for the front or at least get a valve stem changed if I have to wait for tires to be ordered. Powermaster does need some attention. I had a firm pedal....maybe to firm. I'll go through a Powermaster check tomorrow.
I'll be rocking these wheels until my GTAs come back from the refinisher.

 

[USMC_Turbo6]

Looking Good!!! Keep at it brother, I know how you feel. I'm so close but still so far away from being done.

 

[Nasty Wendy]

Yeah Dee its so close that its hard to hard not to steal it and go for a joy ride and put it back before I know its gone.
Then I just remembered I have to grease all the grease fittings. I'm going get a tube of synthetic grease tomorrow.

 

[Nasty Wendy]

More pretty came via FedEx today. I popped these on it and they make a huge difference. I love the look of new lights. I'll be 'straightening' those headlights out soon. New bumper lights from NOS 4GN. .

You can see I actually backed the car out of the garage today. I put it in the driveway and took off the passenger side front wheel to grease the upper ball joint. It is really tight in the garage on that side of the car.

 

[Nasty Wendy]

We had rain today so that scrapped my plans to back it out and wax it. So I put on the wastegate and hooked up the Grainger valve boost contoller that Earl Brown made for me. Started working on the hood. It wouldn't close so I did some adjusting to the latch. Now I need to move it around on the hinges to close a gap up front between the front edge and the passenger side header panel then I'll start on the interior work. I found a rearview mirror with Homelink, Compass, and Map lights. That'll go in as soon as it arrives. John Spina (Casper's Electronics) is sending me a needed relay for the AC system.

As I look at the car and see all the individual contributions that have culminated in the form of a Buick Grand National in my garage my eyes tear up and my heart grows heavy with happiness. I look through the lists of receipts I have for the donations from so many people and I cannot figure out a way to say thank you loud enough. Having this car to work on has given me great reasons to keep on going and there have been times when having those reasons has helped a ton. The last thing I think of at night before I go to sleep is what I can get done on my car tomorrow. Even when I have to do other things I HATE, I will always be able to look forward to getting some progress made on this car that I love thanks to all of you. Now I will stop boring the hell out of ya'll and hopefully get some stuff done to the car that I can post pics of tomorrow.

 

[HALF DUZZIN]

I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THIS STORY!!! IT MAKES ME EVEN MORE PROUD TO OWN MY 87 TURBO T.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!

 

[BuickMike231]

^^^This!! This story is awesome and I'm proud to be a part of it even though I couldn't contribute anywhere near what some of the other guys did. This should make all of us proud that we pulled the community together to do something so cool. I known for a fact you will never see Camaro or Mustang guys do something like this. One more reason Turbo Buicks and the people who have them are the best!

 

[Nasty Wendy]

Update. Sorry no pics. The interior is all over the car. I'm waiting on parts from TR Custom Parts to get the door panels done and up to par with the rest of the car. While the panels are off I have to replace the passenger power window motor. My rearview mirror arrived with no wiring plug for it. Went to the Dodge dealer to get one and they can't get it without the vin number of the car it came off of. WTH? Went to the salvage yard and there was not a car there that came equipped with the same mirror I purchased and none of the wiring plugs looked like they'd plug into this mirror. I may end up hanging it on the windshield and not running any wires to it until I figure out how to get the right plug.

While I had it out in the driveway working on it I was revved at by a couple mustangs, received several thumbs up from passers-by, and one guy nearly broke his neck trying to look back and yell something to me. Man I can't wait for 'The Phoenix' to be ready to rumble. I'm going to sit in and wait for revving mustangs to pass by asking for ass whoopins.

 

[2QUICK2B6]

very nice car

 

[Nasty Wendy]

very nice car

Thanks Scott.

 

[buick86]

Clay you are really doing a nice job on your car . I cant wait to see YOU driving it for real this time !!! WE MUST HAVE PICS... Craig

 

[Nasty Wendy]

Clay you are really doing a nice job on your car . I cant wait to see YOU driving it for real this time !!! WE MUST HAVE PICS... Craig

Craig thank you man. I'm going to put up a video of when I drive it out on its 'Maiden Voyage'.

