Bescurred
BOOSTED SHAMU v2.0
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2001
- Messages
- 1,580
Back in the summer of 2003 I began my search for my second turbo Buick. The journey started in high school. My father and I took a badly beaten and bruise 87 grand national and restored it together. After working a whole summer the car finally became mine. Life got a hold of me and my prestigious beauty and was sold in the spring of 2001. This left me thirsty for another turbo Buick, one day I would have to own another one. That break came on a long search of eBay for the prefect cheap "fixer upper". I looked for months for a GN that would be cheap yet not beyond cosmetic darkness. One late night while searching EBay, there it was. Calling to me like a sign from God. A 1986 bone stock down to the paper air filter Grand National. It was a hardtop, with more options than a burger king bigmac. The only options it didn't come with was factory alarm and t-tops/sunroof. Early in September it arrived on a semi from a transport company. Her first owner had her in Maryland, then the military required him to go to California. Then the GN was sent to her second owner in Iowa from which I acquired her barely running as if it was choking on some 87 octane fuel from k-mart. I spent 3 hours the first day working to put this black last of its kind American muscle back on the road. A common cracked driver side header and about 10 bucks worth of vacuum hoses she was put back on the road again. She didn't look good, Cracked paint, rusted exhaust and cloudy wheels but she was mine and I worked hard to get this machine back into my life. A few weeks later it was time to test her wings, Stock style that is. 1st night out on the drag strip was disappointing. 9.1 @ about 75mph was the best she could do in the 1/8th. I hit the internet the next week. Searching for the best go fast parts I could find. First I knew the already old and tired fuel pump had to go. Racetronix provided me with the 255 gph fuel pump that could handle well into the 11's alone. Next I needed to get the car to breath so came the 9 inch K&N with a home made cold air location intake. An adjustable fuel pressure regulator, 3 inch Applied Technologies and Research downpipe, and make shift 3 inch exhaust came next. RJC provided the light weight pulleys and power plate. Now with a old pair of slicks mounted on some aluminum T-type wheels, the black beast from Buick was ready once agian for the 660'. After 700.00 dollars worth of mods the stock turbo'd,intercool'd,and fuel inject'd GN ran a strong 7.76 @88 mph. More to come, once I get home.
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