84 Skylark 2 Dr

[Guest]

I have recently reclaimed my daughter's "school car," a 1984 Skylark Custom two-door. The car has a vinyl half-top, wire wheel covers, bucket seats and "wood" dash accent panels. When we bought the car about 6-1/2 years ago it had just over 20,000 miles on it, and had been garaged most of the time. During its college career it lived outside and gained about 45,000 miles. My daughter thought it frumpy. Now it's my daily driver, still in pretty good condition, and I'm wondering just what it is that I have. An internet search for the make and model has brought me little satisfaction. I know next to nothing about mid-80's GM cars but I understand that there was a high-output version of the 2.8 V6 and possibly an optional suspension system available. This car seems like a likely candidate to have come with such options. Can anyone tell me how to interpret VIN numbers for this model, etc.? I would appreciate the help. [color:"black"]

PS: My wife wants to know what to wear to Buick rallies!

[Guest]

below is the link we had on a 1980 buick skylark....

the car is basically the same. the post will solve most of your questions

1980 skylark

[NTX5467]

Check out "The Standard Catalog of Buick" next time you're close to a Borders or Barnes&Noble. It will detail what's standard and what was optional on that vehicle.

Don't recall any performance versions of the Chevy 2.8L V-6 back then (except the X11 Cavalier with a different carburetor and exhaust), but there were a 3.8L Buick V-6 and maybe a larger 4.2L Buick V-6 with a QuadraJet on it somewhere in the mix. The reason those cars had a longer front end sheet metal than the similar Chevies and such was to accomodate the greater width of the Buick 90 degree V-6 over the narrower 2.8L Chevy 60 degree V-6.

As for the "frump" factor, the half vinyl roof and wire wheel covers (hopefully GM covers) do "date" the car to an earlier era, but getting the vinyl roof made into a full vinyl roof and maybe some different wheels might update the looks some.

Should definitely be a nice drive to work car to settle back into after a full day at work for the drive home.

Enjoy!

NTX5467

[NTX5467]

As for the 3.8L/4.1L V-6, I was getting the fwd Century confused with the fwd Skylark. The Century did use the Buick V-6s whereas the Skylark used the Chevy 2.8L V-6.

There were two 2.8L V-6s, though. The 2.8X (opt code LE2) was the regular 2.8L V-6. The 2.8Z (opt code LH7) was classified "2.8L HO". It appears it was the same motor that came in the sportier Citation X11 coupe. It had a different camshaft than the regular 2.8 and probably about 10 or so more horsepower. It also had a dual outlet muffler whereas the normal 2.8 has a single outlet muffler.

Just wanted to add this additional information after I went back into the GM Parts database to look it up.

Enjoy!

NTX5467

[Guest]

Thanks all for the input. Lots of activity at this site, I see... that's good! Does anyone know for sure about the standard vs Custom vs Limited trim packages for the '84? Mine is marked Custom, but has the velour-type interior, little chrome Skylark badges on the inner door panels, more polished aluminum and other "cute" trim than I would expect to see if it isn't the top-line model. But then, I'm not used to Buicks, either. And yes, the wire wheels are original, complete with the little key to remove them with! This was a one-owner car picked up at an estate auction by a dealer I knew; it still had all the original maintenance records, etc. in the glove box. Unfortunately the factory build-sheet is gone, and the stickers on the inside edge of the driver's door have faded so they are not readable.

One complaint... going over small bumps there is sometimes a vibrating clunk somewhere forward and left of my feet... all the steering bushings checked out okay and the struts have been replaced... it doesn't really feel like a suspension problem, maybe a Coke bottle inside the fender?