Kevin87TurboT
How many can I own??
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2005
- Messages
- 376
Crusty Grand National Revival
Several years ago, I had a customer bring this 87 Grand National to me to inspect. Shortly afterwards, his cam went flat. It wiped out one of the lobes. I sold several engine parts to him, including a 212/212 Comp Cam/lifters and spring kit. Long story short, he had someone remove the engine from the car and it sat for several years. A friend of mine purchased the car in 2021 and got it running. It didn’t run good, but it at least ran. He grew tired of messing with it, and I purchased the car from him a few months ago.
Mod #1 was a FAST XFI 2.0 system. Once I got the FAST system dialed in, it ran very strong.
I dyno’d it with the stock turbo and 13 psi boost. It made 305 rwhp and 356 ft lbs of torque. The Dragy showed a best of 13.38 at 103 at 13 psi.
The next step was to remove some weight from the ol Crusty GN. Replacing the GN wheels with some nice GNX style wheels removed over 40 lbs from the car. Front and rear aluminum bumper supports dropped another 38 lbs. A lightweight F-body radiator removed nearly 20 lbs from it as well. The heavy starter was replaced with a TCI 351106 mini starter. That dropped another 11 lbs. The bumper shocks were replaced with lightweight aluminum versions. They removed another 11 lbs. The PTC torque converter was over 10 lbs lighter. A few other things that also helped drop a few pounds was the newer, lightweight radio, some aluminum brake drums, and some drilled/slotted front rotors. The total weight loss was nearly 150 pounds.
Shortly after that, it blew the MAP sensor line off and blew a head gasket. I took it as an opportunity to make a few upgrades. My buddy, Chris Hogeland, ported a killer set of cast iron heads for me. While I was at it, I installed a ported intake, ATR headers, 80 lb injectors, a Precision 6262 turbo, a GN1 SLIC and a Razor’s alky kit. I also got a new PTC NLU 9.5” converter. I haven’t had a chance to dyno it yet, but at 13 psi, it feels like it picked up a lot of power. I’ll sneak up on the tune next time I get a chance to strap it to the dyno.
Several years ago, I had a customer bring this 87 Grand National to me to inspect. Shortly afterwards, his cam went flat. It wiped out one of the lobes. I sold several engine parts to him, including a 212/212 Comp Cam/lifters and spring kit. Long story short, he had someone remove the engine from the car and it sat for several years. A friend of mine purchased the car in 2021 and got it running. It didn’t run good, but it at least ran. He grew tired of messing with it, and I purchased the car from him a few months ago.
Mod #1 was a FAST XFI 2.0 system. Once I got the FAST system dialed in, it ran very strong.
I dyno’d it with the stock turbo and 13 psi boost. It made 305 rwhp and 356 ft lbs of torque. The Dragy showed a best of 13.38 at 103 at 13 psi.
The next step was to remove some weight from the ol Crusty GN. Replacing the GN wheels with some nice GNX style wheels removed over 40 lbs from the car. Front and rear aluminum bumper supports dropped another 38 lbs. A lightweight F-body radiator removed nearly 20 lbs from it as well. The heavy starter was replaced with a TCI 351106 mini starter. That dropped another 11 lbs. The bumper shocks were replaced with lightweight aluminum versions. They removed another 11 lbs. The PTC torque converter was over 10 lbs lighter. A few other things that also helped drop a few pounds was the newer, lightweight radio, some aluminum brake drums, and some drilled/slotted front rotors. The total weight loss was nearly 150 pounds.
Shortly after that, it blew the MAP sensor line off and blew a head gasket. I took it as an opportunity to make a few upgrades. My buddy, Chris Hogeland, ported a killer set of cast iron heads for me. While I was at it, I installed a ported intake, ATR headers, 80 lb injectors, a Precision 6262 turbo, a GN1 SLIC and a Razor’s alky kit. I also got a new PTC NLU 9.5” converter. I haven’t had a chance to dyno it yet, but at 13 psi, it feels like it picked up a lot of power. I’ll sneak up on the tune next time I get a chance to strap it to the dyno.
