After the body was removed from the G-body frame to take care of the years of neglect (as seen in previous posts) a quick inspection was performed. The original G-body frame was in very good shape; but it needed a body mount repair in the front passenger position, plus cleaned and painted. I decided on a G-body frame replacement since I had purchased a parts car that already had a clean and epoxy painted frame. I sold the old frame and parts car body to recoup some of the cash.
Here are some of the beginning G-body frame replacement pics.
The 82 regal G-body frame was solid, but very dirty. It was going to take a lot of cleaning and work to make it look good.
Not a lot of room in a 2 car garage – but it’s just enough. I gotta say Thank You to my wife for allowing me to take her spot in the garage for the past 3 years.
This was the only bad spot on the 82 frame. The passenger side, forward body mount was rusted pretty good and thin at the edge. My guess is the air conditioning caused this decay. This probably is an easy fix with a big washer, but I did not want to mess with it. I had OPTIONS!
The donor car with its nice epoxy coated frame and a whole bunch of NOS OEM Buick parts! It took 2 trips to West Virginia for 2 parts cars and 2 pick-up loads of parts. I got GNX parts, I got a brand new GM turbo hood, I got a complete t-type interior in the other car, I got this started/stalled project, plus some things I still haven’t gone through all for $750! –Craigslist!!! Anyway, this was the G-body frame replacement I decided to use. This body already had body work done to it and I didn’t want to mess with it. The body was sold with the 82 frame at a later date.
At the beginning of this project, the idea was to keep it cheap, but make it a pro-touring style cruiser. I knew that a simple restoration of stock parts was not the way I wanted to build this car, but good aftermarket parts are rarely cheap. I made some compromises, but I knew that obtaining the best parts possible would be my goal. Ebay, Craigslist, and several car forums were my best friends. Also, I couldn’t have done this without my brother-in-law and a family friend helping me find the parts. Most of the parts obtained were almost always half price or less and in great shape. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been a quick process and I’m not sure its been kept cheap, but its been fun!
In the next post, I will start showing the build up of the epoxy coated frame with nice aftermarket parts I had been collecting since 2006. This is where I start the name dropping like a wanna be… “Moser, baer, hotchkis,QA1, Classic Tube, ETC.” You might consider book marking this site. It’s going to start getting interesting.
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