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So I have always wanted a G-Body car of some sort for as long as I can remember, this probably was do to the fact that my Uncle had and still does have a 1985 Monte Carlo SS That I was lucky enough to get a ride in every once and a while when I went to visit. The draw of that boxy and yet sexy car with its sharp body lines just drew me in and the throaty gurgle of the V-8 that lie beneath! Sheer ecstasy in my eyes.
Here is a photo of his car a few years back, since then a very pricey restoration has taken place and it looks better than ever.
With all that being said, as I grew up I always told him I would own a Monte Carlo SS one day just like him. He was pleased with my great taste in cars at the age of about 8 or so, but he said "Why not get a Grand National" well to that of course I asked what in the world that was and as my interest grew I became more and more enthralled with the idea. Well as I got older and more internet savvy, I began to research and read about the GN and slowly discovered the appeal of this "Legendary" car. well as you can imagine, like any 15 year old kid, this car was far out of my budget and thus I got... Wait for it.... a 1995 Buick Regal!!!! *Angels Singing* Thats right, the Grandma car to end all Grandma cars! Oh, and it was baby blue in color
So I drove the piss out of this beautiful machine all through high school and sold it in the summer of 2008 with a cracked block for $800 with that sold and a first class ticket to Air Force Military training, broader horizons were coming to light, but the dream of one day owning a GN began to fade as prices were at an all time high. After basic training, I was sent to Tucson Arizona and I needed a car, my best option you ask? Mom and Dads 2002 Saturn Vue, it was a big step up from the regal. So I purchased the Vue from them in the spring of 2009 and I was one happy camper
This vehicle served me quite well carting around me and my friends around and causing the usual trouble. all the way up to the week I got it all paid off!! Spring 2011 I was on temporary duty in Albuquerque New Mexico and had to go to Georgia for two weeks from there, so I left the Vue there and let my friend borrow it while I was gone. Day three of being gone I get a call... Yep!! He crashed it. Long story short, the insurance company ended up totaling it
So now the search was on for a "Practical" and "Reliable" car. I searched for weeks, here and there, big and small. But nothing was satisfying me, so I threw a shot in the dark and typed it in "Buick Grand National" low and behold one in my price range and not far from home!! So as you guessed it from the title, I threw all reason of "Practical" and "Reliable" out the window and jumped on it! It was a 1987 Buick Grand National completely stock 3rd owner with 67K on the clock. Here is how she looked the day I picked her up.
So now with my dream car in hand, what to do? Well time to take care of all the neglected crap the previous owners decided to ignore or not address properly. Right off the bat I had a nasty tick coming from the motor that was associated to a wiped cam lobe due to the previous owner not using Zinc additive on the flat tappet cam, so new Comp Cams mild grind cam, Lifters, Springs, and Valves. With that done, time to address the look of this time machine from the 80's. As you can imagine she sat like a monster truck and I wanted it just slightly lower and able to take a corner, that was all good and well till my good buddy with a nice built up 2001 Acura Integra got in my head about how low... So I purchased some goodies!! QA1 Coil-overs, UB Machine Upper Tubular Control Arms and Sphon Coil-Overs Tubular Lower Control Arms With Delrin Bushings, Moog Ball Joints.
With the suspension in, it was time to address the small and noisy turbo. As I am not trying to build an un drivable street car, I went with a modest TA-49 Turbo that measures at 58mm from a board member on Turbobuick.com.
Out with the old!
In With The New!!
With all the new bits and pieces installed and ready to go, it was time to drop her and see how she sat! of course my friend with the Teg was there and wanted to go as low as possible, I obliged him and was in shock at how good she looked!! I loved it low!!
Black Beauty and her friend!
I was in love with how she sat, but was not pleased with the stocker wheels, so I took the poor man approach and picked up a few cans of Plasti-Dip and went to work, the end result changed the entire look of the car, it looked so much more sinister at this point. I have to give credit to NewGen Photography for this photo.
With the new look, she became my Daily Driver and has done so since just recently, during this time I was always going to car shows and luck would have it one night at a Freddy's Steak Burger cruise in, a gentleman came up to me and asked such a loaded sketchy question "Hey man, I have something you need, do you want it?" What in the hell?! So I bit and asked what he had and he told me he had a 3" down pipe of an old customers car, and he told me to meet him at his house in a half hour. Sketchy as hell, but again I went for it haha! once I arrived at his house he came out of the garage with the down pipe he spoke of. As I inspected the pipe, I came to realize this was a $600+ part, I was afraid to ask how much, and when I did, I was shocked. HE SAID IT WAS FO' FREEE!
After this, there was some more routine maintenance and a scan tool installed and after all that it brings us to where we are now. Another one of my good friends is building a LS Chevy S-10 and happened to have some wheels and tires his dad had originally bought for his very own GN but never put them on and gave them to his son for his S-10, well recently he acquired some Corvette wheels and wanted to sell his Edelbrock 454's and the S-10 is a G-body so they share the same bolt pattern, I decided to test fit and the wheels were an inch bigger in diameter and had some serious upgraded meat on them. All four corners from the factory came with 215/60/16's and the Edelbrock's had some Goodyears with 245/60/17' in the front and 255/60/17's in the rear, so unfortunately the front was going to have to come up. But damn they look good and i decided to raise her up a bit and go for it and I sure am glad I did. here is how it sits right now.
