WTSC Grand National
 

Seems all these pro-touring cars have a name of some sort. I've never had a name on a project, but it seems like fun. I was watching top gear (US) a few weeks ago when they had the GN on there and they called it a "white trash super car" and I though it was hilarious, so I'm stealing it. I might even get some "WTSC" quarter window stickers modeled after the old 4DSC stickers that came on Nissan Maximas years ago.

Onto the car. I originally built it for drag racing. I previously had mustangs that handled well and always wanted a purpose built drag car. The grass is always greener on the other side. So with the GN, I thought it would be fun to build it specifically for drag racing. So I did. It went 9.26@145 on it's first full 1/4 mile pass. I made maybe 6 passes in it in 6 months time. Each time I went to the track, I figured out something to change and spent a couple months fixing it. It was semi streetable, but not something I wanted to drive every day.

So, I'm going back to a street car that does a bit of everything. It already has more power than I'll ever need. It just needs to handle and some of the creature comforts back.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psc20425d1.jpg

Some history on the car. It's a low option 87 GN with manual windows, locks and no cruise. Kinda rare because most GN's were highly optioned. It has all original interior in very nice shape that I'll be keeping. It has an 8.50 legal NHRA certified mild steel cage with removable door bars that I'll be keeping (I still want to hit the drag strip from time to time).
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...t/CIMG1263.jpg
I'm using a FAST dash system connected to my XFI that displays all the typical stuff and is very flexible.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psc0a5c7f8.jpg

The engine is 277 cubic inches with TA performance aluminum heads, Used busch era Buick motorsport stage 2 on center block, bryant billet crank, crower billet rods, Ross custom pistons, relatively small comp solid roller cam, Champion intake, Custom headers, Danny Bee belt drive, Peterson single stage oil pump with a 67mm precision billet wheel turbo. It's never been on a dyno, but I suspect it makes a little over 900hp turned up. This is way more than any "street" car ever needs. It's down right scary on the street. I'll probably turn it down to ~600hp for street driving and back up when I got to the drag strip. It's controlled with FAST XFI.

I built my own front accessory drive, valve covers, oil pan, headers and a few other pieces on the engine.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps963af845.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psd02f208a.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps13dee13d.jpg

The front suspension was pure drag race parts from TRZ and while great for drag racing it didn't have enough travel and no sway bar mounts for the street. The afco shocks were nice, but were valved for drag racing. I had a-body spindles and 11" wilwood front brakes. All that is now gone and SC&C parts are on the way. SPC uppers and lowers with tall ball joints, Eibach front springs, Hellwig sway bars front and rear. I went with viking double adjustable shocks all around. For spindles and brakes I bought a set of Baer T4 brakes pre mounted on spindles. I'm still waiting for most of this to show up.
http://streetntrack.net/uploads/mont...9413_thumb.jpg

The rear suspension is all home built. I started with a 9" truck center stamping. Added 3 1/4" OD x 1/4" wall axle tubes, a back brace and big ford housing ends. It has 35 spline moser axles, a Moser iron center section with 3.50 gears and a spool. I've added adjustable spring perches, adjustable upper and lower control arm mounts, an anti-roll bar and extra bracing. The bracing and anti-roll are coming off and a hellwig bar is going on it. The spool will be traded out eventually, but I haven't decided what to replace it with yet. The rear brakes are 12.19" wilwoods. I would eventually like to swap them for matching baers with parking brakes.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps773ad1f6.jpg
http://streetntrack.net/uploads/mont...9444_thumb.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps0bb3e0a0.jpg

Looking forward to this one Mike!

Ever since I plugged in one of the first Hypertech chip's into a friend's first year Grand National I've been a fan of the cars. :thumbsup:

I have a machine shop in my home garage. Mill, lathe, tig, bandsaws, sheetmetal brake etc. you know just your typical home shop. :D So, I like to make as many parts as I can. Here are a few of the home built parts.

