My 1st 87 Grand National

[SYTECH]

I want to congratulate this forum for the wealth of info you provided before I made my recent purchase

I have spent days upon days reading all that I could before I finally broke down and bit the bullet

I have been a Ford Person for along time but an admirer of GN's since the 1st time one put a serious whuppin on my 2000 Ford Lightning

I thought pickup trucks were sleepers, until this woman in a big black sedan killed me at a stop light in what sounded like a Hoover Vacuum Cleaner on Crack.....lol

I am looking forward to a long and lustrious relationship with this GN

My question is this:

The GN I purchased has the following setup;

Rebuilt Engine late 2002 (.030 over stock)
TA-49 Turbo
30 lb Injectors with Chip
LT-1 Mass Air Sensor with Translator
Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator with Gage
In Car Boost Controller
Vacuum Brake Mod
HP Fuel Pump W/Hot Wire
ERC rebuilt Transmission with 3200 rpm Stall
ATR 3" Down Pipe W/External Wastegate
High Flow Cats
Dual 2.5 " Exhaust
30 psi Pillar Boost Gauge
Auburn Posi Unit W / 3.42 gears

I am having a dual gauge pod installed below the radio (water / oil temp), along with a scanmaster V2.*


What am I missing with this setup, or what should I consider improving to obtain a streetable GN that will run low 12's / high 11's

Previous owner stated that he had hit 11.80 with this setup before the engine rebuild

Any advice at all will be appreciated

Thanks

Ray

 

[John Larkin]

Sounds like it ready to go! Might want to consider increasing injector size eventually, getting a knock gauge, then some slicks and airbags toward track season.

 

[blackbuick87]

Definitely will need a set of injectors, 009's or 50's would work real good.
A scan tool is a MUST
TurboLink or Scanmaster is good for new users, Direct Scan for advanced guys.
A pair of slicks will be needed to hit 11's.
Congratulations, it sounds like you have a nice car. Most of us dream about starting with a car with that many goodies.
Spend at least 6 months getting used to the car and tuning. Other than what I listed and maybe a chip, you should be able to get up to an 11.5 with the right tune

 

[GrndNatnl]

Damn, I wish I started with all those mods. I'm starting from scratch with a stock setup. I cant complain though, I have a pretty fresh motor too. As well as trans, that shifts quite hard. When I bought mine, it had basic minor upgrades. Nothing much at all. I wish I had all those nice toys added though. Might have costed a tad more then I paid, but hey. Saves in the long run. Sounds like you got a damn nice ride.

 

[Roc87]

Injectors are at the top of the list along with a good "hot-wired" fuel pump. You don't want to lean out and blow something on that freshly rebuilt motor! After that I'd say to get a race chip for the track, or an Alky kit (Or even a "pro-pain" kit) so you can run high boost all the time on pump gas without knock.

 

[Boston GN]

Definitely have the goods to go.
I would get injectors soon though (I'd go right to 50s, it leaves you more room to play). Also, the converter seems a little loose huh? Esp. for a 49. Must spool like a bastard Get some slicks and
Have fun!!!

 

[SYTECH]

Excellent Advice

Great advice from all of you............thanks

Looking at a set of 50's and a chip as I speak

Knock Gage........missed that from the get go, so I have to go X-mas shopping again....lol

Are there any owners from CA that have had experience smogging their 87's.....?

Any problems

Any recommendations on how to set my tune to give me a good fighting chance

The vehicle I bought passed NJ emissions, but now with the rebuild, I'm not sure how it will stack up to CA emissions

Thanks again everyone

 

[striker_29]

I will just restate what was already mentioned and suggest getting an alky kit or the new propane kit. Its either that or run race gas all the time if you wanna stay in permanent kill mode.

 

[Ken Cunningham]

I have passed CA coastal smog checks with 3 Turbo Regals, so I'll give you my opinions on each mod:

"Rebuilt Engine late 2002 (.030 over stock)"
No problem there

"TA-49 Turbo"
No problem there, especially if your stock turbo heat shield is still in place.

"30 lb Injectors with Chip"
A smog chip made especially for your injectors is ideal. I am not too familiar with 30# injectors, but that sounds awfully close to stock, right? Then your best bet may be the stock chip.