Changing out the passenger side power window motor and I find out that my rivet gun can't install rivets big enough to put the regulator back in. So I have to get a bigger rivet gun.

 

[Bruce Urie]

Jeez, Clay! It's beautiful! I'm just so happy for you.......it's a great thing these guys did for you and I'm so very proud of them also.

I donated a 1/4-20 bolt...does that count? Had some "speednuts" but I think Mike stole them all.

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[Nasty Wendy]

Jeez, Clay! It's beautiful! I'm just so happy for you.......it's a great thing these guys did for you and I'm so very proud of them also.

I donated a 1/4-20 bolt...does that count? Had some "speednuts" but I think Mike stole them all.

Bruce '87 Grand National

Thanks Bruce. This car surprised me every time I opened the door to the garage for over a month after I got it here. It was a startling shock, now even though I'm not startled anymore I grow more amazed every day. Yes Bruce by all means your donated 1/4-20 bolt counts. If you remember which one it was I'd like to get you to autograph it. I'm going to call it BUB, the Bruce Urie Bolt. An autographed speed nut just wouldn't be the same. LOL.

 

[87gnguy]

Actually that's not Sean Brown in the Pic with the truck. That's Casey Tuggle I think Sean was taking the picture... That was a hellova drive from Clay's to your house

Well I thought it would be neat to put together a complete build thread for Clay and his new car now called "Phoenix" formerly known as "Nasty Wendy"..... (The story is in Clay's signature if anyone wants to see it). I am doing this for several reasons one of which to mention EVERYONE involved in donating to getting Clay back into the car & hobby he loves and second so all the pictures and progress is all in one place..

First of all a Big thanks to Shawn O'Connor for putting this car together and working his ass off trying to make the deadline!

Secondly a big Thanks to "Coach" for doing everything he did and even driving 5 hrs round trip just to help Shawn and the guy's build this car for Clay!

A Big thanks to "Everyone" involved in getting Clay back into the car he loves and the hobby he loves so much! The people here are simply Amazing! We Did It !!!!


Below is the list of Vendors/People who donated parts: (in no particular order) The other complete list of people who donated money is listed at the end of the thread.

Paul Castle (World of Motorworks:
New Grill, New Headlight bezels, Shifter Handle, New NOS Dew Sweeps, New Door sill plates, Door Escutcheons

Mike Barnard "SpoolFool":
New Front & Rear Bumper fillers

Julio aka "Razor"
New Alky Control kit

John Follweiler "T-Charged":
New ACC Black Carpet

Scot W. GNS Performance:
GM Door Seals, Horn button, Coil Pack cover, Relay name plate

Shane Langford aka "blackgn1"
High Boost plug wires

Pete Hoffman (Kirbans)
Dash Top, T-Top Seal kit

Mark Huffman "TR Custom Parts"
Cold Air Kit

Bob Murrah aka "Proptop"
GM Header Panel

James Meyers aka "ttaowner"
Interior Plastic Pieces

Aaron Evans aka "tb6"
Radio Bezel

Stefan aka "tricksixpa"
Door Escutcheons

Ray aka "1952ray"
Chrome Battery Cover

Bob aka "dwall"
New Hood Seal & Trunk Seal kit

Duarte aka "Evil"
3rd brake light

Mike Dopkins aka "m233roller"
Door pull straps, 3rd brake light socket

Jay aka "boosted-para"
He restored Clay's GNX Wheels

Russ aka "russgoodman"
Gauge Pod

Phil Bassage
The man who towed Clay's car & Parts from Shawn's place all the way to BG, Donated a chrome turbo shield, and also a $50.00 Kirban's gift certificate




Here is the car at the shop waiting for work to begin:
View attachment 242913
Here it is in the same spot after it burnt to the ground:
View attachment 242914

Sean Brown headed West from FL - New Orleans to pick up Clay's car to bring it to TN, Scot W's:
View attachment 242960

Arrival at storage place to pick up the car:
View attachment 242961 View attachment 242962

On trailer headed to TN. by Scot W. so he can take it to BG for Sean to finish bringing it to PA to be resurrected..
View attachment 242963

Arrived safely in TN:
View attachment 242964 View attachment 242965

Loaded onto Shawn's trailer headed for PA. from BG 2013:
View attachment 242966
Now in PA awaiting it's transformation by Shawn O'Connor:
View attachment 242967

 

[MDavis]

Any update?

