The Numbers Game with the (SPI) Trunk ID Label - Kirban

[garyk1970]

Your 8S1 is probably B51 the Insulation Package all TR's got it's located in the B column.

7YU is probably a spring code.

VQ1 is FLEET ASSISTANCE PROGRAM from the G-body olds site.

thanks....youre right ,i mis-read from the pic 8S1 is really BS1....GREAT INFO...the VQ1 is interesting........

 

[garyk1970]

question

about code 31u......i found it means exterior color Arctic white pearl?? was this car a goof up,and then sold discounted to the DOE?
ive had this car apart for paint,and theres never been any white paint on this car........
code typed by mistake?

 

[Dennis Kirban]

52 CODES RPO pic;

still cannot find these codes;

1)7YU
2)8S1
3)VQ1


Looks like Donnie and my T were built 375 cars apart......acording to the last digits of our vins,...

kirban 2 cents worth

with codes that close probably both built same week....

On the 7 codes Salvage 6 is probably rite as for springs you wil have 4 codes one for each front and one for each rear think they range from 6 and 7 being fronts and 8 and 9 starting number for rears. I may be off by one digit as my info is at home.

kirbanperformance.com

denniskirban@yahoo.com

still no winners on powermaster 2 part question

none with 50 or under or l00 or more codes...

powermaster contest ends tomorrow nite - friday....17th 2009

 

[salvageV6]

GE for the switch.

Some reservoirs had solid rubber hoses some had rubber and metal hoses/pipes.

And Cardone removes the stickers.

 

[Dennis Kirban]

GE for the switch.

Some reservoirs had solid rubber hoses some had rubber and metal hoses/pipes.

And Cardone removes the stickers.

kirban 2 cents worth

your answer is partially correct but you are going down the wrong road on the reservoir portion. Has nothing to do with Cardone at all.

time is running out on this trivia question seems I have stumped the Turbo owners on this one. At least for more than 24 hours...

kirbanperformance.com

denniskirban@yahoo.com

On a side note Salvage 6 judging from your wealth of knowledge, you must have a good amount of original Buick information at your fingertips also.

 

[Dennis Kirban]

kirban 2 cents worth

trivia contest time

not eligible past winners, turbo related employees etc.

Concerning the powermaster brake unit. Probably the most preplexing part under the hood of 1985-1987 Turbo Regals. I know of only a few people that know everything about them and I am not one of them.

The research for the two answers I seek is based on my collection of cores and Richard Clarks collection. Approximately 600 cores currently plus between the two of us and what we have seen over the years. In other words if your answer is not what we say it is you gotta show me proof.

First part of the question:

What company made/supplied the brake switch to GM for the powermaster?

Second part of the question:

How many different reservoirs have you seen on the Turbo Regal powermaster brake unit. Give brief description of each explaining your answer.

First correct answer to BOTH parts in the same post is a prize winner.

the clock is ticking.......

kirbanperformance.com

denniskirban@yahoo.com

Because the triva question is on a previous page I wanted to repost it as the deadline for the answer is less than 24 hours away.

Prize is valued at $50.....

So far the first part of the question has been answered by 2 people GE (General Electric) second part seems to be the tough one....

kirbanperformance.com

denniskirban@yahoo.com

It took me several years before I stumbled on this myself......

 

[salvageV6]

I only have 3 reservoirs to look at and they're all identical excepting the hose/pipe to the pump.

All the '87s I've seen had the same one.

I was joking about Cardone and the stickers.

But they do remove the stock stickers on the rebuilds or maybe they just fall off. :biggrin:

 

[Dennis Kirban]

I only have 3 reservoirs to look at and they're all identical excepting the hose/pipe to the pump.

All the '87s I've seen had the same one.

I was joking about Cardone and the stickers.

But they do remove the stock stickers on the rebuilds or maybe they just fall off. :biggrin:

kirban 2 cents worth.....

I don't wanna give any more clues and when I do give the answer you will understand why it is really not a trick question. those stickers probably fall off in some cases...we have them reproduced...actually cardone makes a new reservoir color is off though.

It was out company that really pushed them to make the brake bowl they were looking at it and I told them I could sell a bunch by themselves something they never considered as they are in the rebuilding business not selling individual parts.

kirbanperformance.com

denniskirban@yahoo.com

Got people thinking......

 

[Dennis Kirban]

about code 31u......i found it means exterior color Arctic white pearl?? was this car a goof up,and then sold discounted to the DOE?
ive had this car apart for paint,and theres never been any white paint on this car........
code typed by mistake?

kirban 2 cents worth

for the exterior paint to be different code would have to read D83 for special solid paint.

My one options booklet says for 31U primary color exterior med teal metallic

kirbanperformance.com

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[salvageV6]

Yup just bought an accumulator from ya a month or two ago.

Wish the nut was on the outside.

Had to have my buddy pick up a 22mm and a 7/8" wrench at the flea market to make a couple of thin headed ones to get a full 20 lb.s of torque on the inner nut.