"LT-1 Mass Air Sensor with Translator"
This may be a problem. If the Translator box is mounted in an obvious place (like on the fender wall) than the smog tech will prolly get spooked and request the CARB notice or just fail you outright for visual.

"Adjustable Fuel Pressure Regulator with Gage"
I was failed once by a tech who spotted the afpr. I don't think he was justified, but now I run a 'stealth' afpr. At least take the gauge off for the test, so you don't rub it in their face.

"In Car Boost Controller"
"Vacuum Brake Mod"
"HP Fuel Pump W/Hot Wire"
"ERC rebuilt Transmission with 3200 rpm Stall"
No problems with any of these.

"ATR 3" Down Pipe W/External Wastegate"
I have not had a problem with the BGC 2 3/4" pipe nor with the ATR 3" pipe, because I can just about guarantee you that your smog tech will have no idea what the stock d/p should look like. But I would guess that the external wastegate may cause you a problem. You may be able to get the CARB cert. from the mfr. still.

"High Flow Cats"
"Dual 2.5 " Exhaust"
Although these are the types of mods that a tech should be asking for the CARB certs on, I would be amazed if he even notices.

"30 psi Pillar Boost Gauge"
"Auburn Posi Unit W / 3.42 gears"
No problems here.

You have not mentioned your air intake system??? With all those quality mods I would expect that you're not still breathing thru the stock air cleaner box are you? If you have an open element air cleaner (like a K&N), I have heard some techs say that it is a failure. Others have told me that it is OK, so I don't know the real skinny on those. I always restore my TR's to the stock air box at smog time.

 

[SYTECH]

Thanks Ken

Car was purchased out of state (New Jersey) so no CARB stickers are on any components

Air intake is K&N type open filter, but I do have a stock airbox to swap things out with

Fuel pressure gauge will be removed (temporarily)

I will prep it to make it look as stock as possible

Great words of advice

Thanks,

 

[Two Lane]

Does a car ever become exempt from California Emissions Inspections after a certain number of years, or if driven less than XXX miles per year, or for any reason?

You guys have got it tough!

 

[bishir]

You can't even have an adjustable fuel pressure regulator? Huh? I swear California sounds like it's getting more socialist everyday.

 

[SYTECH]

Smog Exemption In CA

I believe the vehicle has to be 25 years old to fall out of the every other year smog inspection

 

[Ken Cunningham]

1973 and older are exempt. They actually liberalized that about 4 years ago. That's where the 25 years comes in: at the time they changed the law to exempt cars 25 years and older. But instead of writing the law to automatically exempt cars 25 years and older like I'd hoped, they just drew a line in the sand at 1973.

No exemption for miles driven, unless you go "non-op" and drive 0 miles.

You are exempt if your car is a foul smelling, black smoke belching diesel!! Too bad we don't have that lobby!

 

[GrndNatnl]

California sucks. I can proudly say I'd never want to live there. Maybe visit some of its beautiful coastal spots, but NEVER live there. Cant even have a nice car and make it fast without being flagged by so many "smog" regulations. If it wasnt so overpopulated, I wonder if it would still be as bad.

By the way, Ken.. reading your sig, You have to have a 12 second car there. You have my 60' time, with a pretty damn good ET, with about a 12 sec mph. That thing must be pulling hard. Just an observation.

 

[SPOOLFOOL2]

SYTECH

Welcome to the DARK SIDE. Where in So. Cal. do you live? We've got a small group of TR owners that get to gether every once in a while at a Saturday morning car show here in Huntington Beach. We've been known to help each other out with smog parts, and other tips . Hee hee hee (Hoover vacuum cleaner on crack...) That's good .

 

[SYTECH]

Spoolfool

I live In Orange

Right down the fwy from you

Let me know about future meetings / shows

I'm looking forward to the "Turbo" transition

My new 87 GN is just the medication I need to get beyond my "Supercharger" addiction

Everytime I hear an Eaton scream, I breakout in a cold sweat and start buying bigger crank pullies

When will the madness end.......(never I hope)

 

[SPOOLFOOL2]

SYTECK

I'll see if any one wants to go next Saturday the 14 th. It's on the corner of Magnolia and Adams. It starts at 6:00 AM and gos to around 9:00 AM. If you want to get a good parking spot you should get there no later than 6:00 AM. I know it's early but, there will be hundreds of nice cars show up. Let me know if your interested?