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Morning Guys,
Yes, I am a forum member and it is my car.
I built it in '95 after finding a non-numbers-matching body with everything incorrect (even the frame!). Had the swap idea years earlier after owning several Grand Nationals and becoming accustomed to building easy horsepower with their architecture. I then started gathering GN motors, transmissions and accessories for it and future builds (have a recently completed turbo El Camino as well).
Originally did the swap for lightness (car weighs 3170#), intense acelleration (0-100 in 6-sec) and low ET's (best time of 10.64 at 128 mph). The unexpected benefits were how cool the engine runs with the A/C on in 90+ weather and how easy it is on the Vette drivetrain (no broken u-joints, half-shafts etc.) due to the soft launches.
One of the biggest kicks I get is when I let another Vette owner take it for a ride and they come back saying, "holy s**** that is the fastest car I have ever driven!".
Next goal is high 9's!
Morning Guys,
Yes, I am a forum member and it is my car.
I built it in '95 after finding a non-numbers-matching body with everything incorrect (even the frame!). Had the swap idea years earlier after owning several Grand Nationals and becoming accustomed to building easy horsepower with their architecture. I then started gathering GN motors, transmissions and accessories for it and future builds (have a recently completed turbo El Camino as well).
Originally did the swap for lightness (car weighs 3170#), intense acelleration (0-100 in 6-sec) and low ET's (best time of 10.64 at 128 mph). The unexpected benefits were how cool the engine runs with the A/C on in 90+ weather and how easy it is on the Vette drivetrain (no broken u-joints, half-shafts etc.) due to the soft launches.
One of the biggest kicks I get is when I let another Vette owner take it for a ride and they come back saying, "holy s**** that is the fastest car I have ever driven!".
Next goal is high 9's!
Mike Cambio
Barrington, IL
Biocam,
Those are some impressive numbers for a C3 which looks to be in stock trim. I think this warrants its on thread for bragging rights. Lots of members here would find this very interesting.
The original poster should change the title to Buick Engine/C3 10 second ET's and Im sure the traffic would increase.
Good job,
well it's lighter,runs cool, makes serious power and doesn't break parts.
it's a win win all around. nice
it reminds me of the old buick ads,
WOULDN'T YOU REALLY RATHER HAVE A BUICK?
Do you have any info on cost and such? I did a quick search, but I had a hard time, since i don't really know much about these motors...
Sounds like he had a lot of experience building up GN engines. I would think the effort would be really difficult for someone without that knowledge. I would also think that the hardware associated with these setups in stock form is getting pretty scarce, but his set up has a lot of custom components to it anyway.
Do you have any info on cost and such? I did a quick search, but I had a hard time, since i don't really know much about these motors...
I can't tell you exactly what it would cost to do the swap today but I can tell you that it cost me just south of 30K for the build back in '95.
That included the initial cost of $6,800 for the car, $1,800 for the Buick components and a "frame-off" rebuild/paint/interior.
If I was to do another one, I would just buy an 86-87 Buick Regal T-Type and gut it for the drivetrain, wiring, computer and accessories.
I would venture to say that if you picked up a good running Turbo Regal for under 5k, you could do the swap for another 3-4K and be less than 10 grand overall.
Oh, I forgot to mention..........you must also have a warped mind to do this to a Shark Vette!
"Keep your GM all GM". I owned a collision shop in the mid 80's to late 90's. We had done quite a bit of paint repair on Buick black Grand Nationals. I was blown away from the torque those V6's could make with that damn turbo.
The service manager picked up the car after a complete refinish after I had placed the invoice on the dash board. The service manager told me just before he spooled the turbo up that if I could reach the invoice on the dash after he leashed that turbo he would cut me a cheque, right now, no wating for the financial department, let get this settled.
Well after my head quit spooling on the high back buckets I turned that invoice to a 30 day receivable. I was blown away. The experience still brings a smile to my face.
If I remember correctly, the owner's name is Mike Cambio. He was part of Real Street Eliminator in the mid 1990s when I was at Car Craft Magazine. The car was REALLY nice and would have won the magazine event were it not for a programming glitch (at the time) with the computer that gave the win to Dave Searcy with a supercharged 5.0L Fairmont.
Mike's C3 was as clean as they come and a real testament to the art of "car crafting". Plus, he was a really nice guy.
If someone knows of Mike, please pass on his contact info to me as I would love to talk with him again more than a decade after I tested his car for Car Craft.
If I remember correctly, the owner's name is Mike Cambio. He was part of Real Street Eliminator in the mid 1990s when I was at Car Craft Magazine. The car was REALLY nice and would have won the magazine event were it not for a programming glitch (at the time) with the computer that gave the win to Dave Searcy with a supercharged 5.0L Fairmont.
Mike's C3 was as clean as they come and a real testament to the art of "car crafting". Plus, he was a really nice guy.
If someone knows of Mike, please pass on his contact info to me as I would love to talk with him again more than a decade after I tested his car for Car Craft.
John!!!!!
How the hell are you?
Still have your Buick?
Drop me a line and we'll catch up....biocam@sbcglobal.net
Mike
BTW, it turned out to be a broken piston (top ring-land and both top rings) that killed the car during the event.
At this year's Fabulous Fords Forever car show at Knotts Berry Farm I ran into another RSE competitor from years ago ... Don Casio with his blue 1967 GT-500. Nice guy who still regularly drives his car.
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