'02 Pontiac Grand Am GT Ram Air

As of February 5th, 2014, this '02 Grand Am was totaled. Please visit the '02 Grand Am GT - Wrecked for further information and pictures.

See below the images for links to my Projects and History of this Grand Am

A Little Pre-Story:
In 2008, when my '94 Grand Am had over 150,000 miles on it, my wife and I decided it might be wise to shop for a future replacement for this daily driver.   That's when I ended up buying the '04 Monte Carlo SS.   Thinking the '94 Grand Am had no resale value, we decided it made more sense to park the Monte during the winter and I'd keep driving the '94 until something happened that was not worth fixing.   What little did I know, that '94 would just keep running!!   Sure, I still had the occasional brake/fix.   In those 4 years, I've put a lot of time/money/mods into the Monte and I really don't want to put the Monte through our winters (it's just too nice of a car) and even though the '94 Grand Am still runs, I've developed my reasons to want to part ways with her (I've owned the '94 for 9 years, I, myself, put over 100,000 miles of the 200,000+ on it).

I talked it over with my wife and we reached a decision, if I could find a cheaper "beater" in better shape then the '94, I would sell the '94 and continue to park the Monte for the winter.   My goal was to buy something CHEAP, no financing (I did not want a payment for a "winter car"), 2000 model year or newer.   Because I wanted cheap, I wanted a drivetrain I was familiar with, this would be the GM 3100/3400/3800 v6 models.   My prefered target cars were Grand Am, Bonneville, Impala (but I would consider other N/H/W platform cars).   And a car needing a little work was not out of the question (pending the price was right).

I believe it was 1-2 months of combing Craigslist, calling on cars, looking at some "buckets", I found the "diamond in the rough" (if you want to call it that).   Certainly NOT the prettiest car, but I found this '02 Grand Am GT Ram Air package with 109,000 miles on it.   My dad and I looked it over, found a bunch of little things wrong with it and got the guy to go down $300 below his asking price.   The first thing this GT needed was a GOOD cleaning, everything inside looked and felt grimy.   When I got it home, my brother-in-law & I took the seats and center console out of the car.   While wrenching on it and we found a few more little things wrong with it.   This car resulted in a few trips to Pull-A-Part and a few orders from www.RockAuto.com.   Believe it or not, despite what was found wrong with this GT, even when looking it over before buying, it had signs to validate claims that the owner tried to be diligent with having it repaired when it needed it (I question the mechanic's abilities though).

List of what we've fixed:
Replace Missing Prop Rod
Oil Pressure Switch (to resolve a Check Engine Code)
Passenger Side Wheel Hub & Speed Sensor (to resolve ABS code)
Driver Side Outer Tie Rod
Resolve a Fan Realy Check Engine Code (previous owner bridged two connections in the fuse panel)
Metal Tube from rear exhaust manifold to EGR
Front Impact Bar
Driver Side Fog Light Housing
Both Fog Light Plugs (they were cut off)
Lower Rear Back Up Light Housings
Ducting for the Air Box
Tubing from Wiper Sprayer pump to the Wipers
Replace rear 6x9s with Rockfords (rewired like the Monsoons, the Monsoons were dry rotted)
Headlight Assemblies (Brand New via eBay $62 Shipped)
HVAC Panel (bad rear defroster button)
Interior Clothing Hooks on the Headliner
Clips to hold in the Rear Seat Bottom in
Properly secure the Rear Brake Lines (previous owner had them replaced, they were free floating)
Remove a Sirius Radio dock and hacked install of a related power adaptor
Blower Motor Resistor (Currently has Off, 4 and 5 settings)
Wire for Rear Door Jamb Switch for Dome Light Activation

List what still needs fixed (as of writing this page):
Replace Bent Rear Laterals (Plan to Upgrade to W-body Lats)
Passenger Side Fender
Front Bumper Cover (previous owner replaced it, it's cracked and the paint job has runs and areas without paint)
Lower Rear Back Up Lights

Done for Good Maintenance since it has 109,000 miles:
Spark Plugs (NGK Platinum Plugs)
Plug Wires
Change Transmission fluid and Filter

My Modifications:
L67 Coils
Factory MP3 Monsoon Stereo (GM did not offered until '04)
Painted the Pontiac arrow logo on the steering wheel red
Re-Wired Dome Light (allow all three lights to come on when a door is opened)
Painted Red Rings Around the Air Vents
LED Replacement Bulbs
A/C Compressor Pulley Bypass (and shorter belt)
LED 3rd Brake Light (using '00-'05 Impala/Monte Parts)

Future Modifications:
K&N Drop-In Air Filter

Here are pictures from when I bought.   They are at various phases of being worked on and span from purchase in August 2012 until selling the '94 Grand Am in October.   Sorry folks, no good pics of the GT all cleaned up at the moment: