new guy here with an 87 GN

FLASH1970

New Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2019
Been lurking for a bit to learn, and thanks for all the useful info I found here. So, here's the story... I am redo'ing my house from basement to roof. New electric, drywall, taking out walls, ceiling in my living room gone to make a vaulted ceiling with a loft... the works. Even though im not ready for new kitchen cabinets yet, I stumble across a good deal for a kitchen set. It's about 2 hours from me. So, my dad and I go and take a look at the cabinets. Across the street is a Grand National for sale. After I buy the cabinets we go take a look at the car. Bit of a horrible story on it. The guy's son who owned the car passed away from an OD and the car sat for some time. the last time the car was registered was 04. the dad got it running again, did some brakes on it... really nice guy. he asked us what our plans would be for the car and we told him we would like to keep it stock or close to. No crazy cage or cut it up. just stock rims, maybe some more oomph but not looking to tear apart the driveline. he said he had offers on the car and the people wanted to rat it out, turn it into a drag car, or put air ride/hydraulics on it... so he told them no. he obviously has some sentimental attachment to the car as well as it being a constant reminder im guessing so hence the 'for sale' signs. we didn't know much about GN's so we thanked him for his time and I hit the interwebs as well as this forum to get some learnins. We went back today to take a second look at the car. just the day before he had three lookers, one being the hydraulics guy. with my new found knowledge I saw the 82C, 19L, 19U, AR9, W11 on the cowl tag. The RPO sticker is gone. but the car has black carpet, all the body badges, the GN dash badge, rear bumperettes... everything pointing to it being a GN. So, my pops makes him an offer for about 85% his asking price. he says he will accept the offer because he knows its going to a home that'll fix it up, its a father and son (my brother also wants in) resto/fix up, we wont ruin it, and he said he wants to see it when it's done. My dad told him he would give him the keys to go take it for a ride when its done, no problem. our plans are to keep him informed of the resto with pictures and keep in touch. God bless him and his wife. my dad said the wife looked a little teared up when she came out. He also has a couple bikes for sale, one being a shovel head im kind of interested in. anyway, it has some rust bubbles in a few spots but nothing rotted through, some paint chips... might be a frame off resto. if the engine needs work I can get it machined and do the reassemble. door panels need some resto as they are faded. head liner is sagging. its over 30 years old... car has a boost controller, bigger turbo, some subs (no box) in the trunk... that'll all get cleaned up. it needs bumpers. The grill is in the trunk of the car as is a steering wheel with a "T" on it. The car has the concert sound option, astroroof, leather... other than that, im not sure. hoping to peel off the door panel and find a build sheet. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. We are thinking of "DRMHLMT" for a license plate with a rick morranis dark hemlet sticker in the back window with "LUDICROUS SPEED" after it. Again, thanks all for the knowledge I gained in the week or so of lurking.
345201

345202
345203
345204
 
I like. Looks nice in the pictures, so how did it run? Some new bumper fillers and general maintenance and you just might have a real jewel on your hands. You won't be carrying drywall on the roof right?
 
did a vaulted ceiling in the living room already as the roof rafters were 24" on center but the ceiling joists were 16" on center so they didn't line up. At that point, just took the ceiling joists all out, sisters'd in rafter braces and did a vaulted ceiling with a loft above one room now. the car ran ok. with the bigger turbo it had some lag. but once it spooled it pushed you back a bit. if the engine needs work, I have no problem doing it.
 
Got some more pics of the car, a few more details as well.
345481

345479
345480


cable mirrors (were they considered power mirrors?), power windows and locks
345482

345483


cruise and tilt
345484


astroroof
345485


A/C
345486


power trunk popper
345487


has some gauges, not a huge fan of pillar pods... boost/trans temp/oil pressure/coolant temp (Buick steering wheel with a "T" is in the trunk)
345488
 
Concert Sound II (cant edit post above), Power driver's seat, manual passenger seat. leather is in good shape. haven't seen any GN's with leather.
345489
345490

345491


Some rust bubbles, dents, needs the plastic bumper filler pieces, headlight surrounds and corner turn signals, front bumper turn signal covers. car has already been repainted once.
345492

345493

345494

345495

345496


has a bigger turbo and boost controller but doesn't have a TT chip.
345497

345498
 
Been learning a boatload here and on youtube. the PLC/TT SD chip/Scanmaster... tuning setup looks similar to the tuning setup ive used on DSM cars with the timing and fuel tables and datalogging. can you only display 4 parameters at a time when reviewing a datalog? Id like to take the car to the high 11's but we will see what happens. just gotta start collecting replacement body parts, get some interior work done, got bins and bags to place everything taken off already.
 
Astro-Roof is a nice option, a lot less common that the rattling-T-tops :cool:
You'll likely get better response to any "technical" questions elsewhere on the board?
Good luck with everything.
 
Top