The Engine

GM produced the Turbo 3.8l engine for a # of years, begining in 1978 with a carbureted version. In 1982 the first Grand National was produced. It was a 2 tone (black over grey) Regal with the hood bulge common on the Turbo Regals. After dismal sales (215) the project was scrapped. In 1984 Buick re-released the Grand national in all it's black beauty. The '84s had a chrome trimmed grill, also on the model you see here. It was a non-intercooled version of the engine. Buick wanted to do a bit more so in 1986 the first of the intercooled Buicks appeared. The GN retained the exterior and interior (available only in the GN) Around 5000 GNs were produced that year and only about 700 were factory T-tops.. In 1987 the GN got a new, all black grill, about 25 more HP, and over 20,000 orders. About 25,000 were purchased and the final sale date was pushed back to fill orders. To commemorate the GN, Buick pulled 547 cars out of the line, in no particular order, and modified them. They recieved fender flares and louvers, a larger intercooler, a ceramic impeller turbo, and a McLaren suspension boost. The new car ran a full second faster than it's bretheran in the quarter. They were the quickest production cars of the '80s with a 0-60 acceleration of 4.9 seconds.

When I bought the car it was a total loss. The engine was overreved and it let go at the weakest link. An inexperianced engine builder put heavy slugs in it and the weight of the piston created a balance problem. The #3 rod snapped, hammering the piston into the cylinder head, bending the valves and cracking the head. The crank continuued it's high RPM rotation and pounded the broken rod into the cylinder walls, through the pan, into the camshaft, shattering the cam and ejecting it out the back of the block. The rod continued it's travel into the lifter valley, cracking the bottom of the intake. The camshaft ejected out through the back of the block and caught the flex plate, shattering it, punching a hole into the torque converter, and cracking the transmission bellhousing.

I had to round up all the components. I got an '87 longblock, a turbonetics turbo, a stretched intercooler, 50# injectors, a stock intake manifold, and an Art Carr strip transmission. I also needed to find some Grand National wheels, which I later tossed in favor of the lighter Turbo Regal wheels as the paint flaking off the stock wheels was bothersome. My friend reworked the steering wheel and I wet sanded and buffed the paint to a mirror gloss. I wrapped the wheels with BFG 215-60-15s up front and 255-50-15s in the rear. The engine was torn down, bored .030 over, and reciever grooves were cut into the block for better head gasket sealing under the high boost levels the motor would see. The heads were ported and polished and fitted with stainless valves and heavy springs. The intake was match ported to the heads and built up inside in the rearto provide less turbulance in the intake. Many choose a chrome intake with this feature visible from the outside. I elected to maintain a near stock appearance. The motor was built to withstand 10 second times with ease, although I never plan on reaching these #s.

The assembly was done by myself, as was the burning of 3 chips. 1 is a stock chip, 1 is a street chip, and 1 is strip only. I have bypassed computer controll of the wastegate in favor of an adjustable wastegate set to 24 pounds on the track and 18 for daily driving. The car has turned a best of 11.84@119mph with 0-60mph times of 4.2 seconds. It has AC and is used as a daily driver, getting 27 MPG on the highway, and passing California Emissions standards. It does take a few tools to do something like this.

A few other little things have been done to make her perform. I have put a Hooker cat back exhaust system with ATR stainless race mufflers. The rear factory .342 gears were replaced first with .390s, then found it's way back to .373s. An 1800 stall converter helps reduce turbo lag, but it will be upgraded to 2500 when the new turbo is installed. A second intercooler fan is in place to aid in cooling chores, and induction is also aided by a 9 inch K&N conical air filter, a solid mass air pipe, and a stretched intercooler with Duttwieler inlet modification.


				*Sandt38s Nat* *The Engine*



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		Here's a bit about Performance mods and my Nat's revival from the dead. Click all images for larger views. This is the engine at it's most current. I decided to do a complete backout of the motor, and do some aluminum accents to the intake tunnel and valve covers. I have also update the connector hose for all the pressure pipes to black as well. GM produced the Turbo 3.8l engine for a # of years, begining in 1978 with a carbureted version. In 1982 the first Grand National was produced. It was a 2 tone (black over grey) Regal with the hood bulge common on the Turbo Regals. After dismal sales (215) the project was scrapped. In 1984 Buick re-released the Grand national in all it's black beauty. The '84s had a chrome trimmed grill, also on the model you see here. It was a non-intercooled version of the engine. Buick wanted to do a bit more so in 1986 the first of the intercooled Buicks appeared. The GN retained the exterior and interior (available only in the GN) Around 5000 GNs were produced that year and only about 700 were factory T-tops.. In 1987 the GN got a new, all black grill, about 25 more HP, and over 20,000 orders. About 25,000 were purchased and the final sale date was pushed back to fill orders. To commemorate the GN, Buick pulled 547 cars out of the line, in no particular order, and modified them. They recieved fender flares and louvers, a larger intercooler, a ceramic impeller turbo, and a McLaren suspension boost. The new car ran a full second faster than it's bretheran in the quarter. They were the quickest production cars of the '80s with a 0-60 acceleration of 4.9 seconds. When I bought the car it was a total loss. The engine was overreved and it let go at the weakest link. An inexperianced engine builder put heavy slugs in it and the weight of the piston created a balance problem. The #3 rod snapped, hammering the piston into the cylinder head, bending the valves and cracking the head. The crank continuued it's high RPM rotation and pounded the broken rod into the cylinder walls, through the pan, into the camshaft, shattering the cam and ejecting it out the back of the block. The rod continued it's travel into the lifter valley, cracking the bottom of the intake. The camshaft ejected out through the back of the block and caught the flex plate, shattering it, punching a hole into the torque converter, and cracking the transmission bellhousing. I had to round up all the components. I got an '87 longblock, a turbonetics turbo, a stretched intercooler, 50# injectors, a stock intake manifold, and an Art Carr strip transmission. I also needed to find some Grand National wheels, which I later tossed in favor of the lighter Turbo Regal wheels as the paint flaking off the stock wheels was bothersome. My friend reworked the steering wheel and I wet sanded and buffed the paint to a mirror gloss. I wrapped the wheels with BFG 215-60-15s up front and 255-50-15s in the rear. The engine was torn down, bored .030 over, and reciever grooves were cut into the block for better head gasket sealing under the high boost levels the motor would see. The heads were ported and polished and fitted with stainless valves and heavy springs. The intake was match ported to the heads and built up inside in the rearto provide less turbulance in the intake. Many choose a chrome intake with this feature visible from the outside. I elected to maintain a near stock appearance. The motor was built to withstand 10 second times with ease, although I never plan on reaching these #s. The assembly was done by myself, as was the burning of 3 chips. 1 is a stock chip, 1 is a street chip, and 1 is strip only. I have bypassed computer controll of the wastegate in favor of an adjustable wastegate set to 24 pounds on the track and 18 for daily driving. The car has turned a best of 11.84@119mph with 0-60mph times of 4.2 seconds. It has AC and is used as a daily driver, getting 27 MPG on the highway, and passing California Emissions standards. It does take a few tools to do something like this. A few other little things have been done to make her perform. I have put a Hooker cat back exhaust system with ATR stainless race mufflers. The rear factory .342 gears were replaced first with .390s, then found it's way back to .373s. An 1800 stall converter helps reduce turbo lag, but it will be upgraded to 2500 when the new turbo is installed. A second intercooler fan is in place to aid in cooling chores, and induction is also aided by a 9 inch K&N conical air filter, a solid mass air pipe, and a stretched intercooler with Duttwieler inlet modification.