How fast are Grand Nationals>

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ILLDuster74 said:
They also put a few of the GN motors in firebirds. I think they did it as an anniversary thing back in the 80's. 89 I believe.
These cars were even faster than the GNX and handled better too.
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1989 turbo t/a made 1555 of them still go for huge money too.
 
The GNX made 276hp/360ftlbs and featured a track link rear end similar to the f bodies which was done by Hurst (all the really cool cars get to go there first) and they only made 547 of them the first 47 went to the FBI since the only cars that could outrun them at the time were Ferrari F40's. This is what many call the death of the GN because GM didn't want a buick that could kick the crap out of the vette. It was funny because in 88 you could still buy a Cutlass, Monte Carlo, Grand Prix RWD but the Regal was gone after 87.
 
The guy next door to my grandpa has three 87 GNs one is all stock with less then 20k original miles (think it had ~17k), the second is putting out ~650 HP which he let me drive and I thought was a beast but the last one is the Monster! 1200+ HP twin turbo race car, I didnt think it would be that scary. He let me drive the thing to an open lot which I did a massive burnout then he said gun it then step on the brake after launch. I didnt have the wheels lined up and did three donuts before I got it to a stop! I was like oh **** and he thought it was funny as all hell. Haven't got to drive a 89 turbo trans am but I kick myself for not buying the one I found for 2k but it needed a new tranny and something else Ive forgotten.
 
I had one next to Me while driving My 440 stroker and all's I saw of Him after the light turned green was in My rearview mirror...not even close
 
Yeah, those Grand Nationals are faster than a jack rabbit with his nuts on fire...
 
If you want to see a bone stock 87 Buick GNX you can see one at a Buick Dealership in Signal Hill Ca.

The car was NEVER SOLD, still has the window sticker. Probably has less than a couple of hundred miles.

You can read about the car that is NOT for sale here:

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/10/business/la-fi-autos-buick-gnx-20101211

You can see some pics of the car Here:

[ame="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanheard/6649225763/in/set-72157628751327341/"]IMG_0621.jpg | Flickr - Photo Sharing![/ame]

And yes they were fast, I got my *** handed to me, by one back in the day. And I was driving a 340 Duster.

I still want one.

Regards,

Joe Dokes
 
The '86-'87 Intercooler GNs and T-Types would run low 14s - high 13s stock. You generally had to ice them down and know how to drive them to get that 13 second time slip stock but they would do it even on stock tires. Now put in a 180 degree thermostat, test pipe, and adjustable waste gate actuator with drag radials and go pick up a migh 12 second time slip. I rode in one set up like that back in the day it was like taking off in a jet pinned me to the seat.

Friend of mine had a bone stock '87 GN he bough new. When he had 10k miles on it I ran him 3 times at the track with my '88 5.0 convertible. Beat him all three times. He only ran a 14.4 with it, original spark plugs and all. If he knew what he was doing he could have chopped some time off. Back in '87 friend of mine had a '87 LX hatchback 5 spd mustang with 2:73 gears, all stock, he street raced a stock '87 GN and beat it three times in a row. Now do a couple tweeks on that GN and boom they left the competition in the dust.
 
had a buddy that was into them.. he had two or three GN and t-types.. said the t-type was lighter.
 
yea, i had a friend in high school who had one. it was quick, but man what an UGLY car!! no thanks. i dont want one...lol
 
GN's are pretty sick,......But dont forget the Cyclone's and Typhoons'....they are in the 8's too.

The real reason Chevrolet let them go was because the Corvette is Chevy's flagship and NO MODEL of vehicle produced by GM is to ever OutPerform the New Model year Corvette.....ever again.

[ame="http://youtu.be/SK7FmMrAN-U"]302 Found[/ame]


[ame="http://youtu.be/daCvWzgaa9k"]302 Found[/ame]

[ame="http://youtu.be/8dgIUCdAhmA"]302 Found[/ame]

I lost to a GN one night on a backroad.....:banghead: little did I know he was running 25 psi and spraying meth, against my 2.0L AWD Eclipse....on 20 psi.....:prayer:.
 
