Blast from the past

[STF420@comcast.]

Found this going thru some old Turbo Mags.

 

[STF420@comcast.]

 

[STF420@comcast.]

 

[Red Sector 7]

Back in the early 1990s I tried all three of those chips. The Pitbull, Eastern's 'Street Lethal' and Kenne Bell's 'Hi-Lo Pro. The Street Lethal had a crap ton of timing and would only allow maybe 16# boost without audibly knocking. The Pitbull was slightly better but it too had a lot of timing [around 26* I believe]. The best one in my '87 GN was the KB 'Hi-Lo Pro'. I could run 18-19# of boost on pump premium with it and it really hauled the mail. Bell did not alter the timing curves on his chips with the notable exception of the 'Hot Flash'. I found his chips to be very smooth and the car liked that Pro chip. Back in the 1980s-90s the gasoline was a hell of a lot better than it is today in terms of what the cars could tolerate for timing/boost on 92-94 octane. The stock chip with the boost turned up worked fine on the street. About 25 years ago the US Gov mandated the gas companies to reformulate their gasoline. Previously they used high quality stocks and added extra aromatic hydrocarbons to that to bring up the octane. It had a lot better knock resistance for turbocharged and supercharged cars back then. After the reformulated gas came in the aromatic hydrocarbons were dramatically reduced and other chemicals began being added to increase octane and for clean air like ethanol. That allowed the gas companies to use low quality stocks for low octane fuel and just add the minimum they needed of other chemicals to meet the higher octane fuel ratings. With NA engines this was not that big a deal, but for the GN it really hurt the engines' ability to make higher boost on even Chevron 94 [best I have in my area]. These days with a stock chip [not that many use it] and 22* timing 14-15# boost is about all you can get before audible knock. The 1990s was a great decade to have a Buick.

 

[chris romani]

In 1988 I was 17 I had a Monte SS and bought the Hypertech chip I couldent wait to put it in .I paid the Chevy dealer an hour labor to do it (I knew nothing then)and I remember how disappointed I was on the way home with zero improvement.Good Times.

 

[edfiero]

In 1988 I was 17 I had a Monte SS and bought the Hypertech chip I couldent wait to put it in .I paid the Chevy dealer an hour labor to do it (I knew nothing then)and I remember how disappointed I was on the way home with zero improvement.Good Times.

The Monte still had a carburetor. I'm surprised a chip was even available. Yep would not expect it to do anything.

 

[edfiero]

That is a cool ad from ATR, but even with all the info provided, they don't make any HP claims as to what the chip would do for you.

 

[TurboTGuy]

I had the Eastern Performance chip in my '86 GN. I loved that car. Got stolen in '96. Never heard anything after that about it.

Insurance company was pissed because they had insured it as a regular Regal and thought they would pay out like that. When I told them to look at their records again, they found a quote from me that the guy who wrote the policy had written down in the file, " Faster than a Corvette". OOPS!

They ended up paying me as much as I paid for it originally. $19K.

For once, the little guy won.

 

[1986 Buick GX1]

That is a cool ad from ATR, but even with all the info provided, they don't make any HP claims as to what the chip would do for you.

I believe the info is general changes to the Pit Bull line.
I had a Pit Bull street chip and loved the cold start and overall drivability of it.
On long trips with little boost I’d get almost 25 mpg. With lots of boost all the time, maybe 10. Lol