Oct 06, 2003
Well, in writing this newsletter, I will try and fill the shoes of our honored prez. Larry. Due to an all day party and dinner in his honor, (his real day job, claims adjuster) Larry could not make our sept 13th club meeting. Larry, since when is work more important than play???? We had a total of 12 club members attend the meeting, including Ed Chapman who seems to always make the trek in from Rochester, now thats real club loyalty. Thanks Ed. Our 2 raffles had a good response. The club hat was won by Curtis K. and the door prize ( 5 qts. of mobil1, donated by Mike Hamilton was won by Steve B. Hey Steve, how about putting that oil in your phantom gn???? someday we will all see that car. We also discussed the upcoming club track rental at Leicester sept 20th. When asked about how many were going, There where many show of hands. Well the turnout at the track on Saturday wasn't too bad, I think I counted about 12 cars that ran down the track. The weather was nice and cool and some low time slips were achieved. There were a few disappointing moments though. Phil T. (turbo Phil) blew a head gasket along with Kevin T. who was on the brink of breaking into the 11's when she blew. Also Joe Rizzo had a day of problems getting his gn to run good. He and Kevin both had to have there cars flat bedded back to their stables. On the bright side. Mark B. trailered in his 8 sec. Tubbed gn beast. What a car. It looked fast, even in its two toned primered body. Mark took her down the track a few times, real slow just to see how it would handle its virgin run). He had one run of 120 mph on only 6 lbs. of boost, feathering the peddle all the way down the strip. That thing will be awesome when he gets it all set up and painted. Jerry Thompson made a few runs with a passenger. Jerry, it looks like someone else will be catching the racing bug soon. Joe Doino's black beauty made a few passes . Joe is setting up his newly installed alky kit. Also, hats off to Paul Pryer who had a fantastic day of tuning. He pushed out an 11.6 run with a stock I/c and heads on baldy drag radials. Man, he was one happy camper. Hats off to John Mac and John O. for manning the tree and keeping the burnout box in good shape. Honoring our event was the one and only SLIM. Who show up with his awesome t/r which turned in the very low 11's. that burgundy car is beautiful and very fast. Dave S. also had some real fine runs with his two toned gn. He is also right on the 11's edge. Next time Dave. Thanks to all the members and friends who showed up at Leicester and the ones who didn't show up "shame on you!" Our next scheduled club meeting will be held on Sat. night Oct. 11th at Athens, Harlem Rd. 6 pm. The door prize for that meeting will be donated by John O. Come on Larry, we all missed you. See you at the next meeting. Prez's helper, Ron Turch
When I purchased my 86 Grand National in may of 2000, I didn't know much about them. I previously owned a sage green 87, 307 powered Regal and wasn't too impressed with the performance of my V8 Powered, Rear wheel drive vehicle that I wanted. On the same token I was going to college in Daytona Beach and I needed something that was going to be good on gas, reliable and had a little performance, but still had the classy G body lines. It narrowed it down to the car I own. The first summer I had my car I was just happy to have something that would get out of its own way, and it did. I know had the quickest car of all my friends. 13.9@98, that was the best time I got out of it in stock form with zero knowledge of my car. My junior year at school I became VP of the Embry-Riddle Muscle Car Association. The competition between who could run the quarter the quickest was on. New mustangs and F-bodys gave me a run for my money, but I didn't do to bad, all stock, one bald Peg Leg and race gas I went 13.2@103 and 250RWHP and 350RWTQ. My senior year at ERAU, I wanted my 12 second pass. The summer before I put a TA-49 on the car as well as a 009 injectors and the Hooker exhaust. Also during the school year I added a 3 inch down pipe, drag radials, and the CAS V4, and figured out some boost problems I had, I was running mid 12's all day long. I thought heck if I can run mid 12's 11's cant be that hard, so on a budget I traded my good drag radials for some slicks straight up, found a Art Carr 3000 lockup Converter for $300 and I was at the track, almost once a week. After lots fine-tuning I went 11.98@110 and put down on the dyno 402RWHP and 513RWTQ. After 100,000 miles on the odometer 50,000 miles of my hard driving, 300 or more passes down the track, my motor spun a bearing. When I pulled it apart it didn't look pretty, the lower end of my motor had it. It was messy. Since I don't trust many people to work on my car I decided I would break out the manual and build my self a motor. After checking all the clearances and reinstalling it, I still have a problem with it, still making some noise, and work is still in progress. There is a moral to the story. These cars where built very tuff, and if cared for properly and not abused, will run a very long time. I guess you have to decide if you want that 300,000 mile motor and I have seen it happen, take care of it, keep the boost down the oil changed and it will take care of you. If you like to run them hard, just be prepared, be patient and try to keep them going. Joe Rizzo .