New owner looking for guidance, here is my cars setup

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SMV6LOL

Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2012
Hey guys im new to GNs. Ive loved them for years. I just switched over from drag racing diesels so gas motors are new to me (keep that in mind when i ask questions)

My car; 87 GN. Fresh built motor to stock specs with mild cam (dont know specs, bought at auction). 60lbs injectors with TT5.7 Chip. Fuel reg. Looks like the fuel pump is hot wired. Turbonectics T60 Series with a garret .89 AR comp wheel looks like a 60 or 62. Down pipe with exhaust. 40 mm wastegate on DP Front monted intercooler with flexlite dual fans. Trans has shift kit and upgraded stock convertor. Rear end has girdle, trailing arms, air bags and racing shocks. Stock tires/wheels

So my questions are;
1. The car doesnt feel that fast for the mods it has. (Could be because im used to the 1400lb of tq my diesel had)
2. Takes forever and a day to spool, 2nd gear it chirps the tires and the turbo is lit
3. Seems to vapor lock alot (230 degrees)
4. Very rough idle likes to stall
5. What are my next steps to make the car faster for street/strip

Thanks in advance and glad to be part of this forum.
 
Sounds to me like the car needs some major TLC first and probably a good convertor. Decent sized turbo for a stock convertor. First Id get out the bugs and then see how she goes. Scanmaster may be your next purchase to get an idea of whats going on.
 
GetOwnedVette said:
Sounds to me like the car needs some major TLC first and probably a good convertor. Decent sized turbo for a stock convertor. First Id get out the bugs and then see how she goes. Scanmaster may be your next purchase to get an idea of whats going on.
Click to expand...
While in the trans what else should i upgrade?
 
These cars can be very tricky yet very rewarding. I would suggest that you find a good Turbo Buick mechanic, since you really don't know the history of the car and seems like you have multiple issues going on. It looks like you have a turbo/convertor AND a running hot AND an idle condition. Just one of these issues can be very frustrating, let alone all three combined. I don't mean to discourage you and if you have alot of patience and time then you could troubleshoot them yourself. And BTW welcome to the darkside.
 
You did a good thing coming here.

Where are you located? There are a bunch of people on here from all over the country. Many here will offer hands on assistance if they are close to you.

The hot thing scares me the worst. TR's do not like running hot, period.
 
TurboTGuy said:
....Where are you located? There are a bunch of people on here from all over the country. Many here will offer hands on assistance if they are close to you.......
Click to expand...

It would be in your best interest to find someone experienced and knowledgeable with 1986-7 GN's to determine exactly what all you have before you start throwing parts at it that could make it worse.

Since the car is 25 years old, very few shops or techs know, or have any experience, with this vehicle.

I have 2 GN baskets cases here now from shops that worked on them, and will cost the owners thousands of $$$$ to get them even drivable? :(

One GN was even shipped from the East coast after an "experienced" Buick shop totally screwed it up, and still cost the owner a blown engine and thousands of dollars. A Texas GN left last week after 2 month stay to replace the engine and the other items that destroyed it.

On one local GN here now I cannot describe in a 1000 words all that is destroyed and screwed up. How someone can put the AC compressor plug in a MAF is beyond words? :mad:

My strongest advise, do NOT trust a shop or person unless you have checked references from their satisified customers.
 
Nick Micale said:
It would be in your best interest to find someone experienced and knowledgeable with 1986-7 GN's to determine exactly what all you have before you start throwing parts at it that could make it worse.

Since the car is 25 years old, very few shops or techs know, or have any experience, with this vehicle.

I have 2 GN baskets cases here now from shops that worked on them, and will cost the owners thousands of $$$$ to get them even drivable? :(

One GN was even shipped from the East coast after an "experienced" Buick shop totally screwed it up, and still cost the owner a blown engine and thousands of dollars. A Texas GN left last week after 2 month stay to replace the engine and the other items that destroyed it.

On one local GN here now I cannot describe in a 1000 words all that is destroyed and screwed up. How someone can put the AC compressor plug in a MAF is beyond words? :mad:

My strongest advise, do NOT trust a shop or person unless you have checked references from their satisified customers.
Click to expand...
when you say east coast shop, it is north-south or centrel.
 
Nick Micale said:
It would be in your best interest to find someone experienced and knowledgeable with 1986-7 GN's to determine exactly what all you have before you start throwing parts at it that could make it worse.

Since the car is 25 years old, very few shops or techs know, or have any experience, with this vehicle.

