how many of you run your GN as your daily driver?

[ll3lue]

how many of you have your GN as your daily driver? how long have you been driving it as your daily driver, what are the stats on your car and have many problems have you run into and what type of gas do you run in it?

im just asking because the car i just bought is gonna have to be my daily driver for around 6 months or so...i wont be beating on the car really at all and just babying it for this 6 months so hopefully it works out...i'm going to go pick up the car tommorow, is there anything i should look for to tell i the car might have some major problems? i'm tottaly new to GN's so help me out

 

[SIXBANGR]

me

I have been useing mine as my driver again, for the past 4 month's. I drive 75 miles a day. I went drag dracing last night. Car has 75,000 miles. 63E turbo,PTE stock location intercooler, 60lb. inj. ported stock heads, 212 cam. 10" 3500 stall lu convertor.I get 18 miles mpg.

 

[ll3lue]

well apparantly cal did most of the work on this car, so i had a friend of mine who is friends with cal to ask him about this car and cal said that the car was in decent shape and overall good mechanical shape and a good deal at the price i got it, im just nervous at having it as a daily driver because i dont know much about these car's or the reliablity of them..the guy who is selin me the car has used the car as a daily driver for quite some time now and the car has no leaks of any kind..maybe im just being paranoid lol, i just basically need the car to be pretty good for me for about 6 months or so til i get enough cash together to get a daily driver 4cyl beater car...

also anyone know where to get technical sheets on the 87 GN? that will tell me the stock gear ratio's/tranny/hp/psi and all of that? thanks


also how is the GT-37 turbo?

 

[ES1]

www.gnttype.org
You need to run premium and probably keep the boost below 15psi.
You need a knock guage (at least) and you really need a scan tool like the scanmaster.
Stock rear end is 3.42 G80 code means you have posi
trans 2004r
stock HP 240
I think stock boost is 15psi

 

[TurboBuckeye]

I use my TR ( not GN )as a daily driver 3 seasons out of the year which amounts to about 4,000 miles. I also do not have factory gears although the ratio is unknown as I bought the car with what I'm guessing are 3.73's in it. I currently have it turned down to 11psi with no knock on the Scanmaster running Sunoco Ultra 94. I even have a child booster seat in the back. The only real problem is I smoked the tranny ( who hasn't ? ) and had to fix that, other than that no major problems except for the constant little crap that I'm always fixing/upgrading. I recently installed a TT chip and love the way the car now idles smooth and doesn't stutter for a change. Car has 140,000+ on it and runs real strong and still turns quite a few heads. My main concern is theft and I will not take it anywhere I can't watch it though.

 

[turbopete]

Daily driver

I have used my old T-type as a daily driver, and occasionally take the GN to work. If you keep an eye on the scan tool numbers and do some basic "house cleaning" to maintain it properly, then it will be a very reliable car for you. My main concern would be theft. Since the steering columns are very easy to break, I would recommend a collar. Steadfast makes the one I use. There are also a variety of other anti-theft products out there that interrupt electrical circuits, fuel pump, computer, and others.
I also like to leave tire marks in the work parking lot. Makes the boss happy.

 

[ll3lue]

1987 Buick GN 92k Orig. Miles
Recently Rebuilt Tranny
new water pump
new oil pump
new turbo hoses
new fuel filter
new after market fuel pump
new injectors
new turbo gt 37 from precision,
new Hard maf pipe and sensor
new Maf translator vacuum hoses,
new cold air intake
turbo pro dual exaust,
new battery spark plugs and wires,
driver’s side header crack and the axle tubes welded
added a scanmaster
recently had the radiator recored
Plus all Factory Parts

thats the stats on the car, the guy said he doesn't know how much boost he's running but he said the factory boost gauge gets pinned quickly...so i'm prolly gonna need to turn the boost down...and the car does have a scanmaster so im gonan have to learn to work with that and figure all that out...any idea's what kinda HP this car might have and what it might run in the 1/4? (the guy said he never ran it but said its very fast) you think it'd be in the 13's??

 

[Steve V]

I used my 1st GN for 8 yrs with no major issues except for driver error. I currently drive my T again with nothing major. I driven one since 96 so I am pretty good at catching something before it gets to bad. I use shell 93 and run a scanmaster 100% of the time.

get an aftermarket boost guage factory guage is very innacurate.

 

[BlackBeauty]

When you mentioned GT37 turbo, that tipped me off. You won that E-bay auction for the GN listed in the literature section, eh? I bid on that as well.

Not having an aftermarket boost gauge is scary! Make sure that car didn't get beat up at unknown boost levels. Since the turbo is aftermarket and most likely has an adj. wastegate rod, how does he know what the boost is set to?

I used my GN as a daily driver for years, never any major problems. Worst was recently after buying it, I learned the hard way that the radiator was clogged... got 20 minutes out on I-4, overheated, and took me 4 hours to get home (cooling down, driving, stopping to fill with water, repeat). My car's been down for a year now after bringing it to a tire shop to get abused, but it would still be my daily driver if that weren't the case.

 

[ll3lue]

Not having an aftermarket boost gauge is scary! Make sure that car didn't get beat up at unknown boost levels.

how do you tell if the car has been beaten up or not?

also what is a good aftermarket boost gauge to use?

 

[ES1]

Just make sure there is no water in the oil or bubbles in the coolant tank. Signs of blown headgaskets.
Any boost guage will do.
I like the autometer liquid filled.
What will the car run depends on what kind of gas you run.
On pump gas, the car should run a high to mid 13 if tuned properly.

