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Tune Level

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Sarge101st

Sarge101st

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Suprawill1 said:
That GN was the V6 bomb in its day! When I read the specs on it, I thought it was a misprint. Had a buddy who owned one take me for a ride and loved it.
As far as performance enhancements, the 3rd gen Supra I had was fairly easy to get into the 3 sec bracket but yes, these STs are much easier, especially with their weight point! The 10 spd tranny helps a lot with that.
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Very much so! I had a 1993 silver Ford Escort hatchback with a red cloth interior. I saved up cash for a year and bought that 1987 GN in 1999. I remember a buddy of mine couldn't understand why I wanted the car until I took him for a ride in it. I was able to easily dive into the 4 second zero to 60 range but that was supercar territory back then. It's hard to consider but the only BMW in that time that could make the leap to 60 in 4 seconds or less was the M3. Having a three second car in those days was like having a Lucid sapphire today.
 

Suprawill1

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Sarge101st said:
Very much so! I had a 1993 silver Ford Escort hatchback with a red cloth interior. I saved up cash for a year and bought that 1987 GN in 1999. I remember a buddy of mine couldn't understand why I wanted the car until I took him for a ride in it. I was able to easily dive into the 4 second zero to 60 range but that was supercar territory back then. It's hard to consider but the only BMW in that time that could make the leap to 60 in 4 seconds or less was the M3. Having a three second car in those days was like having a Lucid sapphire today.
Click to expand...
From what I remember, the GN was a 4.6 sec 0-60 in stock trim. I could imagine what you could do to it with just upping the boost. Maybe an ECU computer was needed to do so.
 

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A buddy of mine in High school had a 86 GN. That thing was crazy at the time. I still have a soft spot for them.
 

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Sarge101st

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Thread Starter #24
Suprawill1 said:
From what I remember, the GN was a 4.6 sec 0-60 in stock trim. I could imagine what you could do to it with just upping the boost. Maybe an ECU computer was needed to do so.
Click to expand...
That was more in line with the stock GNX which was the ultimate unicorn! The stock '87 GN on basic A/T tires was around a mid 5 second zero to 60. They were definitely tunable but back then a lot of stuff was ordered via catalog and tuning wasn't as robust as it was today. You could by aftermarket ECU chips and install them. Sometimes it would up the boost to comical levels frying the turbos. A buddy of mine installed a track chip on his GN that put the boost near 20psi for all 4 gears. That GN engine died a quick death.
 

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#25
Suprawill1 said:
That GN was the V6 bomb in its day! When I read the specs on it, I thought it was a misprint. Had a buddy who owned one take me for a ride and loved it.
As far as performance enhancements, the 3rd gen Supra I had was fairly easy to get into the 3 sec bracket but yes, these STs are much easier, especially with their weight point! The 10 spd tranny helps a lot with that.
Click to expand...
The GN is legend. A production BUICK rollin that hard, for that low of a price? :cool:
Unfortunately it was the old-school single large turbo(laaaa-ag), vs two small twin-scrollers, but still honorable and absolute bucket-list.
 

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#26
Sarge101st said:
That was more in line with the stock GNX which was the ultimate unicorn! The stock '87 GN on basic A/T tires was around a mid 5 second zero to 60. They were definitely tunable but back then a lot of stuff was ordered via catalog and tuning wasn't as robust as it was today. You could by aftermarket ECU chips and install them. Sometimes it would up the boost to comical levels frying the turbos. A buddy of mine installed a track chip on his GN that put the boost near 20psi for all 4 gears. That GN engine died a quick death.
Click to expand...
Oh,ok, gotcha! I remember the GNX but didn't know the difference.
I'm surprised there was a chip offered that upped the boost in and of itself with no compensating adjustments. All our Supra tunes were strongly advised in all areas of modification. Of course it was the typical intake/exhaust first. Then it was the standalone boost controller with the caveat that you've allowed for fuel compensation. They then condensed the number of mod components by introducing the standalone ECU which allowed you to basically do what today's tuners are doing. Of course, you had to employ a schooled tuner so you wouldn't blow up your engine.
 

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