Introduction: "Silver" Mom's '73 Grand Am
 

Heya!

Mom's '73 GrandAm "Silver" had been her daily diver up until the late 80's / early 90's. Silver got me, and then my sister through our senior years of high-school.

She'd attempted to have the engine rebuilt, shortly after 2001 or 2002 but the mechanic had to take a knee before he could finish. The original paint was shot and to my everlasting shame, I talked mom into letting me have a buddy shoot it with purple...to mitigate the damage until we can afford to get a real paint job on it.

Silver then sat as a potential barn find until 2022. Mom went through a really rough time and sold Silver for scrap. The seals had failed, the nose was busted, tires were flat, it was filthy. The scrap guy knew me & my sister so he called us before crushing it.

I bought her back from him and for a reasonable fee, he hit it out back under a tarp for me. I've since retired, moved back to my home-town, bought a house with a nice workshop....and now I'm going to be picking y'alls brains to see what can be done.

I haven't told mom because she really regrets letting Silver go and I really don't know if I can pull this off. First order of business will be putting some magic in the cylinders to soak, vacuum up the barn debris & see if the shaft will turn at all.

Saturday I drove out to get some air-holding tires put on it in a snowstorm and parts of my butt are still numb. It's supposed to get here the 23rd.

Disclaimer, I'm a Nurse, not a mechanic. I have done some of my own maintenance for years and I'd say I know just enough to refer to the appropriate TM....or just enough to be dangerous, depending on where my frustration level is at.

Photo is from when the mechanic had it.

Welcome!

The 73 GA was a very good looking land-barge.

Did it come with a 455 in it?

Should get lots of help here.


:)

Cool. Following.
Were are you located?

Welcome! Grand Ams are cool cars! I have a 74 I'm just getting started on.

Importsmasher

Motorealm is the only source of a nose, it's fiberglass and will probably need a little work to fit your GA properly. Hopefully the body is still solid, as parts, interior and exterior, are hard to find and expensive to ship.

honeycombs 👍

good luck with the resurrection

Welcome!!

Those are great cars which don't often get respect - I'd love to hear more about it, and read of the progress.

Congratulations and good luck. I now own my grandparents 1973 silver GA.

Thanks everyone!

According to the VIN it should have the 400 with 2-barrel carb and dual exhaust. I know it has the 4-barrel on it, it "should" still have the factory engine in it, but we'll find out when I get it out from under the tarp and into my nice, heated, shop on Thursday. If it had the 455 I'd be over the moon, but I don't think we've quite been sitting on a unicorn for 25 years.

I've just moved back to Idaho...and my blood isn't thick enough for this cold. Believe me I was cussing those honeycombs last week! I'd mentally 'committed' before checking the weather. (rookie move, I know) It was a bear getting a jack under the frame because the scrapper had set it on soft ground and the rims had sunk. The passenger side wheels were stuck to the hubs and the sketch **** I did while it was on jackstands in that soft, partially frozen dirt does not bear repeating. But I do love those honeycombs! :D

Has anyone done business with MotorRealm lately? I've sent an email and the line has been busy when I call (310-549-1389).

That's pretty typical, they're hard to get a hold of. I don't understand that business strategy, but when you're the only game in town you can set the rules.

I ain't mad....I'd been in touch with them in 2023, but wasn't even close to ready.

Their phone number resolves to cali, around LA area. Does anyone know if they're ok?

If you weighed a Honeycomb and compared it to a 15" Rallye II you'd see there's a big difference. Honeycombs are heavy. You can sandblast a Honeycomb to get all the old paint off the Endura and provide a good surface for a repaint. I think someone makes a fiberglass replica of the Grand Am nose. Its really a great handling car once the suspension is renewed.

Had a 73 years ago. Gold, white interior. Good luck with it!

Cool car. I had a '74 for a little while 30+ years ago. Great looking and driving cars.

I am definately looking forward to getting those old honeycombs back into shape too...I know some folks hate 'em, but not me!

Valentines update
 

I knew this was going to be a slow process…but good lord. I did not expect to run into the overwhelmed feeling of “what have I gotten myself into” so soon. My discoveries thus far:

-Wiring harness is in a snarl
-Dipstick was left out(it does have oil & filter)
-Valve covers secured with one bolt each, looks like they were robbed from the tranny pan, and it would seem that the 5/16-18 thread is not the original holes the header had.
-Water pump seal is orange RTV. Coolant system is bone dry. Not even a drop came when I took off lower radiator hose.
-Transmission(TH400) fill tube uncapped; cork transmission seal has what looks like clear silicon on it. Slip yolk and drive line missing, but all the gunk on the spline appears to have helped protect that seal and tranny still has fluid in it.
-The door seals had dry rotted badly and mice had taken up residence on the interior….took the seats out and ripped all that up. We did not dodge the ‘rusted through’ bullet in the floor pan. Foot area of driver and passenger side will need reinforced.

When the engine is out and things are a little easier to reach, I’ll be taking Android211’s advice and refreshing the bushings, ball joints, steering linkage, struts, etc. Despite urging from my more ‘risk tolerant’ family members to crank it and see what happens, I’ve held to “hell no, I want it checked from soup to nuts. So I’m working on getting this boat lifted up high enough in the air to get the TH400 tranny out from underneath. I don’t have the clearance or anything with high enough overhead to lift the engine out with tranny still attached.