Universal radiator modified to fit with a sheetmetal fan shroud.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps3ed01e7e.jpg
Crank drive mandrel
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps21b57b8d.jpg
Valve covers
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...pse586d0fa.jpg
Homemade crank trigger
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/att...61-jpg.198715/
Headers, downpipe and intercooler piping.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psd6439036.jpg

Creature comforts:
The car had a manual valve body, transbrake th400 in it. It was a little much for a driver. I eventually want to put a t-56 in the car, but for now I'm just putting a simple manual valvebody th400 back in the car.

I haven't decided on wheels yet, but my drag wheels need to sell before I can buy anything anyways.

I have a GN power steering box to go back on to replace the s-10 manual box. I'll have to build new accessory brackets to incorporate the power steering pump. I have a vacuum brake booster and matching master cylinder to go on. I want an e-brake for when I go to a manual trans, but that will have to wait until I can afford the new rear brakes. I eventually want A/C back on the car, but that will be another project for after the car is running again.

COOL CAR!!
I have liked them from the day they came out. so I bought one, we used it to develop the G body suspension parts. I don't drive it as much as I should and the motor needs a rebuild soon, got any spare parts laying around????

http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/...psc6533bbc.jpg

Thanks. Your car looks great.

I don't have anything anyone here would want. I have a set of weld alumastar skinny fronts and 15x10 weld rts rears with 275/60 radials. I have a set of 11" wilwood front brakes with vented rotors for an f,a or x body spindle. And I have a set of afco 3830 shocks with G-body coilover kit from trz.

I work out of a cramped garage, so I try to sell off what I don't need.

nice work Mike. i've seen your fab skills over on the buick board.

Thanks for starting a build thread on the car, Mike. Love the G-body cars. Good luck with the conversion.

No real progress on the buick, but parts are rolling in. I'm still waiting on a few parts to show up before I dig into reassembly.

Some of the front suspension parts. Still waiting on upper a-arms and springs from SC&C.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psf6e2ce6e.jpg

Baer T4 front brakes and a vacuum brake booster and master assembly. I really want the matching rears now that I've seen the quality of the fronts.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psf6533ddc.jpg

Stock fuel tank with twin 340lph pumps inside.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps368d9dce.jpg

A tamed down manual valve body th400 I put together with spare parts I had laying around. This is good enough to get my by until I can afford put a t56 in the car.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psf2f7c6a5.jpg

A stock GN power steering box and pump. I'll have to make a custom bracket and reservoir for the pump. I'm not going to miss the manual steering at all.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps8de84cdf.jpg

I ordered wheels, but they won't be in for a few more weeks. I'll let them be a mystery. I'm not even sure how they will look on the car.

Very nice fab work,awesome car

Very cool...I would love to have a Grand National. It sounds like that engine is a beast. :thumbsup:
What kind of wheels did you go with?

Weld Rts in 18x11 and 18x9.5. I have the 15" version on the rear now and I think the lines fit the cars shape very well. They compliment the car and don't stand out too much. I'm not usually a fan of black centers on wheels, but I figured I would try something new. I was thinking about ccw lm5's or Simmons, but I just couldn't justify the extra money.

Sounds good, I can't blame you going for something priced lower than CCWs.

I do a lot of side work to pay for parts for my car. I've just finished the latest round of parts, so now I can get back to mine. It's a good thing because the pile of parts is starting to cover the car up.

I feel like there should be a picture with a $100 bill across the lip. They look kinda big.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps23b360b3.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psb94b8c46.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psb97a4573.jpg

Nice build, I have a friend that is big into GN's still just drag but nice stuff!! I like the wheels they still give it the mean street look!

Those rims are going to look good on there. Good choice!

those wheels are going to look amazing, love the car

Finally after months of tearing the car apart, something finally got bolted back on.

