Taking GN to shop... Any way of tuning it down?

[MAK507]

If i were a paint shop owner i wouldn't even work on a car if the owner wouldnt even trust me enough to move the thing around the shop.

You said it yourself sir, "if I were a paint shop owner." I'm a business banker, and out of my five years of managing clients, only about 20% of owners are in the shop 100% of the time. In my experience, most owners that are in the shop have an annual gross revenue of $250K or less. I could take it to a small shop like that, but they're usually backed up with multiple cars waiting in the shop. That's why we go to bigger places, right? With that being said, this is a big place where the owner is not there all the time to be Big Brother.

I understand the whole "if you can't trust them to move your car............." comment but sometimes you just have to try, as much as you can in advance, to prevent people from being stupid. I do the same as the OP. I try to remove stupidity, temptation and carelessness out of the equation.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

Temptation is the biggest culprit that I like to minimize as much as possible.

A shop owner that doesn't appreciate that concern is probably an ass that has had that same complaint in the past.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[VtheGNMan]

What about just using an Emissions chip? Wouldn't that in effect kill it but still make it drivable?

 

[MAK507]

What about just using an Emissions chip? Wouldn't that in effect kill it but still make it drivable?

Yeah, I thought about this all too late. Car is going in tomorrow morning. I was thinking of the Extender chip with the offered valet mode.

I was hoping TurboTweak chip + power logger would let me tune it down.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bruce Urie]

When I have to take mine in, very rarely, I always disconnect the rod to the wastegate thingy by removing the clip....then I put a small padlock that fits into the rod end hole and lock it......no turbo at all....drives like a slow V6....believe me this works well. Get one of those little pad lock that's about 1/2 " long or so with the padlock arm that small enough to fit into the rod end. They come with little jewelry chests sometimes.....I used one that came with a cheap undercar cable for a carcover......fit perfect....only you have the key. If it's cut off, you'll KNOW that they abused it.

Or put a small bolt through the hole of the rod, thread on a nut, then splay the end of the bolt.(cut the bolt end with two 90 degree cuts in about 1/8 inch....the splay them out with a screwdriver..)..the nut will not come off until you, yourself, cut it off with a Dremel tool....I've done that, too once.

Just ideas. Good luck with it.

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[Linewalker]

I've taken the rod off, but never thought about the lock. Great idea. Thank you!

 

[MAK507]

Those are awesome ideas. I wish I didn't have an external waste gate with manual boost controller


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[whitehot1]

I would take the ECM ( computer ) out and take it with me or just unplug it. You could prestage the removal of the connector plugs so it will only take a few seconds to unplug it.You will have to unplug the power wire for the ECM by the battery before unplugging the connectors to the ECM. When you give them the keys, tell them the car was having issues while driving there. When they go out to pull it in and it won't have any electrical power they will think that was the problem you were having. They will push it in to do the work so they can get paid. And that's what they are in business for, the money to pay the bills.

Good luck with what ever you decide to do. Hopefully all will go well.

 

[Linewalker]

I wonder if you can remove the main chip and just leave the "limp home" chip in there.

 

[MAK507]

I wonder if you can remove the main chip and just leave the "limp home" chip in there.

Anyone have any comment to this?

Sounds reasonable? I'm dropping off this car in five hours. Hopefully someone responds in time to make it happen

#late4thofJulynightWithTheNeigborsFML


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[corsair231]

I think you can just unplug the cam sensor and the car will only run in limp home. I'm not sure though because the car may not crank that way. It is probably not something they would look for as long as the car cranks.

 

[Bruce Urie]

I've taken the rod off, but never thought about the lock. Great idea. Thank you!

Wow! I finally helped someone here! Made my day! You're welcome! I'll celebrate now with a cold Coors!!

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[Bruce Urie]

Those are awesome ideas. I wish I didn't have an external waste gate with manual boost controller


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Buy a Corvette.

Bruce '87 Grand National

 

[haywire4130]

Theres a simple and affordable solution, get a bailey 2 step, wire it up and just set the max limit to like 2200 rpm, itll be enough to move the car around and will prevent any damaging joy rides. And i have one for sale for cheap if youre interested (i switched to xfi and am using cal hartlines 2 step with it). Cheap insurance and youll have a fun toy to play with when launching.

 

[MAK507]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I took the car, met all the shop workers and prayed to God that everything will be okay [emoji16]
Here are pictures of the car before I took it in to the shop.

Body shop progress:

These were taken Friday afternoon. Still have to do Lower trunk lid, rear bumper, and passenger side.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[VtheGNMan]

This will be an awesome transformation for you. That was pretty weathered.

 

[pmesfun]

.

 

[turbo39151]

Interior should be out of the car. No seats, no drive- at least not easily.

 

[1986 Buick GX1]

It's good to see you're giving it some much needed love.

 

[JimP]

Sorry I'm a little late but for future situations just gap the plugs really wide, it will start it will run, it will not build much boost before it will pop and stumble. It won't hurt anything in the process.

I've done this with my procharged Marauder but haven't had to with the Buick.

Nice to see a car getting the love, post up some after pics, would love to see it all painted and assembled.

 

[JimP]

Sorry I'm a little late but for future situations just gap the plugs really wide, it will start it will run, it will not build much boost before it will pop and stumble. It won't hurt anything in the process.

I've done this with my procharged Marauder but haven't had to with the Buick.

Nice to see a car getting the love, post up some after pics, would love to see it all painted and assembled.