Hello guys!, newbie here need info

P

Peeling GN

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After years of saving (3 years), i finally purchased my dream car, an 87 GN. Friends thought i was crazy not to purchase a new honda SI or Acura RSX, they called me a traitor because all my friends own imports, they will be even more mad later when i burn them is street races! Anyways i dont wanna make the common mistake of getting the wrong part or doing a bad mod that will hurt the perfromance of my GN, what are the first basic mods i can make safley to my GN that will improve hp aside from the K&N (car came with one already), After buying the car i have $600.00 left over to blow. Some info on the car: it has 112,000 miles, cost $8,500 , interior is cherry, exterior is small dent in rear quater panel, light scratches on hood (easily can be fixed), and has a upgraded speedo sticker to 150 ,aside from the weak 85 mph. Thanks for all your help guys, this GN is soon to be a 11 second reality:D Also the car needs a basic tuneup so name of good parts would help too. Thanks
 
Go to www.gnttype.org and start reading. A good place to start is the spring cleaning on that site. After you have fixed the nessecites (ie-fuel pump, hotwire kit, scan tool) I would suggest an alky kit. It lets you run high boost without running race gas.
 
You're a traitor for not buying rice? Muwahaha..

Your friends are going to hate you even more when you've spent the same money they have and are running 11s and they're running 16s. :D
 
Thanks to Red and Big Boost

I am kind of in the same situation you are in. But what I have done is talk to people who have been where I am currently at. The first thing I did was replace my timing gear and do a general inspection of the motor when I fixed the rear main seal. I did all the spring cleaning listed on GNTTYPE. I built my own Cold Air induction system with a Cone style K & N filter. My next series of mods will be 340 fuel pump and Adjustable fuel pressure regulator, ScanMaster 2.1, Dual A-pillar guage with VDO temp. and 30lb boost guage. I would like to say thank you to Big Boost and Red's HOT Air for their assistance. I wish you the best of luck with your new car. What part of VA are you in?
 
Nothing wrong with a Buick. The is my first american car too.
I have owned a lot of fast imports.
You get tired off spending $40k inparts and going 10 sec. 1/4 miles only in an import.
 
Once you get all the tuning accessories as mentioned, scal tool is of utmost importance, 30# boost gauge, new Walbro 340 and hotwire fuel pump, change the timing chain/gear if not done already, otherwise with 100+k on the clock, it'll be breaking teeth if it hasn't already.
Make your wastegate arm adjustable, a few $ at a hardware store.
Add adjustable fp regulator.
While changing the timing gear, go ahead and drop the oil pan and clean out the pickup screen, will make putting the timing cover back on a whole lot easier with the pan off.
Once all of this is done, then:
Change you valve springs, with 100+k they will be very weak. (I changed mine ith 50k and it made a ton of difference in the power band) and this is fairly cheap to, under $100 for springs and seals, be sure to get Kirbans spring tool, makes it very easy.
Port the turbo, IC necks and exhaust elbow, which is free plus the cost of dremmel bits.
Add a cold air intake with filter behind bumper, can make your self with parts from Home Depot or Mack truck exhaust elbows, 4".
Remove cat, free, replace with dump pipe if you want.
Put on a pair of slicks , add some race gas, up the boost to about 19#, and tune, you should be very close to 11's, well maybe low 12's.
If you add bigger IC, bigger injectors, THDP, then 11's are very possible with that setup, a slightly bigger turbo would even make it more easy, but thats getting into much more $$.
 
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