performance modifications?

[justcrusin']

What are the best modifications to obtain mid 11's?

I dont daily drive the car and would only bracket race it a few times per year.
I do have alky, but this alone aint getting under 12's. I only have a 2800 stall converter...the turbo lag seems longer than I remember. Also, how do you generally "launch" these cars. Would a transbrake help?

 

[DailyDrifter]

Drag radials, and the footbrake are all you need to launch these cars. Crank the boost up a little and turn the alky on. You might have a exhaust leak if spoolup is slow, check the DS header.

 

[justcrusin']

Drag radials, and the footbrake are all you need to launch these cars. Crank the boost up a little and turn the alky on. You might have a exhaust leak if spoolup is slow, check the DS header.

I have MT street drags...and a new powermaster brakes.
I will check the header pipes again...

 

[SPOOLFOOL2]

What have you got done to it as it sits right now? What are you tuning with?

Mike Barnard

 

[justcrusin']

What have you got done to it as it sits right now? What are you tuning with?

Mike Barnard

The car is new to me, I have'nt tuned it yet. It does have a scanmaster.

I am square one with this car...learning the alky system and boost control.

Help me here if you would:

On the driver side of the turbo,I guess thats the compressor, It's got a 1/4" vacum hose comming off the unit.

This leads to a "T" fitting....one 1/4" line goes to the bottom end off the wastegate. The other 1/4" goes to a control knob.

The control knob then has another1/4" line going to the top of the wastegate.

The wastegate says "applied technologies" it has a large allen bolt in the center with a lock nut.

It says "increase" on it...what exactly does this increase...?

Back to that control knob....I guess this increases turbo psi?
It seams to be a type of needle valve...you pull it out then turn it.

It has a wide range of ajustment here because it can be turned alot.

Where do I begin here. I am new to this so be easy on the rookie.

 

[SPOOLFOOL2]

We'll go easy on ya.

First off, where do you live? It might be good to get with some TB locals to help learn to tune. There is a thousand ways to make these cars haul @$$ and last a long time. The problem is, that there is a million ways to blow them up and not even know that your doing it. IMHO, Knowledge is the first thing that you want to get to make your car go faster, and this is the place. Read, read, read. Do searches, and ask questions. Most people here are pretty cool and enjoy helping.

I would not go full throttle in your car untill your sure that your not getting any knock, and that it's not going lean. Don't just assume that the guy that sold it to you had it tuned correctly. These cars are normally pretty easy to tune.

Start with learning how to read and understand your scanmaster. Make sure that you have a good aftermarket boost guage. The stock one's junk. What else is done to the car? Fuel pump, turbo, injectors, etc?

Welcome and happy spooling.
Mike Barnard

 

[justcrusin']

I get 0 knock @15lbs of boost...thats were it's set at.
Methenol injection seems to be working fine.

Car has 10k on rebuild
J.E. pistons, Speed Pro rings
New "stock apearing" intercooler
Looks like a 44mm percision turbo?????
Has moser axles..blisteen shocks
I guess thats the 200 4r tranny.

Seams to spool up slower than I remember......
needs a higher stall...line lock...transbrake maybe..bigger turbo maybe???

I live near New Orleans and can't find anyone around here that knows these cars.

I am willing to ship the car to a pro-buick-turbo shop to have it looked over and maybe some mods installed.

The car is worth it...it's a great car!!!! One of my all time favorites.

 

[justcrusin']

I spoke with Lou Czarnota.....

He seams like the real deal....
I guess he's the man for the job.

The car is just too freakin' nice for me to start tinkering with it.

It looks like the 87GN is going on vaction to sunny California.

 

[ttaowner]

put a post over here and ask for help
South Eastern Area - TurboBuick.Com

the money you save on shipping can buy yourself parts or cal hartline is in florida
Hartline Performance - Cal's Car


or Buick, grand national, buick v6, fast, xfi, turbo regal, turbo buick, grand national, ttype, gnx, 3.8, regal, mustang, ford mustang, 5.0, mustang performance, ford mustang performance

 

[gnxtc2]

IMHO...If you are going to bracket race the car, you need the car to be consistent. The following items are going to make launching your car easier:
- Transbrake
- 2-step
- Boost controller with stages

Of course you are going to need the supporting mods for the above.

