Potential First Time Turbo Buick Owner w/ a Question

[ShawnQ]

Ok guys, I'm a ford man (ducks down to miss the rocks that are being chunked at me...). I've had a few fox body mustangs , and I really like the cars because they are cheap to modify, and simple...but I've always like the GN's also.

Now that I've got past that, here's my question:

I found a guy who is looking for a boat. I happen to have a boat that is similar to what he wants, and he has a Buick GN to trade for it. I have been considering selling the boat for payoff, or just a bit more. I owe $4990 on it.

The guy who wants to trade the GN for it said he would sell his car outright for $4500. It is a 1985 GN w/~70k miles on it, seems kinda low, and I am wondering if it is wrong. I would think more like 170k miles...but maybe he's right? I noticed that the picture he gave me was titled 'motorswap', so maybe he has swapped the engine, and it now has 70k miles? Anyways..he said the only problem with it is a few rust bubbles on the bottom of the driver's door. He did say it was fuel injected, was this factory in 85?

Here's a pic of it:

Now, here's my question(s):

Is there something about the 85's that make them less desirable then the newer models?

What kind of common problems should I ask him about?

What is an 85 in good condition worth? I wouldn't mind trading the boat, but I wouldn't want to trade it for something of lesser value. I would probably keep the GN for a few months and end up selling it to buy a nicer boat in the future...so I wouldn't want to dig myself a hole.

Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks
Shawn

 

[Billdogg]

Couldn't tell you for sure what it's worth, but the intercooled years (86/87) are worth more money than the hot-air cars.

 

[87GN_ponykillr]

Best for a Hot Air guy to answer that but in my book, Its a VERY sweet looking 85! It looks really clean, If you want one of these cars as a collector car / weekend toy I would consider that trade! These cars are a blast but if you want to mod and have a faster version, look for a 86 or 87 they are faster and easyer to mod to go faster.

 

[ShawnQ]

Thanks for the quick response!

I sent the guy an email asking about general car questions...but I don't know the 'common problem areas' of a GN, so I can't really be specific enough.

He is about 2hrs away from me, so I can't just go look at it. I plan to, but not until I get a bit more info on it.

Are the 85 cars Fuel injected?

Thanks again
Shawn

 

[Snorman]

'85's were non-intercooled (hot air cars). GM made signficant changes in '86 to the layout of the turbo, added an IC, as well as made several changes to the electronic engine controls.
The following links should prove to be useful to you...they were to me.

http://209.120.158.83/general/buyguide.html
http://209.120.158.83/general/hitechuncool.html
http://209.120.158.83/general/vin.html

I'll probably take some sh*t for this, but I'd only own an '86-'87 car or earlier model with an '86-'87 swap. There is much more potential with the intercooled cars than the hot air cars. That's just me.
Good luck.
S.

 

[ShawnQ]

I'm thinking that it may be a 'swap' car, due to the name of the picture he sent me. He said it is very quick, reliable, and ready for a cross country trip.

I'll let you know what kind of info the email yields.

Shawn

 

[buickpower]

Are the 85 cars Fuel injected?

yup, they are. on the hotair cars the turbo sits directly on top of the intake, and the throttle body is bolted to the inlet of the turbo, so the throttle body is not pressurized like the intercooled cars. like was mentioned, the intercooled cars had the turbo in front of the motor which blew into an intercooler, then into a doghouse style intake (better design). plus the intercooled cars had electric fans controlled by the computer, a different computer, a mat sensor, etc. basically the intercooled design is an improvement on the hotair design.

 

[Whut]

Thats a very nice looking hot air car. I have owned two hot airs both 84 and 85 T-types. T's are the same drivetrain as a GN but come in other colors with different interiors.

You need to ask him about the motor and drill him on what he has done with it. My 84 went 100K miles before the factory turbo died. Unfortuantely it died and took the crank with it.

Any year TR is going to need a lot of attention to stay running right but the hot airs need more. I was in such a habit of "run down" that I noticed myself leaving my non turbo car running for at least 30 seconds before shutting it down as to let the turbo spin down safely.

Beyond the motor blowing up three times on me the other issues I had were small. Tires, rear axle shaft, brakes, some electrical gremlin that made my left turn signal stay on all the time. But the end result was I loved my hot air and if it werent for theives stripping it I would still have it today.

One thing I noticed, and intercooled folks may disagree, is that the turbo sounds ten times better in a hotair car and you dont get that "horse" sound when letting off the gas. If the turbo sat back any further a passenger in the car would be holding it, because of this position you get a nice whistle through the dashboard letting you know your about to take off.

They are slower than the 86-87 models right from the factory. That doesnt mean that for a couple of grand you could make it a lot faster than some on this board with an 86-87. Janace Conely (Conely's Performance Plus) doesnt see the fun with owning a hotair, she will just tell you to spend a couple more grand on an intercooled car that is already faster than the hotair. When I owned my hotairs I looked at them like a challenge after I figured out how to maintain them. Same look as the big brothers with a turbo snap and sound that cant be rivaled by many other cars. To me, they are a great TR to start out on, I learned many lessons with those cars that has helped me with my 87. I miss my 84 rosewood T and would not think twice about buying another hotair. The other good thing has already been said in this thread, they are worth less than the 86-87 models which makes them cheaper to get into a better car.

Take your time with purchasing a hotair car. Look it over very carefully and try to find a mechanic that has worked on these cars to look it over. As long as you dont just take the first one you see you can end up with a real gem of a car.

From a past "hotair" owner I hope this helps a bit.