The front suspension is back on the car and the garbage man picked up the masive pile of boxes today.
Pretty much a complete Sc&c package. SPC uppers and lowers with tall ball joints, Eibach springs, Hellwig sway bar and I went with viking shocks. A GN power steering box also went back on the car.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psdcd54497.jpg

On to the rear of the car. I had wilwoods on the rear, but they didn't match the new Baer's up front and honestly I didn't think they were as nice as the Baer's. So, I had to buy Baer SS4 rear brakes. They also gave me a parking brake (that the wilwoods didn't have). Those will be useful down the road when I swap in a 6 speed.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...pse410970d.jpg
The new brakes required a different brake standoff than what I had. My old axles had 5/8 studs also and were used when I got them, so I bought new ones. "While I'm at it" I went ahead and bought a 35 spline detroit truetrac to replace my spool. Waiting on a new set of ring gear bolts to put it back together. A transbrake and 15lbs. of boost can do neat things to ring gear bolts.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps54311ed4.jpg
I have a matching hellwig rear sway bar to go on the rearend, but my old drag race anti-roll bar required a lot of bracing under rear end that had to be cut off. (Compare to pic below)
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps70c9db91.jpg
Since I was doing so much rearend work I decided it would be easiest to pull it out. I was also going from trunk mounted fuel cell to a stock fuel tank. The previous owner of the car had put a lot of extra bars under the back of the car to prevent buckling the quarter panels. A common problem on these cars when drag raced. Some of it wasn't as nice as I would have liked and in my opinion most of the bars were doing nothing but adding weight. Rearend is out of the car so "while I'm at it" I might as well ditch all that extra tubing.
Before
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps1215767e.jpg
After 4 sawzall blades, two 4.5" cut off wheels and 6 24 grit grinding discs. There are still two stubs hanging from the upper control arm crossmember that I cannot get off now. I may hot wrench them off when the interior is out down the road.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps76a00e1c.jpg

There was one tube connecting the mess under the car to a couple weird bars in the trunk. I've already got the tools out, so I "might as well".
before.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps1ea8a4dc.jpg
After two more sawzall blades and I'm guessing another two cut off wheels and three grinding pads. I hope to grind the rest of the tube bits off this week. I still have to patch the old fuel cell and fuel pump holes on the trunk pan. I don't think trunk pans are made yet (or needed for that matter), so I'll be making my own. I'm thinking of adding a nice access panel for the fuel pumps "while I'm at it".
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps69e6e990.jpg

Looking good, Mike. Fuel pump access panels are a great idea.

I've been thinking of doing a t56 swap, but I won't have the money for the trans for a while. I scour ebay from time to time looking for weird buick parts and lately I've been hunting t56 swap parts. I had come across a cheap quicktime BOP bell but it was labeled to fit a T-10, Richmond or TKO, but the pictures didn't look right. Turns out it was a t56 to BOP bell and it's now mine. Score! And it was cheap. Got the Six Speed Monte pedal, clutch master cylinder mount and a new clutch master cylinder today also. It will still be a while before I can scratch up enough change for a t56 magnum.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psee781d9e.jpg

Got the rearend finished up and back in the car. I really like it better without all those bars underneath it. It was a real pain to r&r with those bars and not easy to jack up (bars were too low).
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps9a63b41b.jpg
Time to put the new axles and rear brakes in.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps4b527885.jpg

I ordered tires a couple weeks ago and they should be in next week, but It will still be a couple weeks before the new front wheels come in. The first set wouldn't clear the front calipers.

Rearend and rear brakes are on and done. I've been working on the vacuum brakes and clutch pedal assembly a bit.

http://streetntrack.net/uploads/mont...3775_thumb.jpg

I can't wait for the front wheels to get here so I can put the car back on the ground and roll it outside. The BFG Rivals kept getting pushed back, so I decided to go with some drag radials in the rear. May not be the best for handling, but they will surely make up for it in straight line accel. :D 305/35/18's on the rear

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psfeb5e272.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps5f916545.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psfc32a7cd.jpg

Killer build Mike.
I don't know how I missed this one?? :bitchslap:

I can't wait for you to get the front wheels and tire, too. I want to see this thing sitting on the ground and outside. It's going to look great. Man I love Gbodies.

I love the GN! This build is fantastic!

