So It Begins!

[Yankee John]

I bought my '87 Grand National about 6 weeks ago and was fortunate enough to be able to drive it around quite a bit before it started to get cold up here in Minnesota.

I bought it over to my bodyman's shop last Friday for the bodywork and paint. Here are a few pics of the car as he began to disassemble it and dig into some of the trouble spots on the car.

So far, The theme of the resto is "Rust Never Sleeps!".

I'll be posting pics as I get them- Enjoy!

John

Here are pics "before" pics taken the day I drove the car home:

 

[Yankee John]

disassembly and discovery pics

Here are pics my bodyman sent me today of the disassembly and discovery phase.

Rust sucks!

John

 

[Yankee John]

Last one for now!

John

 

[rob350]

Here's was mine looked like.

 

[Project TNX]

Wow, I would have never guessed that sucker was that rusty from the first set of pics. Good luck.

 

[QuickBuick87]

HOLY CHIT!! That looks like a new movie called Turbo Buick tales of horror! Good luck, and be hopefull it's not worse. I guess that's why i'm so damn reluctant of owning a t-top GN. I got my hardtop GN back in late April after having a year long resto done to her. I'm lucky as my car didn't have much rust (mostly doors, of course) but man was I glad to get her back after not having it for soooo long. That year seemed like 5, LOL.

KB

 

[turbonut85]

Don't get discouraged!! This is what mine looked like before, during, and after.

 

[Yankee John]

Thanks for the kind words of hope guys. My body guys says "not to worry". Nothing that he hasn't seen or fixed before- after all we are in Minnesota where they use A LOT of salt in the wintertime!

Thanks to Jamie up in Fargo, North Dakota, I won't have to worry about the doors or trunk lid; He supplied me with some super nice rust-free pieces a couple weeks ago.

I'll keep putting up the project pics as I get them,

John

 

[Yankee John]

UPDATE- More Pics!

Here are the latest pics that my body & paint guy sent me. No more rusty quarter panels!

He still has plenty of finishing work to do on them, But I think it is looking much better.

Enjoy,
John

 

[BILL HAINES]

Paint.

John, Metal Work Looks Good.. I Could Not Help But Notice Though. Does Your Bodyman Plan To Strip The Paint From The Remainder Of The Car? If You Are Goin This Far,it Would Be A Shame To Paint Over The Origional Paint,or Paint Over A Previous Re-paint..stripping The Paint To Bare,metal Etch And Epoxy Primer Is The Way To Go,especially With Black, I Know This Will Take More Time And Materal But The Results Will Be Far Better,and The Finish Will Last .i Finished My Gn After 4 Years Of Sitting In The Garage,i Took My Time But Is Was Worth It...oh Btw I Have Some Misc Items,oem Hood Emblems, Gn Fender Badges As I Decided To Make A Gnx Look A Like... Good Luck With The Project, Keep Us Posted With Pictures..(wish I Would Have Took More Of Mine While In Progress).

 

[Yankee John]

It's Back In Black Again!!!

Hey Bill. I didn't have the car completely stripped the car to bare metal, as I simply don't have the money to go that far into it. My bodyman said that he will be sanding/DA'ing it to the point where it will have 75-80% of the paint removed before the primer/sealer goes on. The car is going to be a nice driver not a showcar, so that is good enough for me at this point.

Here are some updated pics that the bodyguy sent me tonite- IT'S BLACK AGAIN!!

You will notice that I did have rock-guard applied to protect the paint from chips and scrapes. It will be a driver, after all.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
John

John, Metal Work Looks Good.. I Could Not Help But Notice Though. Does Your Bodyman Plan To Strip The Paint From The Remainder Of The Car? If You Are Goin This Far,it Would Be A Shame To Paint Over The Origional Paint,or Paint Over A Previous Re-paint..stripping The Paint To Bare,metal Etch And Epoxy Primer Is The Way To Go,especially With Black, I Know This Will Take More Time And Materal But The Results Will Be Far Better,and The Finish Will Last .i Finished My Gn After 4 Years Of Sitting In The Garage,i Took My Time But Is Was Worth It...oh Btw I Have Some Misc Items,oem Hood Emblems, Gn Fender Badges As I Decided To Make A Gnx Look A Like... Good Luck With The Project, Keep Us Posted With Pictures..(wish I Would Have Took More Of Mine While In Progress).

 

[Yankee John]

Here are the BLACK paint pics!

 

[Rubicon 327]

Looking good!

Keep the pics coming!:smile:

 

[viper04]

Looks good so far keep the pictures coming.

 

[turbo39151]

Holy Crap you body guy is fast!! I've had one of my cars in the shop since June!! Mine was taken to the metal but still your guy must not be busy or he really likes you:biggrin:

Looks really good.

 

[bitchin_buick]

Looks sweet! I'm ready for spring , I'm certain you will be once the car is done! good luck...

 

[BILL HAINES]

Looks Great..

Looks Great John!!!! No Time To Waste,i Like The Black Chipguard,if The Paint Does Chip, The Chips Will Not Show..you'll Be "on The Road" In No Time.. My Car Is Sitting In Garage,warm And Waiting For Spring. Last Sat It Was 70 Deg. In Western Pa. My Gn Got A Trip Around The Block And A Cool Bath. I Also Gave It A Slight Rubbdown With Some Glaze,cleaned The Alum Wheels With Mothers.i Sat In The Driver's Seat And-and-and,well Should't Say But I Have "gn' On The Brain..hey Good Luck With The Car,thanks For The Photos......

 

[turbonut85]

:d

 

[BOOSTD1]

John Looks Great Again Glad I Could Help You In Your Needs Still Have Lots Of Parts Left Let Me Know If You Need Any Thing If You Know Anybody I Have That 87 Gn T-top Shell To Get Rid If Cheep Good Luck With Rest Of Your Project!

 

[Yankee John]

Holy Crap you body guy is fast!! I've had one of my cars in the shop since June!! Mine was taken to the metal but still your guy must not be busy or he really likes you:biggrin:

Looks really good.

Pretty close turbo- He works for Lund boats as a painter and this is the slow time of the year for them. He has a couple weeks off at the end of the year due to the normal business slow-down and he takes on side jobs for extra income.

Thanks for the comments guys!

John