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Tech / General EngineIs your car making a strange sound or won't start? Thinking of adding power with a new combination? Need other technical information or engine specific advice? Don't see another board for your problem? Post it here!
I've been lurking here for about two years now, and have learned a ton from all of your posts. I have just completed my first round of major restorative repairs to my 86 IROC, which has sadly been sitting idle for the last ten years. The car is a Canadian car (VIN is 1G1FP87H3GN184307) in white, with T-Tops.
It originally belonged to my father. He bought it new in 86 and drove it every second summer. In the off summers, he drove his 87 Buick Grand National. Unfortunately, those early years of sitting for a full summer were only the first indications of how this car would be neglected.
I grew up detailing both of these cars as part of my weekly chores. I got $10 for an exterior wash and $20 if I also did an interior detail. Needless to say, I grew to know every inch of both of these cars. My dad never really had much interest in his cars...other than wanting to drive them. Me...I fell in love with the IROC. The sound, the torque, the feel of the suspension...everything was right.
My dad promised us we would both inherit one of his cars when we graduated university. I always hoped he would pass me the IROC, but my brother chose it so I ended up with the BGN. Not a bad consolation prize though, right?
Wrong! Buick Grand National is a money pit! It's a limited edition vehicle with unique manufacturing processes, so things like your brake master cylinder end up costing 10 times the price of a regular GM master cylinder. Their ECM programming has ghosts too, and the community is small, so anytime you need work it's $$$. Long story short, I dumped over $10,000 into that car within the first year. As it turns out, much of the trouble was due to that car sitting idle for that second summer, while Dad was driving the IROC.
Eventually, I got sick of pouring money into the Grand National, but it turns out my brother had always secretly been crushing on it. Why he didn't choose it when he first had the chance, I still don't know. But at the time, I was falling in love with motorcycles, so I sold it to him and bought a sweet 2002 Triumph America.
Fast forward 5 or 6 years, and the IROC is sitting idle again in my brother's garage. Honestly, I don't think he drove it for at least five summers. I kept hinting to him that I would take it off his hands...and...finally...two summers ago he agreed to let it go. So fifteen years after graduation, for $3000, I finally got the Camaro I always wanted. Better late than never, right?
Unfortunately, this car has been sitting idle for so long now, that it's got a ton of kinks to iron out. Check out the duct tape holding the breather together. And the leather on the steering wheel is so rotten that it actually drips black tar on my hands in the heat. I will obviously need some fresh rubber too...
Amazingly though, the body has next to no rust, and the engine has always fired up. This is the first summer since probably 2004 that this car has seen any regular driving though, and it become obvious that some serious restorative love was going to be required.
It started with new brakes all around this Spring, and wheel bearings in the front. Already that improved drivability and safety, but engine performance was really sluggish after all these years of neglect. But over the course of the summer, I started to notice that my idle jet was sticking. On one drive home from a friend's cottage, the idle was jumping up to 1,500 every time I came to a stop light. Almost cooked the engine on that drive, so I parked the car until I could properly address it.
So back to the shop later in the summer to have the carbs torn down as we thought it was the choke sticking. Turns out it was a stuck thermostat. Swapped it out and rebuilt carbs. While we were doing this, changed out the spark plugs (NGK) and wires (OEM). I had previously ordered a Summit Racing fuel pump, which the fellows at Bruno's Automotive here in Ottawa were good enough to install.
The piece de resistance though...a 2.5" Flowmaster American Thunder exhaust with cat delete.
I can't tell you what a difference these upgrades have made! Throttle response is immediate. Torque has returned and there is power all the way through to red line (no sputtering out at 3,500!). And the sound from the Flowmaster system is amazing! A nice, low rumble that doesn't drown out your world, unless you really get on the gas
All in all, I am happy to finally have this great car on its way back to its former glory. I am tempted to play around with the LG4 and Quadrajets to see what I can do with this car as originally built. My objectives are to have a street rod that is highly driveable but turns heads. I will not be building a racer.
That being said, the temptation is there to get into an LS1 swamp...there are arguments both ways. What do you think guys?
First order of business though...a new alternator next summer...and some new wheels and tires. I am open to suggestions. If you made it this far, thanks, and I hope you enjoyed this first chapter of the story
Now , as to "Improvements" , first and foremost I'd start with all the rubber parts you can afford to change , things like the sway bar bushings & such that look original and dried out with 30 years and 151K miles on them . Rubber brake hoses and all rubber coolant lines would be in there as well . Ditto for the shocks that look past due and to be honest with ya here the rust around the transmission crossmember you showed would have me wanting to do some kind of rust treatment (Like "Por15" or some such) before that rust becomes full blown rot (what all rust aspires to be when it grows up ) which we 30 year old car owners have gotta battle at every turn . Bet the front wheel bearings haven't been repacked and all other of these "deferred maintenance" items would be what I'd be going after one by one till I had been through every system in the car ; Brakes , electrical , engine cooling , fuel system , suspension , and all the rest . At least your car being both an IROC and a family heirloom is well worth spending the money on (that you'd never recover if you ever did sell it , which from your story I doubt you ever will) , I did all that to my car to put it into daily driver status and it's only because I truly like the look of our third gens enough to spend $6K fixing up a $3K (at best in my area) car .
Congratulations! I do always like to see an interesting background story about how someone got their car. Makes my story kind of boring, but oh well.
I will second the suggestion to check everything that is rubber. I would pay extra close attention to vacuum lines; since it runs ok now you are probably fine, but you might have one or two that are almost ready to crack/tear. Shocks are a very good idea given how long it's been sitting. Take care of the rust under the car, and I would take it a step further and pull the carpet to look for any rust there too (front floor pans and the rear storage area are particularly at-risk). If you haven't already done so, replace your fuel filter.
If you like the catback exhaust, a set of headers will probably make you even happier! Good way to gain a mild performance increase without spending a lot of money. If you're going to take it in to an exhaust shop to have headers installed, you might be interested in getting some subframe connectors welded in too. The shop closest to me was happy to weld them in while the car was on their lift for a few extra $$ (now I just need to get it running again, ha).
11-13-2016, 05:31 AM
Nice . I like the white on it , looks good . 
Now , as to "Improvements" , first and foremost I'd start with all the rubber parts you can afford to change , things like the sway bar bushings & such that look original and dried out with 30 years and 151K miles on them . Rubber brake hoses and all rubber coolant lines would be in there as well . Ditto for the shocks that look past due and to be honest with ya here the rust around the transmission crossmember you showed would have me wanting to do some kind of rust treatment (Like "Por15" or some such) before that rust becomes full blown rot (what all rust aspires to be when it grows up 
) which we 30 year old car owners have gotta battle at every turn . Bet the front wheel bearings haven't been repacked and all other of these "deferred maintenance" items would be what I'd be going after one by one till I had been through every system in the car ; Brakes , electrical , engine cooling , fuel system , suspension , and all the rest . At least your car being both an IROC and a family heirloom is well worth spending the money on (that you'd never recover if you ever did sell it , which from your story I doubt you ever will) , I did all that to my car to put it into daily driver status and it's only because I truly like the look of our third gens enough to spend $6K fixing up a $3K (at best in my area) car . 
