I originally started this thread on LesabreT.com before I joined the H-body community here, so these are post complied together into one. I'll edit it to make more sense, but I don't promise that it still will lol.
I'm bring another project thread to you. My dad has been looking for a '77-'78 Skyhawk for some time now, the opportunity struck, and he pulled the trigger.
There's no significant rust that we can find, so it's in good solid shape. The previous owner was going to cut it up to make a drag car, but decided it was too nice and sold it to us. It needs a bunch of little things, but nothing out of the ordinary for a car of it's vintage. I'll be the first to admit I know almost nothing about these cars as a specific model, but it seems like a pretty easy car to work on!
The previous owner removed the engine already, but left the trans in. When he sent us the car we just asked for all the 3.8 V6 accessories because we plan to put in our high-compression Buick 350 in it...
But enough talk, here's pictures!
Interior is in good shape. Just dirty. Needs those stickers removed, door handles, and rear hatch struts.
The rear seats fold down to make a huuuuuuuge trunk. I didn't get a picture of it, but there's a ton of room once they're folded down.
Full HVAC controls...
Working AM/FM radio
Rear hatch window defog! I don't expect this to work, but the previous owner said it turned on when he bought the car.
Nice gauge layout. Very easy to read.
Like I mentioned, a lot of the work has been done for us
.
Rear spoiler that I'm not convinced came on the car from the factory.
Not to mention my favorite part of the car, the targa strip.
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I ordered trunk struts from Advance and my gram was kind enough to pick them up on her way home this morning and drop them off. So the first repair to the car:
Hooray! It holds itself up now! Also, I found the latch that holds the hatch closed and pops it open. It was buried down in the bumper cover. Had I not been poking around I may not have found it for a long time! Problem is, neither key we have for the car will unlock the tumbler, so I didn't re-attach the latch yet.
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We moved the car from the bottom of the hill into what is now deemed 'The Project Garage'. You'll see why. We made some decisions too - the car will definitely have our 350 in it. Something my dad has always wanted to do, even though we really like the '85 GN powertrain idea. It's also going to be a dark DARK purple. The kind of purple that's black unless it's in the sun. So, onto pictures:
Take one Skyhawk and wrap a huge ratchet strap around the differential...
Get Gram's 2003 Chevy S10...
And do this:
We couldn't get any picture in-process because, well, the situation was dangerous enough as it was, but we end up at the top and retrieve the tractor. Next, we push it in.
Ta-da!
It's such a small car from what we're used to, so even though this is the 'small' side of the garage, it should do nicely for engine installation.
We had some time before my dad had to leave for a small job, so we starting poking around and ripping into it. We took off the hood. It has a rod to hold it up from the factory but we're going to add a gas strut.
Trying out some 350 mounts...
Took off the rear spoiler. The hatch, along with the entire body, is in incredible shape.
And this is how we leave it for tonight, because I had some other work to do on the T-type. Now you see why it's a project garage
.
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I was going to replace the rear struts on the T-type tonight but I screwed up one of the mounts, so that work will continue this Wednesday when I get my new mounts. That all being said, my dad and I worked on the Skyhawk a bit. Took out the tail lights (PITA for some reason) and trunk lock (to get a key made for it finally) and attached the trunk latch so the thing would shut and stay shut.
We also hooked up a battery to it and tested some of the electrical systems. A few gauge lights are out, but everything works! Radio, headlights, turn signals, reverse lights - everything important. Pulled the radiator and started soaking the bumper bolts in PB Blaster. Pretty productive for only working on it for half an hour.
We just recieved the V8 fan shroud for the 'Hawk, again, thanks to Dave (8T8) for forwarding me the auction for it. Got it for a steal too!
Genuine GM part too! Apparently this was tucked away on a shelf somewhere. Cool, very rare find for us. Anyway, not too much going on with the Skyhawk until my Lesabre is done, which should be in about a week.
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This is the stock 'size' gas cap, but this is an aftermarket one that came with the car. Looks nice, fits nice, not supposed to be chrome though.
So we got what we thought was a 'real' Skyhawk gas cap, turns out it may not be. It's seems waaaaaaaaaay too small in diameter! Probably staying with the aftermarket one, but we'll have it painted. Anyone have any info on this?
We were originally going to take the interior out and clean, but we were pressed for time tonight so we decided to take off the front bumper for our painter. Headlights and headlight trim are out:
We're doing away with the A/C system, so the condenser comes out:
And the bumper is off. There is literally no rust on the front end of this car, the bolts were fairly easy to remove, which was pleasant
.
And the emblems are removed too. The old emblems have those stupid coarse threaded 'emblem nuts' and all 4 involved stripped. Probably the most difficult thing we had to do tonight lol.
Not as much progress on this project right now as I expected, but we want to work on this together and our schedules clash like crazy. Next we want to remove the rear bumper and at least get the interior out. After that, we gather parts for the 350 and try to get it hooked up and running!
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Today's goal was to remove all of the interior trim that needed repainted, and remove the carpet for replacement. Which I hope I can find. I flew solo on this one today, as dad was working until just a little while ago.
Back to work:
Removed all the extra engine parts and trim parts that were in the trunk:
And put them elsewhere.
In removing one of the rear seat bottoms, I unsurprisingly discovered a good sized mouse nest!
Rear seats out completely, including the back.
As well as the center console.
Carpet and upper trim:
Side carpets, rear speaker (yes, just a single speaker...how sad), and side trim pieces.
The front seats were an absolute bear. Luckily, they were not rusted! But it was very difficult to remove the nuts without the bolts spinning. We might change the carriage bolts to regular bolts so they're easier to remove in the future.
Last but no least, the carpeting! The carpet was a mess of grease, mud, and mouse crap. I hope I can find new carpet somewhere.
That is all for today. Only took me about 3 hours and I had no idea what I was really doing. Turns out it's an easy car to work on inside, though a little cramped
I forgot mention that I restored the chrome trim around the windows, and nearly completely restored the aluminum roof thingy.
Here's an example of before:
And after! Heck of a difference!
You can see the real difference in this picture between old and polished. The passenger 1/4 window trim is un-polished, the rear hatch on the right side of the picture was just done. Looks brand new in comparison.
Here's one finished side of the aluminum roof thingy.
In this picture, where my finger is pointing is separating the restored and un-restored sides. A little hard to see, but un-restored is pretty nasty in comparison.
Finished roof thingy. I'm very happy with how this came out.
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Carpet!
Here's Dad vacuuming the existing padding and the crap all through the floor panels.
New carpet against old carpet. We set it out in the sun for a while because the backing was just a little stiff.
After tinkering with another car, we heaved...and i mean heaved...the new carpet into the car through the back hatch. It was no fun lol.
It took a while, but we got the center console cut correctly and trimmed off a few inches in the front, and it was formed quite nicely, despite some problems I have read about with the ACC stuff.
We also got smart and used my hood light thing inside the car so we could see what we were doing.
We cut all the holes for the seats and seatbelts, then while i was cleaning up dad got to work on the rear hatch compartment carpeting. He used the old piece as a template.
Viola! Makes the car look SO much better already! i can't believe the improvement in person, and it matches almost exactly to the door panels.
In other news, the engine is still at the machine shop. Kind of a bummer, but it gives us time to catch up on other issues and other cars. I might get the rest of the interior panels painted tomorrow too, hopefully. I'll give them until next week to cure then the interior should be about done.
Sorry about the long post everyone, but I just wanted to get started on this thread and it seemed like the easiest way. Thanks for looking!
-Andrew Z
