New GN owner

[Little6pack]

HI Guys,
I am new to this board now that I have purchased an 86GN.
I live in southern NH.
I always lusted for a GN since 84. But ended up owning a 79 turbo mustang & a Monte SS BOTH were DOGS!

Now many years & kids later I just traded a massive Grunt 455 70 GTO for the little 6 GN..
I must say the 6 is quiet, smooth, comfortible & has 30 -mph on up KICK!
The GTO was somewhat easy to work on & was like what I owned in the mid 70's (65 tripower & 68 GTO's, 73 -Z/28 v-8 vega)

Now the 86 GN I got is all stock with no real options. Not sure if AC accounts as option..
I think I am the 3rd owner since the Docs are still with the car.

Anyway to verify its history?

OK you may see me ask some stupid tech questions but that will be my learning curve.

I want to keep the GN fairly stock but don't have a problem with minor to mid range performance upgrades.

Can anyone from the NE area suggest what I could do & if any recommendations to any good shops in Mass or NH that might work on these cars?

Thanks
L6Steve

 

[salvageV6]

Cotton's in Mass. is good.

Trunk sticker should have the option codes for the car on it, copy them all down and post them.

Carfax could tell the history of the car. Need to post the Vin # or email it to someone with a carfax account. Try the lounge area for this most will be happy to help.

Do a search under carfax too. Search function works okay on this site for tons of info.

Keep asking questions only way to learn.

A/C was standard, not optional I believe.

Good luck and welcome aboard!!!!

 

[NOSjohnWE4]

welcome

Steve,
Welcome to the Dark side (Buick world). First, I have to tell you that the Buick community is a good bunch of guys that will go WAY out of their way to help you.
Second, read up on www.gnttype.org and get back to us in a month - it will take that long to read through...lol.
Finally, there are a few great shops here on the East coast and I personally recommend Jack Cotton Performance (Cotton Performance - 105 Walnut St., Agawam, Mass. - 413.789.0153).
He is a great guy that will help you out and take care of you no matter how stupid the question may seem. Tell him I sent you over....hopefully with that he won't kick you out...just kidding.


John C.
LedSLED Motorsports
jcofolla@twcny.rr.com
(315)298-1000
~wheels & tires for every need
~NOS/NX nitrous kits
~ATI Prochargers

 

[SilverSleeper]

Yeah, go see Jack.
Take the car to him, leave him the car and a blank check and tell him how fast you want it to go when you get back!
(his personal car runs 9's)
Basic first mods.. fuel pump, hot wire kit, adjustable fuel regulator, adjustable wastegate rod, valve cover breathers, k&n big filter kit.
But to know what is going on, you will also need: fuel press gauge, boost gauge, some type of scan tool/data logger, to tell you what the computer is reading.
Good luck.

Oh by the way, on those option codes on the trunk sticker? Look for G80. It means the car has a posi (limited slip) rear diff. If you dont have a posi, boy are you gonna want one.

 

[ONLYA6]

Definitely take your car to Cotton's, if you're planning on doing the work yourself, you can buy the parts from him. Also, if you're looking to get into a local club that has quite a few events throughout the summer, check out www.nebra.org

Jacob

 

[Black Box]

Welcome to the darkside.
Yet another vote for Cotton's here. The man knows these cars inside and out. When you go to his shop you will see what I mean....Turbo Regals everywhere, and the occasional Turbo T/A. Definitely ask questions if there is any doubt about what your're modifying or doing at the time.
There's also a lot of info on www.gnttype.org.

Also, if you're romping on it and you hear knock, get out of the gas!! Knock is very very bad.

Good Luck, and welcome to the Turbo Regal brotherhood!

 

[hot6-231]

Steve.........Do yourself a favor and replace the small rubber hose's near the turbo and wastegate on the passenger side of engine. Chances are they are original and dryed out. If one of these hoses break under full boost, you WILL be looking for a new engine and these engines are NOT cheap to replace. Be sure to use a plastic tie on the ends of hoses to keep them from blowing off. Also, do not use cheap, low octane gas as you'll have same results as above. Always use a quality gas like Sunoco 94 for best "street" performance. Nice to have you aboard. KB

 

[Little6pack]

THANKS

THANKS Guys!

Well Guess I will hop on over to the other site & Read up!

I think I can handle putting on the KN filter & change the little rubber hoses. Maybe even the BETTER Fuel pump.

10-4 on the GAS.. WE GOT 94 ultra in NH & some places have Race gas.

Cotton's sounds like the place to go. Wonder if he would allow me to wait for the minor upgrades to be done?
I Would hate to have to drive back & forth.

Does cotton have a website? I see I can call him which is good!

littlesixsteve

 

[Black Box]

www.cottonsperformance.com
Jack is a pretty busy guy but he always has time to talk shop.
The fuel pump isn't hard to do, along with a hotwire kit.

Steve

 

[311]

You can also get parts, service, and some tech advice from Eric Rankin at J&M Motorsports in Manchester Ct. 860-645-6389. (not sure why a couple of you guys buy parts and have your car worked on there but didnt plug them??)

 

[Black Box]

Originally posted by 311
You can also get parts, service, and some tech advice from Eric Rankin at J&M Motorsports in Manchester Ct. 860-645-6389. (not sure why a couple of you guys buy parts and have your car worked on there but didnt plug them??)

Guilty as charged. J&M has provided great service (they did my line-lock install), parts, and I gained a lot of good advice from Eric & Steve on dyno day. Sorry bout that.

Steve

 

[V8Killer]

NH........where is NH (he-he). Steve, where about do you live? I live in Milford, and work in Nashua. Drop me a line. We have a small crew that goes up to NEDragway, maybe could meet you there and take a peek at your car. -Al