Revival of the 37K 87 GN

70GS_87GN

Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2014
Every car has a story, and this one didn't go so well. This thread focuses on my 1987 GN with 37,113 original miles. Why does a 37K mile GN need a revival? Well this one got smacked hard in 2002, and was never repaired. It is a highly optioned car (original window sticker MSRP $19,101), and deserves to be repaired. The interior is immaculate, and everything is original.. except for the tires. I have acquired another 87 GN parts car that will donate its frame, hood, front right fender, core support, header panel etc to repair this car. I'm a 20 year old broke college student with a goal of getting this car back on the road by Thanksgiving (optimism or insanity?) Our goal is to keep the car as original as possible, only fixing what is necessary. When the car is done it will have as much original paint as possible. It is a survivor to some extent.

The game plan:
Swap frames
Send the car to the frame shop to fix the tweaked a pillar and firewall.
Do the paint and body work on the hood, fender, header panel, etc while the car is away.
Once the car comes back install original motor and trans installed etc.
Throw the front clip back together and drive it until the snow flys.

Here are some pictures of where its currently at. The motor is just sitting in it, ready to be removed. I am picking the parts car up next weekend.

Louie
 
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Sounds like a great project. Being done by turkey day is very optimistic IMO. It's easy to underestimate how much goes into a "restoration" no matter how easy it appears. (too many car shows with complete transformations happening in a week or two) This is not realistic unless you have an expert crew and an unlimited budget. Not trying to be a downer but I think this will take a little longer to do correctly.

Either way, I'll wish you the best of luck and hope to see your progress on this thread.
 
Well the project is moving pretty smoothly so far! Last weekend we got the frame off the parts car. This past weekend (October 18 and 19) we got the entire drive line out. Everything looks to be OK from the accident. We then undercoated the frame to match the dealer undercoating of the car (unbelievably clean underneath, no rust..), switched all the 37K car componets over: brake lines, fuel lines, rear end, etc... and got the new frame mated to the body. We probably put about 10 hours into it this week. Pics tell a better story:

New frame before power wash:


power washed (in the pouring rain, that wasn't fun lol_


Moving the car to the two post lift


The clean underbody before old frame is removed


Old frame removed, waiting for the new one


For anyone wondering, We made two front brackets to lift the front part of the body. We used two brackets used to hold a running board on a pickup truck and bolted them to the lift pads. It worked flawlessly and didn't allow the body to move at all.






The old and new together for a quick picture, notice how bad the old is hit.




Finally, the body and new frame are mated together. The car is getting set up with a frame shop appointment to fix the body then its on to reinstalling the motor and trans, along with body work.


 
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Sounds like a great project. Being done by turkey day is very optimistic IMO. It's easy to underestimate how much goes into a "restoration" no matter how easy it appears. (too many car shows with complete transformations happening in a week or two) This is not realistic unless you have an expert crew and an unlimited budget. Not trying to be a downer but I think this will take a little longer to do correctly.

Either way, I'll wish you the best of luck and hope to see your progress on this thread.

Sorry I just saw this now. Thanks for the reply and your comments are appreciated. To be honest, I wont be disappointed if the thanksgiving deadline is not meant. One things is for sure, we don't rush to get things done. We do them right. As for my "expert crew" its just me and my dad. He has owned and operated our small business repair shop since he took it over in 1988. My grandpa started it in 1953 after serving in WWII and then owning a tree cutting business briefly. I'm just a 20 year old car nut college student. We are definitely no experts, but our passion and knowledge of cars drives us to succeed. I don't think your comments are downing at all, like I said I appreciate the input. I'm watching fast n loud now and while entertaining, its just a little bit unrealistic lol. The car is currently taking up a bay in the business and costing us money, so it needs to be running under its own power soon.

Louie
 
Haven't updated this in a while but the car is in full swing. Thanksgiving came and went, I didn't get it finished but at least it was running by then! Last night was the first night it moved under it's own power since at least 2002. The car runs great, and sounds like a quiet TR after I got the exhaust on last night lol. Today we strapped on the old hood and took it around the block. This was my first ride ever in a TR, and I'm hooked. It squats and spools like a pissed off ape. I hope to get it painted and put back together by mid January, before I go back to school. Deadlines are meant to be broken !

Here's a video of it moving and a few pictures after it's bath.

 

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Great job, good to see it running in such a short time. Took me almost a year but I did motor and tranny rebuilds too.


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