Here is it!! I went up on Monday morning to meet up with my parents in Los Angeles from San Diego where I live. Picked up the 72 Skylark Custom Convertible and drove 150 miles on the all original equipment!! Drove so damn good!! I was blow away to say the least. The car has been taken care of but, now the real work begins, I'm starting from 0 here. This car has been in my family since it was purchased. First planned upgrade is braking system! What front power system to you all recommend?? those drums were not the jam, then plans are to next work on the engine (cleaned up, tuned, running prime), dual exhaust, 2004R transmission and 3.73 limited slip. Here are some photos of the car def needs some love. Where would you start? I have a good budget and will do as much work myself as i can, however i dont have a flat driveway so Im limited on things i can do safely at home. Im so excited i just wanna drive it everywhere
Congrats! There is so much information available here, including a recent thread on the disc brake conversions. I think it's in the Whoa and Sway section. If it were me, I would probably just do the tune-up and basic maintenance stuff needed first.
Looks great. Nice to have a piece of family history, especially one thats in nice shape after 50 years.
Sweet car!! I'm curious if you have the rear jacked up and if how? The springs are really compressed near the axle.
No rear springs are original, everything on this car is, they will most likely need to be changed out.
Nice car, I would do the brakes first since it’s running, then do the tune followed by any other upgrades as your budget allows while you enjoy driving your car
Yeah that’s definitely gonna be the order of operations, thank you so much!! I’m looking forward to enjoying this beauty.
You have an honest original. Having been down this path several times before I would do strictly maintenance updates first starting with all fluid changes, gaskets and hoses! You will learn so much about your car and what it truly needs and build a sound platform for the future larger upgrades you mention above. Once you get all the maintenance complete I would go forward with the tune. The rest will unfold depending on time and money. Have fun and consult here for other ideas and how to. Don't forget the service manual as it is essential!
Thanks so much!! The support and help here is amazing!!! I will be ordering that manual for sure. Yes looking to keep the engine as is, it runs great and just like you said ill get those new gaskets and hoses gotta work from the ground up.
Wow, nice! I know you're set on the disk brake conversion but tbh, w/all new stuff & maybe even aluminum front drums of a '68-70 BBB or '68-72 Sportwagon, those drums will stop it more than sufficiently and darn close to if not as good as disk. Where the disk shine is repeated hard stops.
Just a comment or two on the disc brake conversion................... Every GS I've had up to this one has had front disc brakes so, when I bought this one I was thinking that standard power brakes would be a big disappointment. Well, I was wrong. The standard power brakes on this GS455 are great and other than the pedal being a little higher off the floor than the disc brake pedal, I can't tell any difference between these bakes and disc brakes. I'm sure the discs would show much less fade with repeated hard stopping or panic stopping from high speed but for every day use I'm totally happy with them and have abandoned the idea of the conversion. Just my experience for your consideration.
Ray, have you driven your car in the rain with the power drums? Mine work very well too, I just remember past cars with drum brakes being a little scary after running through a puddle. Beings that our monsoon season is 3 to 4 months out of the year, I bought a front disc conversion kit, just have not had the time to install it yet.
Well, being a bit of a fair weather guy when it comes to my GS I've only driven it in the rain a few times when the rain wasn't really expected. So, never in a real downpour. But, what difference should I expect to see between plain power and disc? I never thought about that.
When the drums get wet inside, they can be a bit on the vague side, on first application. I may have read that wrong... Did you have disc or drum brakes on the front of you GS?
Exactly as I was saying plus the OP's 350 is a bit lighter. On my low-option GS 350 4-sp w/manual brakes & alum. front drums, I'm sure that car stopped almost if not as well as or even better than disks.
