Thread: Project "OVERHAUL" rebuilding a 1990 Grand Prix LE BEWARE LOTS OF PICTURES!

I am almost finished with the brakes! finished up the last front rotor, caliper mount and caliper. All i have left is the clean the rear calipers and paint them which i will be doing tonight. All i am doing for the caliper mounts and calipers is using a steel wire brush to get most of the dirt and junk off then spraying them down with brake cleaner before i paint them. They defiantly look ALOT better then what they were and now i dont have to worry about rust. Maybe down the road depending how indepth i get with the car and if i go with some 17 or 18" rims i may end up pulling them back off and sand blasting them but for now they look plenty good enough. The theme for the car if anyone is wondering will mostly be all gloss black, i planned on doing the paint job with rustoleum and paint the rims with it as well. Then some 35 percent tint all the way around and a light glaze of tint on the tail lights and markers and it wont be a show car but it will be a nice DD for my younger brother when done. I looked over the interior a bit more thursday and i have to admit the seats are a 9/10 there is no tears/stains nothing and the carpet just needs a good cleaning. Here is some pictures

Originally Posted by TexasTanker19kilo20

+1, need some updates mang. I like seeing all this work being done.

I need to pick up some more brake cleaner so i can finish cleaning and then painting the rear calipers. Next step will be i need to see if i can order the new bolts for the front caliper mounts and one brake line bolt for the rear caliper and the brakes will be ready to install! As soon as i get the $ for the fuel pump and battery i will be able to start this baby up. So right now i am awaiting funds for everything but the good news is there is plenty of 215/65r15 tires on craigslist for cheap. I found a brand new set for $140 but bills have to be paid first but after bills this is first priority that money will be going into. My mom just started her job 3 weeks ago so intell she gets caught up i have to pay them. But when she dos get caught up i will be able to spend more $ on my little project and not bills I am also starting school in Early June and will be receiving a descent $ back from financial aid as well. So its just a matter of time...

forget the 15's just go find a cheap set of 16" 5 spokes with tires on them for like 300, it'll make the car look so much better when it's done.

Originally Posted by addzradd

forget the 15's just go find a cheap set of 16" 5 spokes with tires on them for like 300, it'll make the car look so much better when it's done.

Yeah i would like to do that but thats a extra $150 then what i can get tires for including getting them mounted. I was actually looking for photos of 89-90 2 door Prix's with 17s or 18s and didnt find ANY! For now i just planned on probably painting the stockers gloss black. I plan on doing a all black on black look, i will be painting everything with Rustoleum. Theres alot of reasons why i picked Rustoleum like... durability, fairly cheap and if done the correct way can rival any descent paint job you would get from a shop. Another main reason is with my brother that will be getting the car if he hits something or someone and i have to fix it all i need to do is run to the local junkyard, pull whatever i need, paint it, install it, and its back to being in good shape.

Update on progress: Long story short i let my little sister play with my Iphone and now its no longer working needless to say LOL and i took pictures of everything spread out outside so you could see everything. I also installed the headlights (they still need to be adjusted) and even took a picture of one of the complete brakes as a teaser photo but obviously i cant upload them now... I dont have a camera either but i will see if my younger brother will let me use his Ipod touch Also if everything gos as planned i will be getting the fuel pump here soon and hopefully installing it soon as well.

Originally Posted by TexasTanker19kilo20

Nice, make sure you take a video of that first start up. Might be interesting to see.

Haha dont Jinx it! knowing my luck it will start up just fine and run fine for a couple seconds to give me hope then... BOOM! it explodes...

Haha im fixing a 1998 gt right now and I feel your pain lol I just dropped another engine in it. And now im waiting to fix the struts all around and cosmetics before I start it up

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Very nice! You're rebuilding your DD and as parts fall off of mine I throw them in the back seat. Yay GM H-Body!

