Best "Top 3" modifications HOT AIR

[Jerryl]

What would you say are the top 3 non-performance and performance related mods you made to your car? Post some pics if you have some.

OK, I’ll go first.
Well, the lines get blurred between performance and nonperformance.
I am more less talking about things that made “PESKY” assembly easy or some small things that will make a difference. Not talking about

Here is my criteria - Try NOT to list mods that we pretty much all know about and/or are easy. Example; Upgrading the ECM is “easy” and we all know about it.
I’ll take a stab at it. This is just my opinion and you can list an state yours.

Non performance ……..
Turbo bracket - This is a gem! I take no credit for this one and belief Buickpower to be the originator. This is an awesome mod and saved me 2-4 hours of fighting the ******* oil return tube!
Valley pan gasket cutout – This will allow the oil to drain into the block and “hopefully” reduce the oil sucked up through the PCV. Easy mod to assist in combating pesky oil problems.
Interior painting – This is a GREAT mod for any enthusiast who would drive the car for a while. A clean and well kept vehicle should have a higher market value

Performance
Dual fans – Pushing the air for a “OEM” engine bay look. Fans are from a Nissan and I now have the platform set to adapt any dual fan.
Exhaust system locating pins - Allows repeated precision alignments. No. I do not plan to take them on and off, but, the ports and headers are “without any doubt aligned”.
TB O-ring – I did not want to worry about gasket protrusions and possible leakage so I added an o-ring.

 

[Bat]

Like this

How would you classify this?
Buying turbo adaptors and having someone ( John Crag ) weld them to 86-87 turbo housings so we can run other than stock turbos
How big is that hole for the shield I need to do this soon?

 

[ngianop]

Nice mods, Jerryl.
As soon as I regain a steady income and begin following through on the upgrades I've 'threatened' to do to my '84, I may have a few contributions of my own. In the meantime, I hope other hotair owners chime in with their nominations.

 

[6SENSE]

Just have a quick sec so no heavy thought into this right now, but let me be the first to add the one thing that comes to my mind whenever someone says the phrase "best mod": Alcohol Injection
Its just by far the single most beneficial thing Ive ever done to the car. Ive seen plenty of intercooled car owners state the same thing.

Good thread by the way. Dont want to call you a newbie Jerryl :tongue: but nice to notice someone new in the last 1+ years that seems to really be contributing to the community

 

[Jerryl]

........ "best mod": Alcohol Injection
Its just by far the single most beneficial thing Ive ever done to the car.

Good thread by the way. Dont want to call you a newbie Jerryl :tongue: but nice to notice someone new in the last 1+ years that seems to really be contributing to the community

My alky will be turned on in the next few months.
What is your best "non-performance mod"?

PS
.....don't mind being called a newbie either.

 

[Jerryl]

Nice mods, Jerryl.
As soon as I regain a steady income and begin following through on the upgrades I've 'threatened' to do to my '84, I may have a few contributions of my own. In the meantime, I hope other hotair owners chime in with their nominations.

Thanks.
I noticed there a lot of new people (even newer than myself) who recently purchsed a hot air or getting ready to do a few mods.
With SOOOOO MUCH info available, it is easy to get confused and overwhelmed. More less wanted to share, becasue afterall, why have anyone else fight some FRINKING tube for 4 hours with a possibility of it end up leaking if you can lend a helping hand?
Was not really looking for nominations or a "pat on the back" ......
Just wanted to share a few things and HOPE others will share a few other things I can implement as well.

PS:
Another one of my favoite mods is a small Brinks fireproof safety box mounted in the trunk for car papers, ani theft wheel keys, etc etc.

 

[Jerryl]

............... How big is that hole for the shield I need to do this soon?

It is FAR form an exact science. My torching abilities are lacking.
Just look at the picture and scribe it.
Too high up, you can weaken the bracket as it needs to fixture the turbo. Too wide and you will expose the injector #6 to a lot of the DP heat.

 

[cool 84]

Off the top of my head would be an 87 return tube. Gives you a few extra inches to play with making it much easier to get it in the hole. More important is the F-bod aluminum radiator with dual fans. Eliminate overheating forever.

The best early performance mod I did was locking the convertor manually from second gear and up. Mine fell on it's face at 4,500rpm and this literally gave me 6mph in the 1/4. Unfortunately I tried this with my new slightly modded motor and killed the lockup clutch in my Vigillante convertor in one pass.

 

[6SENSE]

Yes, I cant forget the Fbod rad. I went from stocker to V8 gbod rad to fbod aluminum and there is no comparison. Just do a quick search in this forum and/or the General Tech section and there is a ton of info and specs on this from myself and others. Coupled with the Ramchargers Dual fans no more worry about hi temps any time of the year.
Not trying to run a commercial for alky injection but I do want to point out that it is not just simply a performance item. It has saved my engine numerous times from all the experimenting over the years. It saved my brother's rebuilt engine in his 87 TLtd. His tranny blew hard going down the track, blew off vac hoses, boost pegged the gauge probably over 30psi and all the progressive alky shot up aswell and basically saved his engine. Just saw black smoke from the tail pipes. Couldnt find anything at all wrong with engine. alky injection is also insurance
IMO on a Ttop car a lighted rearview mirror is a must. Those little opera lights at the sides of the rear glass and the lights under the dash dont give you light where you actually need it. Hmm, I gathered quite a few of these over the years that are just sitting around.......
Another is getting the alternator/ AC bracket from a NA 3.8 RWD car so that you can use the newer more powerful factory alternators like the 86/87 120amp, ImpalaSS 140amp, etc. Looks completely stock.
Bought a oil cooler sandwich adaptor through Summit, got some fittings locally, a nice big oil cooler from a late 80's "box" style Caprice with 9c1 package (police/taxi), some oil cooler hose and voila a much better oil cooler setup than the 86/87 cars. Run the larger PF52 oil filter too. [A external tranny cooler is a must also].

