1987 pro-touring grand national, from the ground up

[dsapper]

The bumper is 4 pieces. Two steel shocks that support the bumper, the steel outer you see and a steel insert. You can replace the steel shocks with aluminum pieces, the outer steel cover with a fiberglass and the inner steel with an aluminum one that came on other buicks. I used the aluminum supports and aluminum inner then shaved the steel bumper, a good compromise of weight vs saftey.

Aluminum blocks have no drawbacks I'm aware of besides sheer cost, they are actually stronger since they are based on the stage design. If I had an extra 12k or so lying around I might throw one in but that money will be going to my next project. I've been throwing around a 4.1 stroker build but I'd like to drive the setup I have now for awhile before deciding on more power.

The coolest thing about the TCI is the ez-ecu that comes with it. You can actually control the shift points and how firm it shifts along with dozens of other settings. I can have it shift as smooth as a Cadillac then at the push of a button go into a race mode with hard, firm shifts at higher shift points to match the power band.

Thanks for the compliments and good luck with yours

 

[dsapper]

Quick tease of the trunk, its only part done and now the parts are out for paint but to give you an idea of the way its going to turn out

 

[JCPerformance]

Any opinion on SC&C versus DSE (say speed kit 3) suspension? I've seen both used on this forum....

Trunk looks sharp..

 

[dsapper]

Opinions are like a**holes etc etc. I have used both companies a few times over the years on various builds... DSE on 2 1969 camaros and SC&C on a 1964 impala ss, 72 camaro and now the GN. I've spent waaay more money with DSE. I've been nothing but satisfied with both companies products.

I think for me it comes down to customer service at this point. Marcus at SC&C will always answer the phone himself and will give his advice even on competitors products. DSE has blown me off multiple times after buying probably 50k worth of products from them over the years, even so far as to refuse to sell me a misplaced shackle relocation bracket and instead wanted me to buy the whole kit... Again lol.

Scot here is a rep for them which helps a lot and I'm sure he could handle things like that but I had purchased directly.

I think the best combo for a daily driver now is the ride tech kit, great coil overs and one stop shopping.

 

[Instro84]

nice trunk what components you using?

 

[dsapper]

Hybrid audio speakers, arc audio amplifiers and an iPad as the source unit with an eq and sound processor behind it

 

[Instro84]

cool i'm thinking of doin image dynamics in mine, i'd be interested in hot the ipad gets integrated sounds good.

 

[dsapper]

Swung by the body shop today to go over a few things. Painting the car a pure black toner off a European car. Looked at two black cars next to each other, one with GM black and one with the pure toner black.... wow, its almost like two completely different shades, the gm color is much lighter. We will also be using a back undercoat and a tinted black clear coat. I'm excited, it will be as black as you can get a car

 

[novaderrik]

blacker than the blackest black... times infinity...

 

[dsapper]

lol, not sure about that but it will be close. Maybe I'm the only one that thought black was black /shrug

 

[Tdishon]

Stroker 4.1 for the street sounds amazing. Maybe talk with Nick at ArizonaGN. He has built over 600 Buick engines. Met him a few times and he has my car right now. He is a great resource.

 

[Tdishon]

On the GTO seats. Did you have to cut the rear seats down? I suspect the rear GTO seats are too tall?
Also, how did you work out the front seat track mounting? Looks sick!

 

[dsapper]

Front seats lined up on a couple holes. 1/8" tabs lined them up the rest of the way welded to the seat brackets. Rear seats are 100% custom, the gto rears aren't even remotely close. Way to tall and way to narrow

 

[novaderrik]

lol, not sure about that but it will be close. Maybe I'm the only one that thought black was black /shrug

some blacks look brown in the right light...

 

[dsapper]

Brown, blue and yellowish are the majority of blacks. Gm blacks are a bit brown when next to a bmw

 

[dsapper]

Swung by the body shop today and they were hard at work

 

[Pittsburghkid]

Not too often you hear body shop and hard at work in the same sentence. Lol

 

[dsapper]

Yeah well I got smart. Found a good shop and had them agree to one price by a certain date and a progressively lower price at dates further out. I think it will be done, cut and buffed in less than a month lol

 

[Pittsburghkid]

My last one took a year and 3 days. 1 year tell me they were workin on it. 3 days finish it after I filed papers with the magistrate. Lol

 

[coach]

Swung by the body shop today to go over a few things. Painting the car a pure black toner off a European car. Looked at two black cars next to each other, one with GM black and one with the pure toner black.... wow, its almost like two completely different shades, the gm color is much lighter. We will also be using a back undercoat and a tinted black clear coat. I'm excited, it will be as black as you can get a car

I like your thinking Dave, but I really thought you might go with the newer Mercedes Satin Black. It's killer on the few models I saw it on.



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