newb questions

[tpivette89]

a friend of mine just bought a 85 Grand National (93k miles w Ttops, all original). were going to go completetly over the car and service it (full tune, flushing all fluids, etc) and then were looking to get more power out of it.

i looked up various websites for performance products for these cars and found absolutely nothing. i tried ATRs website and only located one part for the hotair cars (a 2.25" crossover pipe). most of their parts listed arent specific about which years they fit.

so my questions are these:

1) are there any parts that fit both intercooled and non-intercooled turbo buicks?
2) which sites can i browse that have aftermarket parts for hotair cars?
3) is the fuel system in the 84-85 turbo regals as bad as the 86/87s? is this something that needs to be addressed before mods are bolted up?
4) which mods should be performed first (i know uppipe, downpipe, catback, cold air, chip... am i missing anything?)
5) are there any "free mods" i can do to these cars (alot of other makes have these kind of mods... my old TPI corvette had tons)

thanks in advance for helping out the new guy

 

[Wagondraggin]

here is a whole bunch of info for you to digest these are 4 performance recipe's for hot air cars.. enjoy!


http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/recipes/8485recipe.html

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/recipes/hotair.html

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/recipes/hotair2.html

http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/recipes/hotair3.html

 

[Wagondraggin]

# 3 is the best in my opinion for what you are looking for.. # 4 is the ultimate if you are starting from scratch.

 

[turbo6x2]

Cool I'm the ultimate.... If you have any questions or whatever just email me privately. Ask John I was more then willing to give out as much information as I could. (Racemybuick) What can I say I have a dream it's 10's....

 

[turbo6x2]

free mods -Gasket port your intake, this opens it up and allow the thing to breathe- you don't really need to gut it or anything. Lee Thompson runs 10's on his stock gasket ported. As far as fuel system our's suck just as bad, upgrade your fuel pump. You also might want to think injectors if those are bad or arent' flowing any longer. Then you set for anything else you throw at it. Chip is a big one, but I would highly recommend upgrading to the 86-87 ecm for a lot more options and a nicer running car. A scan tool is worth the investment to get your car tuned to the it's fullest potential. But again I would recommend the ecm upgrade first due to the fact you have limited options for programs for the 84-85's . That's what I would suggest. Check passanger side headers for cracks and the drivers as well. Make sure you have no vacuum leaks.. the normal program

 

[tpivette89]

thanks for the links and info guys!

now that ive got a basic idea of which parts i need, where can i find them? like i mentioned before, ive searched various website, but found very limited hotair specific parts. are there aftermarket companies out there that have these parts that i can view on the web?

i have a scan tool (i work at a independant auto repair facility) and have access to all types of diagnostic equipment. as far as the ECM swap, is this basically a plug and play deal, or will there need to be rewiring done? with the stock chip, whats the max boost levels i can run w/o problems?

one final question... you guys mentioned Lee Thompson... was he the guy w the 85 Ttype running mid 11s who GMHTP featured way back in 98? if so, hes running 10s STILL non-intercooled? wow! very impressive!

again, thanks for all the help guys... i need this car to be a little faster than stock so i can keep the engine swapped Civics and the like in my rearview. cant have those imports saying they easily beat up on GNs!

 

[Wagondraggin]

ecm swap

do a search on the turbo regal page http://www.gnttype.org/

ther is detailed instructions... not hard though.. not quite plug and play but close..

 

[turbo6x2]

First of all I have to always point this out, not everyone on here is a GUY-

Yes that is the same Lee Thompson and other then the fact he was able to stuff on 86-87 turbo in it for a small fee he has upgraded to a stage II block and I think his best to date is a 10.50 non intercooled.

He's my hero.....

As far as vendors Let me know what you're looking for and I will tell you who has it. Or can help you try to locate it. The 86-87 ecm is on the for sale board here if you need one pretty reasonable and works.

Let me know.

 

[racemybuick]

^^^ She is Damn good with info ^^^

If she were 22 (which I think she is), and I wasn't engaged, I'd marry her! lol...Jamie, you are the asset to the hot air community. I dream of tens, but not with my first hot air....lol...I got many dreams.... Anyway, listen to whatever TURBO6X2 has to say. She's BEEN there, done that, and what ever is next, she's in the middle of it.

I am following closely, but my piggybank has been bare for about 4 years (thank you William Paterson U.). Get the basics cleared up on your car first. Make sure you have a fine tuned, stock car to start with, BEFORE any changes are made. If you start working on a car with any issues, you are only going to create bigger issues, that can in fact, make it a very poor experience with the buicks.

