🔧 BUILD Quarter Life Crisis. It's a thing. v.GN

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Your highest dreams will not come true overnight, and even if they do your life will never be perfect. It took me way too long to realize that, but this car was the expensive lesson I needed to get me there. Let me explain.

I've been a Buick fanatic nearly my whole life. Being the owner of a show quality intercooled Grand National race car was a life goal of mine. After being fed up with an overly ambitious restoration project that wasn't even Buick bodied nor powered I dropped everything and gave up. The project got parted out, and I started shopping for something better. I couldn't afford a good Buick yet, so I looked for something I could fix up and flip. Meet Nacho!

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I had always had a little thing for El Caminos and I picked this beauty was only $3800. It ran like complete garbage, but it was completely rust-free! I thought that fixing the obvious vacuum leak would make this an easy $5000 car.

I brought it home and immediately removed the carb. Some goof put a spread-bore to square-bore adapter between the stock intake and quadra-jet.

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Score! I didn't want to fall in love with it, so I started taking it to cruise nights with a for sale sign in it. I even tried to road trip it home to Lisle, but I didn't make it far.

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I was about to stop for gas when I noticed white smoke rolling out behind me. I knew I was not going to make it, so I turned around. I knew it was officially game over when I heard a loud pop and saw a big splash hit the windshield. Only I would blow a head gasket and pop the radiator hose on a stock low output 305. :rolleyes: A tow truck got me the rest of the way home.

I wasn't taking a lot of pictures of my work back then, but here's a little taste of my first major start to finish engine repair!

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I had always wondered why the car ran so consistently rough and painfully slow, but I figured that was just the 305 life. As it turned out, this POS had terribly mismatched heads! One side was stock, and the other side had some kind of large chamber 350 head with a 305 gasket. The fact that it ran without blowing the head gasket for as long as it did was a miracle, but I was not happy about blowing the flip.

After scoring some very cheap ebay reman. heads, painting a few parts, and slamming it all together I got serious about selling. Within a couple days, I sold it to a very motivated buyer for $5100. After the purchase, tires, engine repairs, plates, and insurance, I made $200. Those were not the profits I wanted, but a profit nonetheless. Nothing ever goes exactly as planned.

Once again, I was without a project and still without a Buick. Depression resumed. I started my search for the "perfect" 30 year old car. Not wanting another basket case, but also not wanting to get hosed, I turned to the family friend who got me into Buicks in the first place. He helped me find "the one". Here I am in 2016 about to drive a Grand National and call it my own for the first time in my life.

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...Now the real story begins.

v6buicks

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I gave the car a good scrub on Wednesday so that it would be ready for the work car show. For once, I was pretty proud at how good of a job I did in short time too! I've struggled to get this car looking nice without streaks for years, and I finally nailed it. I even won 3rd place!
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Unfortunately it was just the beginning of an early end to the season though. I still had five cars at the house and no room to work on any of them. I'm trying to get one sold, but I can't really do that unless I address some of the problems first. The right thing to do was put the GN away for the winter.

Since I was loving how the car was running and looking, I decided to take a little detour through Batesville to show off a bit before throwing the cover on. It was a great choice, because I ran into a pop-up car meet with some cool stuff. Even though Batesville is like the GTO capital, they were pretty excited to see a Grand National. I wish I took more pictures, but there were a lot of people standing in the way.

I'm not an LS guy, but a G8 with an LSA blower sounds like a great time.
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I usually hate these cars. They're like the Joe Dirt of all Chevys. However, this had potential to be the perfect combination of trash and punch. :LOL: It had a 502 under the hood! I can't speak for how well it actually runs with that tiny air cleaner, but I'm sure it's a hell of a lot better than the original malaisey small block.
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Lol he doesn't want to be labeled as a poser.
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And finally laid to rest.... for the year.
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This time, it sits next to a sub-20k mile fox body Mustang GT, an Audi TT, a very nice '70 442, a '68 Cutlass in need of some love, and an early 2nd gen Camaro in need of even more love. Those two have apparently been sitting in their spots for over 20 years. The owner just keeps paying the rental fees, but never touches them.
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I noticed something to think about once I pulled the battery... My alky tank is leaking which explains why I've been going through it so fast and seeing intermittent KR. The pump is probably sucking in air on bad days. I swore that I wasn't putting another penny in this alky system, but going E85 was also snowballing into a very expensive conversion. Bite the bullet, or replace the reservoir just as I'm coming due to replace the alky pump again?

