Somehow, Grand Nationals and tire smoke just go together. Images and video courtesy of TurboBuick.com

The Buick Grand National was and still is a much-heralded car. Gearheads and collectors alike covet the thing so much, that there seems to be a divider between the two groups in terms of deciding the car’s fate. Collectors believe that every example ever made should be preserved and left unmolested, whereas the gearheads would prefer otherwise. We understand the opinions of both, but to each their own.

There is no shortage of LS-swap material to see on the internet, but when we ran across this video of a turbocharged, 6-liter swapped ’87 GN on the TurboBuick.com forums we just had to share it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a direct line on the car’s owner, but we were able to get details of the Buick through his messages on the forum thread.

The beast within.

Starting under the hood, the 6.0 has been built utilizing the stock crankshaft, Wiseco pistons, Eagle rods, and a custom cut turbo cam from Futral Motorsports. A set of LS9 gaskets help seal the ported 317 heads to the iron block while ARP hardware is responsible for holding the boosted mill together.

Speaking of boost, a Precision PT88 turbo with a T4 housing tuned to 19psi, drinking a healthy combination of methanol and 93-octane courtesy of a FAST XFI system is what got this thing down the 1320 in 9.25 at 153.5MPH. The boosted LS is backed by a slightly built TH350, and the 3.42 gears still reside in the factory rearend.

The spent exhaust gases are expelled through a 4-in downpipe and Vibrant muffler exiting before the transmission crossmember. Official dyno numbers are unknown at press time, since the car’s owner has yet to actually see the rollers. But given the approximate 3600lb. race weight, the E.T, and the trap speed, we would have to say somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000HP. Not bad for homegrown.