Off the floor horsepower

D

Dhos1

Self-tuning wanna-be
Joined
Apr 14, 2012
I was watching a you tube video, and once again someone said that a stock GN was 245 off the showroom floor in 1987. But, says that he had heard that it was under rated. With all of the knowledge on this board, what was the answer? Was it really underrated and closer to 300, or is the 245 fairly accurate? No, I did not search...I probably should have. I did not have time as me and a few of the guys at work were talking about it.
 
Dhos1 said:
I was watching a you tube video, and once again someone said that a stock GN was 245 off the showroom floor in 1987. But, says that he had heard that it was under rated. With all of the knowledge on this board, what was the answer? Was it really underrated and closer to 300, or is the 245 fairly accurate? No, I did not search...I probably should have. I did not have time as me and a few of the guys at work were talking about it.
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The '86 was rated at 235 hp and 335 lb/ft torque and the '87 was rated at 245 hp and 345 lb/ft torque.
When Kenne - Bell and ATR did their baseline tests before their add- ons, they both stated 265 hp for both years. They didn't list torque, I don't think anyone cared about that back then (sarcasm).
 
I looked for the answer before and it seemed like a lot of cars (with a lot of miles already) were putting about that 245 number down to the ground.
 
I've also heard that some cars where faster from the factory then others.. Due to the wastegate being at different settings.. Some cars had 13 psi from the factory and others 15 psi. I'm not quite sure if thats true or not though.
 
Justin--I worked for technical assistance dept at Buick at the time and had a brand new 87 GN that was always slower than other guys that I worked with--why? Just exactly for the reasons you stated--one car may have slightly better waste gate actuator, another car may have a slightly crisper up shift in the trans. It was widely known around Buick that the 86 model GNs were setup more aggressively due to emissions were different in 86 vs. 87. My 1986 GN that I have now has way more mileage but is tighter and no rattles or squeaks and everything works as it should compared to my 1987 I bought new off Ken macgilvary Buick in flint, mi. I sold it after 2 years driving in Michigan winters is NOT recommended. Dp
 
Justin85 said:
I've also heard that some cars where faster from the factory then others.. Due to the wastegate being at different settings.. Some cars had 13 psi from the factory and others 15 psi. I'm not quite sure if thats true or not though.
Click to expand...
When I purchased mine.....I brought a book that stated this as well. I don't remember the name or title though. I just thought I would ask for a definitive answer because everyone kinda treated the answer like Nevada and Area 51. Someone knew the answer, but it was never told.
 
I've seen some say closer to 275 HP. the likley answer is it varied, these cars are tough to tune and likely much variation from one to another. Based on the numbers I've seen with a stock ET as low as 13.99 that would put HP right around 295 based on weight of 3,599. Likely somewhere around the 265 maybe a bit north. The torque seems to play much into the launching power of these cars, Im' not a physicist though.
 
Mine bone stock in the summer of '86 ran 14.51 on the factory Goodyear eagle gt's with a soft launch (like a 2.2+ 60ft soft) on 91 octane.
Mine, with minimal options and me not in the car weighed in at 3,300 lbs (front, rear and total weights were taken in an attempt to achieve some accuracy).
 
Joeld said:
I've seen some say closer to 275 HP. the likley answer is it varied, these cars are tough to tune and likely much variation from one to another. Based on the numbers I've seen with a stock ET as low as 13.99 that would put HP right around 295 based on weight of 3,599. Likely somewhere around the 265 maybe a bit north. The torque seems to play much into the launching power of these cars, Im' not a physicist though.
Click to expand...

At the wheels, or the engine?
 
At the wheels - Just checked the math using an online calculator. At 13.99 and 3,599lbs closer to the 265 HP at the wheels. My original number was flywheel.
 
Joeld said:
I've seen some say closer to 275 HP. the likley answer is it varied, these cars are tough to tune and likely much variation from one to another. Based on the numbers I've seen with a stock ET as low as 13.99 that would put HP right around 295 based on weight of 3,599. Likely somewhere around the 265 maybe a bit north. The torque seems to play much into the launching power of these cars, I'm not a physicist though.
Click to expand...
It's the same way with most cars, out of 10, 2 are freaky fast, 2 are freaky slow, and 6 are real close.
 
I've seen a bone stock car dyno at 255 to the wheels a long time ago.
 
If you had put a Kenne Bell catalog in the glove box it would be worth 10 hp.
 
It would be somewhat interesting to see Dyno runs for a complete stock GN ( stock chip ) with using 91 oct , 94 oct , & test temps of 85 deg & 30 deg F
 
Saw more than 1 engine dyno test @ Ruggles.. Several were 87's, straight out of the crate.......290 +/- a few.
Jim had 2 dynos. 1 for the vsicks, 1 for v8's.
He said the vsicks shook so bad, it would make the dyno go goofy. So, he used seperate units.
 
Chuck Leeper said:
Saw more than 1 engine dyno test @ Ruggles.. Several were 87's, straight out of the crate.......290 +/- a few.
Jim had 2 dynos. 1 for the vsicks, 1 for v8's.
He said the vsicks shook so bad, it would make the dyno go goofy. So, he used seperate units.
Click to expand...
Like the vsicks play on letters. Would make a good personalized license plate :D.
 
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