Getting a lot of little things done now. Back when I first got the front suspension together, the passenger side front coil spring would rub the inside of the lower control arm. After comparing it to the driver’s side, I decided to try and clock the spring and have the end sit in the exact same spot. Removed the castle nut on the lower control arm and dropped it down enough to relieve some tension. Clocked the spring about 1/4 turn counterclockwise. Buttoned her all back up, and I think that’s gonna do the trick. Next up is installing the front KYB shocks, and yes, the are from the same regal as the rears. After the shocks, the front sway bar was added, and everything with a zerk fitting got pumped full of new grease. The only thing left to do will be to get the car down on the suspension and tighten everything up.
I’ve never been a fan of adding a gsx rear spoiler or hood tach to a GS, but I think a front spoiler really finishes the front off nicely, all while being a bit more subtle. This chin spoiler is a fiberglass repro that I got from George Dwyer at the same Cecil event in 2021 where I found the grill.
There are some fingers in the frame pocket that the top of the springs fit around. I install the springs top first and than lift the lower control arm to the bottom of the spring. Sometimes the spring will move off the fingers when you install the springs and pop them into the lower control arm. Check and make sure the top of the spring is still centered on the fingers. If it slipped it will rub the control arm. I stick my phone in between the coils and take a picture looking up!
Very soon, my friend. Couple more little things to get done. These arrived today. Knock on wood, it’ll hopefully be the last time I have to mess with brake lines. They fit perfect. I still can’t figure out how inline tube makes a profit sending me 2 perfect reproduction brake lines in this big a$$ box from Michigan to Pennsylvania for $29 total.
Every bolt on body part is either original to the car or from other 70 cars, with the exception being the passenger side fender and rad support. They were both nos before being used on a 71 bittersweet skylark I parted years ago. I also have a very rough fire red hood, but it’s too rough for even this car. It’s going up on my garage wall along with some of my other leftovers after the car is done.
I checked that when I had it back apart this last time because that’s what I thought happened. Turns out, when I cut a coil off the spring, I also cut the flat end out of it. It was sitting in the control arm with the end against the front of the arm, causing it to have a slight bow towards the back. Clocking it 1/4 turn straightened it out some, and the bottom appears to be better seated. I will know for sure once it’s on the ground if it worked.
More history: Here is my old for sale ad for one of the donors. This was a running and driving 70 gs 350 when I was done with it. I sent my wife to bid on it at an estate sale back in 09 ish. She was the high bidder at $750. It had sat for 15 years in a field. I added a battery and fed it gas thru a can, and drove it onto my trailer. It was super rough, but I made it safe and dailyed it, even in the winter. Interior was really nice. Ended up selling it for $1300 locally. https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/70-gs-350.214060/
@bherbert's brother had a '70 Bamboo Cream/vinly top GS 350 w/Saddle bucket interior & col shift back in the 80's but had a bashed in quarter so probably not the same car. I'm putting a newly rebuilt rear in my unrestored/25 footer Stage 1 4-sp and what's interesting/fun about it & I'm sure even more so with your build, is it's reminiscent of the stuff we did to "fix up" these cars back in the day rather than "restore" them now but now we have all the years of accumulated experience/knowledge (& the interweb) to fall back on. It's been a long time since I rattle canned parts. I'd even bought new e-brake cables but ran across a set I had that were free & in decent condition & so just cleaning/lubing them & going to paint the casing to resemble what they should look like & save the new ones for a resto.
This 350 car was a one owner when I acquired it. The guy had about 20 cars on the property along with 300-400 guns. The funny thing about the story is, my wife drove an hour away to register at 9:00 am. They ran the gs dead last at 3:00pm. She waited there all day. That’s true love. If I hadn’t taken a huge pay cut at work that year, I would have never sold that car. It ran great, got decent mileage, and was comfortable to drive. All the mechanicals were worked out, and it didn’t even smell like mold inside after the clean up. The more I see the cost of restos going up, the more I see cars getting fixed the cheaper way. As much as I drool over the concours cars at the nats every year, owning one would absolutely terrify me.
My wife definitely wouldn't have done that! I've never owned a concours car but am planning on the next one being but purposefully not doing a S1 or GSX as my hope is to show it a few times and then drive it & I probably wouldn't want to if the former. Also a very low option car & doing most of the work myself so hopefully can keep the cost in check. We'll see how all that works out.
Welp…. I wanted it low, but not “flatten my Mickey Thompson headers” low. PA roads might qualify for the worst in the country. This is probably gonna need addressed.
PA also has the most miles of road of any State, they're road improvement/building projects take longer than to do a resto, & yes, they're bad & that's too low w/headers.
https://blog.cubitplanning.com/2010/02/road-miles-by-state/ My wife believes PA has the worst drivers. I have no chart to dispute that.
Anyone from PA will tell you that NJ and NY drivers are by far the worst… maybe we are the problem all along??
