Actually, they were the fastest production car until 1990 when the ZR-1 Vette arrived..

 

GNX was tuned by mclaren

a GN intercooler only do above average but nothign amazing in stock form......but is so cheap to make them fast

 

I was a lucky owner of a new 87 Grand National, and am very familiar with the GN, GNX, Turbo TransAm, and Syclone/Typhoon.These were the variations of the turbo-6 specials built by GM.
I still own a lightly modded Syclone(AWD turbo truck).

The GNX was a limited (supposed to be 500 but I beleive turned into a few more)production Grand National that was its swan song as it closed production.

It was a composite effort by Buick, McLaren and Garret. It had 300 hp vs 245 (for the GN), it used a ceramic large wheel turbo, revised ECU tuning, McLaren modified heads, recalibrated transmission and extra tranny oil cooler. It was also fitted with a true dual exhaust, a revised rear 4-link suspension with a torque arm, 16 inch alloy wheels with 245/50(f) and 255/50(r) vr rated rubber.

A full set of Stewart Warner analog gauges, fender vents and GNX specific badging topped the package off. A very cool car for sure, and definitely more than just badges!These cars sold for as much as $60k when they came out.

I knew a guy that owned a GNX, a GN, and a T-type test mule fitted with the S&W gauge kit.
BTW, I have seen GNX's for sale for as little as 20K!!

I still have some of my original magazines with the GNX articles. Here's some specs:

Base Price: .......$26,000.00
Curb Weight: ......3474.00 lbs
Powertrain:........300bhp@4400rpm/400ftlbs@3200rpm
0-60:..............5.4 seconds
Top Speed:.........124 mph

Now the Grand National was one sweet ride in its own right. I paid $17,800 for mine (no t-top)new early in 88. I coveted that car more than any other, and kept it longer than any other car I have owned.

Just to give you an idea of performance though, the 86-87 GN was capable of running around 13.9-14.2 in the quarter depending on the weather conditions. 0-60 times were in the high 5s to 6second range.It had horrific brakes that grabbed and caused the car to dart, and its aerodynamics had a tremendous amount of lift over 100mph(look out light steering wheel!!).Really a dangerous frigging car to be honest about it!

BTW- A stock GN will not touch a new EVO, that I know for sure. Even the stock GNX would have had an issue as traction was a major problem for these cars. Put slicks on them and look out though!

The AWD Syclone was rated at 285hp and was capable of low 13's and even high 12's stock (in cold weather). 0-60 in 4.8 seconds. Mustang owners still look sideways at me when I am in my Sy.....unless they are highly modified, they know they will get their *** handed to them!!!

Now the thing to remember is that most all of the GN's that are still on the street have some kind of mild mods done. So the reality is that they are probably capable of giving you a run for your money at worst.

Watch out for any of the aforementioned v6 GM turbo vehicles as they are all easily capable of low 12's with minor mods, and 10-11s with a bigger turbo and select bolt-ons. Oh yeah, there are huge numbers of mod parts for the 3.8 turbo engine....limitless. As was mentioned 8 second cars are a reality!

I love my EVO, but if you want a neat low-dollar toy, find a nice 86-87 t-type, limited(w/sfi turbo), or GN(or sy/ty). They can be had from $4k for a rough one to $10-15 for nice ones.

Sorry for the long post, but the GN was my second of 11 turbo cars and one of my fav's!!!

Jeff

 

looks like it hauls just stock

 

for a good reference point:
before the F-bodies got the LT1 5.7L V8 in 1993 the Buick Grand Nationals were the main competition for the 5.0 Mustangs at the drag track. They can be very, very quick.

 

1993???

 

1993 is when the GM f-bodies went from the old 305 V8 to the 275 HP LT1 V8.

 

eww that is ugly, I dont think i could drive a car that looked like that no matter how fast it was.

 

the turbo gn's can crank out close to 1000 hp easy. there's one for sale here in o-town. only 13000.

 

sorry, i misread as 1993 buick GN

because the GNX were the last of the grand nationals thas why i was like what??

 

the guy who does my body work has one, but it's not road legal in CA...won't pass emmisions tests, so he only takes it out at night. it's crazy when you floor it....all you see is sky.

 

Wanna race me? 535 at the wheels. Soon to have a turbo or supercharger. Ill race anyone and I will race for money.

 

hahaha.. you bumped a two year old thread to see if I wanted to race you.

I sold the cobra mustang about a year ago. I ran 12.4@116mph on the stock pulley and stock tires...I think my 60' time was 1.99 so with some drag radials and a nice small 2.8" pully i am sure the car would be well into the 11's....

you run yours yet?

 

I'd love to do a GN buildup sometime. I was interested in them a few years back and if I remember correctly, it's very easy to make big power with them. I have a couple of videos of a street driven GN drive to a race shop, hop on the dyno, and proceed to do a 1000+ horsepower pull.

Here is a page with a couple of vids of a pretty fast turbo Buick.

Turbo Buicks

 

My father was actually selling Buicks at the time those cars came out and he always commented they were the most breaking down falling apart pieces of **** to ever be put on this planet. For GM quality issues those were the worst years of all.