The wife and I bought a new Regal T-type. We needed a car that we could put a child safety seat in and the T-type fit the bill and still performed nicely. With a thermostat, test pipe, MAF Translator, and a chip made by a guy named DeBach they would haul pretty respectably for a 80s car. But, the rest of the 80s cars were such lame competition for the T-type it was sad.
 
ILLDuster74 said:
They also put a few of the GN motors in firebirds. I think they did it as an anniversary thing back in the 80's. 89 I believe.
These cars were even faster than the GNX and handled better too.
Click to expand...

there was an article about the T/A That had the same motor, didnt get much play though. Remember the Syclone and the Typhoon?

oops, should have read the 2nd page! There was a brick red one at my old housing tract, so they did come in different colors (if it was a repaint, it looked terrible..hey, maybe it was?) And an old Mexican lady drove it slow.
 
Prine said:
GN's are pretty sick,......But dont forget the Cyclone's and Typhoons'....they are in the 8's too.

The real reason Chevrolet let them go was because the Corvette is Chevy's flagship and NO MODEL of vehicle produced by GM is to ever OutPerform the New Model year Corvette.....ever again.



I lost to a GN one night on a backroad.....:banghead: little did I know he was running 25 psi and spraying meth, against my 2.0L AWD Eclipse....on 20 psi.....:prayer:.
Click to expand...

My friend has one of these Cyclones.
 
Prine said:
The real reason Chevrolet let them go was because the Corvette is Chevy's flagship and NO MODEL of vehicle produced by GM is to ever OutPerform the New Model year Corvette.....ever again.
Click to expand...

also one year of the camaro was outperforming the vette i can't remember which one...vette engineers shouldnt have been sleeping on the job. they got their come-uppins.
 
Good dragstrip story.....Famoso dragstrip,early to mid 90s.Test n tune Sunday.An aquiantance of mine,(arrogant SOB!) 69 Camaro,427 big nitrous kit....high to mid 10s in street trim,fast street car.A black ,back halved GN pulls up on the trailer.My buddy,points and laughs,I look say nada.He lines up with this GN,on his 1st pass,loses by 20 cars +.I didn't tell him about Kenny Dutweiller.
 
Abodybomber said:
Good dragstrip story.....Famoso dragstrip,early to mid 90s.Test n tune Sunday.An aquiantance of mine,(arrogant SOB!) 69 Camaro,427 big nitrous kit....high to mid 10s in street trim,fast street car.A black ,back halved GN pulls up on the trailer.My buddy,points and laughs,I look say nada.He lines up with this GN,on his 1st pass,loses by 20 cars +.I didn't tell him about Kenny Dutweiller.
Click to expand...

I just love these kind of stories........ thanks for sharing. LOL
 
C'mon,a Camaro owner?(Lol!)Thanks,Mulli,goof luck on the shop!
 
My brother has a GN that he bought new in 87. It's been bumped a few times and now he is in the process of having all the dings and dents taken out of it. Last year he took it to someone and the tweaked it. We took it to the strip on street tires, the damn thing went 11.30 and 11.40 at the local test and tune. I made two passes in it and it is stupid fast. He won't tell me what he had done, and I don't know jack about GM's or turbo cars. He tell me he going to give out Dakota C/M truck a run for it's money, and then he wants to gun for my Demon. On paper, the Demon should be a fair 10.50 car.

Bill S.
 
Abodybomber said:
Good dragstrip story.....Famoso dragstrip,early to mid 90s.Test n tune Sunday.An aquiantance of mine,(arrogant SOB!) 69 Camaro,427 big nitrous kit....high to mid 10s in street trim,fast street car.A black ,back halved GN pulls up on the trailer.My buddy,points and laughs,I look say nada.He lines up with this GN,on his 1st pass,loses by 20 cars +.I didn't tell him about Kenny Dutweiller.
Click to expand...

Great story and very likely our friends GN that Kenny D built. Anyways here's another video.........Friggen Fast for a 6cyl :cheers:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K15ANt28Gk&feature=related"]len freeman 6.96 vegas - YouTube[/ame]
 
440Ken said:
The Firebirds with the turbo were 301 (4.9L) V8s......they were dogs!
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Yes...they were, but 1981 wasn't exactly a pinnacle for performance. Intentions were good, but the technology wasn't there yet. Even the GNX in '87 was barely scratching the surface of turbo technology.
 
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