questions about an 85 grand national

[85grand national]

Hi guy's,

My name is Matt. I purchased an 85 grand national about a week ago.
I know I would have rather had an intercooled 86 or 87 to but I found a super deal and it's still a grand national anyway. I have answered most of my general questions by reading the existing posts on this forum and the info has been great, thanks guys. But I do have a couple of quick questions if anyone has a minute. 1st off. yeah you all knew it was something to do with brakes. I see where everyone says you can save money by converting to a vacuum setup but you lose stopping power. If i'm not trying to build a 10 second car and just want something with about 550 at the rubber will a vacuum brake setup be ok. Also I just went through the basic tuneup this weekend, Plugs, Wires, Oil, Air filter, etc.etc. When I got the car it would run fine at idle all day long now when the car sits at idle after about a minute the engine starts dragging then it sputters out and dies. What could I have possibly done to my baby!! Thanks for any info you guys might have

Matt

[gnfreak]

hi matt, congrats on your GN. i've had mine over 10 years now and i'll never let it go. i had a 87 WE-4 for awhile that i converted over to vacuum and never had any trouble with it. it was high mileage so i never really stomped on the go pedal too hard. if/when my powermaster goes out in the 86, i'll convert it as well. i'd check the mass air flow sensor first thing to make sure its still ok. do the famous tap test with the blunt end of a screwdriver. not real hard just a couple of taps, if it sputters then it may be time for a new sensor. i converted this to a impala mass air sensor awhile ago on the 86 GN. it offers some degree of adjustibility. you can even get a conversion to an LT1 sensor if you like. i also had to replace the coil pack on the WE-4 once. it was also running weird when this happens. i havent been reading this board much so email me w/ questions if you like. gn.freak@verizon.net I hardly drove the gn this summer cuz something was always going on it seemed. again congrats, keith