This is more like an "on-line" diary of what I've done to the car over a period of time or in the process of doing. Older entry dates may not be true today as things always change over time.
This is more like an "on-line" diary of what I've done to the car over a period of time or in the process of doing. Older entry dates may not be true today as things always change over time.
June 21st 2008: I've installed the new cam this weekend and actually like it better than the larger one. The specs are: 212-212 duration with .569 lift. My old cam was 226-226 duration with .577 lift.
May 24th 2008: I've ordered a smaller camshaft for the Malibu. It's going to around 212 to 218* of duration with about a .530 lift. I'm hoping it will make better bottom end power without sacrificing any power at all at the upper RPM's.
April 6th 2008: The Charlotte Auto Fair was a total wash out due to rain. I still enjoyed driving the Malibu over 550 miles round trip. The car even won a trophy for "BEST MODIFIED"!
March 29th 2008: I burnt the forward clutches out of my transmission when I went to the drag strip. The transmission is now out and a spare trans is in the car so I can still drive it.
March 2nd 2008: On April 5th I'll be driving the Malibu to the 2008 Spring Charlotte Auto Fair at Charlotte Motor Speedway in NC! I'll have it all shined up and showing it in the car show! I'll be located near the infield tunnel entrance.
February 26 2008: I put the car on the dyno again on Feb 9th 2008 to compare HP reading between two different type's of dyno's. Check it out on the Dyno page!
January 26 2008: Check out the newest dyno session on the Dyno page!
July 21st 2007: I'm still waiting for the machine shop to finish machining my engine.
June 9th 2007: If you play the old PC game "Need for Speed - High Stakes" you can download my car to play in the game! Link is on the "Home" page.
June 1st 2007:
Updated a lot of pictures all over the site!
May 5th 2007: A couple of weeks ago I bought back a Buick Grand National from my nephew. He spun a rod bearing in the engine and really can't afford to rebuild it. Plus, he's doing the "family thing" now and don't have time to devote to the car. So at this time I have two GN engines at the machine shop getting ready to be built. It's waiting time now.
March 29th 2007: I just received a new engine girdle and some connecting rods for the stroker engine I'm building. It should have 250 cubic inches...up from 231.
March 25th 2007: Catastrophic engine failure! 10 years on the stock connecting rods and they finally fail! Click Here!
March 17th 2007: I just received my new PTE70GTQ double ball bearing turbo today! Installation will be soon! I put up some pictures on the "Engine" section of the site.
March 3rd 2007: I converted the ignition system over to a late model "fast start" module and coil assembly. I put up a page dedicated to the installation. Check it out.
December 30th 2006: I just bought a dual ball bearing PTE70GTQ with .85 hsg turbo from Precision Turbo. This should give the car at least 50-60 more HP over my previous TE-70 P trim turbo.
December 12 2006: I just bought a F.A.S.T. XFI fuel injection system and 12 83lb injectors. This will allow more tuning to get those pesky air fuel ratio numbers more stable. Hopefully this will allow more reliable HP.
December 2nd 2006: I drove the car on another 400 mile round trip! Man this thing is really docile and mild mannered! Once again, the Navigation System paid off by taking me to "The Rock"...Rockingham Drag strip! I met up with a group of guys and gals and hung out while watching 9 second GN's rip down the track...I LOVE IT! One day....I will join them in the 9 second club!
November 20th 2006: I drove the car over 400+ miles just to eat dinner with a group of friends I met on the internet. I'm part of the Yahoo Groups located at: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/GM_TURBO6/ This group consists of mainly Syclone's, Typhoon's, Grand National's & T-Types. But, if you have a GM powered Turbocharged 6 cylinder car of any kind come join us!
November 4th 2006: I put the car on a dyno today to see what kind of power it has. The air fuel ratio was all over the place so it wasn't a good test. Still it managed to put down 580 rear wheel horsepower! That's about 700 at the flywheel!
November 2nd 2006: The dual fuel system works like a charm! It switches beautifully from low octane (87) to high octane (116) without a single hesitation, miss or stumble. All you have to do is nail the throttle and everything works automatically! I can't be more pleased.
August 12th 2006: Dual fuel system has passed initial testing! Check out the video's!
July 30 2006: Dual fuel system is now partially working. I still have to plumb in a second fuel tank and lines then I can test it.
I've added HID headlights to the car. They are very bright compared to the others.
July 22 2006: I've just installed new seat upholstery on both the front and rear seats. It looks great! Check them out on the pictures page.
The engine is now back in the car and running. I had to replace the #2 piston and get the valves done. These Champion GN1-R aluminum heads flow nice but they have been off twice already in 2500 miles. They were warped enough the first time until I had to get them surfaced and re-do the receiver grooves. The second time the valve seats had moved around some and the valves was not sealing good. This is what the machine shop told me. He also said that this was common on lots of aftermarket aluminum heads and once they have been surfaced and the valves ground after a few miles they will make more power.
July 5th 2006: Bad news, the car ran a 7.12 at 97mph in the 8th but I later found out I had a clogged #2 injector which cause a burned piston and valve. So it's time to fix the problem and go racing again!