Billy T.
gnxtc2@aol.com

 

[cruzn57]

Who did you buy the car from?

if you don't mind me asking,
any chance it was a guy named robert?

 

[justcrusin']

I bought the car from an dealer in FL. that sells older muscle cars.
The car has a great deal of papper work..including engine rebuild, trans rebuild, axels ect.. For the condition it was in I jumped at 18k.

It's in show room condition and runs very smooth. Its just not set up the way I would like it to be.

Current 60'ft times 2.40
1/4 13.30

The stall in not enough and the turbo lag seams long. Checking for crack in header???

I took it to the track and was matched up with a new corvette..The vette jumped ahead one car lenght then after the turbo kicked in it was all over for the vette. I was very pleased.

This was on 18lbs of boost with my alky knob @5.5
I was getting o2 readings of 800 to 820 and knock @ 1.8
On my second pass I turned the alky knob up to almost 6 and saw no knock.

I have other cars for the track but would like to run this car once in a while.
Even though 13.30 beats the snot out of mostly all stock street cars It could stand to be a bit quicker. low 12's to high 11's is my goal here.

This site is great and I am reading and learning....

 

[jasjamz]

Did you brake torque the car to get the boost to like 2-4 psi before you launched it? What was the trap MPH and 1/8 mile MPH

 

[justcrusin']

Did you brake torque the car to get the boost to like 2-4 psi before you launched it? What was the trap MPH and 1/8 mile MPH

No..I did torque it a bit but not enough for any boost. Seams like that might take more time than I got. Also scared the wheels might start spinning or I might red light.. Need a bit of practice.

Without looking at my timeslips I believe my 1/8 was around 8.40 and my trap speed was 108/109's

 

[ttaowner]

i recently went 11.95 @109 . i have also gone 11.88@114 same car just some diffrent things done.

 

[jasjamz]

No..I did torque it a bit but not enough for any boost. Seams like that might take more time than I got. Also scared the wheels might start spinning or I might red light.. Need a bit of practice.

Without looking at my timeslips I believe my 1/8 was around 8.40 and my trap speed was 108/109's

Try this...knock on the pre stage bulb, brake torque it to 0 psi...
slightly ease off the brake enough to knock on the stage bulbs while holding the 0-1 psi. Now creep it up to 3-4 psi while the lights are falling and go to the floor on green.

 

[justcrusin']

Thanks for the tip...

I will try to launch better. Once the new torque converter is installed.
The car is currently sitting under a awesome ferrari heading towards California.

I have decided to spend a bit of cash on her.

Now I will focus on my 83 monte carlo..paint is almost done, getting mini tubbed..thinking of a small shot of nitrus for that 383 stroker.

 

[jetmech]

Dont worry about launching the car on the green light. Launch it when you feel comfortable. My reaction time the other day was like 4.2 sec. Get an idea of what you can lauch w/ then practice the tree for bracket racing. Get comfortable w/ the car first.

 

[justcrusin']

Dont worry about launching the car on the green light. Launch it when you feel comfortable. My reaction time the other day was like 4.2 sec. Get an idea of what you can lauch w/ then practice the tree for bracket racing. Get comfortable w/ the car first.

How long does it take you during a brake torque before you start seeing any boost?

 

[getchasum]

How long does it take you during a brake torque before you start seeing any boost?

That really depends on the converter & turbo combo. But if you have a TE 44 & a 2800 stall you should be perfect. If thats the combo you have, there's something else going on...cracked header, vac lines, poor chip, over fueled, etc.....From what I've read I'm guessing your in FL??? If so you may also want to check out KDK, they know the cars very well also & are in FL.

May want to update your location, sig, etc. Sure makes it a lot easier for folks trying to give you advise. It can be done under the user cp at the top of the board.