Ok...tell me if I've lost it...

[rowdy]

Well I found a GN and am leaving Wednesday to pick it up. Soo, I've been doing some research into modding it out a bit..

Now I'm planning doing a little brake work, setting up the suspension for drag racing (snubber, air bags, traction bars, etc..), and setting up my guages, (Tach, oil temp, tranny temp, BOOST, and probably intercooler temp), before going into modding the engine any.

Should I put a chip, wires and thermomoter in it at the same time or see what just doing the suspension can do for times first?

Oh, and you'll be hearing ALOT fromme on setting up this GN. I plan on stepping it down ever so slowly...It's been waaaay too long since I've driven anything faster than my 16 second truck, and I want to be completely comfortable with my movement back into the low times...

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[UNGN]

Rather than buy a lot of gages, a scan tool like turbolink will have most of those gages (except oil pressure gage, which will just make you nervous, anyway) and it will give you the ability to diagnose your car. Turbolink with boost sensing option will allow you to record your boost, also.

Things like a tach are good to have (though turbolink has a built in tach), but you will probably never need it. A properly running stock GN will shift very near the optimum shift point. Manual shifting can only be worse.

 

[blackbuick87]

Fuel pump
hot wire
scan tool

MUST be your first upgrades.

You are wise to go slowly
Max out you stock IC/turbo/injectors first, then move up.

Compared to your truck your soon to be 12 sec GN will feel like a top fuel dragster. (I know, my previous vehicle was a 16 sec Silverado)

 

[rowdy]

Thank y'all both for the response...

Most of the guages I'm planning on adding are temperature guages. I guess you could say I'm paranoid about oil and tranny overheating problems. Hey I live in Houston!

Laugh...scantool..I've heard alot about them, but never have used one. Hopefully some of the T Type/GN owners here in Houston can give me some hands on help figuring it all out!...

So it's on my fast track purchase plan!

The tach is simply for spooling up the turbo. This GN will be a fun car, but I plan on running alot of brackets with it.

Hot Wire.....please forgive my ignorance...I've been doing alot of reading...but I'm not 100% on this reference...I understand the fuel pump and scan tool...but what exactly is a Hot Wire?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[JDSfastGN]

A hot wire is when you run a straight wire from the alternator, to the fuel pump, along with the relays and fuses to make it safe and reliable. It sends more power to your fuel pump so it will pump more fuel, the factory wiring sucked pretty bad. You can buy the kits from some of our vendors for $70 or make it yourself for 20$s or so. Hey I live in Houston, so if you need any help at all, shoot me an e-mail.

 

[rowdy]

Alright...now that I can understand...thanks for the info..

Laugh...

JDS...

Beware what you offer...

You have here a man who can change his oil, tires and other basic maintenance...but if you get me beyond that I have not a clue what I'm doing!

Laugh...I'll give you a week reprieve at the very least..I leave to pick up the car wednesday morning, with any luck I'll be back Saturday and then I have a whole week off work to get rid of that sh!t eating grin that'll be on my face..

Does that grin ever go away?

 

[UNGN]

Originally posted by rowdy
The tach is simply for spooling up the turbo. This GN will be a fun car, but I plan on running alot of brackets with it.

You'll probably find that you will use your boost gage more to launch the car than the tach. A 100 rpm difference may mean a 3 lb or more boost difference around the converter stall speed. It easier and more consistant to launch at a given boost level than a given RPM.

 

[rowdy]

Hmmm...I never thought about leaving off the boost guage...I'll have to give that a shot...

And something just occured to me....with a hot wire setup, it seems that would be an ideal place to throw in a manual kill switch. Unless my thinking is completely off.

Anybody done that?

 

[BJM]

Put the kill switch on the trigger side of the relay. Unless you are buying a big honking high current switch, it will be a voltage drop in the line you are trying to maximize current flow in.

 

[BuickBeast]

Let me know if you need brake parts or help let me know. I am going to put a baer vacum brake conversion on my car today or tommorrow. If you want to purchase something like that or brake pads, etc... call me at 281-342-6831 ask for sammy.

Sam Sloan

 

[tim87tr]

Originally posted by rowdy
Hmmm...I never thought about leaving off the boost guage...I'll have to give that a shot...

