Did all t-types come with aluminum bumpers ????

[t-typinator]

Sorry I meant to say bumper supports.Was this an option,or did they all come with aluminum supports?

 

[t-typinator]

Sorry I meant to say bumper supports.Was this an option,or did they all come with aluminum supports?

Seems odd that it would be an option but i don't recall having them on past tr's.

I just looked around at other option tags + answered my own question,It looks like they all did,( I probably should have looked around first). :redface:

 

[novaderrik]

my car has aluminum supports front and rear.

 

[t-typinator]

my car has aluminum supports front and rear.

yup! Now that i look around at all the diff option tags on cars on this site i see the vd6 + vd7 codes for the alum supports.
I guess i just never payed attention to past cars i've owned,never noticed them before. But saw the codes on the car I own now,so it brought my attention to it.

 

[Nick Micale]

In 1986 and 1987 Buick Regals, and all cars for that matter, were subject to CAFE standards of the day that covered cars produced in a calendar year.

GN's are Regals, but were classified differently, it was really screwey?

I ordered my first turbo Regal, white w/bucket seats, in late 1986. The order was kicked back to the dealer as they could NOT build it until January 1987, UNLESS I agreed to delete the power seat and remote trunk release. It could be re-ordered and built after January 1987.

The reason was the car would be 14 pounds over the limit CAFE limit of what Buick was allocated to build for 1986.

The car was ordered w/o a posi rear, and the car came with alum rear brake drums and alum bumper supports to keep it within the allowed allotment.

Factories did lots of "adjustment" of options and parts to sell cars, not just Regals!

Oh, for those that do not know what CAFE is - Corporate Average Fuel Economy! :biggrin:

 

[Dennis Kirban]

My comments on the question

Aluminum supports were not considered options per say....but the are a desireable feature to have and will show up as code VD6 and VD7 on the trunk ID label...should those codes appear on the label and it turns out he car has steel ones then you better look at the car carefully as it could have been hit at one time.

Aluminum supports are in demand as they are number one lite weight, and number two not subject to rust like the steel ones...

Anytime you can remove weight you gain power....

Rarer still is another version they ran on the front. I simply call them mini brackets...it was a small steel bracket that basically covered the 4 mounting holes from the bumper to the bumper pistons. Without doing research I don;t remember the ID code for them or what turbo cars they appeared on. I have only seen a few with that feature.

Nick is rite on his posting...one reason Buick did the WE4 and touted it as being lighter therefor quicker than the Grand National. The plan was to get that car to market so they could raise their count and therefore produce more GNs and make more $$$$.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[t-typinator]

My comments on the question

Nick is rite on his posting...one reason Buick did the WE4 and touted it as being lighter therefor quicker than the Grand National. The plan was to get that car to market so they could raise their count and therefore produce more GNs and make more $$$$.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

So then you are saying that the grand Nationals came with steel bumper supports correct ?
That is what i always thought,the gn's did have steel + that we4's had aluminum ,but wasn't sure if all t-types had them.
But to really confuse things , there are 2 diff 87 gn's in the for sale section right now + 1 has the codes for alum supports + 1 doesn't.

 

[novaderrik]

So then you are saying that the grand Nationals came with steel bumper supports correct ?
That is what i always thought,the gn's did have steel + that we4's had aluminum ,but wasn't sure if all t-types had them.
But to really confuse things , there are 2 diff 87 gn's in the for sale section right now + 1 has the codes for alum supports + 1 doesn't.

probably depends on what other options the car was built with- the aluminum bumper supports might offset some heavier options like T Tops or power everything. or maybe it's the other way around, and the heavier cars got steel supports because of the extra mass of the car.

 

[Dennis Kirban]

Did not mean to confuse readers////

GNs also could have aluminum bumper supports as stated above...the reason they exist in my opinion was to lighten cars to meet cafe requirements mpg etc....

Cars with T tops are quite heavy...as is an astroof one reason they strongly discouraged astro roof buyers from ordering up a power seat option.

One reason you can bet that GM will start shedding some weight on the new Camaros afterall 4,000 lbs performance cars when gas is $3.75 to $4.25 per gallon is not a good combination.

At least with the Corvette GM has kept the weight pretty darn consistant.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

years ago I had a 1978 Regal sports coupe....if I recall it had an aluminum trunk lid and some models not sure what year had aluminum core supports.

