6LE 1987 Grand National 4.8 turbo swap APPEARANCE mods...

[6LE Designs]

What do you guys think, GNX vents on the hood or no? With just the holes there so far it looks too busy... More I look at it though they are just too angular. Different style vents maybe?

 

[6LE Designs]

Would have been running this weekend but the new turbo was not the one I ordered so it didn't fit (smaller, everything was 1/2" off). Here it is mocked up though...

Things will get changed a little (like that radiator hose) and bead rolled sheet metal will line the engine bay but she's getting there (after MONTHS of issues with parts suppliers )...

 

[Sharp86t6]

Nice work, keep it up! The more you do, the more motivation I get to finish mine. I'm getting ready to do the wiring on mine with a psiconversion stand alone harness... cain't wait!

Imo... I think it looks better without the vents on the hood.

 

[trixdout]

Keep the gnx vents. They will flow with the exhaust tips.

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[6LE Designs]

Nice work, keep it up! The more you do, the more motivation I get to finish mine. I'm getting ready to do the wiring on mine with a psiconversion stand alone harness... cain't wait!

Imo... I think it looks better without the vents on the hood.

Thanks! I know I get de-motivated when I realize I started this almost a YEAR ago and wrong parts keep slowing it down but when I went to look at a new Camaro and a new Mustang (options I thought about getting in lieu of keeping the GN) I get motivated to finish it instead lol.

Keep the gnx vents. They will flow with the exhaust tips.

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app

They actually look way to small now with the proportions of the rest of the car BUT I found the most amazing find (in my personal opinion) while hunting for different hood vents (I feel I NEED vents due to the heat and the fact it is NOT possible to make the hood "bump" open and actually get heat out)...

First, all I found CLOSE to what I wanted was newer factory Mustang hood vents... HOWEVER, even though I'm sacrilegiously yanking the factory V6, I draw the line at a FACTORY Ford part. HOWEVER, I found an aftermarket company that makes a SIMILAR vent and to me they look just like GNX vents BUT a little rounded, which matches my car more, BIGGER (by 60% which is PERFECT since my hood bump is 60% larger) and instead of cheap mesh they are HONEYCOMB (not GN but at least GM) plastic inserts...

Ordered and waiting for them but they should work GREAT. The holes in my hood are 12" (GNX size) and these vents are 18" so it should finish the look nicely !

 

[larry33kc]

Where did you find those? How much? I was thinking about the ford vents till I saw a price. WOW they are high.
Those should look great

 

[TurboTGuy]

Still debating on trying to make the stock gauges work and use this new overlay we're making to make them look more modern (the 145 is in case I can get a local shop I saw to recalibrate it)...

I don't know if you've considered it but I took a Canadian T Type speedo and had a local, reputable speedo shop black out the red MPH numbers. Then I had them reset the mileage on it to match the original speedo and had them claibrate both the odom and speedo and then certify it. (It's 8 percent off now because of the big assed 295/55's I'm running, but that can be fixed)

I think it looks 100x better than any overlay ever could.

I kept the orginal speedo as proof to verify the certification form the shop provided me. I'll never sell the car so it's not so important to me but I won't be around forever...............

Here's the best pic I could take this morning with my shakey old hands.........

 

[6LE Designs]

Where did you find those? How much? I was thinking about the ford vents till I saw a price. WOW they are high.
Those should look great

Not much cheaper than used OEM vents BUT they come with everything you need to mount (just cut holes) and seem very high quality as far as the vents (must companies just use cheap mesh), etc...

http://www.americanmuscle.com/mmd-h...nt-0509-GSNoFitmentV1&adtype=pla#BVQAWidgetID

 

[6LE Designs]

I don't know if you've considered it but I took a Canadian T Type speedo and had a local, reputable speedo shop black out the red MPH numbers. Then I had them reset the mileage on it to match the original speedo and had them claibrate both the odom and speedo and then certify it. (It's 8 percent off now because of the big assed 295/55's I'm running, but that can be fixed)

I think it looks 100x better than any overlay ever could.

I kept the orginal speedo as proof to verify the certification form the shop provided me. I'll never sell the car so it's not so important to me but I won't be around forever...............

