Purchase of 1987 Buick Grand National

[chethejet]

I have purchased a 1987 that was owned by my brother in law who is now bed ridden and in poor health with memory problems. This car only has 15000 miles and every option ever available on them T-tops concert sound digital dash ect. In 2000 he started building this car and I am a car guy so he talked a lot about it to me as he was building it. I am a carberator and distriberter kind of guy and am a good enough mechanic to do my on repairs and keep my cars tunned but this of course is all together different. He always claimed it was a 9 second car but our local strip after looking at it would not let him run even on test and tune night without a roll cage among other things. It has alot of goodies supposibly the works. It has not been licensed since 2005 because he has been in bad health but he did put it on blocks and started it and ran it through the gears on blocks it has a stall speed converter and built trans also. It has not been run or strted for 3 years but was on blocks and under cover. I went yesterday and changed oil checked all fluids and pumped up the tires and looked over. It has large exhaust system large headers traction bars coil over rear shocks and the gas smelled good he had put stabilizer in it. To my surprise it started right up It was slow getting it to move as the trans seemed to slip at first but the more I drove it the trans finaly kicked in even the overdrive started working I kept stopping and checking fluids and trans fluid always looked great not burnt. I took it easy as I wanted to run the old gas out then I filled it with new high test and started to push it some but not much performance real slow to get boost and not much boost motor sounds great and revs real quick in neutral. There is a switch on top of the dash in a little box with a red light I never flipped it as I did not know what it was and I am trying to be careful as I gave a pretty penny for this car. He has a scanner but does not know where it is. The car is show condition except for the rubber behind the bumpers but I found fiberglass replacements on line. Lots of chrome under the hood and he took original motor out and built a motor out of a wrecked Grand National with low miles' So it actually came with two extra motors original and another out of another T-type. Also have original trans. So Question is where do I need to go for help I am willing to study and learn about this car as it is a beautiful car I am located close to Dayton Ohio and was wondering if there was anyone in this area that can help. He is not any help because he has lost alot of his memory so I really dont know what all it has but from what I see it looks like it was done right. It even has all the optional guages that match the interior car actually shows hardly any wear inside and out he took really good care and allways told me he wanted me to end up with this car.

 

[Shawn N]

If you post up pics we can tell what mods he did to the car and what they are for. Things like turbos can be a guessing game though unless the wheels are measured.

 

[robertf]

Sounds like you've got your hands full with that car. Very sorry to hear about your brother in law. With his lack of memory your basically starting from scratch. Hopefully there are receipts somewhere to fill in some blanks on whats on the car. Please post up pics for us to admire. As far as the rear bumper fillers, Spoolfool is one of the vendors here. He produces better than OEM fillers. Good luck.

 

[Pronto]

Where are you located? Maybe an experienced TB member would take a look at it . They might be able to help you find out what it's got. Since it's been built there have been some new things like better chips, alky injection, converters and turbos. First thing is to learn about the car. I recommend reading the VortexBuicks site. Lots to learn. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Good pictures help. Don't floor it until you know all the systems are working right. Boost mixed with a lean condition will ruin your day in seconds.

 

[whitehot1]

I have purchased a 1987 that was owned by my brother in law who is now bed ridden and in poor health with memory problems. This car only has 15000 miles and every option ever available on them T-tops concert sound digital dash ect. In 2000 he started building this car and I am a car guy so he talked a lot about it to me as he was building it. I am a carberator and distriberter kind of guy and am a good enough mechanic to do my on repairs and keep my cars tunned but this of course is all together different. He always claimed it was a 9 second car but our local strip after looking at it would not let him run even on test and tune night without a roll cage among other things. It has alot of goodies supposibly the works. It has not been licensed since 2005 because he has been in bad health but he did put it on blocks and started it and ran it through the gears on blocks it has a stall speed converter and built trans also. It has not been run or strted for 3 years but was on blocks and under cover. I went yesterday and changed oil checked all fluids and pumped up the tires and looked over. It has large exhaust system large headers traction bars coil over rear shocks and the gas smelled good he had put stabilizer in it. To my surprise it started right up It was slow getting it to move as the trans seemed to slip at first but the more I drove it the trans finaly kicked in even the overdrive started working I kept stopping and checking fluids and trans fluid always looked great not burnt. I took it easy as I wanted to run the old gas out then I filled it with new high test and started to push it some but not much performance real slow to get boost and not much boost motor sounds great and revs real quick in neutral. There is a switch on top of the dash in a little box with a red light I never flipped it as I did not know what it was and I am trying to be careful as I gave a pretty penny for this car. He has a scanner but does not know where it is. The car is show condition except for the rubber behind the bumpers but I found fiberglass replacements on line. Lots of chrome under the hood and he took original motor out and built a motor out of a wrecked Grand National with low miles' So it actually came with two extra motors original and another out of another T-type. Also have original trans. So Question is where do I need to go for help I am willing to study and learn about this car as it is a beautiful car I am located close to Dayton Ohio and was wondering if there was anyone in this area that can help. He is not any help because he has lost alot of his memory so I really dont know what all it has but from what I see it looks like it was done right. It even has all the optional guages that match the interior car actually shows hardly any wear inside and out he took really good care and allways told me he wanted me to end up with this car.

Board member " BobbyBuick " is either in Dayton or close by. Send him a personal message.