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I love this car and I always maintained I would never sell the GTP unless it was to get a Corvette. Well, I'm going to do just that. So after 4 years the time has come to sell the GTP. Car is a 1996 Grand Prix GTP special edition. Sold new in Fort Collins, CO, then sold to Paul (pwmin) who sold it to Luke (LukeZ34) in 2007. I purchased in June 08 from Luke. $2000. It's less than what I bought it for and the car is in better condition now.
Engine:
Has 194k miles on it, but I just finished a mild rebuild this weekend. Not as power as I'd hoped, but runs great. Rebuild (with 100 miles on it now) consisted of:
-I was planning on doing short block work but engine did not need it. Cylinder walls looked almost like new. Very little vertical scuffing, crasshatching still present, and absolutely no ring ridge. Synthetic oil FTW. Even with the synthetic, I was blown away that it could look like this with just shy of 200k miles, so I left it alone.
-Cylinder heads were ported by Ben at WOT-TECH and they were also milled and had a 3 angle valve job done on them.
-Just installed ported upper intake, lower intake w/ EGR delete, and intake arm. The throttle body is also larger than stock. I have kept the non-ported intakes/TB that will go with the car.
-TB coolant bypass done to help lower IATs. This also means the LIM, UIM, intake arm, TB can all be removed in 1 piece in about 5 minutes with no coolant loss.
-Rebuild means ntire engine is clean and fresh, not just outside, but inside is all shiny metal again, no carbon build-up at all.
-Torque-to-yield cylinder heads bolts were replaced with new ACDelco ones on cylinder head reinstall.
-New head gaskets, camshaft carrier gaskets, valve cover gaskets, front crank seal, rear main seal, intermediate shaft seal, timing cover gasket, LIM gasket, UIM gasket, TB gasket, oil pan gasket, exhaust gaskets, oil manifold cover gasket (probably others I can't remember).
-New oil pump drive o-ring and drive was also RTV'd on top. Won't have to worry about this leaking.
-New ACDelco timing belt installed with newer ACDelco hydraulic tensioner. Pulleys are all ok.
-New ACDelco upstream oxygen sensor
-New NOS ACDelco oil pump.
-New ACDelco front timing belt cover
-New battery
-New thermostat
-New ACDelco PCV valve
-New ACDelco spark plugs (are platinum plugs, GM switched to platinum in 96)
-New red Magnecor 8mm plug wires on it. Best wires that are out there. Look pretty sweet too
-New rear motor/trans mount.
-Nearly new alternator. Should be a hige selling point on any LQ1, .
-Fresh coolant
-Fresh synthetic oil and ACDelco filter
-New exhaust valve guides with new valve stem seals. I snap-ringed the new guides so they will never have the common problem of the guides dropping down. This basically means the engine doesn't smoke on start-up like high-mileage LQ1's do and should stay that way forever. When I tore the engine down, 7 out of 12 of the old guides had dropped. It was easy to see why it smoked before. I've been watching it on start-up and haven't had any smoke now.
Other mods:
AIR delete
CAT/O2 sensor 2 delete
32lb L32 injectors, I also have some LY7 injectors that will go with the car if you want proper dual pattern injectors.
DHP powertuner removed associated DTC's with mods, corrected the speedometer for 225/50ZR16 tires, correced fueling for injectors, removed the speed limiter, adjusted WOT shift points.
True cold air intake.
Exhaust consists of a Dynomax glasspack and dual Magnaflow magnaflow. It's pretty loud, but sounds good.
FFP underdrive pulley
FFP dogbone with brand new polyurethane bushings in it.
Auxillary trans cooler
Suspension:
This is the best part of this car and is why I love driving it. Handles way better than a stock w-body and just feels so much better when driving it on the street. I'm reminded of this anytime I drive my brother's low mileage 96 B4U coupe. Here's what's done to it:
Front:
Factory huge LQ1 FE3 sway bar with all 4 brand new polyurethane bushings
Polyurethan control arm bushings (will admit they are noisy though)
Brand new lower ball joints.
Aligned some more negative camber. IIRC correctly camber 0 degrees to slightly negative. Could go further is you want to improve handling more. For some insane reason GM put positive camber on these factory. Positive camber serves no useful purpose.
FE3 springs cut one coil. Makes ride height killer, but streetable, and it vastly improved the handling over the ST lowering springs I had. I wish I'd done this the week I bought it.
Beefy strut tower brace
Have Goodridge Stainless Steel Brakes lines not installed that will go with the car
Rear:
Addco rear sway bar with new poly bushings.
Coilovers on newer GR2 shocks with 275lb springs.
GMPP trailing arms.
Gen 2/3 lateral arms. OMG so much better than Gen 1/1.5 crap. Also makes alignments a cinch.
