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11,000 Mile Gn

kidsixpack

kidsixpack

Silver Member
I bought a GN. I'll be swapping the wheels ASAP. Not crazy about the 17" Cragars. It came with the original tires and wheels. I have the GNX wheels from my T Type that I plan to put on.
KID
 

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Sweet car! :cool: Looks like a nice find.
Sorry, I'm not that good with figuring out the pix - is that a hardtop or moonroof?
Is it pretty much original?
 
Wow I cleaned it up today and put the factory wheels on. These pics are before I cleaned the car. It's getting dark fast. The car still has its orig. exhaust and not even a K & N. I don't see any signs of the slightest mod. I'll see what chip is in it later.
KIDimage.jpg
 
Oh it's a hardtop. Headliner is sagging a bit. Is it something I can glue back or should I replace the entire headliner?
KID
 
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That is sweet! Yeah the headliner has that thin layer of foam on the back side so trying to re-glue won't work, like trying to glue dirt together. I would just take it out, and if the backing board is ok, then there is no need to get the Highways stars composite piece. Take it up to your preferred upholstery shop and have them re-do it, they can get the same fabric as original, or they can just order the fabric for you. There was a fabric place here locally that sells auto carpet and raw seat fabric, I bought some from them, Larry-Dennis Co, they may be nation wide. Wonder what provoked the previous owner to put the cragers on there with such low miles, much nicer with the originals!
 
That's the problem, you don't want to keep the cardboard if you don't really need to. I've had a dozen GN's and the ABS is the only way to go, unless you are short on money and have a ton of time to waste on the factory board. By the time your having someone do it for you, you could have one that won't drop again years later. Either way good luck
 
Not that familiar with this particular model and year, but my experience with these is that it is NOT the backing material/board that fails, but the foam backing on the cloth, as mentioned by 2quik6. With mine, the board was still good. Just scraped off the old, failed foam remnants from the board, bought a roll of new cloth (they used to stock this at the Pep Boys on VanDyke) and a can of spray glue. A quick, easy weekend project.

How do those ABS parts fit in the GN, tonysturbo? For the 3rd gen. F-car, they have a spotty reputation for fit on the TGO forum.
 
DynoDave said:
Not that familiar with this particular model and year, but my experience with these is that it is NOT the backing material/board that fails, but the foam backing on the cloth, as mentioned by 2quik6. With mine, the board was still good. Just scraped off the old, failed foam remnants from the board, bought a roll of new cloth (they used to stock this at the Pep Boys on VanDyke) and a can of spray glue. A quick, easy weekend project.

How do those ABS parts fit in the GN, tonysturbo? For the 3rd gen. F-car, they have a spotty reputation for fit on the TGO forum.
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They fit real nice. Some of the problems with the factory headliners were as you said about the crappy foam on cardboard. What happens is the cardboard holds moisture and causes the foam to get brittle over years and lets the adhesive release. The ABS does not let this happen. I've redone the factory headliners a couple of times trying to save some money, but by the time I was done I could have bought a new one..lol..I'm just to crazy and was to picky. To each his own, I prefer the quick fix and not spend my weekend on something like that.
 
2QUIK6 said:
That is sweet!
. Wonder what provoked the previous owner to put the cragers on there with such low miles, much nicer with the originals!
Click to expand...

That car must be pretty rare at this point. Other than the few ridiculous "no mile" cars that pop-up on e-bay, it seems that you just don't see too many low-mile stockers, especially not with hard-top. I'm sure that you will enjoy the "less rattles" vs a T-top car! Good luck with it & enjoy.
Agreed - the original wheels look great. Are you going to leave them on or go to the GTA style?
FWIW, I took my original wheels off and have them stashed in the house. The chrome was starting to peel in a few small places and I imagine that they would continue to slowly deteriorate further. Apparently that 80s GM paint & chrome is not exactly "show quality" :rolleyes:
Everyone has their own approach. My car lost almost 30 lbs and I'm hoping that the stock wheels will "go down hill" more slowly since they will less exposed to anything.
R8foAVxl.jpg
 
Yes I plan on running the gnx style wheels. Just the way I would have done when it was new. I was going to do an exhaust, chip , and K & N, but I think I will leave it stock. It really just seems special this way.
KID.
 
The GTA style wheels will look really sharp. I [too] was headed down that path but as you see I got diverted somehow.
Once again, FWIW:
"Everyone" strongly suggested to me to get the Turbo Tweak chip for best protection with today's gas vs who knows what chip you have - even knowing that I'm staying very stock. My car already had a stock K&N filter ... I bought the "adapter" from Kirban and that leaves the [only] bottom off of that air filter housing for a little better breathing(?) but it still looks all stock (hmm, can't find that part on their website?)
And from what I've been told there was a recall on the chip back when they were new...
 
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Mark T-TB said:
The GTA style wheels will look really sharp. I [too] was headed down that path but as you see I got diverted somehow.
Once again, FWIW:
"Everyone" strongly suggested to me to get the Turbo Tweak chip for best protection with today's gas vs who knows what chip you have. My car already had a stock K&N filter ... I bought the "adapter" from Kirban and that leaves the bottom off of that air filter housing for a little better breathing(?)
Click to expand...
Yes get TT chip and injector combo for 60's and pump gas. Best investment you will make. Test pipe also, get that cat off. It's will spool so much better.
 
I didn't mean why would anyone take the stock wheels off on such a low mile car, but rather put the cragars on it as they don't look all that well on GN's, but was probably an old school type, my brother would it :) The stock chip has north of 20 degrees timing, too much for todays gas to chance even with the stock 13# boost. Keep the chip somewhere safe, but get a TT chip at least even if planning to keep the car stock. On the headliner, its the foam backing on the fabric that rots, the backing stays adhered to the board. If the same type of fabric is used on the composite boards, the foam backing will still rot eventually from dust, heat, moisture etc, and will do so quicker if you drive a lot with the windows down. I replaced the fabric in mine back in '95 with the stock replacement type and still holding fine now 20 years later, but I have only put about 15k miles on the car in that time. Auto shop did it. I had a MCSS way back in the late '80's and I replaced that one myself for about $50 in materials and it looked as good as the one the auto shop had done, they are already doing some other work or I would have done it myself.
 
two thumbs up... looks great - and wow do those wheels shine :cool:

(and agree 100% about original/old tires)
 
Black and chrome go nicely together, while on the subj of wheels and GN, these are on mine

Chrome Torque Trust-Ds with the centers powder coated.
 
2quik6
Those look really cool. I run D's on my bee every other season. I love the look on an old muscle car with bias ply tires. Post a pic of your car
KID
 
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