I guess that's a decision to be made in my spring update.
 

v6buicks

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I got into an interesting pickle with this car.

I was selling the Centerlines with a picture of the car for reference. A guy responds to the ad stating that he doesn't care for the wheels but he really wants the car if I'd like to sell. I told him "Not really, but cash talks. I'll tell you right now, there's no way it leaves my possession for less than 30k"

He doesn't seem deterred and I paid a lot less only a few years ago. If he's still interested, do I take the money and buy another? Do I just keep this one because it's so good? Damn.
 

daturbosix

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I got into an interesting pickle with this car.

I was selling the Centerlines with a picture of the car for reference. A guy responds to the ad stating that he doesn't care for the wheels but he really wants the car if I'd like to sell. I told him "Not really, but cash talks. I'll tell you right now, there's no way it leaves my possession for less than 30k"

He doesn't seem deterred and I paid a lot less only a few years ago. If he's still interested, do I take the money and buy another? Do I just keep this one because it's so good? Damn.
sell it and buy one that is already LS swapped

OR

you take that money from your sale and give it to me, and take my stage car so i can go buy a ls swapped one.

:cool:
 

v6buicks

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Any Buick of mine will always be Buick powered. Honestly though, the guy was playing 20 questions with me and I didn't have a single negative answer to give him. It first reminded me that I have a pretty decent car. Then it reminded me why I've separated myself from the turbo Buick community. After messaging back and forth with this doofus all afternoon, he tells me that he's been "shopping" for months and can't find a good one. Whatever that's supposed to mean. He said he'll "keep me in mind".
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They aren't rare, dude. Buick made 25,000 of them for '87 alone. Make me a serious offer, buy my wheels, or quit bothering me.
 

Jon01

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Any Buick of mine will always be Buick powered. Honestly though, the guy was playing 20 questions with me and I didn't have a single negative answer to give him. It first reminded me that I have a pretty decent car. Then it reminded me why I've separated myself from the turbo Buick community. After messaging back and forth with this doofus all afternoon, he tells me that he's been "shopping" for months and can't find a good one. Whatever that's supposed to mean. He said he'll "keep me in mind".
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They aren't rare, dude. Buick made 25,000 of them for '87 alone. Make me a serious offer, buy my wheels, or quit bothering me.

Guys like that just need kicked in the balls a few times.
They have zero respect for others' time.

Feel free to post his email/fb so we can spam the fuck out of him.
 

v6buicks

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She's back! This time, my wife got to take the car for its maiden voyage.
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Knowing early in the year that the car wasn't going to the Nationals and premium costing as much as it does, I almost decided to leave the car in storage for the year. However, it was my wife's idea to go get it and let her drive it to Saturday's car show with me. How could I say no to that?
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It was so cool getting both cars at a show together and showing the progression of the 3.8.
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I have a lot more work for this car ahead of me than I anticipated. The rear bumper fillers are officially too chalked up to jusify keeping them on there. I've had a single piece fiberglass filler from Spoolfool chilling in my spare bedroom for the last five years, so I'm sure my wife would be thrilled to not have to tip toe around it anymore. I thought the originals would have flown apart a long time ago!

I also noticed that I have some goofiness going on with the brake lights and turn signals. The high mount works when it feels like, and the left side only appears to illuminate the tail filament rather than the brake/turns. They're a lot dimmer than the right side, so that should be fun to diagnose.

Other than that, I still want to get the frankensteined Powermaster installed. I might also try to find a good detailer to ceramic coat and touch some stuff up. Paint isn't looking too good.
 

v6buicks

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Why would we Leave it in storage. Drive it.

The fuck people.
I guess it's just easy to lose interest in it when you have another toy that's right under your nose every day. I say shit about not missing the GN or wanting to sell it every year. As soon as I take it for the first drive of the year, I'm reminded of how nice it is and why I bought it. There are never any regrets!
 

v6buicks

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Worthless post incoming.