Get all the basics finished. an adj FPR, a set of good guages (boost, water temp, oil pressure, knock, tach) and get the car running at par level, before speeding it up! The fuel pump, the intake porting, the exhaust, cold air or K&N kit, that is all next.

Good luck!

John

 

[tpivette89]

Get the basics cleared up on your car first. Make sure you have a fine tuned, stock car to start with, BEFORE any changes are made. If you start working on a car with any issues, you are only going to create bigger issues, that can in fact, make it a very poor experience with the buicks.

dont worry, i plan on going over the car from top to bottom before any performance mods are added. i want a good running car for a baseline. i think i can pull a high 14 out of it in good air with a good tune 100% showroom stock

Get all the basics finished. an adj FPR, a set of good guages (boost, water temp, oil pressure, knock, tach) and get the car running at par level, before speeding it up! The fuel pump, the intake porting, the exhaust, cold air or K&N kit, that is all next.

ive already got a 160* stat, hot wire kit, AFPR, and a new fuel pump on its way. as soon as the car is tuned up and running great, these mods are what im starting with. i would really like to upgrade the turbo & exhaust piping, but so far after searching through various websites, i cant find any hotair specific parts

 

[racemybuick]

www.buickgn.com Hot air intake (nice piece)

I dont know what their site is, but POSTONS #: 18006359781, tell them your car, and ask for what parts you want, i.e. pipes, upgrades, specials...they are real helpful over there.

JOHN CRAIG is the man who knows hot air turbo's. He can take your turbo and make it act like a TA49 or maybve better...It is called the T33.

Call ATR. Their website does not get updated often. They have headers, up-pipes, cat back, everything for hot airs.

www.Precisionte.com: ask about the TA48. That is the upgraded hot air turbo from them. I think it is $675.

Jim Testa for chips (turbojim on this board)

Weber racing for any major motor work (roller motor?) Number is:440-327-7702, ask for DAVE

Keith Mease made the 3" DP with an integral wastegate on it to bolt right up to the turbo, eliminating the elbow on the turbo. If he still has a few lying around, they were selling for near 400. DO a seach, and I am sure his email will pop-up.

Summit for gaskets, bolts, guages, and misc stuff.

Injectors can come from anywhere, Racetronix, precision, and millions of other sites.

EBAY!!!!

and I will think of a few more later, as they come to me. Let me know if you have any trouble contacting anybody I posted, so I can fix my records.

Lastly, if you havent yet, talk to Herb Fishman, or Turboregal84. He is a moderator here, and ran mid 12's with his hot air. I think of him a wizzard for parts and contacts. He helped me out in a huge way, so maybe he can point you in the right direction if needed! Good Luck!!!

John

 

[daddyed73]

hot air parts

i ordered the atr catalog and they have a set for the hot air cars with headers downpipe, and x-overpipe all s/s looks pretty good.

 

[turbo6x2]

If you go through ATR ask for Sherry and tell her we all sent you. The ATR set up is nice. I went with a Thompson down pipe but was very happy with the ATR set up none the less. Wish they would build bigger, but you can only build what the market will support. Good folks.

 

[cool 84]

One word of advise, don't do your mods like I did. Figure out how fast you want to go and plan your mods from there. I've upgraded turbos 4 times, cams 4 times, downpipe twice, ported the intake twice, and been through 2 different intercoolers.

If you can find a 3" downpipe that eliminates the elbow, get it instead of the 2.5" with the elbow. The elbow is a big restriction and there's no downside to the bigger downpipe as long as it fits ok. Spoolup with the bigger turbos is noticably improved.

Get at least a TA-49 in your hotair compressor housing since it spools like stock, there's no reason to go smaller.

A gasket match to your intake manifold will get you where you want to go but fully porting it to the Felpro 1200 gaskets (which requires welding around the ports) will make it easier and you won't lose any low end power.

Get an injector with plenty reserve. Bigger injectors will still drive and idle fine with the right chip. I've never had a bit of trouble passing smog in Cali.

If you end up getting a higher stall torque convertor, a 3,200 stall is perfectly streetable unlike years ago.

Get the throttlebody ported to at least the size of the turbo inlet. The bigger the better.

Last, and here's where a lot of people will disagree, get a good intercooler. It makes a huge difference and will enable you to make more power while staying a little smaller on the turbo/cam/porting.