Here's the best pic I could take this morning with my shakey old hands.........

Wow, that looks GREAT!!! I've already decided to go with and wired GNX style vents and gauges (the gauges I used LOOK like GNX but they LIGHT like modern gauges)...

 

[TurboTGuy]

Wow, that looks GREAT!!! I've already decided to go with and wired GNX style vents and gauges (the gauges I used LOOK like GNX but they LIGHT like modern gauges)...

Yeah, come to think of it you are pretty much going for that "look".

Mine's just a plain old TR............. that runs like a scalded dog.

Nice project, good luck!

 

[6LE Designs]

After arguing witht the turbo company via e-mail yesterday that the AR (whatever you call it, back side down pipe attaches to) was NOT the same size as my original (that was bad out of the box but we mocked everything up with it) they finally said just bring it down.

It wasn't the same. Ten minutes later that had a new one for me and we got it all bolted up today . Ran out of time at the shop but Saturday we'll re-do the radiator hose, clamp it all up, attach the exhaust, run the vacuum lines and catch can lines, fix a throttle cable issue, download the tune and fire her up!

 

[6LE Designs]

Vents came in today ! Saturday should have everything bolted up and wires/hoses ran (just not everything TIDIED up) and will install the vents and spray the hood bump satin black primer and take pics. Should have a pretty good gauge of what the finished product will be on Saturday... a year later, lol!!!

 

[6LE Designs]

Vents came in!

Cut the hood, put them in and then painted the scoop flat black just to protect the metal until I can get the body work finished and send off to paint...

Got the cross over, down pipe, etc... on today and fired her up . Now I have a laundry list of odds and ends (changing hoses around, wires, etc...) drop the tune in, run it, check it, run it, check it then finish up appearance stuff (splitter, side skirts, rear diffuser, fuel rail covers and wheel wells)... She's getting there!

 

[goche4]

Looking good must be getting excited

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[6LE Designs]

Started on the grille last night. Had to get proportions by printing pics of this off the internet and measuring...

Basically the top (of the vertical bars) width to the bottom is 5 to 4. They have 7 bars, we have 14. Ours are exactly 1" a part so it actually worked out perfect basing the off an inch (except trying to get 4/5's of an inch lol, I settled on 11/16th...

I used cardboard to figure out spacing and angles then waterjet this piece out of plastic to test fit (this piece has STRAIGHT LINES, finished product will have ARCHED LINES to look like the above grille, this was just to test fit)...

Fit just fine

Finished product will be aluminum. It will have the kick in that our stock grilles have, the center will have the crease line that the hood and bumper have and it will have a second layer adde it to it (like the 2014 Regal Grille pics). It will not be three layers, it won't have a center emblem (I'm doing a custom side emblem like the BUICK and GNX emblems), and shape won't be exactly like 2014 but the point of this is to create a car that COULD have existed in 1987 (appearance wise) that the new cars pay tribute to

 

[6LE Designs]

Emblem design I'm making for the grille...

 

[6LE Designs]

Did some work on the side rockers. Originally we were just going to go straight down. Jameel (fabricator) felt it would look too boxy so wanted to add a line for a little sculpting and stability, I'm on the fence...

Still needs the end caps and holes and trim ring for the side exhaust. I think I'll at least finish them and see how they look once they are gloss black. Thoughts?

 

[6LE Designs]

Got some Gates heater core hoses the G8 guys use to relocate their lines. Just trimmed and stuck on (not done routing) but looks MUCH cleaner than when I was going the long way around before (following the original A/C line)...

Also, cut apart a G8 GXP engine cover to make two fuel rail covers. Needs a lot of trimming and will be a charcoal grey when done to match the cold side but looks promising...

 

[Royal-T-Ltd]

I really like the oversized hood bulge and vents..... Don't know if I like the line on the rocker panel extensions though. IMO doesn't flow with anything else


aaron

 

[6LE Designs]

I really like the oversized hood bulge and vents..... Don't know if I like the line on the rocker panel extensions though. IMO doesn't flow with anything else


aaron

Yeah, I've been staring at it awhile. Seems odd until I step back and look at the whole car, then it is actually identical (but flipped) to the hood line... Going to with hold judgement till it is done then it may come off lol.