 

[nailheadpowered]

Daily Driver

My 86gn is my driver and as you can see in my sig not stock by any means but still gets better gas mileage than my 3 gs skylarks and is alot faster to boot. Have fun get some guages etc. and eat a honda or junk stang or two!

 

[Aztlanahauc]

Use my TR for a daily driver...until the fuel pump took a dump....I drove it in snow, rain...all weather conditions.

Always use premium fuel.

 

[salvageV6]

18 years as a daily driver.

About 160K miles.

I now have a backup to the WE4 which is a GN in case my daily dies/breaks, of course it hasn't yet mostly out of jealousy.

I always use premium gas with alky. injection too.

No fun unless you are way over 20psi. on da pump gas.

Get the factory service manual in paper or CD format.

Scan tools are a must with a scanmaster the minimum along with an aftermarket good boost gauge.

Not a great choice of used car to buy after 17/18 years unless you bought it back in the day and learned a lot over the years on how they work and both proper and improper maintenance.

I hope it's a lower mileage example in good running condition.

If you are good with cars and maintenance and are a quick learner than you shouldn't have tooooo many problems.

I would say to keep at least a $1K repair budget for parts/labor in case something bigger comes up as a problem.

$2K is even better and more realistic in case something like a tranny goes and you want that street/strip performance buildup with new converter.

That would be in addition to the performance parts list buildup.

 

[441120]

#1

Ordered my '87 T new, drove it daily for three years in the snow, rain, 100*+ summers. Bought a beater for the parking lot morons. Still drive it 4000+ miles a year, just never park unatteneded. Other than lots of bolt on mods and tuning, the only real repairs made were a water pump, idler arm and right side upper control arm bushings, the rest was maintanence, fluid changes, brakes, tires normal stuff. I've worked at GM dealer for most of my career, I think the G body was the best GM built for a long time.
Just open the hood once in a while and look around

 

[BlackBeauty]

Sorry, I shoulda mentioned this before but I just remembered...
Two things I would do when checking out a turbo Buick for sale... run the VIN to make sure the mileage is accurate (saved me back when I was shopping for my 1st GN, and once again recently looking for another... darn shady liars). Also, look in the trunk at the RPO code sticker. If it's a GN, it will show the option WE2. Some people may clone these and try to sell them off as GN's to make more money, I wouldn't be surprised if it has slipped past a few people. Although you probably already bought the car, you can still do these two things to make sure the car is legit.
By the way, I am "NotAMonte86" from FS.net. I called you about your blue Monte SS for sale, but it was already sold.
Let me add, I like the AutoMeter boost gauges as well. I have one in the GN and had one in an Mr2 previously. From Summit Racing, the price is right, anything cheaper is a no-name brand. All the import brand boost gauges (Greddy, Apexi, etc.) are wayyyy pricey (I'm talking $35 vs. $120 for a gauge).

 

[SPOOLN]

I would wonder why the car needed a new oil pump and turbo at 90k, I would ask the owner if the car had poor oil pressure issues. Is it really 90k or is it 190k?
I drove my T-top GN as a daily for about 4 months and it sucked. Only got 18 mpg on the road and always had to keep my eye on it. Seems every weirdo would approach me about it and want to buy it. I even had weirdos tale me to my house. I made sure they seen my pitbull in the front yard to be warned.

I already had a small gas meizer beater to drive and it takes the worry/ stress off from the car getting stolen.

 

[madhat]

Daily driver for 2 years(since bought). I have put 20,000 miles on it and have had to numberous things to it including rebuilding trans, newer turbo, dp, fixing exhaust, etc... because prev owner didnt know what he was doing and put less than stock or poor quality(poston) parts on. I get ~20mpg and am forced to run 91 octane on a 93 chip, ergo lower boost and too rich. I have had to replace the maf and now am going to have to replace the ignition system. My plugs(43's) and wires(bosch) lasted 2 years. The t-tops have been a neverending leak for me because I cant spend the money on Gm weatherstripping(tried postons/soff seal's and both turned out bad and now I dont have that extra cash around for more). I very rarely have people even notice my car on the road. For various reasons due to bad purchases(poston/prev owner) I have actually only been able to enjoy my car a very small portion of the time, but I AM a college student with a 4 mounth old son and wife.
As far as performance, as you can tell, you cant expect that much from it, I can probably run very high 14s(fixed some things since my last 15.1 attempt) @ around 100(ran that w/ the 15.1)

 

[urhstry]

My car is exclusively a street car. I run 94 octane Sunoco and put on about 1500 miles per year. I have done that for 10 years. As you start out I can only tell you to WATCH YOUR GAUGES. And if you don't have any, invest in a scanmaster. That way if you do run into a problem, you will have the info for all of us to help you out. I waited 3-4 years before I "broke down" and got one...and I should have got one right from the start. A spring cleaning is a must. Enjoy your new ride.

 

[GS70350]

Both of my cars are listed in my sig and I drive one or the other every day. If I'm working on the GS as I am now (new eng. and 2004R) then i drive the Ttype every day. They work great as every day drivers to me, at least when one breaks i have another to drive. Never without a vehicle. I drive around 100 miles a day, sometimes taking long vacations and stuff too.

Ive put 30K on the GS over the past 5 years and 20K on the Ttype over the same time period. I guess you can tell which one i prefer to drive, or the one thats most reliable anyhow, hehe.