• The site migration is complete! Hopefully everything transferred properly from the multiple decades old software we were using before. If you notice any issues please let me know, thanks! Also, I'm still working on things like chatbox, etc so hopefully those will be working in the next week or two.

Luke's GTP

Lots going on with the GTP. Complete list below. Photos coming soon. I'm driving this thing to the Finger Lakes area of New York state in 2 weeks for a 4-night music fest. Approx. 700 miles one way. The pressure to finish this car is REAL!!


1. Clanking Noise **biggest issue**
Took it to a local shop to have them figure it out. I was done with it. Turns out the MOOG bushing came out of the LCA on the drivers side. Passenger side was next. A different shop pressed them in back in March. The rubber bushings are mounted into these metal rings so I asked this new shop to Tac-weld both drivers and passenger bushings into the LCA's. This is done. Will be picking up the car tonight after work.


2. Tires
Purchased new Cooper Cobra GT's 235/55/16. From eBay. $514.00 + free shipping (not bad). They are already mounted/balanced and on the car.


3. All 4 dog-bone Poly Bushings
Had same shop do tires, LCA fix, and these bushings. They are installed... and man do they hold the engine in place.


4. Add A Circuit
Purchased for the Aeroforce I bought off PurpleGuy like a year ago. Will be installed by Sunday night. Pinned to radio fuse.


5. Head Lights
Both headlights are F'd. Like completely unsafe and cannot be used. The drivers side one started corroding inside and turned black. I thought it looked GOOD all blacked out so I bought some smoked headlights. Yes, I am concerned about light output. NO, I am not spending 400-500 of retros.
Also purchased GE Nighhawk bulbs to get better output... crossing my fingers. hoping it all works out.


Link to headlights = Amazon.com: Pontiac Grand Prix Black Smoked Headlights Headlamps Driver Left + Passenger Right Replacement Pair: Automotive


6. Tail Lights
Purchased some used stock tails from a member on here. They should be in my mailbox tmrw.


7. Carpet
What a pain in the ass. But it's on its way to being done. All holes are cut, it's fitted, and ready to be screwed down along the sides.


8. Key FOB
Purchased new AcDelco original Key Fob. Arriving in the next couple of days. Will need to program.


9. Rearview Mirror
Contacted a member on here, RareGMfan, to hook me up with a nice Gentex with autodim/compass/map lights. Will be installed by Sunday night.
 


cheatah faheatah said:
As always ... ambitious. Good Luck, and Enjoy The Show. You've mos def earned it !!
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Thanks man. Looking forward to it.

BIG UPDATE. Car works and moves under own power! She’s a ripper. Took her out on her maiden voyage this weekend. Yes… FINALLY DRIVING this thing. Got new plates, (old ones were 2 yrs expired), got insurance, and took her out. Drove to Michigan over the weekend. About 100 miles one way. The drive to MI, I was running hot most of the time. Average of 216*. Spiked up to 228*. These numbers are from my BlueDriver reader. On the drive back I saw much cooler temps, averaging 207*. I took screen shots as I was driving on the way back. See below. LTFT’s were all over the place. I know a little about LTFT’s, but not an expert on what those numbers mean yet… and how to diagnose. Need to do more reading. Anyway…the drive was successful. I only remembered to take 1 photo. DOH! It happened to be while getting gas across from Outpost Sports in New Buffalo, MI. But man…what a fun ride, what a machine. Love It.

On Sunday, yesterday, I pulled the seats back out, and carpet, and did the foam and ducting. The foam fell in place pretty good when I was putting it directly on the floor pan. I decided to glue the foam to the floor itself, then wrestle the carpet in, then glue the carpet to the foam in only a few spots. The seats and the side molding and screws will hold the carpet in place anyway. Also took out the headlights out in order to install the new ones. Turns out that the new ones need a bead of silicon on the seam around the lens. Need to do that tonight. Yesterday I also met up with a member from here, RareGMFan, for the rear-view mirror. New mirror actually works, and has compass. I wanted one with LED map lights but we couldn’t get it working. No pics of mirror yet… I need to re-glue the metal button that holds the mirror to the windshield and I will be all set.

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It just needs to be modded now! Dont worry about your trims its just a stock tune being its dumb self.
 
I felt like a quick update and some photos were in order. Been a few weeks now… Drove the car to Lake Seneca in NY, and back. Made it without issue. Loaded down with camping fear and all. Driving through rain hurricanes and the like. No problems. Was awesome. It’s hilly in that area of NY and the engine was running hot a few times. All the way up to 230* at one point. Then down to 199* within a matter of minutes on the downhill.

Other then than that, I’ve been driving the car regularly. Drives great! It’s super nice. Its really quiet, corners unbelievably well, ice cold A/C, and shifts gears like a dream! The tires stick to the ground like glue. Man, I couldn’t be happier with it. I’m always looking for excuses to drive it! haha. Planning on posting a quick video of a few quick pulls, when I get a chance. Only issues I see is a slight bogging down and a faint rattling under the car. Both issues I blame on the catalytic. There’s that, OHHH and I cracked the factory windshield. Like a fukking idiot. Arghhh. Was so mad at myself. When it’s late, and you’re tired, and you’re about to reach for a hammer to get the job done… THINK TWICE. Put the hammer down, get some sleep! Pics below.


