I know thisis getting on your nerves but let me get this straight!!!

[Camfreek]

I have looked around and checked pretty much everywhere and I came to the conclusion that there are no longer any bolt on aftermarket intercooler kits for our 1984-1985 Hot Air cars I hope that I am not correct on this but I feal I am. I am wondering if you guys could enlighten me on this I am seeking a kit that contains all the piping hoses and brackets to just bolt on a intercooler like on a Saturday afternoon. If I have to fab one up then so be it

 

[BRAD_PADGETT]

They have net made a hot ait bolt on intercoler for years. The one you want is a Spearco. Good-luck. Brad

 

[Camfreek]

Thanks for the info Brad, BTW my buddy should be towing the car for me today or tomorrow. So no kits for the hot air cars. Well I guess that takes care of that. So why the Spearco intercooler kit, and does anyone have one for sale??

 

[BRAD_PADGETT]

Why don't you install a Razor Alky kit? Does the same thing by allowing you to turn up the boost. Take-care-Brad

 

[Saladin45]

Well, my argument against alky personally has always been that your getting the same thing but without having to constantly refill the alky up.

But that's just me...

 

[Camfreek]

That was my thought!!

My thought as well, also there is a greater chence of failer from a alky kit compared to an intercooler, besides one you just put on and leave it and the other you have to adjust and refill That is just my thought on it, I have been reading up on the alky kits and they do seem real good for the money and don't take up tons of space or have a bunch of piping to ruin under the hood. I am still thinking about both:wink:

 

[BRAD_PADGETT]

The clueless are also blind. Alky only runs after 5 lbs boost. At $4.30 for premium 93 octane you are limited to 10 lbs boost. Turn up the boost and run 100 octane at $8.00 a gallon. Go for it. Otherwise blow up your motor. Alky kit with meth will allow about an additional 80 HP on 93 octane ony when you get into the turbo. I can get meth for $3.00 gallon and 10 gallons last me a whole season. Wake up and figure it out. Take-care. Brad

 

[cool 84]

This is where me and Brad differ but regardless, don't fool yourself, you will probably end up with both in the end. They're both great separately and they're great together.

One suggestion is if you do the Alky in place of the IC, you need to inject more than the typical intercooled setup does.

Edit: While I prefer the intercooler, I do agree that the alky is the only "bolt on" intercooler available.

My intake manifold with the elbow is for sale if anyone wants to make their own intercooled setup.

 

[Camfreek]

The clueless are also blind. Alky only runs after 5 lbs boost. At $4.30 for premium 93 octane you are limited to 10 lbs boost. Turn up the boost and run 100 octane at $8.00 a gallon. Go for it. Otherwise blow up your motor. Alky kit with meth will allow about an additional 80 HP on 93 octane ony when you get into the turbo. I can get meth for $3.00 gallon and 10 gallons last me a whole season. Wake up and figure it out. Take-care. Brad

I am not sure if you are trying to be insulting or not 93 Octane in my area is 3.97 a gallon and the 104 octane is not much more. As far as the meth goes free due to my brothers business. Sorry if I come off like an ass on this board. I figure I would just ask a few questions here and there. I like the intercooler on my Ranger and it had served me well for many years and no complaints. I have heard of meth kits but know of no one in my area that has used them so I don't know what to really think of them. If I am bothering you guys I will just take this on on my own. After all my other Ranger with the big block and 8-71 runs well in the 7's and in street trim. Sorry guys for aking stupid questions, Brad The car should be out by tomorrow and I wish the best of luck to all of you guys with your projects Good luck take care and have fun riding

 

[tb3]

hi camfreek. you are correct, there is nobody making a intercooler setup for the 84/85 hotairs. period. there used to be a couple (that I know of), but are no longer being made, there are some homemade ones out there i've seen too. if your bound and determined to put one on your car without converting over to 86/7 style, then I would keep a eye out on ebay, craigslist, etc... and also post in the "parts wanted" on all the buick websites. you may also want email or call some of the buick specific vendors and tell them your looking for one. some of the vendors deal in used parts and may occasionally get a car in that they will part that might have one of those kits on it.

i've seen them show up here and there, usually, the seller thinks that the kit is worth its weight in gold, so be ready for the sticker shock.

several months back, gbodyparts where in the works to have the spearco kit copied and made available again. not sure whatever became of that, you may want to contact them and get a update on status. i haven't kept up with that being i have no intrest in converting my hot air to a intercooled.

if your just building a street/ocasional strip car(11-13 sec range), i personally wouldn't bother. some good headers, bigger turbo/injectors, tt chip, ported heads and intake, and razors alky kit is the way to go.

if your in the process of a rebuild anyway, then your already several steps ahead as far as cost and time being the heads and intake are off.

