well i am new to this board. I am 20 years old and recently a beautiful 1972 buick gs kind of fell into my lap. her body is pretty good and the interior is also in suprisingly good condition. I am not a complete stranger to working on cars but my experience was really only in helping keep my buddies vwbus on the road i know very little about performance, horsepower and other things i should know. i also don't have that much cash, but i am willing to drop some into my car. my problem is i don't know where to start, shes got the 350 i know and i am not gonna try replacing the engine anytime soon (hell its only got 80k on it as is) friends have made suggestions like getting new headers and performance carbs and such, but i can basically only afford 1 thing at a time and even then just barly so advice in where to invest my cash would be much appreciated. Well have a nice day. Josh P.S. the gs in my avatar is her, isn't she pretty even in a small ass grainy pic
That is a nice ride. You might want to carefully consider any changes if the GS is all original. The first thing I do when I purchase any used car is go over the brakes with a fine-toothed comb. So long as I can stop, anything else is allowed to break. Then I go over the cooling system. One of the first things I did to my Skylark was swap the standard 4-wheel drums for power w/front discs. Big difference in stopping power. Between a salvage yard and parts store you can do it for $200 or so. You can also spend a lot more with after-market kits; it depends on what you are looking for. Then I swapped in an HEI distributor. I had also made the mistake of putting a Holley on. This board didn't exist when I did, and the speed shop suggested one that was too small (lost power). The main mistake was that my car is for driving, not racing, and I lost some mpg by going to the Holley. I've had the car a long time and not really done any performance mods, though I'll be putting a Q-jet back on soon. Have fun, these A bodies are great cars when you're in your 20s, and the Buicks give it the class you'll want to keep for years.
I agree with what Truzi said, an original GS like the one you found is a real diamond and is most valueable in it's original condition. You could say that every performance thing that you do to it will take away from the value, but if you must do that, at least hang onto the original parts. It's not often when you will find a musclecar in that kind of shape, and it should probably be left that way. That's just my $.02. If you want to go fast, sell that car for 5-6k, then buy a skylark and a 455 to drop in it and go at it.
ya, its pretty much original ya, i have given the breaks a once over and had noticed people talking about replacing the drums with discs, if thats all it will run me i will give it a shot. the grill is freakin perfect, the vinyl top was redone by my uncle, it looks great. the factory radio is shot, i have to replace it, as much as i would like a refurbished original my love of music is going to make me put in a cd player. i never planned on anything stupendous for her, she is pretty much perfect by my standards, but my buddies are power freaks and see only potential for more. i kinda want to indulge in that a little at least. thanks for a few things to start with, you can be sure you'll here from me again, my dream car deserves the best, especially since somehow she found her way to me so early. Josh
