Featured Car - Lonnie Diers' 1987 Grand National


100% Street car ... E.T.s of a RACE car!

Lonnie has built himself a very fast ride ... and didn't give up the creature comforts while doing so! His car still has AC and all the power accessories. Hey! It is a BUICK after all!

The car is a T-Top car so I Lonnie a full cage to help stop chassis flex. The car is driven to and from the track 50+ miles in both directions and has never been on a trailer in 2001 (with the exception of the trip to Bowling Green GS Nationals. The motor has 28,000 miles on it and the car weighs in at 3640 lbs.

On DOT tires and a 1.57 short time, Lonnie has gone 10.84 @ 127.2 MPH. On slicks the car will 60ft in the hi 1.3s and should get him into the 10.40 range.

Lonnie has won the fastest street car driven to the track at two local Street Car Shoot Outs. Race prepping the car consists of removing his personal things from the trunk and getting in line at the Staging Lanes! Now THAT's a street car!

Lonnie has experimented with the car in other configurations, including installing the CAS Project X twin turbo setup for testing. It worked almost too well, because Lonnie made a few runs with a high boost launch, and broke the transmission in 3rd gear. In spite of breaking the transmission, Lonnie reports he ran 6.53 @ 104.6 mph in the 1/8 mile with a 1.39 short time! WHOA! That would have turned some serious 1/4 mile E.T. if breakage hadn't prevented a full run.

Lonnie thanks many people for their help and support, including Tony Dequick at CAS, Bruce Toelle at Performance Trans, Ed Pinzel, Kip Asplund, Dave Fiscus, Justin Cox, Scott Simpson, Alan Roerich.

Motor

  • Factory turbo block .030 Over
  • TRW pistons
  • Ported Iron head (home ported)
  • Ported Intake (home ported)
  • 177/150 Stainless Ferra Valves
  • Crane 220/216 Hydraulic Roller Cam
  • KMotion K-750 valve springs
  • T&D 1.65 Roller rockers
  • 70mm Throttle body
  • Hemco Race upper
  • Accufab adjustable regulator
  • Bosch 286 fuel pump with 1/2" pick up (hot wired)
  • Stock fuel lines
  • TE-45 turbocharger with .82 exhaust housing
  • CAS V-1 front mount
  • CAS aluminum radiator
  • CAS water pump
  • Stock exhaust manifolds ported (home ported)
  • Turbonetics Race Gate
  • ATR downpipe and Crossover
  • Accell DFI batch
  • Siemens 55lb injectors
  • ATR 3" Single Shot
  • MSD DIS
  • NGK-- UR5 Spark Plugs
  • Magnicore plug wires

Transmission

  • GM Hydromatic 200 4R (rebuilt by Lonnie)
  • ATI 9" Tree Master 2800 stall converter
  • Performance Transmission BAT Transmission Brake
  • B&M Pro Ratchet shifter
  • Performance Transmission Billet input shaft
  • Stock 2004R built by myself. with the following parts from Performance Trans
  • Performance Transmission Billet forward shaft
  • Performance Transmission rollerized parts
  • Performance Transmission Billet servo and Pin

Rear End

  • Stock 3.42 gears
  • Moser 30 spline axles and spool
  • C-Clip Eliminators

Suspension

  • Koni Adj. shocks front and rear
  • Southside Lowers control arms
  • Pro Traxion adjustable uppers
  • Stock sway bar rear
  • Front sway bar removed

Tires and Wheels

  • Front- GoodYear 28x3.50 front runners
  • Rear - Hoosier Quicktime Pros 28x11.5
  • Wheels- Bogart 3 piece wheels

Performance

  • At 3640lbs 10.84 @ 127.2 MPH with a 1.57 60 ft on DOT tires
Lonnie Diers
QUICKV6@aol.com


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