Words: Tommy Parry Photos: Mike
As many of our builds begin, they start with big dreams and a convenient ignorance of the financial realities involved. It’s enthusiasm that gets the build off the ground, but a quick look at the checking account helps roll it into the garage, where it sits for five years. Over that period of time, Mike managed to convince his wife to sell her BMW to fund his Grand National build, and eventually he started picking away at the Buick for which he had such high hopes. When he finally summoned the strength to pull the motor and inspect the blown head gasket that had sidelined it all, he found a cracked exhaust valve.
After he saved a little bread, he had the block line honed and decked, bored .030 over. He then had the rods resized with ARP bolts and put on some Wiseco forged pistons. Next, he got ARP studs for the mains, had the crank polished and got all the bearings from the machinist. Lastly, he bought Champion iron CNC ported heads and reassembled everything.
With the motor out, he took the opportunity to install some custom front upper control arms from UB Machine to fix the steering geometry issues G-bodies have. Then on went a set of new ball joints, which are larger and allow for a little more negative camber change.
While tending to the suspension, Mike made a trip to the junkyard and swooped up a set of front spindles, rotors and calipers off of a '98 2WD 4-Door S10 Blazer. This was the first year that they used 11" floating rotors on sealed bearings and large 2 piston calipers, and would be a cheap brake modification. While he was there, he snatched a steering shaft out of a '96 Jeep Grand Cherokee, which he would make work. The U-joints in this shaft would take out some slop created by the old style rag joints.
After rebuilding the rear end and powdercoating the fuel tank, Mike removed the stock rear sway bar and added one out of a '98+ 4WD, 2DR S10 Blazer, which mounts to the frame. With some Energy Suspension endlinks and some angle supports on the frame, there was a hope for those rear tires putting the power neatly to the pavement.
With the wires tucked, the PTE-44 turbo, the turbo piping and the intercooler in place, Mike’s motor was ready to turn over. On went the bodywork, in went the fluids, and Mike cranked it. Success! No debris in the filter, nor any in the old oil. The motor never got past 165 during break-in, oil pressure was consistently healthy and there wasn’t a wisp of smoke in sight.
With a strong motor and instant spool, Mike turned his attentions to the aesthetics. After ordering a few new interior bits, he grabbed a set of mesh wheels from a Trans Am GTA and widened the rears to 9” for a staggered look. He shod the rears in a set of old M&H drag radials and took the Buick to the track, where he whacked the boost up to twenty pounds and went 11.62@118 with a 1.85 60ft! Not bad for worn rubber.
There was a hint of rust in some of the T-Top areas, and so Mike took that as an excuse to begin disassembling the entire car. After stripping it, he had the bumpers shaved, then covered it all in a coat of primer. With a few surprises along the way, he and his bodywork team logged 261 hours on the Buick, but it certainly looked the business - especially without any badging. That stylistic choice, by the way, was not made to make the understated Grand National even more understated - Mike simply didn’t want to drop any extra dough on them. With the time invested in the bodywork, that’s completely understandable.
Next, he dealt with the interior. First, he ripped out the carpet to inspect the floorpan, which was flawless. Then he covered everything, including the doors and roof, with E Dead V1, and resprayed the interior with G Body Parts paint. After stuffing the factory seats with the foam from a Monte Carlo SS, he added the carpet, floormats, upper door panels and seat covers he grabbed from a forum friend. The finishing touch: a digital tachometer from an S10 for a little sci-fi flair.
And with that, Mike had his menacing Grand National. Simple, sleek, and very powerful - what’s not to like? It might’ve started as a prospective daily driver, but as is often the case, the build snowballed and now Mike has a venerable dragster for the street.