Am I the only one??

[pat83t]

Am I the only one that thinks the carb'd/turbo community is the tightest of all 3 seperate groups? I mean we would go further and do more for each other than most would. I have respect for all turbo regals from beginning to end but greatly respect the carb'd turbo cars for all the R&D that went into them and the little credit they get for actually bringing about the fastest production cars of the 80's. We openly share any and all upgrade information without worrying about being compensated for this. If we have something that one of the others needs we don't worry about "how much can I take this guy for?". This makes me truly proud to own the car I do and even though I would like to have a SFI/IC car for race purposes, I will never relinquish my carb'd turbo.

 

[elk93001]

You're not the only one. I agree 100%. I was originally interested in 84-87 turbo, but I got hooked on the early turbo cars because they were essentially the "pioneers." Rich George and Fred Carrado have been extremely helpful to me personally. And when a new person comes aboard, they may ask a question that has already been asked and no one jumps down their throat like on other sites. I 've been on this board for about a year and I have learned many things from all of the "regulars" who post here. My wife wonders why I spend at least once a day on this site......because I have 78-83 turbo fever!!!

 

[pat83t]

Exactly! No fueds, no insults, no making somebody feel like crap because they might have a vehicle that needs more work to go faster, and most of all no cocky people that expect you to pull over and bow before them as they drive down the road. (This is the kind of attitude I got from a vette owner while trying to help my uncle sell his vette.) My wife feels as though I overly obsess about these cars..............................shes right.

 

[BuickTV6]

I agree!

I agree with that. Everyone here is very nice and helpful and informative. I myself got taken with all the SFI stuff myself, and sold my low mile 82 regal sport coupe a few years ago for my 85 GN, which is now converted to intercooled. Although it is good for racing, nothing compares to a carbed turbo buick. My 82 ran excellent, and i had it running a best time of 14.3@ 94 mph at the track, which was faster then my 85 GN stock. isnt that something! . I wish i had it still. after talking to pat, fred, b4 black and others, I never really knew what these cars could do! I'm in the precess of trying to get my old car back as I know the owner, but SHE won't part with it! Anyways, good job guys for keeping this section of a board friendly, and knowledgable. Where i come from, if you don't have an 86 or 87 TR, they dont even want to talk to you. Which is a real shame!

 

[bossman]

Actually, you guys can be a pain in the neck. Each time I consider getting rid of the TR because of this quirk of the car, or that odd part or how am I gonna figure out a carbed turbo I think of the great support group on this site and how I can probably get the answer I need. I was a member of a second generation Camaro website for 3 years. It was good, but nothing like you people. You should take great pride in the generous help you offer without the snide comments or the stuck-up sniping I've seen elsewhere. Thanx for everything so far.

 

[b4black]

I think the "other" groups are so big that they can't help arguing, etc. sometimes. I wish we were that big.


What's cool is I'm seeing more and more "frequent posters", not just "one-timers". And it's cool that more people are actually drag racing and taking a somewhat scientific approach to improving they cars (not just doing this and that becuase it should work). Sharing knowledge is what got the 84/87 cars to were they are. I know it is working here too. I've learned a lot.

The more we work together, the farther we will all get. Once we get these cars running right and running fast, we'll get the respect. Thanks for posting.

 

[turbofish38]

If anything you carb-turbo guys inspire me. I started out 15 years ago with an 86 and its a great car and everything but man,them IC cars are like belly buttons, every one has one. When I wanted to be different I went with a carb car. It was hard back before the internet but now I wish I had another one to play with. I cant drive through a city or town with out checking out the used car lots for turbos. Right now I have my eye on a 81 Monte carb-turbo so if I can get my girlfriend(wife?) off my case about too many cars parked in the driveway I'll be posting more here.

Eric Fisher

 

[80TTAPaceCar]

I am with you all the way i get alot for slack from 2nd gen T/A owners for sticking w/ the 301T instead of ripping it out for a 400/455 deal.

 

[fc227]

Yes, I agree we are a group that gets along very well. I also thank everyone for the kind words. I try to treat people the same way I would like to be treated & 99 % of the time it works.

If I know something that save the other guy from going tough the same thing I will share it. It saves time, money and aggravation. So does everyone on this list. You are a great bunch of poeple to chat with. I also want to thank Greg for his help over the years at the track.

Happy holidays all and God Bless.

 

[MY85pontiac]

i own a n/a car. its buick powered and i like it. a lot of people have made one of two suggestions.
1) put a GN motor in it (i'm way beyond sick and tired of that)
2) put a SBC in it (yes of course, if i want to be like all the other sheeple out there)

i like the n/a buick V6's and i even like the carbed turbo versions as well. i like things that arent as popular and/or "one off" from the rest of the crowd.

but i also like EFI and im even considering putting a aftermarket TBI system on my 3.8 (or 4.1, its in my 82 GP LJ) merely because i can, just because. i think it'd be "one off". i dont think it would add more power (but it might make things more effecient, MAYBE) but it would get comments thats for sure.

i understand that there are some people out there in the car world that thumb their nose at carbs or carbed turbo cars and think its a waste to work on them/make them faster and yes they even think you should kiss their ass because of what they own or it just happens to be faster. i trully feel sorry for them because they do not know what it trully means to be a gear head. maybe they should instead go into wine tasting events or a cigar smokers club, such snobby people give the aftermarket a bad name and even chase other people away from doing what they want and decide to do "the popular thing" instead of building up something that might be odd but its THEIR's and its their choice. people should be able to decide what car they want and what drivetrain they want in it and not have people harass them into doing whats popular at the moment. there is more to buick V6's than SFI and a turbo, they also have carbs, carbs and turbos and of course we also have those who put aftermarket induction systems on their buick V6 which leads to an even bigger number of configurations and possiblities.


i do what i want but the problem i have is there are so many thing i can do with my engine that i cant decide what to do.
i'm thinking about doing: aftermarket TBI and a turbo, aftermarket TBI, carbed turbo, blown with a carb, blown with a aftermarket TBI sysytem.

of course lots of people have given me lots of crap over my engine and how much it sucks. maybe in its present state it does but i love it when people underestimate me, it just gives me more motivation to make them look stupid by doing this my way.

and it is nice to see people sticking together and helping each other out instead of arguing and fighting like so many other groups do.

