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"Holy Grand Prix Batman"!

Purple Plazma

Purple Plazma

New member
Jacked up my project '98 GTP coupe today so as to install a replacement parking brake cable. This car must have sat in water at least 2-3 feet deep for YEARS! Damn, talk about rot! Good thing I'm a professional body man that happens to be very skilled in fixing rot on cars.Of course, that dosen't mean I like doing it! It's so bad I feel my best course of action is to buy a doner parts car. I'm gonna replace ALL of the bolt on parts back there even possible the steel gas tank. Now I see why the newer G.P.s came with plastic tanks. The freek'n frame rails and the rear sections of the rocker panels are GONE! You'd think the car was 40+ years old, not about 12! Gonna be a pain in the butt too because of the location on the car. Looks like I bought a money pit :th_shakinghead1: :th_depressed::mad::th_angry-cussing::th_sign-ripped:At this rate, gonna have some serious time and $ invested in it even with me doing all the work.Only had 79K miles (showing) and it's a rare combo of Purple paint color, cloth interior, and it's a 2 door. The trans and engine better hold up!
Is this common?
 


Pa is rough on cars when i lived out there I gave up and just drove beaters I must have looked at 10 cars one day all of them had rot
 
Trans better hold up??? Hope you got some money set aside for that. Im sure others will say otherwise, Ive owned 3 GPs none from brand new but all had less than 60K when I bought them and 2 of the 3 got transmissions under 100k. Yeah I drive hard and a ton of highway miles but kept up on transfuild and filters pretty good. Just a warning esp since yours is a GTP
 
Actually I bought the car about 10 miles outside of Boston,Mass. then drove it 300 miles back to the Philly area. I knew before I sealed the deal on the car there was some rust issues, to bad I didn't have the opportunity to put it on a lift to really inspect it :mad: I'd like to make a high 13 second car out of it but it MUST be reliable as a daily driver, not just a drag car. I always run my cars hard but maintain them. My current driver is a '96 Buick Roadmaster Wagon with just 82K miles and a strong running LT1 under the hood. It's certainly no drag car being a 4500 lb boat with highway gears ( it's best at the track is a half decent 15.54 sec 1/4 mile run at a best speed of 88.69 m.p.h.) I'd really love to buy a '05-'06 GTO and really kick some butt! I curently have about $6300 tied up in this car, and like I said I'm a professional autobody mech of 33 years with my own little shop. Repairing it isn't a problem for me to do, but I've got enough other things I want to do to the car ( full paint job with silver "rally" stripes, all new rugs & mats that I already purchased, some mild performance upgrades in engine output, custom 17 inch wheels which are still in the boxes, rebuilt the factory radio back to original specs, etc).

I love the look of the '97-03 G.Ps especially the GTP coupes, plus purple metallic is my favorite color.I know I can make this low mileage, somewhat rare car look sweet, but damn, with EVERYTHING badly rotted or surface rusted it is really pissing me off. Even the steel hydraulic brake lines are rotted through along with the steel parking brake cable. I have 0 brakes right now which makes it quite difficult to stop! No way I can even think of selling it as is and expect to even come close to getting my money back.
 


So you went all that way to get a purple car but your planning on re painting it anyways?
 
Like I said others will say otherwise about the transmission. Ive got about 85k on the rebuilt one in my 02 GP GT. Id rather do paint and body work then transmissions thats forsure. Hate transmission problems.
 
Gafford44 said:
So you went all that way to get a purple car but your planning on re painting it anyways?
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The car was hit in the ass before and the entire car had been resprayed, but it's an average job at best.It has flaws which to me are unacceptable. Plus the hood needs to be stripped and a skim coat of filler is gonna be needed over most of it due to hail damage which left little dents all over it.
I'm sure this isn't exactly a rare collectable car, at least not yet, it's a base GTP without HUD, leather, or even an auto dim mirror, but I have vissions of how sweet and original it could look. How many of the purple 2 door GTPs do ya see these days?
I keep thinking about how much Camaros from the '60s are worth now, especially the '69. Hell, you could own a rotted p.o.s. without the original engine, and needs a COMPLETE overhaul, if you have the title it would be worth upwards of $7-$10K on ebay! It's the old story of..."boy if I knew then what I know now, never should have gotten rid of that car"
Guess if I have to sink a few thousand into it, and 6-7 months of work, so be it:th_depressed:
 