July 1st 2006: I've updated a few pictures in the "Photo's" section. The Malibu finally made a few passes at the drag strip. I've posted video's on the "Video's" page. To help cure the body roll I've just bought an anti-roll bar. I just need to install it now.
May 29th 2006: The Malibu made the trip to Bowling Green KY and back with out a single problem. It was a 1500 mile round trip. The gas mileage was 24.8 miles per gallon at 70-75mph on the interstate! The worst it got was 24.3. The Navigation was a real asset as was the XM satellite radio. Also, the A/C wasn't to bad to have either...lol :~). This is truly a "Touring Coupe!"
May 10th 2006:
I've wet sanded the Malibu and buffed it. It's so slick now a fly landed on the hood and he busted his ass! lol
Plans are to drive the car to Bowling Green KY for the Buick GS Nationals on may 17th and stay until the 20th. It's only days away!
May 5th 2006:
I've bought a Mass Air Flow Translator Pro to the car. Neat little device. Full throttle closed loop fuel control for perfect "one-the-floor" performance. It also doubles as a boost controller!
Update to the updates....
1. I did buy a carbon fiber driveshaft. Light as Hell!
2. I've fixed the fuel starvation in the fuel system so now I should get come decent dyno numbers.
3. The blow off valves sound SWEET! It makes a sheeeew sound when I set off the throttle!
4. More larger tires! I now have p-275-60-15's on the rear. The cruise RPM is now 1580 at 55mph and just over 2000 at 70mph.
February 22 2006:
I put the car on the dyno and it made 407 HP and 512 TQ at the rear wheels. This was in total street trim and with 17psi boost. It also had a VERY lean mixture of 14.0 on the wideband 02 sensor. Check out the video of it on the "Video's" page of my site.
Also, I now have two blow-off valves mounted. Sounds good!
January 24th 2006:
The intercooler is completed with the exception of mounting the blow-off valves. I've also fabricated transmission cooler mounts to install in front of the crankshaft driven fan (pictures updated also). Cooling fan is mounted but I still need to secure the top of it. I also have to get the radiator mounted at the top. Maybe next weekend...
January 11th 2006:
I've finally got the engine in the car and running. I still have a few things to hook up like the cooling fan, intercooler and getting a trans cooler plumbed. I've also got a twisted driveshaft yoke from my previous drag strip runs. I'm thinking about going to a carbon fiber shaft to save weight and to gain a few HP to the rear wheels.
December 21st 2005:
I've done some changing to the web site so it will load the first page better. While I was do that I added a few engine pictures in the "Engine" section on the home page.
November 20th 2005:
I've done several things since my last update.
1: I have frame notched the car and moved the inner tubs in about 2 inches. I'll be able to have the car sit lower on my 28x10.5 slicks. Now I don't have to worry about them scrubbing the outer fender lip.
2: I've finally completed the short block.
3: I'm putting together a dual fuel system so the engine can switch "on-the-fly" to race gas. Custom work to the intake has just been finished and am now working on the fuel rails. I'm itching to see how this is going to work...IF it does.
September 23rd 2005:
I just received my GN1-R heads and matching intake from Champion Racing Heads. Pictures can be seen in the "Engine" link on the home page.
August 29th 2005:
I added some updated pictures of the Syclone. (SOLD June 9th 2006)
July 19th 2005:
I admit it... I'm addicted to boost and V6's I just purchased a Syclone! (SOLD June 9th 2006)
July 4th 2005:
I've gotten the front mount intercooler is installed but not totally finished. The engine needs to be installed before I can make the piping from the turbo and to the throttle body. Unit core measures 24 wide x 17.5 tall x 4 inches thick. Check it out in the "Engine" section.
June 21st 2005:
The engine is out of the Malibu getting rebuilt again after a bearing failure. I hardly abused this engine and it only had 7000 miles on it. But on the brighter side of things, I'm removing the stock ported heads and the 2½ stock intercoolers and replacing them. The heads I chose are from Champion and are race ported. These GN1-R heads will go into the 8's...quarter mile! Also, I'm adding a true front mount intercooler and removing the stock set-up I have on it now. Hopefully, these changes will give me between 75 to 100 more HP. That's all I'm needing to go 9's.
March 19th 2005:
I've put some larger tires the rear of the car. P255-60-15's. The car looks better with more tire under the rear. It also brought the cruise rpm down also. Now at a comfortable 2070 - 2100 at 70mph and 1650rpm at 55mph! SWEET fuel mileage!
February 6th 2005:
I've added a front and rear spoiler to the Malibu. It turned out better looking than I thought it would! Check them out in the "Picture" section!
December 12 2004:
Today I installed 2 GNX fender port holes into my center console so the heater can vent out on each side. It adds to the theme of car.
December 3 2004:
A friend and I built a speaker box for the trunk to install a sub woofer. Since I'm after sound quality and not booming bass, I opted for a 10" JL sub for the sixth channel of my mobile theater system. The amp is a Pioneer dual channel 760W/380W-rms (single channel). It makes a big difference when watching a DVD or playing DVD Audio in 5.1 surround!
November 21 2004:
For you Malibu gurus...I added a third brake/turn signal bulb to the center socket of each rear lenses. This allowed me to install sequential turn signals from Web Electric Products. They work and look great IMO.
