Buick's Turbocharged Skyhawk: America's Forgotten Hot-Hatch

[whitehot1]

http://www.cheatsheet.com/automobil...-americas-forgotten-hot-hatch.html/?a=viewall

check this one out.

Part 2

An 8 second modded Skyhawk. Impressive but still wouldn't beat the 405.

 

[BuickMike]

So it's a Pontiac Sunbird turbo hatch. Fun cars in the day, but I remember hearing those 1.8 turbos (and later 2.0 turbos) were a maintenance nightmare.

 

[GNTIM]

They were 50000 mile cars. Pretty much crap just like most other cars during that Era

 

[4timesT]

Had an 86 Sunbird GT with the 1.8 turbo motor and auto trans. With a K&N, no cat and a fish tank valve as the only mods, it would hold its own against 5.0s of that era. Fun little car and handled pretty good.

The ECM sucked cause it had a fuel shut off if boost went over 15 psi (per the stock boost gauge)....and during the winter that would happen in 1st gear. Normally boost was about 15 psi in 1st and then drop to 12 in 2nd and 9 in 3rd. If there had been an aftermarket chip back then, that would have held boost at 15 psi in all gears, she would have been a low 14 sec car.

 

[novaderrik]

how did they stand up to a Citation X11 notchback with a 4 speed? those were said to be about the quickest thing GM had out for a couple of bleak years..

 

[scgnx2]

Had an 86 Sunbird GT with the 1.8 turbo motor and auto trans. With a K&N, no cat and a fish tank valve as the only mods, it would hold its own against 5.0s of that era. Fun little car and handled pretty good.

The ECM sucked cause it had a fuel shut off if boost went over 15 psi (per the stock boost gauge)....and during the winter that would happen in 1st gear. Normally boost was about 15 psi in 1st and then drop to 12 in 2nd and 9 in 3rd. If there had been an aftermarket chip back then, that would have held boost at 15 psi in all gears, she would have been a low 14 sec car.

I had one too, Red and Black paint job. It had manual transmission. Fun little car and my first new car. Never modified it, but it had many warranty covered issues tho. Including the turbo at 12k. Traded the Sunbird GT for a new 1987 Buick Grand National on July 15, 1988 still sitting in a Buick dealership in IL.

 

[gsgnnut]

I had an 86 Pontiac sunbird gt convertible. It was nice but got traded in for my 87 gn. No regrets on that deal. Still have the gn.

 

[BuickMike]

I had one too, Red and Black paint job. It had manual transmission. Fun little car and my first new car. Never modified it, but it had many warranty covered issues tho. Including the turbo at 12k. Traded the Sunbird GT for a new 1987 Buick Grand National on July 15, 1988 still sitting in a Buick dealership in IL.

BIG mistake!!!! The Sunbird would have brought some serious cash today.