wickedintent79 said:
i know its sick to most but i like the '96 Buick Roadmaster Wagon my wife thinks im retarded
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Apparently there's quite a following for those big 'ol wagons, especially the Roadmasters which are fancier than the Chevy version. Mine's got the factory woodgrain delete, low miles,and except for some minor work needed both mechanically( fuel pump), and a few imperfections on the front bumper and left fender,it'll turn heads especially with the nice chrome Keystone Classic steel rims on it. Plus it'll tow at least 5K lbs, and haul a 4x8 sheet of anything in the back. It's the "collectors edition" meaning it's the last year it was produced, 1996.
 
Well, I went to my shop today to pull off the rear wheels and the rocker panel trim pieces. I removed the rear bumper cover too. The amount of additional serious rot I found in both rockers and even the rear bumper reinforcement has reluctantly forced me to conclude the "holy roller" Grand Prix isn't worth repairing :th_depressed: It's has now been downgraded to the title of "parts car". Now to find a parts car with a bad engine, or trans, or hit in the front. My engine & trans are fine and only have 79K miles. Actually, the entire front end plus doors are good as is the deck lid and interior. MAN, IS THIS CAR ROTTED!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got seriously hosed by that stealership in Mass. :th_angry-pissed:
 


WickedIntent79 put up a good looking car. Its not purple, but it still looks good. I'm guessing you have all the good parts on your car, and with a little work you should be good to go. Best of luck to you. BTW, the purple metallic would look great.
 
Last time I was swayed by the fact the car for sale was a factory purple one, like my original '98 GT I had back in '98.To bad I didn't listen to the professional body man in me that wispered "don't buy this car, drive away". Now I need to find another coupe with a nice butt and no rot so I can merge the two of them in wedded bliss. I've only swapped one front drive V6 before, and that was an Olds Cierra with a 2.8. Got some professional help with that one. I'm just a body man but I dabble with a fair amount of "greese monkey" situations. I just explained to my wife why I've been a real moody, short tempered p.i.t.a. these last few days. Told her about the GTP's rot situation and said if she dosen't lend me enough to buy a doner car,It may take quite some time for me to make 1 good car out of 2 bad ones. She said she'd help as much as she can. Man, I love this woman!:th_thumbsup-wink: Now I'm on a mission..............
Purple
 
the swap isnt really that bad pull the engine and trans as one from the top and swap over the wiring harness isnt much and so on It took me and a buddy a few hours while bs'n and taking our time
good luck with it i lived out in douglastownship for a few months the weather and conditions out there are hell on cars
I am ca born and raised never have i saw so much rot on cars made me sad lol
 
I'm from Maryland, and had received a 98 Ford Contour from my father in law for $800 with about 80k miles. Not a bad car, V6 5Speed. At least in terms of performance, but not great either.

The first thing I had to do on it was replace the brakes because it failed inspection. After sitting there for a couple hours trying to remove the brake rotors, I gave up. After the car broke down by my brother-in-law's house (alternator), I had him fix the alternator and the brakes (I couldn't get to that da**ed thing). He sat there for hours with an air hammer trying to get off ONE rotor.

He made me promise never to ask him to fix that car again. So I sold it my first opportunity. (Traded it in on my G5, which is a nice car no matter what ppl say on this forum! lol).

I've learned three things from purcashing that car. #1 - Look for rust. I never had a problem before that. My first car was a 1990 Lumina and it never had a problem. #2 - Never buy a Ford. I already knew that before hand, but I thought it was taken care of and cheap... #3 - Never buy a car from my father-in-law. Ever.
 


lol Ill get flamed for this But the never buy a ford thind is a bit harsh
Ive owned over 50 cars to date and it all come down to proper care of the car no matter what make and model

My preferance is GM vehicles but i have owned decent frd products

Dodge is the exception never owned one worth a damn
 
As I've found with almost every mechanical situation, it's always easier to remove than install.I might as well leave the car as together as it now remains until a doner is in my possession. Hope a good, close one isn't gonna take long to find
 
I looked at 5 GPs at a local salvage yard on Sat. All were 4 door versions :(. Although sitting for who knows how long, none of them had rot. Are the coupes prone to rotted rear frame rails and rocker panels?
 
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