Some times I start hanging out in the garage and get a weird desire to fix worthless shit. Kind of like the time I had a Buick 350 in my garage with broken exhaust studs flush in the heads and decided to extract them before selling the engine, I saw my old ATR CAI and decided to bend it back into shape.

I don't really know why I've been holding onto this. I removed it when I destroyed it with a racoon in 2016, put it on a shelf, and let it collect dust. It's not even a worthy mod. It sucks up rocks and rain, and the 3" tube needed to plumb it the the turbo is so long that I don't think you'll see any gains.
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After taking it all apart, I'm glad I didn't throw it away. I may want that massive K&N for the Camaro some day. I cleaned all the pieces, extracted a broken bolt, pounded and finagled everything back to an acceptable shape, and reassembled.
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So here it is! All better! I have a few new bolts to put in it and it'll be done... Like done done because I'm not putting it in my car. :LOL: If anybody wants this to accessorize their period correct turbo Regal lemme know. I'll sell it to you for $10. Otherwise, I guess it'll just hang out in my mini museum.
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As far as the actual car goes, I haven't been motivated to touch it. Quite frankly I don't really care about it right now. This is contradictory to what I was saying about a month ago, but I should have just kept it in storage. I have only driven it once since pulling it out, and it's gotten in the way of more important projects.

It's for sale. If you've always wanted a pretty decent and mostly original Grand National, here's one for you. It won't go for pennies, but I'll definitely have a sign in the window during our garage sale this weekend. PM me if you're serious about buying.
 
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v6buicks

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Throw it on Bring A Trailer and collect your fat check
I'm not sure if I'm that serious yet. If the seller's market for these is still good next year and I'm still holding onto it with the same feelings, I'll probably do that. I'll probably just cruise it around to shows with a sign and see if anybody bites. I still love the car. It just doesn't bring me enough joy to justify owning.
 

Mr_Roboto

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I've still got a couple of ATR wastegates around here I want to convert to diaphragmless, I bought SS wastegate flanges to (hopefully) deal with their reputation of sticking due to lack of a seat. I need to get my lathe running again so I can make the pistons.

There was a guy on syty.net that did it, I tried to get pics never did though. I just figured I'd probably look at the JGS designs and work my way back from there.
 
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v6buicks

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Ever since the right front bumper filler caught a bit of wind and exploded in 2016, I've had the plans to replace all the bumper fillers. I bought new ones pretty quickly but only installed the fronts because I'm lazy, and the rear was still original and in nice shape. Last year, it finally started chalking up on me and looking shitty. I thought it would take another explosion or massive crack for me to finally get around to replacing it. For some reason I mustered up the courage completely unprompted last night. I guess I was tired of tip-toeing around a massive chunk of fiberglass.
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Yeah, I took apart a bit more than necessary, but I have some other business to take care of while I'm here. The gas tank looks horrible. 84'-86' cars were undercoated, and I very much ruined that when I did the fuel pump in 2017. See how some of the black turned to a brown or brass color? Yuck. That's the work of brake cleaner. :(
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Rustoleum undercoating is a great match!
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Single piece fiberglass filler by Spool fool installed and fitting almost perfectly! This one was much easier to install than the fronts which required lots of drilling and shimming. This one fit after just elongating one hole!
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OMG the ass is all black again. :love: As long as the car isn't wrecked, the fillers should never have to be replaced again either.

Here's an interesting lesson in '80s GM fillers for ya. TIME kills them, and there is no stopping time. When you see a single digit odometer GNX roll across Barrett Jackson with replacement, missing, or mostly destroyed bumper fillers, don't be the dumbass who says it's fake, ruined, or not as advertised. Even keeping them in a climate controlled garage with a thick layer of tire shine is not enough to save bumper fillers. Their doom is inevitable. While mine were in pretty remarkable condition for being 37 years old at the time of removal they were pulled off and repainted about 10 years ago. I was pretty shocked that I was able to pull them off in one piece!
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That's right. I pulled the two piece fillers off in one piece. After years of being in one spot, they had since fused, and the factory connecting pin was still in place. So I thought, "Shit, I should see if anybody restoring one of these cars actually wants to repaint these and install on there car."