 

[1QUICK85]

I never did run alky.........so I am not going to comment on it.

Intercoolers on the other hand I got some thoughts....by far the best thing about an intercooler is the low maintenace! Not to mention when it fails(examples...hose blows off) it actually gives your motor less boost........so no blown motor!! The only way you can ruin your motor with an intercooler is if you try to run too much boost for your tune.......it will never be the intercoolers fault!
You can run about 18# of boost with a good front mount intercooler on 93 octane.....that huge on these cars!
If you look for the Spearco kits hard and long you will find one!

OK....on with the debate!!

 

[Saladin45]

Well then it doesn't seem so bad to just go the Intercooled route then.

And isn't it possible to hook on the 86/87 IC anyway? So what is the big deal about this Spearco one?

And Brad, I respect your knowledge on the cars. Didn't mean to sound like I was trying to spite or anything like that. I just feel like alky isn't for me. Granted, maybe down the road, but I'm not really trying to mess too much with it for the moment.

 

[novaderrik]

The clueless are also blind. Alky only runs after 5 lbs boost. At $4.30 for premium 93 octane you are limited to 10 lbs boost. Turn up the boost and run 100 octane at $8.00 a gallon. Go for it. Otherwise blow up your motor. Alky kit with meth will allow about an additional 80 HP on 93 octane ony when you get into the turbo. I can get meth for $3.00 gallon and 10 gallons last me a whole season. Wake up and figure it out. Take-care. Brad

E85 is $2.99 around here- really, why does anyone in the midwest even screw around with race gas any more?
as for the alky/intercooler debate- i'll vote for the intercooler because of the "bolt it on and forget about it" aspect. it will cost more to get it going initially, but over the years it will pay for itself by not having to worry about keeping a tank full or having a pump motor die- plus, there's the wiring and switches. and if the pump dies or you run out of alky at just the right time, you are spending a few thousand $$$ to rebuild your motor. it might work good when it works, but there's a whole bunch of added layers of complexity to deal with.
it's like the old "nitrous vs supercharger" debate that's been going on forever in the musclecar world.
one costs more up front but is always there with minimal upkeep, while one costs less up front but needs constant maintainance.

 

[FJM568]

Somebody ought to take Cool 84's offer on buying his intake with the elbow.

Make sure that you relocate the throttle body to the pressure side of the system, and then mix in your choice of IC, and when all that is running properly and tuned, then add in the alky injection and then properly tune that up...

Just my 5 cents worth(inflation, you know!!!)

 

[garrett]

intercooler vs. alky

I have tried both on a Hotair car. With an intercooler, all the additional piping results in lag and poor performance. Go with alky.

 

[Camfreek]

Hey guys

I was not really trying to start a debate on here I was just wondering if there was a aftermarket bolt on intercooler kit I have 2 Hot Air cars and just picked up another one:biggrin: and I would like to intercool the one that I just bought just for the heck of it and the power gains I can recieve from it. I am proud to own Hot Air cars and don't plan to stray from them, but 1 out of 3 come on 1 intercooler won't hurt But I do see the point behind the Alky kits and seeing that I can find many of them and they are priced fairly, maybe I will go that route, who knows. I gotta get the car running good first and get more money

 

[1QUICK85]

If you want to get rid of turbo lag get a boost controller. Even without the boost controller the lag wasn't terrible at all with the spearco up front. Spearco flows better then the stock 87 intercooler and it has more surface area for cooling. The spearco also mounts out front to give you the best cooling possible.

Don't worry Camfreak, this debate has been going on for years, besides what else would we talk about?

 

[cool 84]

I have tried both on a Hotair car. With an intercooler, all the additional piping results in lag and poor performance. Go with alky.

Absolutely not true. If you had lag issues it was not from the intercooler. I went from no intercooler to a spearco frontmount and could not tell a difference in spool. Later went to a powerstroke with 3" plumbing and still no difference. This kind of mis information is bad for the board.

 

[Ken Adams]

TurboMotion V1 and V2

What about the Turbomotion V2 Intercooler Kit? I purchased one a year or so ago from a board member but have yet to install on my old rusty 84 GN. Any board members use this conversion kit? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Boostnitup]

another option

Propane



:biggrin: