New Grand National in Peoria, IL. Need to find local GN peers

[BennyBuick]

Hello turbo Buick,

It's been 5 years coming but I finally bought one. I've wanted one for 5 years and have been seriously looking for a year. Wanting and waiting to find "the one", I have indeed found the perfect one.

As the title would indicate, I'm in the Peoria area... East Peoria, IL. I'm looking for fellow turbo buick owners in my area in hopes of finding a resident expert in the area to advise and guide me along my new journey into buick land and make sure I don't do something stupid that I'd regret.

Some history on me first. As a kid, my dad was a buick dealer and had a GN and sold it to buy a GNX. I remember fondly taking vacations as a family of four in that GNX. Driving for hours comfortably with plenty of room in the trunk for all our luggage, some toys, dad's guns for hunting, and whatever else, that car was functional as heck as well as kick ass. Every toll booth was like the starting gate of a drag strip, dad flooring it with us kids cheering only to soon be overshadowed by my mother complaining that he was acting foolish. 100mph back to interstate cruising speed was the ritual and man I loved it. This fond memory is what fueled my wanting of a Grand National and now it is finally a reality. Unfortunately, my dad sold his GNX #124 when I was a teenager, sniffle cry... But he is excited now for me to relive some of those old memories.

I bought a fully restored GN with a stoutly built motor and tranny and about every modern upgrade imaginable. It is in Lutz, FL, but will hopefully be shipped here soon. It is claimed to have 580 whp, that both scares and excites me. Sounds like the car needs nothing and is tip top and ready to rock, but I want advice and guidance for upkeep, maintenance, and general education. My brother is the mechanic in the family, not me. I'm usually the breaker and he the fixer . Hopefully I'm wiser now not just older that I can respect a machine like this and have the restraint to not beat it. I want to really take care of this beauty. Can't wait to take delivery.

Apparently this car has been worked on and tuned by Julio of Alky control. I have hopes that Julio can comment on the car Nick Mattia just sold me. I believe he said your name on this forum is Razor. I do believe that this is the perfect one that I've been waiting for. For the past year I've watched every GN offered and sold everywhere online, reluctant and hesitating to pull the trigger. This is the one. Thanks so much Nick. You've made a dream come true and your car will have a very happy new home and it will be well cared for. God bless all

-Benjamin Schwiderski-

 

[TurboBuRick]

Pic man! Pics!!

Welcome to the club. There are a ton of turbo Buick guys in Chicago land. Glad you got a nice car. If Julio tuned it you should be all good.

Rick

 

[1quick87GN]

Tom Wilson Body Shop
Edwards, Il
If you want to know something about a Buick, this is your man.

 

[jdpolzin]

Im in the Quad Cities! Congrats!

 

[BennyBuick]

Tom Wilson Body Shop
Edwards, Il
If you want to know something about a Buick, this is your man.

As it turns out, my dad knows Tom Wilson, he's even been to his house... Small world. I'll be looking him up soon. Thanks for the snappy replies

 

[BennyBuick]

I'd like to find a chrome turbo heat shield with cutout for bigger Terry Houston down pipe. The one on this GN is powder coated black. Any one have one for sale or want to trade?

 

[blackazz]

I'd like to find a chrome turbo heat shield with cutout for bigger Terry Houston down pipe. The one on this GN is powder coated black. Any one have one for sale or want to trade?

I have alot of chrome parts I might do you a trade.

 

[BennyBuick]

I have alot of chrome parts I might do you a trade.

I would love to arrange a trade for a chrome turbo heat shield for my powder coated black one. I will be interested in other chrome parts as well down the road, say maybe eventually an alternator or alt cover? and Whatever else I can find. I'm a sucker for chrome.

 

[BennyBuick]

Pic man! Pics!!

Welcome to the club. There are a ton of turbo Buick guys in Chicago land. Glad you got a nice car. If Julio tuned it you should be all good.

Rick

I will post pics when I receive the car. Next Friday, Sept 19th is when it should be arriving at my door. This will probably be the longest week of my life. I will take photos and post. Any advice on how to post photos on this site so I'm not stumbling and fumbling it when the time comes?

 

[XXQUICK6XX]

Good luck.

 

[BennyBuick]

Apparently, the truck that was suppose to be picking up my car broke down, now it won't be here until sat or sun, 20th or 21st. And an extra day or two delay literally might end my life, I could die from this! I feel it setting in, I'm not going to make it. Just so everyone knows, I want to be buried in the car. It should be here before the funeral. Highway to hell indeed, but at least I'll be the first one there... Lmao

 

[Phoneguy]

That is the car letting you know what you are in for...mine has been cursed since 2007

 

[BennyBuick]

That is the car letting you know what you are in for...mine has been cursed since 2007

Ok...
a) not the car's fault, but the negligence on part of the shipping company
b) nice job trying to find a negative quality in my recent acquisition
c) your crap luck isn't mine, as much as it sounds like you wish it was... after all, misery loves company
d) hope to see you someday on the strip so I can further display my displeasure in reading your remark
e) 2007 going on .... forever? or did you get it worked out...

LMAO, jk, but in all seriousness, what kind of problems have you had to work out over the last 7 years?

 

[BennyBuick]

btw phone guy, just looking at those pictures, looks like a beautiful mirror like repaint. Looks super sweet. Hope I get to see it in person someday. I want to go to Bowling Green Someday, never know, maybe our paths will cross one day.

 

[Phoneguy]

LMAO.......

Wasnt intending any of my "Black Cloud " your way......

Wow, where to start. bought car basically stock with 43k miles a TA49 , Caspers thumbwheel chip and exhaust....NOT fast enough...
Bought a 3" downpipe , ALKY, FAST XFI. Turbonetics CPT66 turbo, Art Carr 3400-3600 stall converter, Art Carr Shift kit. Installed the above and went to Oceola Indiana to race at the Midwest Buick Challenge. Took 8 hours to get there with some trailer issues...Head gaskets blown at the Midwest Buick Challenge in 2007 on the first run ( pic in my sig). I figured " while its apart it would be a great time to do GN1 aluminum heads, 212/218 roller cam, roller rockers, roller lifters, timing chain." Had boost creep bad with the downpipe/wastegate that I bought from GN1 Performance, lifted the heads. New Cometic head gaskets, new ARP bolts...lifted again ! New Cometic head gaskets again...heads wont stay down. Decided to pull the numbers matching engine and tranny before I really did any damage to them and store them for later. Saved some money for awhile ...Had a stroker motor built at RPE in Hartford CT ( Bobby builds badass motors)fired up the new engine in March of 2010, had a tranny built that lasted about 40 miles. Get new tranny built by a different vendor. Went to North Carolina for the TurboBuick.com Nationals in May of 2010, had some tuning done on the dyno at Richard Clarks without pushing the car hard at all. Car puts down 555 HP and 553 TQ at 21 psi on pump gas and ALKY...Im pumped !! Hit the track and make 4 back to back passes, 6.91 @103 with a zero boost launch. I am feeling awesome. The day after I get back to Missouri , I decided to take my oldest boy for a ride to show him how awesome it is running....my boost controller decided that I wasnt running enough boost and went all-in....I was logging the run, it went north of 30 psi, how far I dont know. The result was a melted head, block, piston, 2 push rods. I was devastated when I removed the intake and saw the chunk missing from the head. This RPE stroker motor only had about 75 miles on it !!! Had the motor freshened by someone other than RPE as I could not afford to send it to him again. I picked up the engine and a feshened tranny in May of 2011 on my way back to the TurboBuick.com Nationals at Richard Clarks, installed the engine and tranny and a new PTC 9.5" NLU while at Richards shop. Got everything together and running but did not get to do any tuning at all. Went back to Missouri and not long after returning home the car was sent out for paint. The shop that stripped my car cut my headliner out with a razor knife to get to the moonroof seal...all they had to do was open the roof!!! They also destroyed all but one of my fillers, burned up my new Hi Torque mini starter trying to start my car while the bumpers were removed ( no ground to fuel pump), broke both of the tail light bezels, chipped the header panel after it was painted, the list of broken or missing parts was lengthy ...Picked up car at the end of January 2012 and started reassembling the car from some stupidity left over from the shop that stripped the car and reassembled it, started getting the car ready for the North Carolina trip again. I hadnt driven the car but 40 miles for the whole year so I was super pumped to get to the dyno and get her dialed in. Made 2 runs on the dyno at 15 psi, logs look awesome, 425 HP...turned it up to 20 psi and made a run, 530 HP and I hear a rattle that at first sounded like valve train noise, Tranny puked all over the dyno , pulled the car outside readjusted all of the rockers and ....the noise is still there !!! Put her on a lift, unbolt the torque converter, noise still there. Are you F%#$^&*g kidding me !!! Richard said to leave my car and trailer there and when he got some free time i could come there and build it with him !!! He is an unbelievable person....... Well, he had some issues at the shop and I was finally able to go there this past January and build the engine with him and Patrick Broughton ( screen name : SloGN), what an experience !!! I also had the trans checked for the third time by the builder while I was close. Fired up the newly rebuilt stroker January 11th this year and have been tuning via logs emailed. Car is running great !! July 6th I blow the tranny just hitting it from a 40 mph roll !!!!!!! August 1st went to Richards and had the tranny rebuilt ( I would love to be able to say I helped, but that would be a lie, LOL) Car is now running great and shifting great. I cant wait til next month for Bowling Green !!!!!!
This was the highlights of the curse and by all means does not fully encompass all of the issues...
We have sacrificed a chicken and called in a High Priestess to perform VooDoo to rid my car of the curse....