 

[TurboTGuy]

" Went to the Dodge dealer to get one and they can't get it without the vin number of the car it came off of."

Do you by any chance know what kind of Dodge the mirror came from? If so, you might just be able to find another car of that type in a wrecking yard (or parking lot) and use the VIN from it to get the connector.

Just thinking out loud here...........

 

[Nasty Wendy]

BACK FROM THE DEAD!!!!

Well guys I was changing my passenger side power window motor last time I worked on the PHOENIX. My telephone rang while I was working on it and it was my Dr. calling me in for my organ(s) transplant. That was the night of March 6th and that halted things for a while. During my recovery I was told not to work on the car. I was given a lifting restriction of 5 lbs MAXIMUM. I would have gone stir crazy if it weren't for rewiring my boat. I started working on my boat during my light duty restriction and I took an oath to not take on more than one project at a time and to complete the project before switching over to work on another. I wish someone told me that boats are like Buicks in the sense that you never really finish working on them. Any how I did get the boat project complete and got myself ready to take on the next project "Finish The Phoenix". Well that got postponed by the tree cutters we hired to cut some trees. They found a way to bust 7 holes in the roof over my house and ruin the roof over my patio. They also busted a hole in the roof over my shed that my Buick parts are kept. So those repairs took priority over wrenching. Then my father's health took a turn for the worse. So I've been helping my Mother tend to him. I do believe and pray that his situation is about to be remedied. The doctors are transporting him to a different hospital hopefully this morning to prepare him for emergency spinal surgery. He is in immense constant pain and this latest turn of events (emergency surgery) is the only end in sight. I have not been able to work on my car with my father's situation so heavily on my mind until last night. Knowing that there is possible relief for him coming soon has eased my mind enough for me to focus enough to get some progress made on The Phoenix. My recovery from my transplant surgery is going absolutely great.

So I was finally able to install the power window motor and regulator after being interrupted by my transplant surgery and light duty restriction that followed. Now my windows are working as they should.

Posts in this thread are useless without pics so here are a few.

Jay sent these back to me all redone and refinished and ready for duty.
A pair of these are originally my wheels I used for my drag radials and a pair were donated. Thanks for the wheels Robert. All four are GTA fronts that now have been immaculately refinished.

Knowing that these are going to get used and not just taken on leisurely drives every other blue moon the refinisher blacked out the rears of the wheels. This is to keep them looking great even after brake dust starts to take its toll.

A close up of the back side black out.

And this has come in as well.

I am back on it guys. I'll be updating the thread from now until I wrap it up for the trip to Bowling Green. I'll get back on it after I return as I know there will still be more to do and show.

 

[Nasty Wendy]

Ok so I got the door panels on and complete for the first time. I put on the TR Custom Parts inlays on the escutcheons to give them that nice new finish. I also put the inlay on the dash plaque to tie in the color and give a new finish to that as well. I had ordered custom engraved screw covers for the pull straps and I think they came out nice. Here are the pics.

Yes I did put in the door lock switch rotated up rather than forward. I'll go back and put it in the way it goes but I'm going to have to do some work to the cut out the switch goes in to make it work. Its in there like that for now until I can get back to it and clean up the install.

Custom screw covers.

Dash plaque inlay.

As you can see there is molding laying on the dash. My next order of business is putting all the molding on and get the sun visors on.

The goal for tomorrow is to get the molding on and visors installed AND pull it out the garage to clean the 6 months of dust that has settled on it.

 

[TLIMITED]

Glad to see you back to working on the car and feeling better.Hope your Dad recovers quickly.See you in BG!!!!