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$900 - 1984 Grand Prix, what other costs required to make it run a few months?

T

theswaggalike

New member
Hey guys, I am planning to buy an 84' Grand Prix T-Top RWD 3.8L V6, just for the summer. I have agreed on $900 with the seller. However there are some worrying questions that I need answers to :
- It has 90,543 km on it. Is this amount decent for a 84 Grand Prix or is this car nearing its death? If it is a good amount of kms, what do you think would be an avg. maximum number of kms run on a Grand Prix?
- The seller said that I would need a tune-up and some work on the tranny. What kind of costs am I looking at to get that done? And how long can I run without a tune-up or tranny work?
- The seller also said that the gas return line drips on and off. He had continued to drive with it for an year. Is it stupid for me to continue driving with this issue or should I get it fixed? And how much would it cost if I had to?


Just to remind you, I am pitching $900 only to have a great time in the summer. Even if the car dies on me after summer, I will be satisfied. So base your advice on short-term driving :) Of course though, it would still be great if I can fix it up for cheap and keep running this car even after university starts :)

Thanks in advance
 


if you think you're gonna get a decent daily driver for $900, you're gonna have a bad time. i don't know what the miles to kilometers ratio is, but i think a mile is more than a km. so that's low mileage, but from the sounds of it, it isn't one of those cars where low miles matters. an 84 seems like it would have some kind of carbeurated or an early TBI 305 V8, right? so a tune up would be spark plugs, fluid change, and probably a cap and rotor. have you driven it to see how the trans acts? as for the gas line, well... it's leaking gasoline. i would fix that, and i think you'd be hard pressed to find somebody on here that wouldn't. it wouldn't be hard or expensive.
 
Return lines have no pressure on these vehicles. Just grab some rubber hose (probably 5/16), and replace the offending section.

Honestly, we can't advise you on much of anything on the vehicle cause we don't know the condition of how it runs. You need to assess that first. If it's never had a tuneup, a tuneup will make it run smoother and get better mileage. Do you want to forgo $100 worth of parts that would make sure the ignition system is running great, just because you want to avoid spending what amounts to a couple tanks worth of gas? It might even save you that much.
 
A T-Top Gbody for $900 with ~50K miles on it? You had better buy that. It's really difficult to find them anymore.
 
being a teen of the 80's, i'd just keep on walking and find something newer, the 6 cyl engine in that car is a dog, ( and its a big car) and mpg suck on them too. and that was bad decade for the V6 engine. and if un cared for they die a bad death. sounds like its was neglected.

if is not all rotted out, buy it and swap in a Chevy 8 cyl in it and enjoy it.

how the head liner, is it falling down or just the flelt crap rubbing off off? the seats, do they smell? the car as a whole smell? t tops like to leak in those older cars.
 


02 WS6 TA said:
A T-Top Gbody for $900 with ~50K miles on it? You had better buy that. It's really difficult to find them anymore.
Click to expand...

I can honestly say that I have not seen one of these for at least 10 years, the T-top version. I didn't even see that may when they were new! Can I count to potato?

IDK scottydogs, 50K? It might be a diamond in the rough.
 
ever work on a 80's V6? burnt up oil caked thick to every moving part is all i see inside that engine, 50,000 miles and 20 years old, maybe sitting for years on end, idk, i'd pass, unless doing a v8 swap.

or look for a grand national, yeah its a regal lol

by all means they are a mean car if you have the time and money to sink into one.


Marky_Lighting_The_Hides.jpg


but for me i'd rock a late 60's or a any 70's grand prix in a heart beat, the 80's, well you can have em.
 
@Poil336 ; its a 3.8L V6. And do you know how much a tune-up may cost?

@scottydoggs ; The descriptions that the T-Top had been re-sealed so no more leaks. Do you know how much a chevy engine replacement would cost?

It has a new paintjob, chery bomb exhuast, new hood, and clean interior with patched up trunk floors. So it looks like he had put at least SOME work into it. He had also been running it as a daily driver until 3 weeks ago. So it hasn't been lying around for too long either. What do you guys think, do you think it will serve me well for 3-4 months of summer?
 
I'd buy it for that price. It's a good car to start working on. Buy the parts yourself and read and learn how to do the work it doesn't get much easier to work on than a rwd pre fuel injection motor.
 
tune up you need a cap for the distributor, and a rotor. i think those years had the big cap with the coil on top, cost about 15 bucks, 5 or 6 for the rotor, wires 30 to 35, plugs another 35, and ask the guy at the counter for a fuel filter, im not sure if those years had a inline filter or not. and of course a oil and filter change. so easy 100 bucks.

for a V8 to swap, not even sure what a used 350 running goes for these days, but it should bolt right into place, may need a larger radiator, and you will need to cut off and re splice a bunch of sensor pig tails so they work on the v8 sensors. also need the exhaust manifolds, if your lucky they will fall right onto the stock set up already there, if not you need to to some more work. or headers and have a shop weld up the collectors and what not.

if you have a th 350 trans in it now, you can still use it. the v8 should bolt right up.

should it turn out to be running good still id just leave alone till you NEED to change it. you may want to do a compression test before you buy it too. the plugs are easy to get to and that way you can also see how the plugs look.
 


Those cars would either have come with a 200M or 200-4R. Unless it's a unibolt pattern case, the 3.8L trans won't work on a Chevrolet V8.
 
The only time you wouldn't want it is if you couldn't get it safetied at a legit shop. (due to rot)

Even then, if you dont want it when you're done, I do. LOL
 
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