1987 pro-touring grand national, from the ground up

It actually started in February for me. There was quite a bit of down time waiting on parts and things. Also I waited until full teardown to start posting. But yeah its been going fairly quick. Huge delay with the transmission that set me back almost 6 weeks but it looks like the body will be done in record time so it will work out.

After body its just a bit of reassembly (lol), the interior, stereo and final tuning.

So quick question from everyone that has been following along.

1. Should I keep the emblems, shave them all or keep some/shave some?

2. Suggestions on a head unit? I'm leaning towards navigation touch screen to go with the more modern theme and also considering maybe mounting an ipad in the stock stereo/climate controls area (I tested it fits perfectly left to right, just a tad bit of adjustment up and down would be needed). The ipad would be 3g, so gps, stereo and all the associated ipad goodies.
 
dsapper said:
It actually started in February for me. There was quite a bit of down time waiting on parts and things. Also I waited until full teardown to start posting. But yeah its been going fairly quick. Huge delay with the transmission that set me back almost 6 weeks but it looks like the body will be done in record time so it will work out.

After body its just a bit of reassembly (lol), the interior, stereo and final tuning.

So quick question from everyone that has been following along.

1. Should I keep the emblems, shave them all or keep some/shave some?

2. Suggestions on a head unit? I'm leaning towards navigation touch screen to go with the more modern theme and also considering maybe mounting an ipad in the stock stereo/climate controls area (I tested it fits perfectly left to right, just a tad bit of adjustment up and down would be needed). The ipad would be 3g, so gps, stereo and all the associated ipad goodies.
Click to expand...

That would be very interesting! I would do it if I could. I also would shave the badges personally. Your car is too modern and sleek looking to have the badges on it.
 
All of the badges? There is the option on the grill to do that grand national emblem too. Once I trim those brackets off there is no going back lol
 
Removing all the marking will get you the typical "nice monte" remarks, even though it will look clean. Something to think about. LOL
 
Funny because my body guy said the same thing. He has a GN that is shaved and gets mocked for driving a "wanna be GN" haha
 
dsapper said:
Funny because my body guy said the same thing. He has a GN that is shaved and gets mocked for driving a "wanna be GN" haha
Click to expand...

What you might think about is having the logos painted on under the clear coat. I've seen one done like this in person and I thought it was the real deal until I touched it. Nicely done and no one can steal them off the car then.
 
Yeah, I would have no idea who to get that done by locally. I'm leaning towards getting them.
 
My car is close to being finished. There will be NO badges of any kind on the car (including BUICK on the grill). I like the no badge look.
I have never mistaken my car for a Monte.......of course, to each their own........
 
I did that once, it was a good body shop and the clear started cracking over the decals like 5 years later. Lesson learned
 
There's tons of air brushers in vegas. Call a couple lowrider shops I had my malibu ones pinstriped under the clear.
 
After painting my GN, the body looked so nice, so smooth, so shiny , so clean. I just replace the grille emblem with a NOS one. I like the idea of the GN emblem on the grille. Even with GN emblems I got the nice Monte comment.
 
Consider eliminating the hood emblem since it is a PITA to clean around. Maybe just have the trunk emblem and the grill emblem. Similar to how the GNX was badged.
 
If you go without the emblems, you could get a set of the magnetic emblems from Kirban. Just slap them on if someone calls it a Monte. :)
 
hello; I got rid of the hood and rear trunk emblems but kept the side ones on my T type. I like the side red T emblems that came on a 86 T. As far as someone thinking a TB is a Monty I guess you can but it really shows what they know. Just string them along and say you converted the Chevy to a Buick and have some fun with it.
How's the interior comming along?
IBBY
 
charlief1 said:
Removing all the marking will get you the typical "nice monte" remarks, even though it will look clean. Something to think about. LOL
Click to expand...

After getting my GN freshly repainted, I left all badges off. Amost everytime I drove it, people would follow me, roll there windows down and yell "What the heck is it?".
I put the GN intercooled badges back on..LOL.
 
Interior is almost done. I still have a few panels to paint, interior guy is basically done with the seats and door panels. I have to decide what I'm doing with the center console, order the headliner/carpet and the dynamat still
 
carpet, secondskin sound deadening, headliner and gentex mirror showed up today. Its getting close!
 
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