I have to admit i am a Ford man even though when it comes to sport cars or old school muscle i am a Chevy all the way but these Grand Prix's were built pretty dang well. I see ALOT of them here in MI some in horrible shape but they just keep tugging along. Here is a recap on what i need to get it safe and drive able:

Tires - Can get a nice set for $100-$140 and $20 per tire for mounting and lifetime balancing.
Fuel pump - $75 which i will be getting here shortly
Wiper blades - $20 for the good ones
Brakes - Just need to finish painting the rear calipers even though its not a must for only taking 10 minutes to paint them i might as well. I need to order the 4 caliper mount bolts along with a brake line bolt (one that gos into the caliper) or i may go to the local junkyard and see if i can find some. The front brake pads will need to be replaced but the old ones still got atleast a good month left.

Bulbs - It looks like the tail light bulbs will need replacing along with the turn signals.
Fluids - $35 for high mileage valvoline and Wix Filter. Needs a oil/filter change for sure the coolant and trans. fluid look like it was just put in and at full level. Also i will be giving it a good seafoaming

The module i showed in page 1 or 2 that was chewed through will need to be taken out and respliced. I just spliced it together real quick to make sure the ignition worked but if i find one at the junkyard i will be replacing that as well.

Battery - My boss has a extra one but if he dosent want to sell that one i can get a "refurbished" (ones that people buy and return) at advance auto parts for $35-$40 but i think he will let me use it till i have the extra $ to buy one.

I am sure i will be replacing a few other things but from what i have seen thats what it will need at this moment. Of course i will need to do tax/title/registration and insurance but once i know its road worthy i will get that done. Remember i am not paying anything out of pocket for the car and its looking to be about $400 in parts. Once i get it up and running good i will then make up a list for the more exciting things Lets say i spent $1000 total in parts which obviously gives me $600 extra at the moment, what car can you find for $1000 that you KNOW has a like new trans. and has just about every major component checked or replaced and the whole car looked over/checked? And of course piece of mind it was done by myself so it was ACTUALLY done and done right. I do need to buy some tools but i planned on buying tools regardless of whether i had this car or not so i dont count that as a cost. Its no GXP or showcar but when everything is done it will be a mechanically sound, descent looking DD that didnt cost me a whole lot and alot of hands on experience gained.

for a battery a 75 series will also do just fine. the fluids my old 3.1 multiport ran on supertech for 150k miles of it's 225k mile life these engine's don't care. Also replace the trailing arms, especially on w-bodies that old the stamped steel ones are just danger waiting to happen.

Thank you for the support Nates!

Originally Posted by addzradd

for a battery a 75 series will also do just fine. the fluids my old 3.1 multiport ran on supertech for 150k miles of it's 225k mile life these engine's don't care. Also replace the trailing arms, especially on w-bodies that old the stamped steel ones are just danger waiting to happen.

Thanks Addzradd for the heads up on the trailing arms, it is pretty nasty underneath and in much need of a good power washing. The good part is there is a pressure washer right down the road from the shop i work at so as soon as i get it running i will be driving it down there. I am hoping to get the fuel pump this weekend and depending on my boss i may get to put it in this weekend as well (he dosent like me working under the car well he is not there sense i do not have a cellphone which is understandable). I cant wait till my funds get freed up and can start making some good solid progress on the car! I also cant wait to get some extra $ to go to the junkyard and hopefully pick up some goodies for it! Just a matter of time right now...

Sorry it has taken me so long to post, due to a few things i will no longer be working for the gentlemen who owns the car so i will not be able to work it off. However if he allows me to purchase it from him i plan on doing so and putting it on a trailer so i will have it here at my home. It sucks that i will no longer work for him but the positive is when i do get the car here i will be able to work on it alot more! I also plan on purchasing a new phone here soon so i will be able to take pictures of the progress!

I just started working back for the gentlemen that had the car, the reason i stopped was for school but we have worked out a new schedule. Long story short the project is still on its just a matter of $ right now... But when isnt $ a problem in a project?

Originally Posted by 90PrixSE

I just started working back for the gentlemen that had the car, the reason i stopped was for school but we have worked out a new schedule. Long story short the project is still on its just a matter of $ right now... But when isnt $ a problem in a project?

good to hear!

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