Off Of The Road Since 1995

[Craig]

Well I gave up a lot of boating days (and hear about it from my friends) :D but I finally got my GS back on the road. Last time it was streetable was 1995. I took it down to the frame, quarters and roof. Everything was redone, body, engine, trans, rear, interior all the wiring. I even painted it in my garage, heres a few pic's I shot and a small video. The engine is a 455 built by the man, Larry Peto. It has a mild cam in so the wife can drive it but still made 503 horsepower and 547 ft/lbs torque on the dyno. Going to get the tags for it Monday and start putting some miles on it, and yes, going to the lake again with the Sportcat! Oh yeah, and I will be replacing the 80's style diamond pleated door panels with repro GS ones!

http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/NewBigRed/body3.jpg

http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/NewBigRed/frame.jpg

http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/NewBigRed/first3.jpg

http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/NewBigRed/first7.jpg

http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/NewBigRed/first5.jpg

http://www.justanothertoy.com/videos/GSFirstedit.wmv

[Flyinbowtie]

Sweet car, enjoyed the pics!

[Outnumbered]

Nice!

[RiverDave]

That thing is SWEET!!! (downloading the video right now)

I like the girl's voice in the video.. LOL she's got a lot of "spunk" to her.. :D

RD

[RitcheyRch]

Beautiful car. Love those old Buicks.

[Craig]

Made it out to the track the other weekend. It's getting hot out here. 90 degrees out close up in the car with that bucket on my head! Car ran good, I was just on my BFG TA's so it was a slippin' and slidin' off the line :D Had to ease it off the line, run through about half of first gear then put it to the floor. Ran a best of 12.74 @ 107 mph with a lethargic 2.02 60' time. I'm going to order a set of slicks today. Got some new rear suspension stuff showing up as well. We have a get together June 7th and I want to see if I can get close to an 11 second run :hmm

http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/NewBigRed/race5.jpg

http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/NewBigRed/race3.jpg

2nd round of eliminations, I was dialing a 12.75, this GTO had a 13.08. He was on DOT slicks. He cut an .07 light, I was snoozing at .204 :thumbsdown I also spun a little more than normal off the line. Needless to say I didn't catch him. I ran a losing 12.98. But it was a good day over all.

http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/NewBigRed/race11.jpg

[Piper]

The car looks and sounds awesome!!!

[Craig]

Well I finally got a set of slicks for the car. But I had to switch out the 4.10 rear to the 3.55 rear (1" narrower) to fit the tires. Really the gear I wanted for a street car anyway. The car really left good with the slicks, cutting a best of 1.69 second 60' time. Only down side was I normally shift at 5800 rpm and the motor would get to 5200 and kind of go flat and stop pulling :hmm Still ran a best of 12.38 seconds at only 107 mph. So I think it's to lean running with a friends 850 marine carb jetted down (that's another story) I have a new 850 enroute. Try and get it back to 5800 rpm and the elusive 11 second time slip. I was happy over all especially given hot freakin' hot out it was!

http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/NewBigRed/P6070112a.jpg

I'm busy the next two weekends and then I have to get the boat back on the water. It's a little hot for this hotrod stuff, I should be floating on the lake with the Advantage and a cold one :thumbsup

[RiverDave]

Damn Straight!! I'm hoping the boat thread is as cool as this one! :D

RD

[mk2]

The car looks awsome!! Seeing this really make me want to start my resto! My first car was a 72 Gs, it has just been sitting in my warehouse for 8 years.

[Craig]

The car looks awsome!! Seeing this really make me want to start my resto! My first car was a 72 Gs, it has just been sitting in my warehouse for 8 years.

Nice, 72 GS :beer Good luck on the resto. What shape is it in now? I can't wait until it cools down a little out here and get back out to the track for another set of runs when it's less than 100 freakin' degrees out :thumbsup!