Bryan

 

[Phoneguy]

btw phone guy, just looking at those pictures, looks like a beautiful mirror like repaint. Looks super sweet. Hope I get to see it in person someday. I want to go to Bowling Green Someday, never know, maybe our paths will cross one day.

Paint came out pretty nice, Thanks !
Bowling Green is fun with or without a car there, lots of great people !!
Im sure we will meet there someday.

Best of luck with your new baby !!

Bryan

 

[BennyBuick]

Holy broccoli Batman, that is some kind of insane nightmare. I've never heard that bad of a horror story in all my life. As I reflect on what I just read, I'll take my shipping delay problems any day. My heart goes out to you fella, do you need anything? Anything I can do? Have one of my kidneys or something because holy Lord that is insane...
So any advice on how to avoid some of that same fate? I hope you wouldn't wish that experience on another GN owner. LOL.
Nick, who sold me the car, has just rebuilt the motor, tranny, and eaton rear end, so I was hoping dearly that the car shouldn't give me any major problems for quite some time. I believe it is the stock block, but blueprinted, forged internals including diamond pistons, h beam rods, and custom roller cam 210/215. The car also runs the same turbo as you have , turbonetics CPT66. I'll post a full list of mods when I'm near a computer instead of my iPad. The list is quite long.
But by all means, please, share any advice you may have. Pointers on how to avoid big mistakes that could cost me dearly.

 

[Phoneguy]

Haha, I will keep you in mind for a kidney.
The only advice I can give you is to make changes slowly and log everything you can. Find someone that can help you tune, These cars are expensive when things break. Head gaskets are the breakfast of champions with a bad tune.
The CPT 66 has been gone for about 5 years, replaced with the GTK 850 , 72mm. It's a beast for sure, now if I can only keep it together....
I still need to address the stock rear end in the car and then on to front suspension. I have done all that I care too trying to make it faster, just don't have the money to keep throwing at it. I am hoping to get into the 9's at Bowling Green.

Hopefully your car will show up sooner than you are expecting and you will get to enjoy it this weekend.

Bryan

 

[BARRACUDA1968]

LMAO.......

Wasnt intending any of my "Black Cloud " your way......