And something just occured to me....with a hot wire setup, it seems that would be an ideal place to throw in a manual kill switch. Unless my thinking is completely off.

Anybody done that?

Yes, makes a good anti-theft device also. Try www.buickgn.com for switch plates that fit in the console ashtray, very nice. If the car does not have it, a boost gauge can be mounted on the driver side A-pillar arm of the windshield. That is what UNGN is telling you, get that instead of the rpm guage. The scan tools read rpm anyway. Get a 340 Walbro pump and hotwire kit from www.racetronix.com , its a good kit, I just put one in. I may be repeating some of the info, but wanted to give you more details.

You can get some local help on the scan tool, a lot of people make them portable, and then purchase one asap. It will tell you the coolant temp if you want to wait on the temp gauge. And you mentioned trannt temp, you can add a tranny cooler to the car easily. Try http://www.2004rPerformanceCenter.com/ for that, or any tranny issues, excellent customer service.

As for the suspension mods, the airbags are a good start, but you can wait on the lower control arms to see how your stock suspension works. My GN does not have airbags yet and there was a big difference on the 60' times compared to the T. After you get a baseline on the stock suspension parts, and some experience launching the car, you can go with other suspension mods. I am in the processs now of installing the larger wheel cylinders, soft rear shoes and a line lock.

And as for being new at working on the cars, I just read the info on www.gnttype.org in the tech articles section, and get a lot of great advice here, its invaluable. I figure no one besides myself and my TR buddies will care as much about the work on the car, so I try to do everything myself. And NO, the grin never dissapears from your face when you are boosting the car Tim

 

[JToups386]

Jeff:
I too live in Houston, and know at least half the Buick crowd around here. If you want some help or info, you can email me and I'll give you my number for advice, etc... Always willing to help a fellow enthusiast, and especially if you're new to these cars. It doesn't take much to get em' running well, before you dump tons of money in it. Also, other than an aftermarket boost gage, you don't need to worry about additional gages right now. I about die laughing when I see guys who buy the Gigantic racing tachs and take up the entire center dash area with them,,, for what? We don't turn these things more than 5200...

 

[rowdy]

All I can say is wow...


I posted these questions just a couple of hours ago.

And look at the responses for a newbie to this board...

Amazing.

I can say theft is a big concern for me. Which is why I was asking about a kill switch.

Again, between a friend that knows someone big into the GN/Turbo T cars, and the responses here, I'm blown away.

I don't think this grin will ever fade....

 

[gnx7]

You should be able to get the stock turbo to run 108-110mph which is good for mid/low 12's with traction. This is of course with race gas and 26* race chip. Race Gas eats up O2 sensors ($25 a pop) in only a few 1/4 mile passes. Stock turbo blows hot air after 21psi. No point in turning it up higher.

Another alternative is alchy injection.
http://www.geocities.com/rad87gn/tech/SteveCkit.html
run pump gas with alchy injected under boost and you can run 6-8lbs of boost more than pump gas alone (91-93 octane) and more timing too. 70-100hp more!

1st few things to get as mentioned:
upgraded fuel pump with hot wire kit
Scan Tool
external transmission oil cooler (you live in TX right?)
AC Delco CR43TS plugs gapped at .035"
Ohm coil pack (each coil separately) to check its health
ditch the cat convertor

Good luck have fun. Traction is everything..... hint. 275/50/15 Nitto DR's fit on stock GN rims. My friend has gone 11.70's@119mph with them. I've gone 11.76@115mph with 245/50/16 Nitto DR's. Good all around tire with great traction and not scary around corners or emergency situations like slicks/ ET Streets.

GNX7

 

[rowdy]

Originally posted by gnx7
ditch the cat convertor

That one suggestion, I can only do with a cut out. Harris County has emmisions checks for inspection and now have roadside testing vehicles.

When you say ditch the cat....how bout a cutout?

As for the rest...I forgot to mention it...but yeah a tranny cooler will be one of the first to go on this GN. Quick fast and in a hurry...because...I live in Texas...lol

On the Alchohol injection...I read a bit on that, and a little on propane injection...That will likely be one of the last things I'll have done. I do want to see what this baby can do with bolt ons, and keep the turbo/intercooler/block all stock.