Thick standard forged Sears 7/8" wrench wouldn't fit in there against the master cylinder housing and the weld buildup at the nut, I could barely get any torque on it.

The Kawasaki bike 22mm box wrench was nice and thin and fit in there perfectly after I cut it to make it an open end wrench.

The 7/8" one I ground down on the grinder and it's a bit beefier one, no pictures of that one.

No biggy $2 for 2 wrenches. :biggrin:

It's a great thing to be able to get for us powermaster users.

 

[Dennis Kirban]

Yup just bought an accumulator from ya a month or two ago.

Wish the nut was on the outside.

Had to have my buddy pick up a 22mm and a 7/8" wrench at the flea market to make a couple of thin headed ones to get a full 20 lb.s of torque on the inner nut.

Thick standard forged Sears 7/8" wrench wouldn't fit in there against the master cylinder housing and the weld buildup at the nut, I could barely get any torque on it.

The Kawasaki bike 22mm box wrench was nice and thin and fit in there perfectly after I cut it to make it an open end wrench.

The 7/8" one I ground down on the grinder and it's a bit beefier one, no pictures of that one.

No biggy $2 for 2 wrenches. :biggrin:

It's a great thing to be able to get for us powermaster users.

kirban 2 cents worth

when they did their first run of them I told them about that since the nut was inward and suggested they go with a thicker/wider one to accomandate a wrench. We got some of the first samples to test since size was slightly bigger wanted to make sure they fit in the area.

Second run they did the nut was wider, this current run seems to be like the first run where the nut requires a thin wrench...my son ground down one of my wrenches to work.

Knock on wood the repro brake bowl has been virtually trouble free and has cured about 90% of the brake problems people have.

One thing that GM never told owners at least that I am aware of is, that brake fluid should be changed out at least once every 2 years due to contamination/moisture attacking the unit. Something most foreign car makers do state to do. At least the high end ones. Powermasters at least based on problems compared to vacuum set ups seem to be very touchy to this issue.

I am far from an expert on them, actually Richard Clarks coming Saturday to our Open House and he is bringing his test equipment and can test powermasters for customers on and off the car. His knowledge of that system is second to none.

When I started in the GTO business late 1970s I never ever sold any power brake units or anything related to brakes.. the turbo buick on the other hand, is like a gold mine for brake issues and selling parts related to the powrmaster.

You live in fear every time you hit the brakes that the brake lite is going to flicker on and the pedal is going to be hard as a rock.

On the plus side without Cardone investing the money, I doubt anyone one would have pulled it off because of the liability of making it. I told them it a good thing it is not made in China.

kirbanperformance.com

denniskirban@yahoo.com

The learning curve is growing....

 

[Dennis Kirban]

kirban 2 cents worth

Getting back to the next topic body bushings....

Some owners call them body mounts, we call them body bushings, GM's name for them is simply cushions. So, in any case whatever you refer to them as its all the same. Basically a hockey puck in appearance.

By now most will agree for trunk ID codes, confusion exists, consistency is non existant to some degree. Just positioning the trunk ID label, is not 100% the same from car to car year to year and as Eric pointed out sometime during 1986 they switched to the non laminated version that can be seen on 1987s.

Body bushings is no different. Keep in mind my material is all Buick related, but other G body cars exist, Olds-Chevy-Pontiac. The Monte Carlo SS is probably the one most associated with the Turbo Buick. For sure more of them (Monte Carlo SS) exist than Olds 442 and Pontiac. I can't recall Pontiac having a performance model unless you consider the "ugly" 2 plus 2 model with no trunk, huge back glass, and blessed with even more weight. Monte Carlo also had a similar model. Which had the large back window and small trunk.

While to some these are "collectible cars" the values are not that great.

Logical thinking all being G bodys, rear wheel drive with virtually interchangeable drivetrains and rears by that I mean you could swap them you would think each model G body would have the same amount of upper and lower body bushings (cushions) in each model.

Not true.....

more to follow

kirbanperformance.com

denniskirban@yahoo.com

Cars owned: 1995 and 2002 M3s....

Comments welcome pertaining to this topic/ trivia contest still no winners!!!!

 

[Dennis Kirban]

kirban 2 cents worth

Powermaster trivia answer time:

Apparently, this 2 part question has stumped the readers of this thread. Normally my contests do not have deadlines but with our Open House tomorrow I wanted to show this item to those that are attending this event.

GE is correct for the brake switch manufacturer/supplier to GM.

Richard Clark and my self have actually seen a total of THREE different size brake reservoirs on powermaster units in turbo buicks.

In most cases owners are familar with two. The one that is correct for our cars and the one that slopes on a forward angle that came in other applications. Not being familar with their application usage in station wagons etc I am not sure of the angle was needed to clear the hood or for some other reason. Outside of the angle style that one and the correct one for our cars were the same width and took the same lid.

