It was over two months ago that I wrote “I’ll hold off on pictures until I can get the final pieces on. It’s almost there.” So, what happened? Well, life. Working Monday to Friday took most of my time, on top of that there were family affairs to deal with (Which are still being dealt with), and then I had a vacation thrown in too. It was just last week that I was finally able to get the Grand Prix to a state that I can consider ‘done’…for now.
The first order of business was to fit the ‘new’ tail lights. The skirts were supposed to come first, but a lack of both time and a working drill prevented installation on the first attempt. I should mention that the skirts were only put on because of all the help I had from a good friend of mine, Justin. They are not a one-person job, and as I’ll explain later, having his car around was a huge asset.
The tail lights were pretty straight forward. Except for a couple of stubborn studs on the original lights, everything went smoothly. After switching lights the driver’s seal let a serious amount of water into the trunk though, so that had to be sealed with silicone. However, hiccups like that (Especially when dealing with 18 and 20-year old seals) are expected.
The week after getting the car back from the body shop, a rather large box showed up at work for me. It was the replacement catalytic converter I’d ordered from Magnaflow. It was promptly installed by a local exhaust shop the next day, as I could not wait to get rid of the rattle that the OEM piece had developed.
With the rust gone, lights changed, and exhaust fixed, I was then looking for something else to do. The brake lights were looking too pale, and I was wanting to experiment with the fog lights on the front light bar, so I ordered some vinyl tint. I picked up ‘Iron’, the lightest tint available from the company I went to, and yellow.
With some time to myself, I started by tinting the fog lights yellow. I had done a rendering in paint a while before, and had been considering it since, so I decided to just go for it. Once I could see it in real life, I decided it was the right choice and I’ve kept the vinyl on.
The tail lights then got their turn with the vinyl too. As I mentioned above, the brake lights look almost faded. Instead of the deep red that my original lights had, they looked pink in some light. After experimenting with some different techniques and layouts, I found something that worked for me. I tinted just the brake lights with the ‘Iron’ tint, and was able to tuck the edges into the recesses of the lights. All seams are hidden unless the trunk is open, and even then you have to look to see them. I’m very pleased with how they turned out.
With the lights ready, the car was just about there…but not quite. It was another month and a few days until it was on jackstands in my garage for the final pieces. Until then though, I was still enjoying the car and how it had progressed. It made appearances at the local weekly meets and I took care of small details here and there to occupy my time.
At the start of September, I used my remaining vacation money (I had just returned from two weeks of lake-front relaxation) to buy a torque wrench, floor jack, jackstands, and a few more assorted bits so that I could stop borrowing from my friend Justin. With everything ready to go, he and I propped the GP up and got to work. After 7 and a half hours on the first day and another 90 minutes or so the next, the side skirts were finally on! Why did it take so long? Simple-we constantly had to make supply runs as we kept discovering that we needed something. First, it was stronger drill bits. Next, it was stronger bolts. After that, it was a socket to fit my torque wrench so that we could get the wheels back on after taking them off. Finally, it was another roll of 3m moulding tape as mine ran out about two inches too soon. After all of that, we finally had the car on the ground and in one piece. A big thanks goes to Justin, as his Lexus was used for all of the supply runs on the first day. With the Grand Prix out of commission, it would’ve been much harder to get the parts if his car wasn’t acting as the back-up.
After ‘day one’ was done, we took the cars out for some gas and enjoyed the progress we’d made.
For day two, I headed over to Justin’s after getting supplies, put the GP back on the jacks, and installed the final piece. I had picked up some OEM ‘sideskirt-specific’ mudflaps, but I ended up drilling an additional hole in the originals and using them instead.
With the car ‘done’ (As far as my plans for this year are concerned), I went down to my usual photoshoot location to take some quick updated pictures. I’m no professional, and these are just snapshots, but they show the car’s new look. Aside from a possible respray some day, the exterior is done. I’m sure I’ll keep changing details here and there, but I’ve done everything that I’d planned to initially. It was a long and tedious process to get the car to its current state, but it was worth every minute.
So after all of the progress made this year, what’s next? Well, I’m always dreaming of the answer to that, and I’m currently in the process of ordering a birthday present to myself. Of course, it’s related to the Grand Prix, so wait and see. When it arrives, I’ll get right to the picture taking and hopefully, I won’t keep you waiting another two months before I post an update.
