El_Phantasmo

When I was in high school, I told myself one day I'd have a GN for my toy, and a 4Runner for my daily driver.

I graduated in '91, it took till I was about 24, but I finally made it happen.

Before I sold it, it was a mid 11 sec car.

Big freakin' turbo, big wastegate and downpipe, chip, injectors, fuel pump, and a WHOLE lotta boost!

It was a fun car, but dang was it finicky. Very sensitive to weather changes. And sometimes, it would just be in a bad mood!

Anybody have any GN stories?

LTC Z06

Yeah sure.

Closer_2001

Sooooo True.

Had two '87s, first one was totaled when the ROTC teacher made a left turn basically right into me at 45 MPH. That was the summer after graduating in '95. The second I took from rural FL out to Dallas.

Here's a few good GN stories...seems to mostly involve law enforcement.

GN #1:

Rural FL has 2 lanes that stretch miles and miles and are dead flat. Often there is NOTHING out there. It's also common to have intersecting roads which are equally empty, flat and could be dead straight for miles and miles.

One Spring Sunday afternoon, I'm headed home from work and decide to open her up. The Alpine changer is loaded with Sublime, the ADS amp is pushing the JL Subs nicely and the Boston separates and 6x9s are a welcome change over the old paper crap from Delco.
The Speedo was pegged at 85...

So - I make my 12 mile run down this road and am now stopped, waiting to turn into my neighborhood, turn signal on, waiting as there is some oncoming traffic.

I look in the rear view to see one of the local County Sheriffs coming - full steam. The Crown Vic's hood looks ready for lift off it's so high in the air. He's still about 1 mile out, probably running 110+. I leisurely make my turn into the neighborhood. He makes the turn behind me so hot, he nearly loses the cruiser into the ditch.

I stop - T-Tops are off and the windows are down anyway.

Deputy: Storms up to the window...HOW FAST WERE YOU GOING!!!
Me: 55
Deputy: WE BOTH KNOW YOU WEREN'T GOING 55
Me: 55
Deputy: WE BOTH KNOW YOU WERE GOING WELL OVER 55
Me: I don't believe we BOTH know if I was or was not going 55.

LEO surprisingly drops it and promises to catch me sooner or later. I can only assume he'd been down a side road and saw a black flash go by and had been chasing ever since.

GN #2

I had some good times taking it to Ennis and ran a couple of 5.0 guys down Mockingbird one cool, well behaved night.

Later I recall my 2 year old son, yelling "faster Daddy" from the back seat while headed down Hillcrest in North Dallas. A little turbo spool later and I'm talking to an actually understanding Dallas cop who let us off with a warning.

Lastly, on a road trip back to FL, after making the turn East on I-10 in MS, a Statey decides to tail me for about 8 miles. The V1 had already been turned off. It's raining and I'm in Cruise at 55. Finally, here come the blinky lights. I roll down the window and Mr. MS State Police literally wants to discuss all the minute details of the car. It turns out he's a Turbo Buick guy...never a dull moment.

GN #2 ended up being sold to buy the first house...had the internet been available then, I'm sure I would have done a lot more with it. There is something oddly fun about keeping them mostly stock and just opening up the obvious restrictions John Heinricy left in from the factory...

Sorry for the lengthy post. Brings back good times.

El_Phantasmo

Yes! Great stories thanks.

I have one LEO related story.

Right after getting the car back together with the new turbo and downpipe and stuff, we took it out to test it. No registration, no inspection sticker, probably about midnight. I let my friend take it for a pass because I had been drinking. We blew through an intersection at the top of third and a cop happened to be sitting there.

Obviously he pulled us over. He said, "Do you know how fast you were going?"

Friend said, "No, the speedo only goes to 85 and we were at the top of third, 120 maybe?"

"Let me have your licenses."

A few minutes go by and he comes back. "Get out of here" he said.

LUCKY!

We shoulda gone down, LOL. Weird too, because he was training a rookie. Seems like he would have come down hard on us to show the kid how it's done.

I'm forever grateful for that guy's compassion that night!

El_Phantasmo

Wow, this is weird. I just noticed that you're in League City. I'm in Clear Lake, and this story took place in Kemah.