Aweb Rear strut tower brace
Gen 3 aluminum rear knuckle.
Rear brakes converted to Gen 3 brakes and have slotted, cryogenically treated rotors (will never warp, shouldn't need turned with new pad installation), EBC redstuff pads, and Goodridge stainless steel brakes hoses. These things work! The parking brake does not work with the Gen 3 knuckle brake conversion. I think it will if you get some Gen 3 parking brake cables. I have also kept the stock setup and it will go with you if you want the parking brake back. Or use it to convert another w of yours to 94+ rear brakes.
Exterior:
-Body is 100% dent free.
-Body is rust free, even undebody in places like the trailing arm mounts.
-Paint is in good enough shape but definitely has its flaws. Can only describe it as typical of a 16 year old car. Looks much better than when I bought it from Luke though as I've had some repaint done in places.
-Deleted the CHMSL under the spoiler to improve the spoilers looks, and have added an LED at the bottom of the rear window. Looks nice. Kept the stock CHMSL if you want to revert.
-Window tint. Not sure what %. Maybe Paul would know. Was apparently a good install as after many years now it is still in good shape.
-New windshield last year. Is the proper, expensive HUD windshield. You really have no idea what a new winshield does for an old car visually until you put one on. Is a hell of a lot easier to see out of too.
-Had the 9005/9006 conversion or whatever it is done to it. Has silverstar highbeams, and silverstar ultra lowbeams.
-Has some aftermarket foglights for it. Installed by Paul. Is a mod I would've never thought to do, but comparing to stock ones you see, these real improvement visually over the stockers. Also uses a Halogen bulb that's pretty bright.
Interior:
Interior is in very nice shape. I have improved it since I bought the car. Gets compliments from passengers for being so nice on an old car. Does have a dashmat over the dash. Is a nice looking piece though and is the proper fit for this dash, HUD and all.
Mods:
-Interior bulbs are Red and LED.
-Swapped cluster bulbs over to LED for better brightness.
-Has the factory 6-way speaker system with amplifier. Is one of the better-sounding stock systems out there.
-Added an Ipod/MP3 player connection to stock radio. Powered by the Best of Richard Marx, . I'll have to show buyer how it works. Just plug in the player and hit the CD button (Press twice if a CD is also loaded in HU, first press will play the CD) Audio quality is better than a modulator transmitter.
-Has illumintaed Autometer Trans Temp and Voltmeter gauges added to console. Was done by Paul. Clean install
-Autodimming rearview mirror w/ compass.
-Paul swapped in a 97-03 GP console. I finished the job with the 97+ shift bezel (and made it illuminated) and shift knob for it. Not real sure for reason of console swap. I suppose it's better looking than a 94-96 one. Does have more usable cupholders than 94-96. In any case it looks nice here.
-AWeb door sills. Have the Grand Prix special edition decals on them. I love these things.
-Nice looking carpeted trunk lid mat with "GTP" on it.
Other
-Options (absolutely everything works on this car) are everything except leather and a sunroof (thank God). Heat, AC (newer AC compressor), Heads-up Display, SWRC, turn signals, rear deforst, power windows, power locks, power seat, cruise, tilt, etc.
-Even though Autocross really isn't as hard on a car as most people think, I have not autocrossed this vehicle since the engine rebuild, and despite the egging on I will get from a friend of mine who autocrosses, I will not run it this year while the car is still in my possession. As a note this car always ran perfectly fine in autocross. Never had a single hiccup from the engine, trans, suspension. Trans/coolant temps never went above normal. The car fared much better than I did out there in the 110 degree heat, as I was beat and burned to a crisp standing out there all day on some of those 110 degree days.
Tires:
-Speedometer set up for 225/50R16 tires. Much better size for performance.
-Has 2 BFGoodrich Traction T/A's up front. Have most of their life left but are noisy ass tires. Rears still have my old AutoX tires, Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R's. Are fully worn. I have 6 or 7 various 16" tires here at this house with most of their life left that you can have with the car and not have to worry about buying tires for a long, long time. Take all of them, some of them, or none of them. I don't care. None of these (or the BFGoodrich's) are autocross tires though. You will need new 225/50R16 high performance tires if you want optimal handling.
-Car has factory high-polish 5 spokes, but I have a spare set of the grey-painted 5 spokes that will go with the car so you can run a AutoX/street setup or a Summer/Winter setup.
The bad:
-Since before the engine rebuild and still present now, there is a little vibration with the vehicle stopped at idle in gear and the exhaust seems louder to me. Not real sure why. Perhaps a muffler, exhaust hangar or a motor mount. Is nothing too serious as the car runs fine.
-Has a noisy strut bearing. Sometimes makes a pop on a full-lock turn. Done it since before I had it. Never bothered me.