So thanks for reading this all and stick around for some updates, up next will be a Blazer spindle/hub swap for bigger brakes and flat bearing covers so I can fit the center caps on the front wheels, and rear lowering springs. Also I am currently collecting parts for an E-85 conversion, so that will be fun!!
Here is a photo of his car a few years back, since then a very pricey restoration has taken place and it looks better than ever.
With all that being said, as I grew up I always told him I would own a Monte Carlo SS one day just like him. He was pleased with my great taste in cars at the age of about 8 or so, but he said "Why not get a Grand National" well to that of course I asked what in the world that was and as my interest grew I became more and more enthralled with the idea. Well as I got older and more internet savvy, I began to research and read about the GN and slowly discovered the appeal of this "Legendary" car. well as you can imagine, like any 15 year old kid, this car was far out of my budget and thus I got... Wait for it.... a 1995 Buick Regal!!!! *Angels Singing* Thats right, the Grandma car to end all Grandma cars! Oh, and it was baby blue in color
So I drove the piss out of this beautiful machine all through high school and sold it in the summer of 2008 with a cracked block for $800 with that sold and a first class ticket to Air Force Military training, broader horizons were coming to light, but the dream of one day owning a GN began to fade as prices were at an all time high. After basic training, I was sent to Tucson Arizona and I needed a car, my best option you ask? Mom and Dads 2002 Saturn Vue, it was a big step up from the regal. So I purchased the Vue from them in the spring of 2009 and I was one happy camper
This vehicle served me quite well carting around me and my friends around and causing the usual trouble. all the way up to the week I got it all paid off!! Spring 2011 I was on temporary duty in Albuquerque New Mexico and had to go to Georgia for two weeks from there, so I left the Vue there and let my friend borrow it while I was gone. Day three of being gone I get a call... Yep!! He crashed it. Long story short, the insurance company ended up totaling it
So now the search was on for a "Practical" and "Reliable" car. I searched for weeks, here and there, big and small. But nothing was satisfying me, so I threw a shot in the dark and typed it in "Buick Grand National" low and behold one in my price range and not far from home!! So as you guessed it from the title, I threw all reason of "Practical" and "Reliable" out the window and jumped on it! It was a 1987 Buick Grand National completely stock 3rd owner with 67K on the clock. Here is how she looked the day I picked her up.
So now with my dream car in hand, what to do? Well time to take care of all the neglected crap the previous owners decided to ignore or not address properly. Right off the bat I had a nasty tick coming from the motor that was associated to a wiped cam lobe due to the previous owner not using Zinc additive on the flat tappet cam, so new Comp Cams mild grind cam, Lifters, Springs, and Valves. With that done, time to address the look of this time machine from the 80's. As you can imagine she sat like a monster truck and I wanted it just slightly lower and able to take a corner, that was all good and well till my good buddy with a nice built up 2001 Acura Integra got in my head about how low... So I purchased some goodies!! QA1 Coil-overs, UB Machine Upper Tubular Control Arms and Sphon Coil-Overs Tubular Lower Control Arms With Delrin Bushings, Moog Ball Joints.
With the suspension in, it was time to address the small and noisy turbo. As I am not trying to build an un drivable street car, I went with a modest TA-49 Turbo that measures at 58mm from a board member on Turbobuick.com.
Out with the old!
In With The New!!
With all the new bits and pieces installed and ready to go, it was time to drop her and see how she sat! of course my friend with the Teg was there and wanted to go as low as possible, I obliged him and was in shock at how good she looked!! I loved it low!!
Black Beauty and her friend!
I was in love with how she sat, but was not pleased with the stocker wheels, so I took the poor man approach and picked up a few cans of Plasti-Dip and went to work, the end result changed the entire look of the car, it looked so much more sinister at this point. I have to give credit to NewGen Photography for this photo.
With the new look, she became my Daily Driver and has done so since just recently, during this time I was always going to car shows and luck would have it one night at a Freddy's Steak Burger cruise in, a gentleman came up to me and asked such a loaded sketchy question "Hey man, I have something you need, do you want it?" What in the hell?! So I bit and asked what he had and he told me he had a 3" down pipe of an old customers car, and he told me to meet him at his house in a half hour. Sketchy as hell, but again I went for it haha! once I arrived at his house he came out of the garage with the down pipe he spoke of. As I inspected the pipe, I came to realize this was a $600+ part, I was afraid to ask how much, and when I did, I was shocked. HE SAID IT WAS FO' FREEE!
After this, there was some more routine maintenance and a scan tool installed and after all that it brings us to where we are now. Another one of my good friends is building a LS Chevy S-10 and happened to have some wheels and tires his dad had originally bought for his very own GN but never put them on and gave them to his son for his S-10, well recently he acquired some Corvette wheels and wanted to sell his Edelbrock 454's and the S-10 is a G-body so they share the same bolt pattern, I decided to test fit and the wheels were an inch bigger in diameter and had some serious upgraded meat on them. All four corners from the factory came with 215/60/16's and the Edelbrock's had some Goodyears with 245/60/17' in the front and 255/60/17's in the rear, so unfortunately the front was going to have to come up. But damn they look good and i decided to raise her up a bit and go for it and I sure am glad I did. here is how it sits right now.
So thanks for reading this all and stick around for some updates, up next will be a Blazer spindle/hub swap for bigger brakes and flat bearing covers so I can fit the center caps on the front wheels, and rear lowering springs. Also I am currently collecting parts for an E-85 conversion, so that will be fun!!
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