Hi all, proud to say that I finally have a 1987 Grand National after 12 years of wanting one. I just got it yesterday, and plan on doing the spring cleaning maintenance. Its an almost completely original 83,000 mile car though, so I plan on replacing the valve springs, timing chain, rear main seal, water pump, alternator, clean the injectors, but I was wondering if there was anything else you all could recommend doing for basic maintenance on a car with this mileage. Its gonna be my daily transportation for work and whatnot, and I'm in college too, so I don't have lots of extra cash for perfomance modifications but I want to make it real reliable. Any help would be appreciated, so thanks in advance.
Fuel Pump with hotwire kit
Adjustable fuel pressure regulator
Fuel Filter
Give us a note what your plans are with the chain, the members here will make sure it is right.
One thought, why replace the alternator and change the rear seal if they aren't bad?
With the timing chain, I'm not sure if i should get a stock replacement or go ahead and step up, i do want to up the performance eventually, so maybe I should get a double roller? I know the old adage, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but I thought I would do some preventive maintenance, with a car this age, i didnt think it would be much longer before the alternator went or the seal leaking, and as long as I have the money and the time while school's out, I thought I'd replace 'em. Anyway, I do have about a thousand bucks set aside, since I was prepared to spend more for this car, so how much of that do you think what's been mentioned here would eat up, if I have enough left, should I get something like turbolink, m girlfriends got a laptop she'd let me use or should I find someone in the area that would let me borrow theirs for now, if i could? thanks again for your help
To add to what Patrick said, I'd add a boost gauge, adjustable wastegate(make your own) and a K&N cone filter, removing the stock airbox setup. And YES!! get a scantool. Without a scantool you're pretty much in the dark with what's going on with the car. Not only do they help in troubleshooting problems, I don't know anybody that tunes without one. I wouldn't spend the money on the other things though. I understand your dilemma, I'm in school too. The parts you replace the old ones with, ie reman'd units, may not last anywhere near as long as the originals. There are quite a few cars out there with unopened original motors that have well over 100,000 miles on them, and they are driven hard. I would think that if the seal isn't leaking now, it shouldn't start unless you do more damage which causes it to blow. These cars are unlike others, you shouldn't need anything more than a stock cam. I know it sounds odd but there are guys going very fast, low 11s (maybe faster?) with a stock motor. The performance on these cars is all about the combination of bolt on parts. Honestly I'd put turbolink or any other scantool on the TOP of your list. From there I'd go with what's been mentioned. For an estimate on parts, the fuel pump will be around $100-150, hot wire kit maybe $60-70, adj fp reg maybe $100, fuel filter $10, making your own adjustable wastegate:priceless(couldn't resist), K&N $75, boost gauge $70, and I think TL is about $300. That should take up most of your extra cash but it will be well worth it. Those prices are just my guesses so you may find higher or lower, I think they are a good guess though. You could maybe add a Thrasher chip $25. I'd probably just keep saving the extra cash because you'll need it for something, probably new rear tires.
The list can go on and on but those should be a great baseline and unless I'm forgetting something, the next step from there will require another $1000-1500. Good luck.
Oh, I forgot to add, you should add the driver's side and passenger side breathers and cap off the vent to the air inlet at the turbo.
These aren't real expensive but prevent the crankcase from pressurizing and creating seal leaks.