Take rotating mass reason for aluminum driveshafts and T rims over the heave 30lb steel GN chrome plate wheels....

shedding weight is instant power gains...

 

[Jay Wicks]

My comments on the question



Rarer still is another version they ran on the front. I simply call them mini brackets...it was a small steel bracket that basically covered the 4 mounting holes from the bumper to the bumper pistons. Without doing research I don;t remember the ID code for them or what turbo cars they appeared on. I have only seen a few with that feature.


denniskirban@yahoo.com

GM referred to the mini-brackets as, "export bumper brackets".......

 

[t-typinator]

Did not mean to confuse readers////

GNs also could have aluminum bumper supports as stated above...the reason they exist in my opinion was to lighten cars to meet cafe requirements mpg etc....

Cars with T tops are quite heavy...as is an astroof one reason they strongly discouraged astro roof buyers from ordering up a power seat option.





I just went thru the gn option tags again in the for sale section,+ it doesn't seem to matter if it's a loaded or bare gn, 86 or 87,t-roof,astro roof,or solid roof car,it could have ended up with either bumper support. Their seems to be no rhyme or reason for it.It could have been a supplier or availability thing or a number of things,there is t-roof + astro roof cars with both types of supports in both years,same with solid roof cars. It wasn't a thing where a loaded car with astro roof etc. got aluminum supports because it was heavier car,look at the sticker of the 87 astro roof car in the for sale section,it has astro roof,concert sound,posi,power seat etc. + no alum bumper codes,maybe the owner could check + see if it has alum or steal, Maybe sometimes they got aluminum but didn't end up on the sticker.Then there is an 86 t-roof with power seat that does have aluminum.
Also It doesn't seem to matter(going by the option tags) if you got t-roofs or astro roof as to whether you could get a power seat,their actually seems to be a high percentage of the roof optioned cars that have the power seat,it was probably a high option thing,(if your gonna option it out why not go all the way).
My last astro roof car also had the power seat,+ the t-roof car i bought new back in 87 was ordered with the power seat,but didn't get it because it was one of the last few built + they ran out of power seats.

 

[m233roller]

Zach, from Ron Klien Buick told me years ago they were called Canadian export brackets. Iv'e seen lots of N/A Regals with them. Also my 87 astro roof GN is loaded, power seat, trunk release and just about everything else and it came with the steel bumper reinforcements and drums. ??

 

[TurboDave]

Same thing happened to my 86 GN. It came with so many options, that it came with the alum. bumper supports and brake drums, and no posi.

My 87 on the other hand came with steal everything, but had far fewer options.

 

[strikeeagle]

To my knowledge ALL '86s came with aluminum reinforcements, as did ALL non-GN '87s.

Anyone know better?

 

[Dennis Kirban]

I figured I would add additional info to the confusion.

Just on the surface Buick made things confusing for the various turbo Regal models early ones being T-Types and then in 1987 changed name to Turbo-T. Yet created a T-Type LeSabre in 1987. One sure reason you see so many possible formats is, many of these factory workers were loosing their jobs after the end of the rear wheel G body platform ended. In other words moral was low and "mistakes" were made. I have seen turbo undr hood pads with the word Buick upside down, an original GN owned by the original owner and the console was all grey, several original paint cars with chip guard on one side and none on the other side.
Just to name a few. Workers were into building cars, not exactly worried about what was going to happen years down the road as owners via forums on the internet would question why one car has such and such and why another does not.

Need further proof just look at the vast different in some of the original paint cars its almost like the goal was to put as much orange peal as possible into the paint jobs!

The aluminum reinforcement braces were a feature not an option that potental buyers could pick and choose when they ordered a car. Over the years you can see several examples of screw ups that make no sense....chrome mirrors on a car with a black out package in 1987.

However, I am 99% certain the original game plan was to use aluminum reinforcement braces in order to lighten the car whenever possible. Although turbo cars exist with a power seat and astro roof, they did discourage that combo because of the additional weight.

I think one thing all readers can agree with is this: Aluminum braces are the most desireable as are aluminum brake drums because of the benefits.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[toofastforyou]

Oh, for those that do not know what CAFE is - Corporate Average Fuel Economy! :biggrin:

Oh...I always thought it meant "coffee" in french!...

Claude.