Up in NY. Hood was ajar in this photo. She's looking good tho:
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Inside paneling is done. Pulled dash-board plastic molding from a junkyard. Not a scratch on it. Aeroforce mounted.
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Bought a huge Pontiac emblem from eBay. Baller. Except front bumper is fukked.
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Cooper Cobras. 235/55/16
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Had both mufflers replaced. After the first few drives they developed golf-ball sized holes in them. Kept same tips.
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Cracked windshield. Yep. Sucks. Installed the wipers wrong, then tried to pry them up with a hammmer, and CRACKKK.
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ItHurtz said:
LOL you got balls to drive to NY after being off the road for a couple years, I would have been scared
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It was dicey driving out there. No doubt about it. I had driven out to Union Pier, MI a few times before this NY trip. Those trips went without issue which made me a little more confident about the 700 miles to NY. Not to mention that practically everything on this car in new. I spent a small fortune to get this thing back on the road. It better take me anywhere I wanna go, DAMN IT! haHA.

What was stressing me more was how loaded down the car was. It was __low__riding man. I was worried about it overheating, I was worried about the welds on the strut towers busting through... haha. Just the 2 cases of water and 2 cases of Gatorade, and 6 cases of beer already made the ass sag big time. Now mind you, the entire rear suspension is brand new. On top of those liquids you have camping gear for 2, luggage for 2, camping stove, easy ups... Dude, **** was stacked to the rafters.

Also, I'm still very salty about breaking that factory windshield... GOD DAMN IT!!
On the bright side, I keep telling myself that this was the only real mistake I made during the rebuild.
 
Nice car! You were worried about weight in the car? I took 1200lbs of floor tire from Hudson Fl. all the way to Northern N.C. a couple years ago for my aunt, in my 2000 GTP coupe. YUP! I removed the rear seat to keep the weight as low (to the ground) as possible, filled the trunk and the interior floor with tile from Home Depot, made the drive up in 12 hrs, drove back home the next day, averaged over 30mpg too! Now the sucker was azzz draggin!
 
QUICKSILVER462 said:
Nice car! You were worried about weight in the car? I took 1200lbs of floor tire from Hudson Fl. all the way to Northern N.C. a couple years ago for my aunt, in my 2000 GTP coupe. YUP! I removed the rear seat to keep the weight as low (to the ground) as possible, filled the trunk and the interior floor with tile from Home Depot, made the drive up in 12 hrs, drove back home the next day, averaged over 30mpg too! Now the sucker was azzz draggin!
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Thanks man! Love this car. It's a great ride. Fewer and fewer of them out there. Makes me grin from ear to ear.

And you ain't kidding about the load. Holy shyt. I don't think all my gear weighed 1,200lbs. LOL! And in a coupe too. HAHA. Awesome. I bet those mufflers kissed the road a couple of times. That's a lot of driving too. The sticker on the trunk of my GTP says weight max is 1,000lbs. Seems low. That's barely 4 fat americans, without luggage, haha. Maybe the true limit is 1,500lbs. but GM decided to post 1,000 cuz you know, people push everything to the limit.
 
I only had about 500 lbs in the trunk and back seat of mine when I dragged it through Canada, but lowering springs complicate things. It had maybe 3" max clearance between the exhaust and the pavement, and I definitely lost a little bit of exhaust tip on the bottom. Lol
 


CHI2000GTP said:
I've put about 3000 miles on the old girl in the last 4 weeks.
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Despite the car driving good, there are a few issues.

1. After a spirited drive, I can smell oil burning. Thinking its the oil dripping from pan gasket and front cover onto the exhaust pipe/catalytic. The wind taking carrying it... Valve cover gaskets are new Felpros and no oil showing around the VC's, so it's not that.
2. The trans temp, after a normal drive of streets and highway, for 30min, gets to 220'ish. That's too hot right?
3. The trans, ONLY when in 3rd or 4th gear, can and often does vibrate like crazy. Even makes the HUD display shake and vibrate on the windshield.
4. The trans, when going say 60mph, and pressing down normally on gas peddle to get to 65, feels like its banging. Is that the torque converter banging, ....and about to shyt the bed? Now, if I lay off the gas, and then press it down again HARDER, it accelerates great, and then vibrates when I let off the gas a little bit (still pressing the gas, but not hard at all anymore).

Got some things to look into.


Anyway.... Posts without pics suck. So here's a couple.

Chicago and Sears Tower. From my parking spot, lol
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Trans running hot:
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Id say your tc is taking a ****, which means the rest of the trans is being killed by the tc. Rebuild time.
 


I hope he follows my thread. Some serious work going on here. If not, I'll have to reach out to him via PM.

BRANDON!! Do you hear me?!

I definitely follow his threads. He has mentioned the idea of doing a few more 4T65E-HD's. Talks about maybe collecting some cores and flipping them. Makes me hopeful that he might build another one.
 
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