After that...who knows...might go eeeeven further..laugh.

Traction...yeah I imagine with 350 flt lbs of torque traction would be a rather large issue. How are y'all stalling up, line lock? You won't see me using my E Brake...I'm too paranoid. I figured on upgrading my brakes, but never launched using a line lock...and they are pretty darned cheap....wonder how bad I can break things that way....lol

Now you said o2 sensors get burned out real quick on race gas, is this leaded, unleaded or both?

How hard are these to put in?

And how does it affect the car running on the track or on the street when one goes out?

Jeff

 

[JToups386]

Jeff:
Some further insight... You can easily be running mid-12's w/o ever going into the motor. As others mentioned, fuel is the key. If your car still has the stock intank pump, I would hesitate even driving it, before replacing it! It's the cheapest insurance you can buy. Racetronix offers inexpensive excellent kits for these, that will power you beyond what you're seeking now. Conley's, (here locally) also sells the Walbro pumps and keeps them in stock. I have the instructions for making your own hot-wire kit for about $20, if you don't want to purchase the nice one from Racetronix. It's a simple install, and well worth it! I went 1.71 60', 7.91 1/8th, and 12.61 @ 105 on the stock pump and stock injectors, but hindsight being 20/20, I would not recommend ever trying it again. (That was also with stock suspension, no airbag back then.)
Having enough fuel is a must! Get a K&N conical filter on it, if it's not already done, and other easy bolt-ons like an underdrive pulley, 160 thermostat, upgraded chip, wastegate bleed valve, and yes,,, a dump pipe. I set mine up to where I can still bolt in a cat for inspections yearly. I've never seen anyone get pulled over and checked for a cat 'round here. I've also seen our cars pass the emissions sniffer w/o the cat on the car, when properly tuned.
And to finish, if it's any encouragement to you; I went 11.90's @ 111 with a stock turbo and mildly self ported heads and BGC extended stock location intercooler. Shoot me a line if I can be of any help. I tend to get a little wordy here...

 

[dconnor]

Here are my suggestions for the "must have" mods that ALL Turbo Regals should get the day they are bought if not already on the car!

Fuel pump (Walbro 340)
Hot wire kit
Fuel pressure guage
Adj fuel pressure regulator
Scan Tool (Scan Master, Turbo Link, etc.... check out www.turbo-link.com for the lowdown on various products/features)

You should also do a complete tune up ASAP, there is a good how to here: SPring Cleaning

Be sure to hook up with the Houston Buick Club (hope you can make the Cruise Night on Aug. the 10th) it's a great way to get local help & meet a bunch of fellow Buick nutz. If you'd like to join our email list, you can sign up through this page: Houston Buick Club

Doug C.

 

[UNGN]

My '86 passed emissions (not the new dyno version) without a cat. I doubt a roadside sniffer would be able to tell there is no cat there. Use a cat and an emission chip for the yearly test and a test pipe the other 364 days. If you see a roadside sniffer never come to a complete stop and put your foot on the gas to get the idle up to 1500 RPM as you go by.

If you stay relatively stock (stock or 36# bluetop injectors), you can take advantage of $25 Thrasher chips. You can run race gas thru them and they still work. They only partially use the O2 sensor and idle in open loop. The O2 sensor can be dead and the car will still run great. As far as performance with thrasher chips goes, I've run a best of 11.53@118 with a Thrasher 108 for bluetops on drag radials.

 

[1badTTA]

Here is nearly a surefire way to make a killswitch. get a detachable face radio, wire the blue (antenna/amp) wire into a relay and have it poweer whatever you want, such as your fuel pump relay. The advantage to this is a theif wont have the faceplate to install to get the car running and it will take him longer than the 60 seconds he is willing to spend. Also, if the theif would watch you first, will he realize that putting the faceplate on is what makes the car start???

For info on how to do it, go to www.12volt.com as they have some pretty good schematics there.

 

[JToups386]

I cannot imagine wanting to worry with a stereo faceplate as your anti-theft device. No offense, but there are certainly more sensible ways of running a hidden kill than that. What happens if the stereo plate gets busted? What happens if the stereo unit gets stolen? The car may still be there, but you won't be able to start it either. That's just my thoughts on it...