1987 Buick SkyHawk Turbo Hatch/Coupe?
- Thread starter TurboRegal84
- Start date
Mine didn' break at a bearing. It broke just in front of the #3 main. The arm broke off at an angle. The bearings were ruined by the movement of the main caps and the lack of oil.
That is part of the weirdness of it. Where mine broke is one of the thickest part of the crank.
That is part of the weirdness of it. Where mine broke is one of the thickest part of the crank.
These cars are just weird. I bent a rear axle shaft that should have just snapped. Those shafts are pretty thick and when we took it out it looked like someone had pulled it out and bent it a bit over their knee and just put it back in. That was weird.
Some of these guys get mad when you resurrect an old post.
I did know of a guy trying to sell a turbo Sunbird convertible not long ago. The turbo looked tiny.
lbbeurmann
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2008
If anyone wants one I still know a guy in Indiana that has one in great condition. I guess it would get good gas mileage I dunno.
Is your friend in Indiana still looking to sell one?
- Joined
- May 26, 2001
Trip down memory lane to follow....
My first car was/is a 1990 Sunbird GT Turbo, Torch Red 5spd. Special ordered. It currently has 93K original miles and the paint still shines like new. When compared to the '88-'89 Buick Skyhawk T-Type with the same motor, the main differences between the two were the weight. I know mine was like 2890 with driver, and that's back when I was 180#. A Skyhawk Coupe with no power options and a 5 spd would be the quickest of all the J-Bodies. My Sunbird bone stock ran a best of 15.09 @ 93 mph on stock Goodyear GT+4 rubber and granny shifts. After applying Buick GN tricks to it, namely an adjustable wastegate actuator, custom ram air kit with K&N cone filter, Mallory Hy-fire box, plugs, wires, and taking the cat con out and putting a test pipe in it's place, it ran of best of 14.23 @ 98. This was back in '94. There were never any aftermarket parts for either of these cars. There was one company in California, I think, Turbo City, that offered a front mount intercooler, but they went out of business I think in '89-'90. I was all set to have a customer air to liquid intercooler made for my car, when I came across my first Turbo Buick. Those plans were stopped and I bought my first T-Type.
I had a friend in HS who drove a '88 Skyhawk T-Type Turbo. I was always egging her on to do some mods to it and race it. Her parents traded it away for a Grand Am after only a year. The drivetrains and electronics are identicle. Pontiac also dropped this same 2.0L I4 turbo into the Grand Am SE models for 2 years. '88 & '89. They were much heavier and slower than the J-bodies. I know that the very first pass I ever made with my Sunbird was a 15.20 @ 89 pass. The Skyhawk T-Type turbo Coupe would have been about 400#s lighter than my GT. And a 5spd should have easily run in the low 15's to high 14's as well. Finding either one of these cars in decent shape today would be almost impossible. They suffered from overheating problems and blow head gaskets. (Which eventually got mine) The 5spds factory clucth didn't hold up once you turned up the boost. I went through 3 with mine. But man they are fun little cars. I still have mine waiting for me to get her running again. Have a new motor to install, and will replace the turbo with a GT28R turbo. Stock was a watercooled GT25 journal bearing turbo. Good for around 240-250 flywheel hp when pushed.
Not much love for them in todays performance world, but there are some hardcore J-body collectors out there. The cool thing about the Skyhawk was it came with a standard T-Type 3 spoke steering wheel and the same T-Type badges as the '86 T-Type had. I would have gotten one of these, but my local dealership did not want to special order one due to the end of production, and all the ones they could located were fully loaded. I wanted a stripped manual everything car with AC and Heat. Lucky for me, Pontiac was willing to play nice. OTD price TTL, $12,777.08.
Not too shabby back in '90. The only thing that would come close to those numbers were a stripped out Mustang LX, but according to my Dad, it had a V8 and made too much power. Ah well, glad I didn't go down that path. Too many of them on the streets back when I was in HS anyway. I'll have to scan some of my pictures to my Photobucket account.
Ahh the good ole days.
Patrick
My first car was/is a 1990 Sunbird GT Turbo, Torch Red 5spd. Special ordered. It currently has 93K original miles and the paint still shines like new. When compared to the '88-'89 Buick Skyhawk T-Type with the same motor, the main differences between the two were the weight. I know mine was like 2890 with driver, and that's back when I was 180#. A Skyhawk Coupe with no power options and a 5 spd would be the quickest of all the J-Bodies. My Sunbird bone stock ran a best of 15.09 @ 93 mph on stock Goodyear GT+4 rubber and granny shifts. After applying Buick GN tricks to it, namely an adjustable wastegate actuator, custom ram air kit with K&N cone filter, Mallory Hy-fire box, plugs, wires, and taking the cat con out and putting a test pipe in it's place, it ran of best of 14.23 @ 98. This was back in '94. There were never any aftermarket parts for either of these cars. There was one company in California, I think, Turbo City, that offered a front mount intercooler, but they went out of business I think in '89-'90. I was all set to have a customer air to liquid intercooler made for my car, when I came across my first Turbo Buick. Those plans were stopped and I bought my first T-Type.
