1987 pro-touring grand national, from the ground up

Im anxious to see video of you clicking through the gears with the paddles. Ive always been curious of that setup.
 
hello; Nice ride now to keep it one pc. I was waiting to see that blanket cover on the turbo but you have time for that. How did the skid pad results look or is that next? You know I'd might even contact a few car mags. and see if they could do a feature on you and your ride. I don't know how that works maybe it's just a phone call if that interests you.
real nice
IBBY
 
dsapper said:
Well its official, I placed the order for the TCI 6x today and it should be here in 2-3 weeks which I translate to mean by Christmas ;p It will hopefully be a lot easier than I thought at first. I did have to get a tci adapter plate to mate up the Chevy bell housing to the BOP engine and get a cross member from gforce but that's about it. I was very worried about the VSS setup but apparently the 6x has an output for it in the newer models so no worrying about switching the tail housing like I previously though. The combo of not having to buy the tail housing or a custom bellhousing saves me about 1000 dollars!

I also got the paddle shifter setup. It will mainly be for "cool factor" but I think it looks awesome and it has the gear indicator lcd on it as well. This is the kit

View attachment 139890

Now I do need some help with converter selection. Advice really. I'm new to the automatic scene and have no idea where to start on getting a converter or exactly what they do. Die hard manual transmission guy here haha. Any suggestions on what I should get for my setup? Remember this will be a daily driver first, a road race car second, and a street light hero/quarter mile car third.
Click to expand...

Great read ! Spent an good amount of time reading this, and check this out! Lol Tom Nelson did this with the 6x trans, but it was beefed up!
Tom is a good guy, and mentor! I hope he can send me his specs, and builds when he messed with the Buick V6 motors. Another thing ! I am going to say I am sorry due to some ignorance on this topic of a fool, and his ego, cause I was just embarrased by the negative in this story! serious. I believe if you can not say anything at all nice as an adult bite your lips, and just shut up. It's sad that people have to lower there minds on other peoples work, and pride. Whether you built it or not. Shame on you!
 
Sooo... Almost 100% of the car is brand new, except the bottom end. Well after I got the car home I took it out to set the electric speedo and do some fine tuning on the trans/engine. Not sure what happened but the bottom end let go. It was set at 22psi, 7 on alky and had 100 octane. I didn't go over 10psi while driving it and driving down the road I heard a huge clank.

Its either a rod clank or the crankshaft, it sounds like a really angry midget is hitting the engine with a 5lb sledgehammer and the whole car shakes violently.

I'm fairly crapped out since I didn't even have a real chance to drive it and I already have to swap the motor. Luckily I have some good people willing to help me out so its not as horrible as it could be.

So, now I'm on the search for a bottom end, if anyone has any info on one hit me up. I'm not looking for anything crazy and I'm having a hard time finding one near me (Las Vegas), any help finding one would be great.
 
After a project like that, and before going into the motor now, first make sure the converter bolts are tight and check the front balancer that it didn't crack or is loose. Those will make a heck of a noise. The bottom end usually just doesn't let go cruising around, unless maybe you didn't prime the oil pump after the car sat for so long? Good luck.
 
I had a motor that piston-pin came out on the dyno,(2 years ago).Nobody caught it ,Brand New build...The car ran,but every 10 minutes or so huge oil smoke cloud came out the exhaust. Pulled it out,Took it back to the machinist an raised hell!!, while he sleeved the block i bought the GN1 stroker kit (was on sale)an he assemble everything for free. So...Last year,with only 1000miles on build, that sleeve cracked,cracked the block,should of gone chrome molly, So where i'm at today, Brand New virgin block rebuild with billet mains an stroker kit transferred over...I fire it up for the first time in less then a month,cars in paint now...(on my profile)

Don't feel bad,you can do everything in Your Power to have things correct,but if it's not right from the get-go (the other fookers messing with it)it's just waste Your Money.
(an it really pisses me off when supposed Pro's foul a build!)

Race cars don't have warranties, But You Still Can Have Someones Arse!!!

I'd start with virgin block on the new build,buicks Hate Band-Aids,Or quicker there's couple motors for sale on the board,Great deals for whats inside them..

Enjoy! (i know your Pain in Spades.....)
 
HelloBozos said:
I had a motor that piston-pin came out on the dyno,(2 years ago).Nobody caught it ,Brand New build...The car ran,but every 10 minutes or so huge oil smoke cloud came out the exhaust. Pulled it out,Took it back to the machinist an raised hell!!, while he sleeved the block i bought the GN1 stroker kit (was on sale)an he assemble everything for free. So...Last year,with only 1000miles on build, that sleeve cracked,cracked the block,should of gone chrome molly, So where i'm at today, Brand New virgin block rebuild with billet mains an stroker kit transferred over...I fire it up for the first time in less then a month,cars in paint now...(on my profile)

Don't feel bad,you can do everything in Your Power to have things correct,but if it's not right from the get-go (the other fookers messing with it)it's just waste Your Money.
(an it really pisses me off when supposed Pro's foul a build!)

Race cars don't have warranties, But You Still Can Have Someones Arse!!!

I'd start with virgin block on the new build,buicks Hate Band-Aids,Or quicker there's couple motors for sale on the board,Great deals for whats inside them..

Enjoy! (i know your Pain in Spades.....)
Click to expand...


he doesn't even know what the problem is yet.. as already pointed out, a loose torque converter can make one hell of a racket and make you think about just lighting the damn thing on fire.. flexplates can also crack and cause a hell of a noise and vibration- even brand new SFI certified flexplates..
 
Hell, I've had the oil pan baffle decide to contact the crank before on the old engine, that was literally a baffling experience. Reached up through the oil drain plug hole with a 90* scratch awl and pulled the baffle down, voila, no more clickety clacking.
 
novaderrik said:
he doesn't even know what the problem is yet..
Click to expand...

I read bottom end let go an Crank or Rod noise, So, i gave an possible explanation. But one of many that can happen,Brand New builds narrow some thing's down...(unless installed incorrectly) 8^/
 
Yes, the motor was pulled and disassembled and sent to the machine shop. It was a rod bearing. Scott Atk and the shop I use are really helping me out with this. I got a call yesterday that they were doing final assembly, so hopefully monday I will have it back and it will be in the car in the next week or two.

Its funny every single thing on this car is either 100% brand new or rebuilt/refreshed etc, except the bottom end lol. guess we can add that to the list now
 
Wow! One heck of an adventure. Just read the whole thread and just want to say outstanding build and educational too. Best of luck and will be waiting for the next episode, and having a good time living vicariously thru you! Cheers!
Troy
 
Sorry to hear that. Looking forward to checking it out when I come down for Sema.

Peter
 
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