I think this is everything. Feel free to ask any questions about the car and I can talk to anyone about it in person 316-573-9683. Test drives are more than welcome. I'm going to take some current pics of everything. Here are some old pics and autoX pics I have right now til then. Car still looks the same as any of these.
-Pic of the throttle body:
Engine:
Has 194k miles on it, but I just finished a mild rebuild this weekend. Not as power as I'd hoped, but runs great. Rebuild (with 100 miles on it now) consisted of:
-I was planning on doing short block work but engine did not need it. Cylinder walls looked almost like new. Very little vertical scuffing, crasshatching still present, and absolutely no ring ridge. Synthetic oil FTW. Even with the synthetic, I was blown away that it could look like this with just shy of 200k miles, so I left it alone.
-Cylinder heads were ported by Ben at WOT-TECH and they were also milled and had a 3 angle valve job done on them.
-Just installed ported upper intake, lower intake w/ EGR delete, and intake arm. The throttle body is also larger than stock. I have kept the non-ported intakes/TB that will go with the car.
-TB coolant bypass done to help lower IATs. This also means the LIM, UIM, intake arm, TB can all be removed in 1 piece in about 5 minutes with no coolant loss.
-Rebuild means ntire engine is clean and fresh, not just outside, but inside is all shiny metal again, no carbon build-up at all.
-Torque-to-yield cylinder heads bolts were replaced with new ACDelco ones on cylinder head reinstall.
-New head gaskets, camshaft carrier gaskets, valve cover gaskets, front crank seal, rear main seal, intermediate shaft seal, timing cover gasket, LIM gasket, UIM gasket, TB gasket, oil pan gasket, exhaust gaskets, oil manifold cover gasket (probably others I can't remember).
-New oil pump drive o-ring and drive was also RTV'd on top. Won't have to worry about this leaking.
-New ACDelco timing belt installed with newer ACDelco hydraulic tensioner. Pulleys are all ok.
-New ACDelco upstream oxygen sensor
-New NOS ACDelco oil pump.
-New ACDelco front timing belt cover
-New battery
-New thermostat
-New ACDelco PCV valve
-New ACDelco spark plugs (are platinum plugs, GM switched to platinum in 96)
-New red Magnecor 8mm plug wires on it. Best wires that are out there. Look pretty sweet too
-New rear motor/trans mount.
-Nearly new alternator. Should be a hige selling point on any LQ1, .
-Fresh coolant
-Fresh synthetic oil and ACDelco filter
-New exhaust valve guides with new valve stem seals. I snap-ringed the new guides so they will never have the common problem of the guides dropping down. This basically means the engine doesn't smoke on start-up like high-mileage LQ1's do and should stay that way forever. When I tore the engine down, 7 out of 12 of the old guides had dropped. It was easy to see why it smoked before. I've been watching it on start-up and haven't had any smoke now.
Other mods:
AIR delete
CAT/O2 sensor 2 delete
32lb L32 injectors, I also have some LY7 injectors that will go with the car if you want proper dual pattern injectors.
DHP powertuner removed associated DTC's with mods, corrected the speedometer for 225/50ZR16 tires, correced fueling for injectors, removed the speed limiter, adjusted WOT shift points.
True cold air intake.
Exhaust consists of a Dynomax glasspack and dual Magnaflow magnaflow. It's pretty loud, but sounds good.
FFP underdrive pulley
FFP dogbone with brand new polyurethane bushings in it.
Auxillary trans cooler
Suspension:
This is the best part of this car and is why I love driving it. Handles way better than a stock w-body and just feels so much better when driving it on the street. I'm reminded of this anytime I drive my brother's low mileage 96 B4U coupe. Here's what's done to it:
Front:
Factory huge LQ1 FE3 sway bar with all 4 brand new polyurethane bushings
Polyurethan control arm bushings (will admit they are noisy though)
Brand new lower ball joints.
Aligned some more negative camber. IIRC correctly camber 0 degrees to slightly negative. Could go further is you want to improve handling more. For some insane reason GM put positive camber on these factory. Positive camber serves no useful purpose.
FE3 springs cut one coil. Makes ride height killer, but streetable, and it vastly improved the handling over the ST lowering springs I had. I wish I'd done this the week I bought it.
Beefy strut tower brace
Have Goodridge Stainless Steel Brakes lines not installed that will go with the car
Rear:
Addco rear sway bar with new poly bushings.
Coilovers on newer GR2 shocks with 275lb springs.
GMPP trailing arms.
Gen 2/3 lateral arms. OMG so much better than Gen 1/1.5 crap. Also makes alignments a cinch.
Aweb Rear strut tower brace
Gen 3 aluminum rear knuckle.
