Don't you love it when a plan comes together? Hannibal from "The A-Team" certainly did, although it was hard to believe that a plan was considered "complete" when five-minute machine gun barrages aimed at random henchmen resulted in no deaths and few injuries. These guys could have used a few days on the range with Ermey-we can hear it now: "PRIVATE B.A. BARACUS, WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO MY BELOVED CORPS?"
Jack Cotton loves it when plans come together as well-although we didn't see any guns or grenades around his Agawam, Massachusetts, shop, we did find a 101,000-mile '87 GN that is damn close to the end of a full-on 10-second buildup. With a brand-new rear end and race-ready suspension, a solid fuel system, notched frame rails, and a long block all built up and ready to go, there were only a few more items to cover before this puppy could be cracked off and broken in at the racetrack.
Part of this month's story will cover the basic reassembly of this Grand National; however, four of the items that we cover are crucial to the performance, driveability, and longevity of these turbo cars. Matching up the correct turbo and torque converter is a must to ensure that performance goals are met, while still allowing for decent street manners. Also coming into play is intercooler and ECU selection-while most aftermarket offerings of these two items would perform OK, there are certain choices that can be made that will make a big difference in your TR's overall performance.
Cotton's is getting real close to finishing this GN-and I pity the fool who lines up against Frankie's bad GN!
 |  Cotton's Performance offers...  Cotton's Performance offers its own line of high-HP front-mount intercoolers with both bar and plate and extruded tube/fin cores (this one, his second-largest, is PN IC200fm, $1,149). Starting with a bar and plate 28x3.5x15-inch core, Cotton adds on big endtanks and brackets, then includes all of the mounting hardware and tubing. Jack claims that this cooler is good for 1,000 horsepower. |  Our 10-Second TR will be utilizing...  Our 10-Second TR will be utilizing Cotton's big-boy intercooler, so the first step of the install is taking the springs off the bumper, then five 10mm bolts come off the air dam. Brian drills 1/16-1/8 holes in the bottom flap of the grill in order to take out part of it to fit the intercooler. Next, four 10mm bolts come off the radiator support cross brace. |