 

[pat83t]

Well Rich, it has to make it easy for you to be the moderator of this group.

 

[b4black]

It is. I think I've deleted two threads and locked one in the two years that this forum has been here. All were spill over from the Lounge.

I just try to maintain a balance of not letting any question go unanswered while not putting my 2¢ in EVERYthing. I want to facilitate good discussions, not dominate them. (In other words, I try not to hog the board. )

 

[Ttype83]

Originally posted by b4black
It is. I think I've deleted two threads and locked one in the two years that this forum has been here. All were spill over from the Lounge.

I just try to maintain a balance of not letting any question go unanswered while not putting my 2¢ in EVERYthing. I want to facilitate good discussions, not dominate them. (In other words, I try not to hog the board. )

That was my post I ended up deleting every post/reply to any of the threads that lead up to that. Thanks again for the support during that time Rich

Jim

 

[Freddie's Buick]

I always thought I was alone in my quest to maintain my old heap. Then I found Rich and his 'Before Black' website prior to this site.

I thought it would be a waste for me to post since the prevailing topic was on the 'Turbo' and all I owned was the standard N/A Duel-Jet Regal. But Rich assured me that I was welcomed.

Well this was some time ago and now I can say that I never ever met a nicer bunch of guys.

It's too bad you guys don't live down the block so I can offer you a cold beer, a steak from the BBQ and squabble about what we can tweak and what we can't on our Buicks.

But at least you're out there. Just like me...always willing to help...

 

[elk93001]

The other part of this particular group, and I think it was hinted at earlier is that its about good old fashioned hands on "hot-rodding." Tuning and tweaking and a little bit of grease is much better than burning a chip. I saw Fred's car up in CT when I was visiting my family last year. The first thing he said when he popped the hood was "don't mind the mess" or something like that. Heck, this was a dream for a gearhead like me. I appreciate the amount of time and engineering and tinkering that goes in to a car to get it moving. I left that day inspired by Fred and his car on what I could do.

I am going about the engineering on my project a little differently. I am actually starting out with the engine and components and finding a car to put it in. I've seen some people put these in TR7s or Wagons and create a neat hot rod. My idea was to come up with a
"Benz Killer" S class style using a full size 81-83 Cadillac. Stiffen up the suspension, 4 wheel discs from a full size B body. I've always wanted to see Cadillac do something with the full size Cadillac in the 80's to compete head on with Europe. The car would look stock, but would be able to have the performance that it should have had in the first place.


Right now I have an 84 4.1 with the 200R4. I wll be looking to get forged pistons made (when the budget allows).

The bottom line is that this group is made up of a great group of "gearheads." Even though the cars we have are different, some of the tech stuff can be applied to almost any.

 

[pat83t]

Yeah, leave it to Jim to start trouble.

 

[unboostedV6]

There's more knowledge per pound of ego on this board than any other I've ever browsed. Fred, you're quite welcome, and thank You for all your help as well. Guys, while you can probably tell from his posts, you'll never meet a nicer racer than Fred C. We've both broken lots of stuff over the years, and spent more money than we ought to (never on car wax, tho'!) GB

 

[Turbo-Rich]

Awwww, there sure is an awful lot of love going around in here.
Or maybe it's all the "holiday cheer"?
This IS an awsome group!
When we (me & Tonya83T) got our first TB I was in G-body heaven. I had never been particular about the year/combo. Like most of you I love them all. From the turbo'd Century's to the GNX, I'd have every model if I could, lol.
But not until I owned a carb'd TB did I realize the prejudice (had to look it up) that existed towards our cars. Not by everyone of~course but more than I expected. I've been told "have fun PLAYING with your carburetor (didn't look up)", "Have fun PLAYING with your 15 sec. car"(thnxgnvair ), "It'll NEVER go that fast", "Stop wasting your time with that", "your in Honda territory now", lol I kinda liked that one. Most commonly when you meet an '87 owner in person he always HAS to throw out something like "You know the IC cars are much faster~right"
nicely said of~course but what do they think That I'm some dumbass that knows nothing about our cars?
After recieving those kinds of attitudes it has made me want to stay with a carb'd/turbo set up more than ever! All of us as a group are getting faster, I've been watching this develope. I firmly believe this will continue with all the hard work evryone has been putting into their cars. You guys got it right when you said that these cars are what Hot Rodding is all about... Taking something that is supposed to be SLOW & making it FAST!

There are so many that have been good to me in this group.
I'm not even gonna start trying to name everyone.
From Dirt cheap parts to free articles & wiring/vacc. diagrams showing up in the mail (RICH)
This is truly what grassroots racing is all about. I never really stepped back & looked at it in quite that light before.
Thanks everyone for all your help & encouragement.
Thanks for arguing with me some also
I do feel as tho I've made some friends here.