That's something I'd pay to drive. The power surve with a stick is gonna be an absolute blast. Kinda Supra like in some ways.

nice work Mike.

Love this car so far, keep up the good work.

Thanks all for the compliments. I'm surprised by how many people are excited for me to do this to the car. I think it will be much more fun this way.

I've decided to not waste the time putting the fresh th400 back in and go ahead and do the t56 swap. I'll have to wait a while for the trans, but I've got plenty of other things to do to keep me busy.

That's a smart move...a T56 will make it seem like a different car.

Little Details.

I'm not sure why but out of the box, my brake and clutch pedal didn't line up very well. I had to add a bit of length to the clutch slave rod to fine tune the placement of the clutch pedal. I wanted them to be perfectly in line. I couldn't find the recommended pedal pads that were supposed to fit the sickspeedmonte pedal. But I did find some in the "help" section that were larger that fit a Subaru. So, I made new larger pedal plates and welded them onto the brake and clutch pedal.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps55436adf.jpg

I also made a quick pedal retainer pin because It sucks trying to get the two pedals hooked up under the dash, laying on my back with a cage in the car.
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps9675a6a0.jpg

I followed Mark Stielows lead here on the clutch slave cylinder. I'm running a stock 4th gen Camaro master and I'm probably going to run a Mcleod RXT twin disc clutch. I picked up a GT500 clutch slave for the extra travel for a twin disc. The only issue is hooking the master and slave together and bleeding the two. I've read the cobra guys bleed them by pulling vacuum then pumping or letting them sit overnight. Or, I'll bench bleed them as an assembly and install without unhooking the two.

I'm going to hook the master and slave with a section of pre-made -3 hose I had left over from my rear brakes. The -3 fitting for the master was easy as Russel makes them. The GT500 slave takes a weird M12x1.0 iso bubble flare. I couldn't find that with a -3 on the other side, so I made one. My lathe only cuts standard threads, but luckily I have M12x1.0 dies for another fitting I make for diversion tig welders.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psddd5fe12.jpg
Tada
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps04d45080.jpg

Wow, you are doing really great work. Keep it up.

I swear this car didn't want a clutch pedal. It fought me for a couple hours and drew a little blood, but I finally beat it to sumbission. :willy: http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psd94287e4.jpg

I had to trim a section of the inner fender to get the bracket in. The inner fender had a indented line inside that worked perfectly to cut to clear the bracket. It's almost like they intended for it to happen.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps88b2ccf2.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psc1bc9216.jpg

I did some labor trading with another GN guy and on I got a new passenger fender painted and I'm going to try to get that hung today so I can get the front bumper and spoiler back on. I think it will sit a little lower in the front when I put a trans back in it and after it settles in a bit.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...pse00469fa.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psef68e079.jpg

aww yes! Looks great, Mike.

This car has needed this new fender for so long. The old one had a hole cut in it from the previous owner and I had patched it up for the short term. I've had the badges for it sitting on my desk for a couple years and it's nice to finally see them go on. I still need to tweak the bumpers and need some shims, but this was the new look I was hoping for.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps10db5c9f.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps691b84ff.jpg

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps84c35388.jpg

Looks great Mike. Sits really nice.

I really did not expect to be able to buy a trans this quick, but it's here. I sold my enclosed trailer, now that this is a "street car" and it helped quite a bit. Now I need to get back to work and get it in the car.

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...psda639861.jpg

I got the flywheel and clutch a few weeks ago.
http://streetntrack.net/uploads/mont...8357_thumb.jpg
http://streetntrack.net/uploads/mont...8400_thumb.jpg

McCleod said I would be more than fine with an F-body slave, so I bought one and a tick speed bleeder.
http://streetntrack.net/uploads/mont...8423_thumb.jpg

Mike, the car looks great. These have always been one of my all time favorite rides. Good call on the Tick remote bleeder. I elected to not use a remote bleeder on mine, and I ended up having to build a special wrench to reach the factory bleeder. Keep at it!