The 3ton jacks wouldn’t quite cut it, so I go get 6-tons. When the harbor freight guy asked if I wanted to purchase an extended warranty, I told him that if they fail I won’t be in the market for a replacement.
Cue the spooky foreshadowing music.
So I’m working my way through carefully lifting this up a bit more…a bit more…a bit.
THUNK! What. The F*?
The whole engine and transmission shifted because it was sitting on the motor-mounts, and the bolts were not all the way through and engaging the threads on the back side of the mount…just the tip. I'm embarrassed to admit, it didn't occur to me to check and see if the darn thing was bolted in. If old cars have souls...this one decided it didn't want to kill me yet. So...here’s the good news:

-I didn’t die yesterday.
-After a lot of get up, get down, repeat ad nauseum lifting and maneuvering, I got BOTH engine bolts threaded all the way through the motor mounts, and tranny is better supported.
-Engine can be turned from crankshaft with just a socket…breaker bar not needed.
-MotoRealm hooked me up! And 1A auto appears to have carpet, so we should be ok when it comes time for the cosmetic stuff.

I broke down and told mom. She cried, and then confirmed my earlier suspicion….she wants to keep the original engine if possible. Definitely wants to stay with the 4-barrell. Would be cool if we can. Supposedly the previous guy bored & stroked it, but after everything I’ve seen so far, I’m concerned.

Take this project like any other , in sub sections when you build a house you look at the big picture but you do the job in sub sections. First dig the hole, the. Form the footing, then do the foundation etc. Doing cars is the same , if you focus on the whole or jump around you’ll never get it done. Pick a task and finish that task pat yourself on the back and be happy, then start another.

Many a project sits unfinished because people look at the whole , vs sub sections.
If your working w jack stands get some 6x6 sod ties and cut them up and use the wood as cribbing so that thing doesn’t fall on you . Or at the very least slide the tires under it so it lands on them first.
I’ve worked on jack stands for years but I always put something else under just in case. I’ve seen cars that fell off lifts before can never be too careful


Like if your gonna weld in a floor pan section get it all finished - finish grind the welds get it nice step back and say one piece done. Before starting the next task

Thanks for the tip! I've got a motorcycle jack and wood for cribbing/dunnage, but I like the idea of having an old tire under there just in case it wants to tip the jack.

Would y'all think less of me if I tied a rope to the motorcycle jack and pulled from the rear bumper?:poke:

Not gonna lie, I'm a little spooked after yesterday.

Goal this weekend is getting that tranny out and lowering Silver back down to a sane height.

Also in the RN in ownership of a classic Poncho camp. What specialty you work in? Emergency Department, here.

Look forward to seeing how this Grand Am turns out! Sounds like you got your hands full, but just take it one step at a time and prioritize getting it moving over its cosmetic condition. It's amazing how much cosmetic defects you'll tolerate on a car if you're able to drive it. Paint doesn't make a care move.

Engine is out
 

I’m in the Med/Surg dept at a small hospital here in town. We’re like Nickleback. Everyone loves to hate us, until it’s last call on a Payday Friday Night. But I digress...

Finally got the engine out, thanks to some coaching and moral support. You ever seen a dog actually catch the squirrel, and it’s like “oh Sh*!, what now”. Not sure if I’m the dog or the squirrel in this situation, but I can relate. Had the wood stove going in the shop, so between that and the spontaneous combustion of OSHA manuals, I was working in a nice balmy 70̊.

The cherry picker was 11” short of where I would’ve been comfortable having it reach. If I’d chalked the hoist’s wheels and lifted from that stretched position, the engine would’ve turned into a battering ram. Good news…because of the proud nose this car has, taking the front bumper off bought me 12”. In other news…that bumper’s interior was 3/8” tubular steel. The front suspension gave a sigh of relief when I removed it.

Of course, I bought an engine stand with a safer, wide-ish, front end and it was just a little to wide for the hoist to straddle the stand perfectly. The block was just a little bit further from the stand than I’d have liked. Sketchy, but got it onto the engine stand and VERY carefully rolled it over next to the workbenches.

Spinning up the oil pump is MUCH easier to do when you’re not balancing on your tiptoes on a bucket reaching out 4’ across a land yacht with the distributor tucked up against the firewall and trying to keep the rasp in your drill lined up with the oil pump intermediate shaft. Shout out to Butler Performance for their $25+s&h oil pump primer shaft. It pumped 60psi easily, but the pushrod on the #6 exhaust just would not prime. Push rod is clear, nothing obvious.

I’m getting a little tired of being a negative Nancy and bagging on this previous guy…but I have to wonder exactly how much stock he really had in orange RTV. It's on both sides of nearly every gasket, including the heads. Any bets on whether or not I find a chunk of RTV in that #6 lifter?

The pistons are +0.020, maybe it really was stroked too, I haven’t checked yet. Local machinist had room to get the heads into his hotwash and check the valve face/seats for me, so the block can wait for a little while...It appears that NOTHING was done with the heads, and they’ve got 277k miles worth of crud.

Banged my thumb trying to take the valve springs down using the "not recommended" technique. Serves me right for not taking more time to acquire the correct tool.

All & all, I'm having entirely too much fun.