About my car:
My 1987 Buick Grand National was purchased bone stock in July of 1997 with exactly 26,990 miles on the clock for $10,500. What a deal right? Well after a few months, the car began having a lot of problems. The motor bogged, turbo didn't spool, and the electrical system of the car was out of whack. It was COMPLETELY out of tune! At the time, we had no idea about this car and what this thing could do. We eventually fixed everything. As the years went on, I learned more and more about these cars and their history. The car was basically untouched performance-wise for 4 years and was a daily driver including the harsh winter months. I decided to do a lot more research on a GN one day and encountered a couple of websites and message boards that dealt strictly with Turbo Regals. The car didn't see any modding until the summer of 2001 when I finally realized what I had and after all the learning I did. I started very little with all the free mods and getting the car tuned. I began a piece by piece upgrade project of this car including the air intake, fuel system, and exhaust. These cars were rated stock at 245 horsepower and that is underrated. There have been guys that took their bone stock GNs into the dyno machines and came out with near 280-300 hp. I have learned a great deal about these cars and what they can do all thanks to the wonderful Buick community from both the turbobuick boards and the geniuses who put together gnttype.org. If you ever have a question about these cars, I suggest you go there because it's one of the most informational sites I have ever seen for a select type of car. Well, enjoy the pics.
Modifications done to my Grand National so far:
- Intake mods:
4" chrome pipe "Big Mouth" cold air induction system
TE-44 Turbo-charger built by Precision Turbo & Engine
Stock style adjustable wastegate
LS1 3.5" Mass Air Flow Sensor & Translator along with a 23-21 degree timing Extender chip
RJC Racing powerplate for stock plenum
- Exhaust mods:
Poston's 3" downpipe
2.5" Hooker exhaust system w/ Hooker AeroChamber straight-through mufflers
Poston's driver side header
- Fueling mods:
Walbro GSS 307 fuel pump w/ Casper Electronics fuel pump hotwire upgrade kit
SMC Enterprises dual nozzle alcohol injection system (pictures of this system installed on my car coming soon)
Accufab adjustable fuel pressure regulator
Delphi 50 lb/hr fuel injectors
Kenne-Bell hood mounted 100 psi fuel pressure gauge
- Suspension mods:
Kirban's Performance rear seat brace kit
HRpartsNstuff rear lower control arms
Moser Engineering heavy duty race axles and wheel bearings
Rear suspension coil spring air bags
ATR Performance rear sway bar
Dynotech 3" lightweight aluminum driveshaft w/ heavy duty Spicer u-joints and forged yokes
Stock rims (track) : 28x9x15 Mickey Thompson E/T Drag Slicks, GNX style rims (street) : "rear" BF Goodrich 265/50/16 Radial T/As, "front" 225/50/16's
- Motor mods:
100 lb Kirban's LT1 stock replacement valve springs
- Misc. mods:
160 degree thermostat & throttle body coolant lines looped off
Front-mount transmission cooler
Engine torque strap
30 psi VDO boost gauge mounted on A-pillar holder
Casper's Electronics Knock & VDO water temperature gauges inside console twin gauge holder
Tuning done with Turbo-Link scan tool software on a laptop computer
How fast is it you ask? If you know anything about the potential of these Turbo Regals then you already know how fast it is...otherwise race one and find out!