Just blurting out what I can think of now, I know I will think of more stuff later.

 

[Jerryl]

Yes, I cant forget the Fbod rad. I went from stocker to V8 gbod rad to fbod aluminum and there is no comparison. ............ alky injection is also insurance ........... IMO on a Ttop car a lighted rearview mirror is a must. Hmm, I gathered quite a few of these over the years that are just sitting around.......
Another is getting the alternator/ AC bracket from a NA 3.8 RWD car so that you can use the newer more powerful factory alternators like the 86/87 120amp, ImpalaSS 140amp, etc. Looks completely stock.

I have the alky for insurance puposes as well. Thank you for your contributions here and in the past.

 

[cool 84]

I also went from stock to an electric fan to a stock V8 radiator and finally to the F-bod. There was a bigger difference going from the V8 to the F-bod radiator than from the stocker to the V8. With my setup, even with the frontmount, my car rarely ever gets above 165-70 in the 100 degree summers here. The best thing is I've turned the fans off to get it up to 200 degrees and once I turn the fans back on it will cool back down to normal. Before, once the temps got up, they stayed up. It was the best $200 I've spent on the car.

After reading these posts I really wish I would've experimented with alky before I added the intercooler. Anyone have data to show how much the alky knocks down temps with no intercooler? I would expect it to have more of an effect with no intercooler. I've seen over 60 degrees difference when the alky kicks in.

 

[Jerryl]

........ After reading these posts I really wish I would've experimented with alky before I added the intercooler. Anyone have data to show how much the alky knocks down temps with no intercooler? I would expect it to have more of an effect with no intercooler. I've seen over 60 degrees difference when the alky kicks in.

Cool 84, you still can! I have no real life data available but belief these numbers should be in the ball park. http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=1221134#poststop

 

[cool 84]

I completely forgot about that post. Good reading. I thought about getting pre intercooler temps but that would mean moving the sensor and alky nozzle. I might do it for my own info but I don't see having the car out of the bodyshop and a new trans in the next 4 months.

 

[FWD turbo]

Alot of the custom things that I've done to my car probably wouldn't be real helpful/useful for you guys.

As a non-performance mod, I haven't seen anyone mention an oil filter in the feed line for the turbo. Giving the turbo its own filter is a really good idea. I made my own set up, but red regal T sells a really nice one as well.

By the way Jerryl, I think that O-ring on the throttle body is a spectacular idea. I definitely agree with 6SENSE that if we had to single out 1 best mod for our cars it would probably be meth. That's why my car is getting a progresive kit and a MAF pro this spring. If I can ever find a clutch that will hold the power and still be driveable I will be a happy man.

 

[Jerryl]

Alot of the custom things that I've done to my car probably wouldn't be real helpful/useful for you guys.

As a non-performance mod, I haven't seen anyone mention an oil filter in the feed line for the turbo. Giving the turbo its own filter is a really good idea.

Post your custom mods anyway. I am sure it will help someone or spark some ideas.

I was thinking about the turbo filter. While I am aware that a fuel filter may not work, I wanted something small and easily replaceable. Maybe an inline sintered brass filter?

 

[JDSfastGN]

Best performance mods have been TA49 retrofitted to a hotair setup (old stocker was using oil causing knock), Fbody radiator and stock 86/87 fan set on high has kept this car around 161-163 even in 80* weather. After that i guess its kinda a toss up, one couldn't really be worth much without the other but i guess the new injectors matched with a good fuel pump really helped the cars driveability.... I'm really looking forward to an alky setup on my dads 85 as i love them on both our intercooled cars.

Non performance would just be typical tune up stuff like making sure it has good vacuum lines everywhere, good set of gauges and a proper scan tool

 

[6SENSE]

....and stock 86/87 fan......

Before I put the dual RCs in I used a stock 86/87 fan which worked very well. Wanted to add for those that dont know, this fan (86/87 stocker) can be found in some Fieros. Yes same fan as 86/87 TRs. Mine wasnt from a Fiero but Ive seen them in the yards. [On a side note] mine was from a burned up interior 87TR that I bought from an auction, from which for those who dont know, I have had the complete engine sitting for 4+ years and have not even attempted to put into my car. Boy am I dumb How many guys can have a intercooled 3.8 sitting and still be stuborn enough to stay hotair

 

[cool 84]

I was thinking of the top 3 performance mods and they would have to be headers/uppipe/downpipe, intercooler, turbo, in that order. Each one gave a signifigant performance increase. I would think a large amount of alky in place of the intercooler would make the top 3 for those who don't want the IC.

 

[TurboRegal84]

One of the best things that I had done to my car was the Zero To Sixty 3" Down Pipe...He did not produce alot of them, but it made a drastic difference in spool as well as getting the stock turbo to its boost limits.

Once you take out the stock downpipe and see how small it is you know there will be a significant difference with a larger mandril bent piece.

 

[O SO LO]

Ttt