Going to Richard's
I had the pleasure of attending the Turbo Buick Nationals last year for the 1st time. Having just bought my first turbo car – a 1986 GN, mildly modified at 86,000 miles, I couldn't wait to drive down and show everyone what I had purchased, and to learn how to tune it. About a month before the show, after doing a minor restoration, it became evident that there was something amiss with the engine. I went ahead and pulled the motor and began dis-assembly. Wiped lobes, 4” long squiggly pieces of metal, and a whole lot of bearing material jammed in the oil pickup made me believe that I had done the right thing. I grabbed the crank and off to Burlington I went.
Got there Thursday in time to attend the luncheon. Sat with Turbo Dave-I'm sure he doesn't remember it!! The only person there that I'd ever spoken to was Bryan of Gbody Parts. He had already gotten lots of my money, and there was a whole lot more to come. Someone had to point out who Richard Clark was, as I did not know this was his shop. I kept carrying that crank around trying to get peoples opinion on it's condition. Ask 10 people and you'll get 10 different opinions. After listening intently to each of the presenter topics and attending the races, I almost left for home on Saturday afternoon. Still having not shown the crank to Richard, I decided to swing back by Richard's shop after leaving the track ;as it was on my way home anyway. I sat with a number of the old timers. I especially remember Bob Bailey and Gary1970. They gave me a much better impression of the club than I could get over the internet. I finally got to spend a few minutes with Richard and show him my crank. He closely looked it over and even micked a few of the bearings. And he said the words that changed my world,
“ You know if you bring your engine down here, I'll teach you how to build it.” WOW, I thanked him and said I would see what I could do.
Less than a month later, I contacted Richard and setup my first visit. After about 14 more weekends between June and December, we had a rebuilt engine and transmission. I can't begin to express my gratitude for the time and effort that Richard and all his “Brain Trust”, put into giving me the best GN in the world!! He even told me to tell people that I had built the engine-he said “ you touched every part going into this engine-didn't you?”. Even though I did assist with lots of the work, I can't bring myself to tell people I built it.
So I'm headed back tomorrow for the week to show off my car, learn a lot more, meet new people, and run my car on the track on Friday's T&T session.
Carl Hanson
AKA- GMMUSCLE
I had the pleasure of attending the Turbo Buick Nationals last year for the 1st time. Having just bought my first turbo car – a 1986 GN, mildly modified at 86,000 miles, I couldn't wait to drive down and show everyone what I had purchased, and to learn how to tune it. About a month before the show, after doing a minor restoration, it became evident that there was something amiss with the engine. I went ahead and pulled the motor and began dis-assembly. Wiped lobes, 4” long squiggly pieces of metal, and a whole lot of bearing material jammed in the oil pickup made me believe that I had done the right thing. I grabbed the crank and off to Burlington I went.
Got there Thursday in time to attend the luncheon. Sat with Turbo Dave-I'm sure he doesn't remember it!! The only person there that I'd ever spoken to was Bryan of Gbody Parts. He had already gotten lots of my money, and there was a whole lot more to come. Someone had to point out who Richard Clark was, as I did not know this was his shop. I kept carrying that crank around trying to get peoples opinion on it's condition. Ask 10 people and you'll get 10 different opinions. After listening intently to each of the presenter topics and attending the races, I almost left for home on Saturday afternoon. Still having not shown the crank to Richard, I decided to swing back by Richard's shop after leaving the track ;as it was on my way home anyway. I sat with a number of the old timers. I especially remember Bob Bailey and Gary1970. They gave me a much better impression of the club than I could get over the internet. I finally got to spend a few minutes with Richard and show him my crank. He closely looked it over and even micked a few of the bearings. And he said the words that changed my world,
“ You know if you bring your engine down here, I'll teach you how to build it.” WOW, I thanked him and said I would see what I could do.
Less than a month later, I contacted Richard and setup my first visit. After about 14 more weekends between June and December, we had a rebuilt engine and transmission. I can't begin to express my gratitude for the time and effort that Richard and all his “Brain Trust”, put into giving me the best GN in the world!! He even told me to tell people that I had built the engine-he said “ you touched every part going into this engine-didn't you?”. Even though I did assist with lots of the work, I can't bring myself to tell people I built it.
So I'm headed back tomorrow for the week to show off my car, learn a lot more, meet new people, and run my car on the track on Friday's T&T session.
Carl Hanson
AKA- GMMUSCLE