[mk2]

The frame and body are in awsome shape (not counting the horrible backyard paintjob and fiberglassed in scoop), just a little rust on the inside corner of the passengers side door. It was a drag car when i bought it, so just a rollcage and 2 buckets inside. I am planning to go full interior. I will snap some pics.

[Craig]

Cool, I'd like to see the pictures :thumbsup

[mk2]

I snapped a couple of pics this weekend.
http://www.riverdavesplace.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=463
http://www.riverdavesplace.com/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=464

[Craig]

It's been a while since I updated this, right before the summer I finally got the car into the 11's, granted just barely :p I ran an 11.97. Then it got hot, well it's finally cooling down a little, so we're going back to the track in 2 weeks to see if wwe can get further into the 11's. I made this fiberglass hood that uses cowl induction to feed the carb cooler air instead of the hot air from under the hood.

http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/GShood/HoodDone2.jpg

http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/GShood/HoodDone3.jpg

http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/GShood/under5.jpg

Oh yeah, and the Sportcat wouldn't run right at the lake Sunday :( Motor has been in for 8 years, I guess it's time to go back to Larry's to be freshened up.

[Outnumbered]

That is clean. Nice glass work on the hood:thumbsup

[Craig]

Got back out in September, but it was still 100 out, did run a little better with an 11.93. Checked the plugs and it looks like it could use a little more jetting. May bump the secondaries up a bit. We're going out to a Buick Olds Pontiac race the Saturday after Thanksgiving, should have nice weather to try and get into the 11.80's.

[Craig]

Didn't make it into the 11.80's last weekend. Hit an 11.91! My other goal was a 1.59 60' time. and my best was a 1.60! So close on both cases. Taking a few weeks off on racing, I'm pulling the hood and making a new mold off of it. Had to do too many little corrections with this hood that came out of the first mold, so I just decided to do a new mold off of the hood I was happy with. Hopefully have the next lighter hood out by the end of the month :thumbsup

[Craig]

Started making a second hood mold. The first one needed a few corrections, so I went with a whole new mold instead. Took the original fiberglass hood I created, refilled the holes from mounting it and the air intake on the back and then sprayed it white, buffed it out shiney!

Laid on a few good coats of black tooling gelcoat and followed that with the first of many layers of fiberglass mat. Hopefully have the mold pretty much done by Sunday and I can pop it off the original hood and then a new lighter hood out shortly after the 1st!

[Craig]

I finished up my second fiberglass hood, it's 28 lbs vs the firsts 48 lbs. I recessed the back section and added some mesh to it for a more finished look. I also added a 1" spacer since I have the clearance now. Also jetted it up 2 steps. First run was off a little on the 60' time,1.62 (best last time out was a 1.60) The cars till ran an 11.89. Corrected density altitiude was 3400 ft! So with a little better hook and better air, maybe get closer to the 11.70's. Oh yeah, the day was cut short when the timing chain cover gasket started puking water. Easy fix though, but it ended the day. Hopefully the car will run good this Sunday at the SW Nostalgia Drags :thumbsup

http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/NewBigRed/2d1.jpg

http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/NewBigRed/2c1.jpg

[Classic Daycruiser]

Very nice GS. Have you though about adding a stripe kit yet? Phoenixgraphix.com has your year stripe, if you want to make it appear closer to stock.:headscratch:

http://phoenixgraphix.com/gm/7072gsx.htm


http://phoenixgraphix.com/gm/7072gsx.jpg

[Craig]

Yeah, I have kicked that idea around now and then. I may.......

[Craig]

Man, what a nice day at the races. Corrected altitude was only 1800'! Went down to a 9" slick (was running a 10.5") The car just flat hooked with 60' times in the 1.59's. Ran a best of 11.77 @112 mph. I'm happy with the time for a full bodied A-Body that I can drive just about anywhere in any heat, no blower, no nitrous on 91 octane :D

http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/SW%20Nostalgia/Buick015a.jpg
http://www.justanothertoy.com/photogallery/SW%20Nostalgia/Buick013a.jpg