Wow, where to start. bought car basically stock with 43k miles a TA49 , Caspers thumbwheel chip and exhaust....NOT fast enough...
Bought a 3" downpipe , ALKY, FAST XFI. Turbonetics CPT66 turbo, Art Carr 3400-3600 stall converter, Art Carr Shift kit. Installed the above and went to Oceola Indiana to race at the Midwest Buick Challenge. Took 8 hours to get there with some trailer issues...Head gaskets blown at the Midwest Buick Challenge in 2007 on the first run ( pic in my sig). I figured " while its apart it would be a great time to do GN1 aluminum heads, 212/218 roller cam, roller rockers, roller lifters, timing chain." Had boost creep bad with the downpipe/wastegate that I bought from GN1 Performance, lifted the heads. New Cometic head gaskets, new ARP bolts...lifted again ! New Cometic head gaskets again...heads wont stay down. Decided to pull the numbers matching engine and tranny before I really did any damage to them and store them for later. Saved some money for awhile ...Had a stroker motor built at RPE in Hartford CT ( Bobby builds badass motors)fired up the new engine in March of 2010, had a tranny built that lasted about 40 miles. Get new tranny built by a different vendor. Went to North Carolina for the TurboBuick.com Nationals in May of 2010, had some tuning done on the dyno at Richard Clarks without pushing the car hard at all. Car puts down 555 HP and 553 TQ at 21 psi on pump gas and ALKY...Im pumped !! Hit the track and make 4 back to back passes, 6.91 @103 with a zero boost launch. I am feeling awesome. The day after I get back to Missouri , I decided to take my oldest boy for a ride to show him how awesome it is running....my boost controller decided that I wasnt running enough boost and went all-in....I was logging the run, it went north of 30 psi, how far I dont know. The result was a melted head, block, piston, 2 push rods. I was devastated when I removed the intake and saw the chunk missing from the head. This RPE stroker motor only had about 75 miles on it !!! Had the motor freshened by someone other than RPE as I could not afford to send it to him again. I picked up the engine and a feshened tranny in May of 2011 on my way back to the TurboBuick.com Nationals at Richard Clarks, installed the engine and tranny and a new PTC 9.5" NLU while at Richards shop. Got everything together and running but did not get to do any tuning at all. Went back to Missouri and not long after returning home the car was sent out for paint. The shop that stripped my car cut my headliner out with a razor knife to get to the moonroof seal...all they had to do was open the roof!!! They also destroyed all but one of my fillers, burned up my new Hi Torque mini starter trying to start my car while the bumpers were removed ( no ground to fuel pump), broke both of the tail light bezels, chipped the header panel after it was painted, the list of broken or missing parts was lengthy ...Picked up car at the end of January 2012 and started reassembling the car from some stupidity left over from the shop that stripped the car and reassembled it, started getting the car ready for the North Carolina trip again. I hadnt driven the car but 40 miles for the whole year so I was super pumped to get to the dyno and get her dialed in. Made 2 runs on the dyno at 15 psi, logs look awesome, 425 HP...turned it up to 20 psi and made a run, 530 HP and I hear a rattle that at first sounded like valve train noise, Tranny puked all over the dyno , pulled the car outside readjusted all of the rockers and ....the noise is still there !!! Put her on a lift, unbolt the torque converter, noise still there. Are you F%#$^&*g kidding me !!! Richard said to leave my car and trailer there and when he got some free time i could come there and build it with him !!! He is an unbelievable person....... Well, he had some issues at the shop and I was finally able to go there this past January and build the engine with him and Patrick Broughton ( screen name : SloGN), what an experience !!! I also had the trans checked for the third time by the builder while I was close. Fired up the newly rebuilt stroker January 11th this year and have been tuning via logs emailed. Car is running great !! July 6th I blow the tranny just hitting it from a 40 mph roll !!!!!!! August 1st went to Richards and had the tranny rebuilt ( I would love to be able to say I helped, but that would be a lie, LOL) Car is now running great and shifting great. I cant wait til next month for Bowling Green !!!!!!
This was the highlights of the curse and by all means does not fully encompass all of the issues...
We have sacrificed a chicken and called in a High Priestess to perform VooDoo to rid my car of the curse....

Bryan

My Lord

I would have physically and mentally never made it through that. My GN experience hasn't been too great either in the last year but I love the car. Glad the OP is getting what he has been waiting for and you're back up and running again!

 

[BennyBuick]

If you are going to get into the 9's, then I retract my point d) on my original reply. humbly.... lol