I have 2 GN baskets cases here now from shops that worked on them, and will cost the owners thousands of $$$$ to get them even drivable? :(

One GN was even shipped from the East coast after an "experienced" Buick shop totally screwed it up, and still cost the owner a blown engine and thousands of dollars. A Texas GN left last week after 2 month stay to replace the engine and the other items that destroyed it.

On one local GN here now I cannot describe in a 1000 words all that is destroyed and screwed up. How someone can put the AC compressor plug in a MAF is beyond words? :mad:

My strongest advise, do NOT trust a shop or person unless you have checked references from their satisified customers.
Click to expand...

Listen to Nick, very, very closely.
 
Im located in the Albuquerque metro area in New Mexico. I would love to get a good local GN mechanic to help point me in a good direction.

The flex-a-lite fans are a universal set and were installed poorly, so im going to try there first. Ive been thinking about an aluminum radiator, any suggestions.? Whats an F-body radiator?
No thermastat, hows that going to act in the winter?

Thanks guys for your help, gotta love a good community of GN lovers.
 
ALRADCO makes a very nice radiator for the Buicks. I highly recommended using that one instead of an F body radiator.

The F body radiator was used in 94 to 02 Camaros and Firebirds but they have plastic end tanks and no provision for the oil and trans cooling lines that are stock on the Buick.

If the fans are bad ALRADCO has a fix for that too. You can start with the radiator and a good thermostat, meaning get a new 160 from one of the vendors on the board.

Welcome to the Buick world.
 
Replace the thermostat with a 160 degree stat. Remove and flush out the radiator inside and then inspect and clean the cooling fins. Might be saveable, might not. Some like the F-body due to price, some like the higher end ones for the cooler connections (which are important), I had mine recored at a local shop to a 4 core for $250, but it was 10 years back. Remove the rubber cowl insulation across the firewall, just leave the piece of it in front of the AC inlet. Run a jumper wire across, or better yet just remove the white ceramic resistor down on the fan, connecting the two wires together which will cause the fan to run at high speed (its is a low speed resistor which most owners ditch). Make sure your fan is running when the car gets warm, TT chips usually trigger at 160 degrees. Run pure water and RMI-25. Disconnect the two heater hoses that run to the throttle body, below the up pipe. Just loop one around and back to the other hose nipple on the passenger side metal heater line.
 
Not to step on Reggie's toes, but the F body rad does have a trans cooler built in. Why else would so many turbo Regal owners use them? As for the oiler cooler he's right. An F body rad won't have them. But thats a huge debate in itself. Some say it's a cooler. Some say it's an oil warmer. Do you NEED it? I say no. Plenty of guys on here have been running an F body rad without the oil cooler/warmer for years with zero problems. So what if it has plastic tanks? Find me one automobile manufacturer in the world who hasn't used plastic end tanks for the last 15 years. In the end it comes down to what you can afford to put in your car. I love the looks of the ALRADCO unit but the $115 price tag of the F body rad was a lot more appealing.
 
The oil cooler connection isn't doing any good when the car is running 200+ degrees. There's a night and day difference how these cars act when you drive one that's running 170* compared to 200+. I battled this a few weekends ago at the legal street drags. Even with the fan wired on high it still ran hot sitting in the street. I did a lot of reading and I've decided that I'm ditching the oil cooler and running an fbody radiator and intrepid fans with the caspers harness like everyone else. An oil cooler isn't needed when the car is running 170 or less as far as I'm concerned. THis isn't the 1980s where these cars are running 215+ to pass emissions.
 
My opinion regarding the cooling sytem, get the ALRADCO radiator if you want to keep the oil/tranny coolers. That is bad a$$. If not get a nice universal BeCool or similiar and you would have to fabricate some stuff. Also I would get the SPAL fans. They are the BEST. Period. I wouldn't put any Dodge fans on our cars. Not everyone is running the FBody plastic ones and ALOT of people have broken/cracked end tanks with them. Do a search on them. You can also get radiator baffles (from GBody I believe), a high flow water pump, overdrive billet pulley. I have a 160* thermostat and in cool weather, less than 70*, on the hwy my car runs at about 155*. I am also running 50/50 distilled water and antifreeze. I do have the AC condensor and NO front mount but my AC doesn't work. You might think about getting a 180* thermostat and TT chip that turns on about 185*ish.
When those SPAL fans kick on, watch out. Those suckers pull a lot of air.
 
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