Rear brakes converted to Gen 3 brakes and have slotted, cryogenically treated rotors (will never warp, shouldn't need turned with new pad installation), EBC redstuff pads, and Goodridge stainless steel brakes hoses. These things work! The parking brake does not work with the Gen 3 knuckle brake conversion. I think it will if you get some Gen 3 parking brake cables. I have also kept the stock setup and it will go with you if you want the parking brake back. Or use it to convert another w of yours to 94+ rear brakes.
Exterior:
-Body is 100% dent free.
-Body is rust free, even undebody in places like the trailing arm mounts.
-Paint is in good enough shape but definitely has its flaws. Can only describe it as typical of a 16 year old car. Looks much better than when I bought it from Luke though as I've had some repaint done in places.
-Deleted the CHMSL under the spoiler to improve the spoilers looks, and have added an LED at the bottom of the rear window. Looks nice. Kept the stock CHMSL if you want to revert.
-Window tint. Not sure what %. Maybe Paul would know. Was apparently a good install as after many years now it is still in good shape.
-New windshield last year. Is the proper, expensive HUD windshield. You really have no idea what a new winshield does for an old car visually until you put one on. Is a hell of a lot easier to see out of too.
-Had the 9005/9006 conversion or whatever it is done to it. Has silverstar highbeams, and silverstar ultra lowbeams.
-Has some aftermarket foglights for it. Installed by Paul. Is a mod I would've never thought to do, but comparing to stock ones you see, these real improvement visually over the stockers. Also uses a Halogen bulb that's pretty bright.
Interior:
Interior is in very nice shape. I have improved it since I bought the car. Gets compliments from passengers for being so nice on an old car. Does have a dashmat over the dash. Is a nice looking piece though and is the proper fit for this dash, HUD and all.
Mods:
-Interior bulbs are Red and LED.
-Swapped cluster bulbs over to LED for better brightness.
-Has the factory 6-way speaker system with amplifier. Is one of the better-sounding stock systems out there.
-Added an Ipod/MP3 player connection to stock radio. Powered by the Best of Richard Marx, . I'll have to show buyer how it works. Just plug in the player and hit the CD button (Press twice if a CD is also loaded in HU, first press will play the CD) Audio quality is better than a modulator transmitter.
-Has illumintaed Autometer Trans Temp and Voltmeter gauges added to console. Was done by Paul. Clean install
-Autodimming rearview mirror w/ compass.
-Paul swapped in a 97-03 GP console. I finished the job with the 97+ shift bezel (and made it illuminated) and shift knob for it. Not real sure for reason of console swap. I suppose it's better looking than a 94-96 one. Does have more usable cupholders than 94-96. In any case it looks nice here.
-AWeb door sills. Have the Grand Prix special edition decals on them. I love these things.
-Nice looking carpeted trunk lid mat with "GTP" on it.
Other
-Options (absolutely everything works on this car) are everything except leather and a sunroof (thank God). Heat, AC (newer AC compressor), Heads-up Display, SWRC, turn signals, rear deforst, power windows, power locks, power seat, cruise, tilt, etc.
-Even though Autocross really isn't as hard on a car as most people think, I have not autocrossed this vehicle since the engine rebuild, and despite the egging on I will get from a friend of mine who autocrosses, I will not run it this year while the car is still in my possession. As a note this car always ran perfectly fine in autocross. Never had a single hiccup from the engine, trans, suspension. Trans/coolant temps never went above normal. The car fared much better than I did out there in the 110 degree heat, as I was beat and burned to a crisp standing out there all day on some of those 110 degree days.
Tires:
-Speedometer set up for 225/50R16 tires. Much better size for performance.
-Has 2 BFGoodrich Traction T/A's up front. Have most of their life left but are noisy ass tires. Rears still have my old AutoX tires, Bridgestone Potenza RE-01R's. Are fully worn. I have 6 or 7 various 16" tires here at this house with most of their life left that you can have with the car and not have to worry about buying tires for a long, long time. Take all of them, some of them, or none of them. I don't care. None of these (or the BFGoodrich's) are autocross tires though. You will need new 225/50R16 high performance tires if you want optimal handling.
-Car has factory high-polish 5 spokes, but I have a spare set of the grey-painted 5 spokes that will go with the car so you can run a AutoX/street setup or a Summer/Winter setup.
The bad:
-Since before the engine rebuild and still present now, there is a little vibration with the vehicle stopped at idle in gear and the exhaust seems louder to me. Not real sure why. Perhaps a muffler, exhaust hangar or a motor mount. Is nothing too serious as the car runs fine.
-Has a noisy strut bearing. Sometimes makes a pop on a full-lock turn. Done it since before I had it. Never bothered me.
I think this is everything. Feel free to ask any questions about the car and I can talk to anyone about it in person 316-573-9683. Test drives are more than welcome. I'm going to take some current pics of everything. Here are some old pics and autoX pics I have right now til then. Car still looks the same as any of these.
-Pic of the throttle body:
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