Small world!

62Jeff

And I'm reading it in Webster Texas

Romulus

I owned a really sweet 86 T type (35k miles, ran mid 11s on race gas) for about 2 years after i got out of college. I needed money and was young and thought I needed something different so I sold it for a bike. I've thought several times about buying another one, but I think those days are gone for me now.. Too many other cars that are more reliable, faster, cheaper to own, and newer exist.

NytmereZ

I graduated 3 years after you, actually had an 85 corvette when I was a senior, and have lusted when I would see a GN for years ... Why?...
. When I was 16 I got a job putting up produce at the grocery store, never went to a party etc... Just worked to save for a car.
The summer I was to become a senior, I found a white 85 coupe with 22k miles, for 15k, I had saved 8k, my parents surprised me on my 17'th b-day in June by matching what I had saved, so I had my vette .

I became your typical punk street racer, now my money, went into, mods lingenfelter large tube runners, ported plenem, I actually cut the air filter lid open with a saw(later I saw the aftermarket having one identical to my handsaw work) K&N, a chip that I can't remember the name(not hypertech), cut maf screens myself, and drove around on M&H racemasters.

I went 13.5@105 beating everybody in school , I even whipped a kid whose parents bought him a turbo TA.
I really wasn't aware of TB's until one night I came up against one... It was an older guy(my fathers age at the time) , he took me by am easy 5 cars, I was puzzled .
A couple of months later while working, an older guy in a wheelchair came up to me, and we started talking cars, he said he worked for buick and had a Grand National, long story short it was the same guy who put a beating on me, he a bigger turbo, injectors, a custom chip burned for just for him.(back then it was still pretty much cookie cutter chips)

The car had hand controls because his legs were paralyzed , after meeting this man, and him showing me his car, that it was a six cylinder, I was hooked, the car looked bad Azz, a month later I spent my months paycheck on an NOS system and installed it, just in fear of the TB's out there.

The GN looks every bit as bad azz to me now then it did when I was a kid.
I finally became an owner last year, it was already built in every area you can build that car, still has A/C with with over 600 rwhp, the car runs like a missile at the track, and Is still very street friendly, none of them like the heat, but getting the right person to tune it greatly helps the cars temperament .
I don't know what took me so long to finally buy a GN, but I got that old high school itch that I had to scratch, next thing I know my new boss was being sold.
I still think of the guy who introduced me to TB's(the hard way, then very nice) when I was a kid.

Closer_2001

Awesome - car guys congregate in TX

3X2

Bought mine new in May 1987 and still have it. Sits next to my 69 435 in the gargae.

C5Txfan

I bought an '87 GN in 1991. It was stock and I put on a CA K&N, adjustable fuel regulator, GNX exhaust and larger inner cooler. Made it run and sound better but still basically stock. Fun car and they still look bad *** ... if I had the funds I'd luv to have another one just to play with. Don't see many around the D/FW area much anymore tho ..

Chicago1

Eric(Roc87) has a bad *** one...

Roc87

Thanks Chicago1

Owned my '87 GN since 5/00, ran a best of 11.55@118 at the Albuquerque track that's 5800'. Punished the stock engine with nearly 30# & an obscene amount of meth until it had 157k. Refreshed the engine, added a roller cam & ported/polished heads. Hope to do a 10 @ the same track.

Chicago1

don't forget a DA of 7-8k average..I feel bad then remember the guys in Denver

Roc87

& by the time I actually get to the track this year, that's where it'll be

I may tow it to Phx and run it @ crazy horse later in the fall

El_Phantasmo

Great stories guys, and great pics Chicago1!

Roc87, she looks sweet!

*jealous*

El_Phantasmo

I put 22 lbs. to mine, and she held up to my abuse.

I sold it, not really sure what happened to it after that.

Gnfanatic

This is my 86 gn, makes 590 rwhp on pump gas. Lots of fun. I have since changed the wheels to fac orig replica's.

[IMG][/IMG]

El_Phantasmo

Very nice. Mine had Welds on it, the ones with the small round holes. Draglites or something? I don't remember exactly.