I am 37 and believe it or not never really knew about the Turbo Regals back then. Stumbled upon them back in 92. Did not buy my first Turbo Buick engine car until 1999 and it was a 89 TTA. I was wondering at what point did people start modding these cars. I know if you bought a new car back in 86 or 87 you would not have wanted to void any warranties back then. Were there parts to buy for these cars back then. (example: bigger turbos, downpipes and intercooler swaps) Or did the modding parts come out later on in the 90's?
Some history questions about our cars.
- Thread starter Turbodan
- Start date
Welcome!
By registering with us, you'll be able to discuss, share and private message with other members of our community.
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2003
- Messages
- 4,285
There is several people from my area that I know who bought GN's new in 87 and went right from the Buick dealer right to the track! There was also 2 GNX's that I know of that went right to the race track from the dealers. The one GN owner was good friends with the service manager at the local Buick dealer and would take the car there for warrenty repairs with rubber all over up the side of the car. He even took it with the slicks on it one time. Back in the late 80's early 90's (when they were still new and under warrenty) you would always see a bunch of them at the track. Others in this area drove them around the streets wippin everything they could. Lots were stolen and wrecked around here. You can tell when someone is a original racer as you'll see all these cool old school mods on them. Downpipes and all that stuff was just a little different back then! 
My first mod in 88 was
1 craftman socket over the fuel pressure regulator and hit it with a hammer
160 therm
block the coolent going int the throttlebody
liberate the cat
threaded waste gate rod(had to cut and thread the rod and add a long nut)
and wider tires
12.80 at 104
and the GM dealership did it for me ..well my friend at the dealership lol
1 craftman socket over the fuel pressure regulator and hit it with a hammer
160 therm
block the coolent going int the throttlebody
liberate the cat
threaded waste gate rod(had to cut and thread the rod and add a long nut)
and wider tires
12.80 at 104
and the GM dealership did it for me ..well my friend at the dealership lol
1st bolt on mods....
exhaust was about 3mos down the rd, then intake ( air cleaner and tube),
bigger inj's was about 6-7 months, and fuel pump was right behind inj's,
tires, oil pump mod.
KB was about 3 miles away so I bought a lot of their stuff, never ran it at the drags, had the car for about 1yr then got divorced and the car went too!
exhaust was about 3mos down the rd, then intake ( air cleaner and tube),
bigger inj's was about 6-7 months, and fuel pump was right behind inj's,
tires, oil pump mod.
KB was about 3 miles away so I bought a lot of their stuff, never ran it at the drags, had the car for about 1yr then got divorced and the car went too!
Raced my first 86 GN in 86 
modded 2 weeks after I got it just like every other guy was doin back then !!! ton's of them at the drags My TTA was stock for one night (thats when we bought it new ) went to the track @ 300 miles and 3 days later ...then continued to buy prob 30 GNs and a handful of TTAs
modded 2 weeks after I got it just like every other guy was doin back then !!! ton's of them at the drags My TTA was stock for one night (thats when we bought it new ) went to the track @ 300 miles and 3 days later ...then continued to buy prob 30 GNs and a handful of TTAs I wish I could get my girlfriend into my car. For some reason she don't get it. She has been in my car once since I got it in August. Of course i only put 300 miles on it since. Wow!!! 30 GN's and some TTA's your like the Jay Leno of Turbo Regals.
87BuickMan
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2006
- Messages
- 209
What did this do for you?
I think they new that if they modded them anymore, they would have warranty issues. Think about this. Why couldnt they have put on a 3" DP? Why couldnt they have put in a bigger fuel pump? Why couldnt they have had 3" necks on the intercoolers? Why didnt they use the power injection? And many more...Just think about it. Many people wouldnt have added water or alky to the tanks, and boom headgaskets gone.
Jason
turbofish38
Le Pétomane
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2002
- Messages
- 6,160
Just look at the April 86 HOTROD to answer that question. 13.9 bone stock? Ya right! No matter how much tweaking you did without touching the chip you'd be hard pressed to break a 14.0 with a bone stock car. The press cars were ringers and guess who did the tuning.
I've still got ALL my time slips. One week after I took delivery of my 86 (new), all I did was put in a KB chip, air cleaner, and race gas. went to the local track (on the original tires) and ripped off a 13.11. And I was the slowest T/R there that evening by almost a full second in the pure stock class.
A real sticky track and temps in the mid 40's didn't hurt.
MeanBuicks
Scaring the neighbors!
- Joined
- May 24, 2001
- Messages
- 3,658
The engineers were well aware of the potential; they developed it. These production vehicles were actually the culmination of more than a decade of Buick R&D at racetracks and dragstrips. The distributor-less ignition system and sequential fuel injection systems along with parts like the crank & cam sensors came right from Buick Power Source efforts; particularly 800 Hp Indy cars. The rest of GM didn't get this technology in production for many years.
- Joined
- May 26, 2001
- Messages
- 2,886
When I was in HS my friend Ken had the first 87 GN in town. It wasn't until the middle to end of '88 before serious parts really started to spring up for the Turbo Buicks, that really made a difference and made power. I remember the day he got his ATR catalog and Kenne Bell catalog in the mail. He had parts ordered within a week. Back then, ATR did something that has really caught on in the aftermarket industry, especially with the Import crowd of today. And that was to offer Stage packages. His first round of mods were Stage 1 & Stage 2. This consisted of a Pit Bull chip, t-stat, fan wiring trick on the ballast, ram air and exhaust. This put his car solidly into the mid 13s and it ruled the streets. I believe Kenne Bell was the first to offer parts for the 86 model cars. Also, the local Buick dealership had a very cool Maintenance manager and would sorta turn a blind eye towards Turbo Buicks that were modified and still had a warranty. Another friend of mine had alot of stuff replaced under warranty with his 87 GN, this included 1 turbo, 2 trannys, 1 torque converter, 1 blown head gasket and 1 power master. This was circa 90-93. That Manager was a racer from way back and really catered to fellow Turbo Buick racers. He raced 70-72 GS. It took alot of trial and error to figure out what parts made power and what parts were snake oil.
Good times.
Patrick
Good times.
Patrick
Similar threads
