welcome,
what forum were you on that didnt like HA's?
A.j.
Hi all....New to Turbo Buicks....Got my first 85 t type about 3 weeks ago.....made the mistake of signing up on another buick forum that wasn't hot air, and boy did I get it!!! Those cold air guys don't like us or our cars very much....lol.....Anyhow....Ive gathered a decent amount of info over the past few weeks about where to start and what to do to these particular cars but my main ? is what is a safe boost for these cars, stock? and what can they be boosted to? also is the size 28 mm? I wanted to be prepared for when I get my gauges and controller in.....Thanks all
Welcome.
You are correct about the cold air guys (Many ofthem are pretty cool and started in the HA world :wink: )
Many of the non IC'd cars have already been converted - See, what it all comes down to are goals, and budget.
In general, they will convince you to go IC'd.
Your choice is;
1- Get used to it.
2- Convert to IC'd.
3- Sell and buy an IC'd car.
I am going to ruffle some feathers with these statements :tongue:
but, IMHO many HA cars have been converted for various performance reasons;
- Higher performance for less $ - Clarifying statement; Anything faster than low 12's gets tricky and real expensive in true HA form.
- Greater availability of "Off the shelve" performance parts for the IC'd crowd - Clarifying statement: Quite a few IC'd cars with performance parts still running 12's.
- Inability to get to the bottom of it all. Clarifying statement; Some just could not cut it in the HA world, and converted thinking they will run and easy 10's -11's.
- Peer pressure - Clarifying statement: "My buddy runs low 12's on 17lbs boost, and he told me if I just install an IC, I could run that as well."
If your goal is restoration, stay HA.
If your goal is low 12's, stay HA
If your goal is low-mid 11's or faster, sell and buy an IC'd car, convert to IC's, or add NOS.
As far as boost;
Stock boost is about 9 PSI
Safe boost can be defined as; Any boost level that there is no detonation. This could be 5 or 25 PSI.
Not sure what the stock turbo size is, but I think it is bigger than 28mm.
Some basic advice;
Set your goals, and stick to them!
Read the stickies, all of them, and visit the links in the stickies!
Read GNTTYPE.org
Do the spring cleaning
Get a good scantool.
Have fun!