Well, that's never gonna happen. This is how I found the same fillers two hours later. :ROFLMAO: Keep in mind that nobody touched them.
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They literally collapsed under their own weight! I'm glad too. Now I can throw them in the trash without feeling any remorse.
 

v6buicks

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I jumped back to this car again because I'm running out of work to do that doesn't involve buying stuff! I had hopes of installing the frankensteined Powermaster, but my standards got too high. For one, I refuse to put this thing back on the car without bench testing it first. These things are too failure prone and a pain in the ass to install without some sort of assurance. Two, it's pretty ugly. I won't be happy with all the rusty parts, so if I determine that everything works as it should, I'm going to pull it all apart again and recondition the parts so that they're more presentable. In other words, this MIGHT be done next year. lol

Anyway, In order to bench test, I would need a stand. I managed to build one using junk from the scrap pile and my bolt stash. It's probably the ugliest thing I've ever made, but it will work! It's sturdy as hell, so bench bleeding should be a breeze.
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I'm hoping to try my hands at DIY electroplating for little parts and hardware that I can remove, but I'm unsure of what I'm going to do for pump which I can't disassemble. I'm not below just painting the motor body since it's better than nothing, but I'd rather get that factory finish if possible. Has anybody tried plating something like this where non metallic parts are still attached? It won't hurt them right? I think the plating would only stick to the metal parts that are connected to your ground. However, that could be a lot of things when you're talking about a motor! Dunking a part that's supposed to pump brake fluid in a bath of water doesn't make me feel to great either. It should look more like this.
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I suppose I could always use my known bad part as a guinea pig. We'll cross that bridge when it comes. I still don't have a known GOOD part!
 
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v6buicks

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My wife drove this thing to a cruise night behind the Camaro a few weeks ago and noticed KR under hard ish acceleration. I have her trained well! ?

She babied it until we got home and I dug into it a little. The engine was completely unphased by pressing and holding the test button on my alky controller. However, a test drive and a bunch of quick smacks of the button made it start working again. I guessed that the pump was about done. However, I rolled up on a cool looking RS5, exchanged a couple nods, and pulled a car length on him. ?

Today wasn't as happy of a story. I took it on a joy ride and was driving mostly normal to a car show. On the ride home I stabbed it which was a mistake. KR went straight to 11 and it was audible. I pressed on the alky test button a few times and held it in attempt to prime it. No dice. Knock city. ?

I'm ready to make some changes. The Camaro needs bigger injectors anyway, and the alky system is clearly toast. I think I'm going to give the Camaro's 80s to the GN and convert it to E85. It's hard to get a solid answer due to a lot of boneheads on turbobuick, but I think I can get away with just changing my injectors and chip. If not, the Cruz fuel line kit looks really nice.
 

v6buicks

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You mean it's overdue for a conversion to E85. ;)
I'm certainly not spending another dime on this alky system!

My attitude toward this car is so goofy. I still don't think I'll be doing anything about this any time soon. I just want it to work. A straight 93 chip isn't out of the question. However, a bone stock engine with this converter and harsh shifting would be really dumb.
 

v6buicks

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I was on my way to taking the car to storage. I made it about 45 minutes when suddenly....
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I dropped more oil in it, limped it home, heard a bunch of ratting and crunching from the engine, put the Camaro away instead, and prepared to open my wallet nice and wide.
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I'm not sure why this nut came lose, but it's definitely the smoking gun. I haven't decided if I'll just go with a stock reman or some sort of upgrade. Regardless, I plan to give this car a bunch of love this winter. It's been neglected and deserves better.
 

Mr_Roboto

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You need a stocker? I have 2 here. I've gotta say there was some DIY "porting" done by the PO on the compressor housings but they're otherwise in good condition. Give me 225 and you can have both. Otherwise it's time for a TA-61 (okay at least a TA-49) if you can dig one up. Also comes with 2 inlet flanges so you can do something sketchy later on. :rofl:

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