I had a friend in HS who drove a '88 Skyhawk T-Type Turbo. I was always egging her on to do some mods to it and race it. Her parents traded it away for a Grand Am after only a year. The drivetrains and electronics are identicle. Pontiac also dropped this same 2.0L I4 turbo into the Grand Am SE models for 2 years. '88 & '89. They were much heavier and slower than the J-bodies. I know that the very first pass I ever made with my Sunbird was a 15.20 @ 89 pass. The Skyhawk T-Type turbo Coupe would have been about 400#s lighter than my GT. And a 5spd should have easily run in the low 15's to high 14's as well. Finding either one of these cars in decent shape today would be almost impossible. They suffered from overheating problems and blow head gaskets. (Which eventually got mine) The 5spds factory clucth didn't hold up once you turned up the boost. I went through 3 with mine. But man they are fun little cars. I still have mine waiting for me to get her running again. Have a new motor to install, and will replace the turbo with a GT28R turbo. Stock was a watercooled GT25 journal bearing turbo. Good for around 240-250 flywheel hp when pushed.
Not much love for them in todays performance world, but there are some hardcore J-body collectors out there. The cool thing about the Skyhawk was it came with a standard T-Type 3 spoke steering wheel and the same T-Type badges as the '86 T-Type had. I would have gotten one of these, but my local dealership did not want to special order one due to the end of production, and all the ones they could located were fully loaded. I wanted a stripped manual everything car with AC and Heat. Lucky for me, Pontiac was willing to play nice. OTD price TTL, $12,777.08.
Not too shabby back in '90. The only thing that would come close to those numbers were a stripped out Mustang LX, but according to my Dad, it had a V8 and made too much power. Ah well, glad I didn't go down that path. Too many of them on the streets back when I was in HS anyway. I'll have to scan some of my pictures to my Photobucket account.
Ahh the good ole days.
Patrick
Wow - was this an old post. And Pat - did you notice I gave you props back in 2004 on the first page???
i thought you had that thing in the high 13s. oh well....
My sunbird turbo is long gone - I am riding another J-Body - an 84 cavalier convertible with the monster 2.0 TBI.....
i thought you had that thing in the high 13s. oh well....
My sunbird turbo is long gone - I am riding another J-Body - an 84 cavalier convertible with the monster 2.0 TBI.....
A couple of weeks ago I bought from a guy who wanted to get rid of them
thru Craigslist a 87 Skyhawk Turbo with 81K miles and a 89 Sunbird GT Turbo convertible with 87K miles who just gotten divorced and reminded him of his wife, he had bought the Skyhawk in 94 with just 68K miles on it and the Sunbird at the same time with his ex-wife and was leaving Boise, the water pump had failed on the Sky, and had just also replaced the timing belt which also drives the WP, and needed put back together, the Sunbird he says also needs a timing belt, he mentioned that it was making a noise on the plastic cover and needs replacing, he had said that he was at a light and started to leave and it had broke, I found out that these motors are not interference fit, which is a good thing and it looks to be ugly to R&R the timing belt and water pump, have not started on the Sunbird as of yet, but have got the Sky back together and running and runs well and kinda peppy also. Not a lot of info that I could find on the Buick Skyhawk with the turbo, from what I could gather maybe less than 700 made, also all info on these cars appreciated, thanks.
Ron
thru Craigslist a 87 Skyhawk Turbo with 81K miles and a 89 Sunbird GT Turbo convertible with 87K miles who just gotten divorced and reminded him of his wife, he had bought the Skyhawk in 94 with just 68K miles on it and the Sunbird at the same time with his ex-wife and was leaving Boise, the water pump had failed on the Sky, and had just also replaced the timing belt which also drives the WP, and needed put back together, the Sunbird he says also needs a timing belt, he mentioned that it was making a noise on the plastic cover and needs replacing, he had said that he was at a light and started to leave and it had broke, I found out that these motors are not interference fit, which is a good thing and it looks to be ugly to R&R the timing belt and water pump, have not started on the Sunbird as of yet, but have got the Sky back together and running and runs well and kinda peppy also. Not a lot of info that I could find on the Buick Skyhawk with the turbo, from what I could gather maybe less than 700 made, also all info on these cars appreciated, thanks.
Ron