When I wrote my first book in 1997 even I had not been aware another version other than the 2 mentioned above existed.

Since that time, we have now had several of a third version brake reservior on a powermaster brake unit in a turbo regal. The length and height is the same. The difference lies in the actual width. The width is 3 1/2 inches wide whereas the other more common ones run 4 inches wide a difference of about 1/2 inch.

Internally the narrower one lacks one of the internal partitions and the sticker code on the front of the outside is a different code.

So, there actually is 3 possibilities of different size reservoirs possible on a powermaster brake unit. I have never seen another version other than the 3 mentioned here.

Perhaps and I am guessing here maybe the narrow version was an early one. The parts book I have is very vague. Obviousily capacity is not as great with this narrow version.

More info etc coming later this weekend.

kirbanperformance.com

denniskirban@yahoo.com

Still no winner on 50 or less or 100 or more codes;

Reggie 44 is actually staying at our house tonite from Canada who owns the car with 98 codes...and can verify he has now seen the 3 different brake reservoirs.
He is down from Canada to attend our Open House tomorrow.

 

[russgoodman]

about code 31u......i found it means exterior color Arctic white pearl?? was this car a goof up,and then sold discounted to the DOE?
ive had this car apart for paint,and theres never been any white paint on this car........
code typed by mistake?

Gary, my car has the same code (our cars are almost identical) and I got really worried when I found that. But the paint code is correct for the dark blue metallic.

 

[garyk1970]

Gary, my car has the same code (our cars are almost identical) and I got really worried when I found that. But the paint code is correct for the dark blue metallic.

thanks....your car a bench seat car also? any numbers stamped in red on your owners manual?

 

[russgoodman]

thanks....your car a bench seat car also? any numbers stamped in red on your owners manual?

Mine's got buckets, I think thats the only difference. Don't think the manual has anything stamped on it. What does that mean, one of the methanol test cars?

 

[buickbert]

gentelman, GENTELMAN PLEASE!. we are getting off topic, we are still looking for code

ZR6


i know there is someone here that can discover this code as my 87 gn has this code along with a code that matches up to a olds code for fleet vehicle.
great reading guys, keep it up

thx
buickbert

 

[Dennis Kirban]

kirban 2 cents worth

Going by memory I think on one of the earlier pages ZR6 was discussed. Possible car show car? Other Z codes one refers (ZR9) to Syclone, and the Vette ZR1 performance related. Problem is that code does not appear in any of the production booklets I have dated in the late 1990s and early 2001 issues. It skips right over that code.

It also appears several owners have it, making it hard to believe that it would be a car for shows. With Erics background he should be able to shed some lite on this code.

It appears I may not get a winner at 50 or less or 100 or more codes.

Bunred out tonite long weekend for me with the Open House more later this week on body bushings/cushions.

For starters: Take a look under the rear area of your car at the very last location of the body mounts. They will be back by your bumper one side will be slightly differet postion than the other side.

If no one has ever installed them, I am curious to know the following:

I want to know the year of your turbo regal and if you have the lower cushion in that #7 position? It is important to state the year of your car.

If you have no "cushion" you will have a gap between the metal washer and the bottom of your frame rail. The bolt head is I think 15mm.

I am only interested at this point in position #7 the very last one.

Lets hear from you.....yes you have a lower one there or no and what year your car is.

kirbanperformance.com

denniskirban@yahoo.com

Don't know all the answers, but have the questions to ask.....and some of the asnwers

 

[garyk1970]

Mine's got buckets, I think thats the only difference. Don't think the manual has anything stamped on it. What does that mean, one of the methanol test cars?

your car being optioned close to mine,just interested in the red stamp.....5 cars in test were unmodified......but all so far were bench seat cars.....

 

[Dennis Kirban]

kirban 2 cents worth

Still wanting to hear from any 1984-85-86-87 Turbo regal owner that has never installed any of the "missing" cushions (bushings). My interest is I want to know if you have the lower one in position #7 which is the very last one on the frame rail back by your rear bumper.

Also here is the next triva contest:

Same rules open to any members not related to any Buick Turbo company.

Prize value $25

Deadline friday 24th 6 pm.....

See if I can stump the group again. As part of my research I did consult with Richard Clark to confirm my answers.

The question involves only the 1986-1987 Turbo Regals Only.

Several things can engage or turn on and draw current when the car is completely shut off and key is removed. Example in the middle of the nite or whenever, and in most cases can drain the battery completely. Some of the answer is standard equipment parts and part of the answer is option related.

Excluding the lighting circuit (eg: interior lites trunk hood etc) and the ECM
name 4 things that can turn on with no key on, and with no warning.

I have personally experienced 3 of these instances.

the clock is ticking.....

good luck


kirbanperformance.com

denniskirban@yahoo.com

Owned 2 of the 1947 Studebaker trucks years ago. Those trucks the front fenders where identical and interchangable with the rear fender on the same side. The front and rear bumper was also the same.