TR Longetivity??? and endless money pit????

[cd7]

Ok guys I want to know up front how hard it is to own a turbo buick, not as for buying it but for maintnence, and do they take alot of money to keep going in their high miles. My stepdad used to have a 85 gn set up pretty good with a stage block (i forget what stage) and i think he had an intercooler on it too and I am looking at a 87 turbo t with 101,000 miles but he says i should be hesitant with these getting into high mile and it just being something thats gonna take alot of money to be on the road, the car would only get driven on weekends and maybe raced with and right now it has no mods, but he said most likely anyone that had one of these drove it hard but i see you guys saying rebuilds at 150,000 and he said they start getting rough at 80,000 but i guess thats how its driven or raced, whats up, i need some advise TR of transam/z28 for this guy on a budget.

 

[timothydog]

Don't listen to the old man.
If you like the car get it.
I've had my Ttype for 3 years and the majority of money I've put into is strictly for improving performance.

If you take care of it it will last you a long time.
My car is about to roll to 150k.

 

[LikeMy6]

cd7,
I post here very seldom unless something sparks my interest, since this was your 1st post I would like to respond. These cars the Turbo Regals are one of the most durable performance cars ever built! thats a fact and when you ask how durable or reliable? well I ask how fast do you want to go? Low 11s is where they start to have durability problems if the engine is Factory original,10s are where the blocks main webbing start to fail. This V6 is IMO the Strongest V6 ever built. GM high tech magazine had a turbo regal named old gray which had nearly 250K miles on it (no rebuild) and it ran consistant low 12s only when they pushed it into the 11s did it finally give up the ghost. I think it spun a bearing.
Its important to remeber that when shopping for one of these cars try to find one that is nearly unmolested and hasnt had the motor rebuilt yet. The reason why is most shops rebuild these motors incorrectly giving them SB chevy clearances making them too loose and they will not live long like this.also check the trans to be sure the ID tag says its a BRF trans! these 2004r's are the most sought after and it may have been switched. and lastly the 86-87 model years are best for performance. since they were they intercooled models with the stronger trans.
Good luck on your search and once you find the right one you will be happy! But find the wrong one and you not only will be unhappy but broke trying to make it right!

Later.....

 

[salvageV6]

If the car was an umodded driver you probably will need about 2K more than your purchase price for upgraded maintenance and first NEEDED mods.

Fuel system upgrades, chip, air intake stuff, thermostat, etc.

Timing chain and valve springs if not done yet. Shocks, springs and tires as needed.

Spare parts and diagnostic tools and a service manual for the little problems such as fixing wiring and some options that may not work right.

Keep a 2K cushion and you will have no problems with a driver.

 

[cd7]

thanks guys for all the good advise, does anyone else want to share?

 

[cd7]

well let me ask this question now that i think about it, if i buy this car with 101,000 miles on it and no mods, what would be the things to do as soon as i got it and what would be some initial expected problems or problems in the next 10,000 miles?

 

[motorhead]

Originally posted by cd7
well let me ask this question now that i think about it, if i buy this car with 101,000 miles on it and no mods, what would be the things to do as soon as i got it and what would be some initial expected problems or problems in the next 10,000 miles?

I am JUST coming out of the same situation you are going into.

I bought a Buick that was or appeared (I have a few inclinations to suggest otherwise) to be: bone stock.

And your first mod should always be a new fuel pump: Walbro 307 or 340 are perfect.
Next: Doing a Tune-Up next is a must.

Then the real fun: Then an air filter and a chip and an adjustable fuel pressure regulator or a Bosch 237 would be appropriate. The “ands” continue to add up.

My car had ~about 80,000 miles on it when purchased… it was all sludgy up top inside the heads… pray for a car that got frequent oil changes.

 

[killerb]

my limited has 227,000 miles on it and it is still running strong.i say if it looks good and runs good go for it!

 

[timothydog]

If the car's never been touched some of the first things you should do are this:

Get a boost gauge to make sure you aren't over boosting and possibly causing damage to the engine.

Replace the stock nylon timing chain with a good steel one.

If the stock exhaust is leaking, get a new kit from the cat back at least. Hooker makes a good dual muffler kit for about $300.

Eliminate throttlebody coolant lines. Eliminate valve cover breather to turbo inlet bell (Then plug the hole on the turbo and buy a K&N style breather for the valve cover). Clean oil out of intercooler/up pipe/throttlebody. Get some new turbo hoses while your at it $20.

Replace tranny filter/fluid/gasket.

A new fuel pump and filter couldn't hurt. (A hot wire kit is recommended too.)

Test ohms on the coil pack for 11-13ohms from tower to tower vertically (if they read lower, replace it). Replace plugs (AC Delco R43TS) and wires.

Replace oil and get a bigger filter (AC PF52).

One more thing you will likely encounter. You will probably have some cracks on the driver side header. You can hear if you do. It makes a little (or big in my case) "ticking" sound when running. Pull it off and take it to a shop that can weld low grade stainless steel.

Further tuning will require a scan tool of some sort.



You can also check www.gnttype.org as a good source of information. Check out the technical information.

A couple vendors I've had success with parts are:
www.ramchargers.com
www.kirbanperformance.com

 

[cd7]

bump

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[8UWITH6]

Bought my 86 Ttype last May with 100K miles on it. It was basically stock, and was in decent condition. Just over a year later it has 118,8xx miles on it now. Still running on the original timing chain and valve springs (soon to be replaced), the car has been great. I have replaced the starter, put tires on it, shocks, sway bar end links, and some other misc crap. But like one guy said, most of the money I actually spent on the car was for NEEDED mods. IE- fuel system (pump, regulator, injectors), exhaust, downpipe, cold air kit, chip, etc etc. I cant complain really. I drove the car back and forth from school (110 mile trip each way) with no problems at all. Dont get me wrong, I take care of my vehicles. They get their oil changes, 02 sensors, plugs, and other misc maintenance items every time they are needed. If you take care of a TR, it will take care of you (most of the time)

 

[WH1 85]

I bought an 85 t-type back in november. The car was pretty clean and already had most of the basic mods. Fuel pump,aluminum radiator and so on.

My point is that the car WAS driven extremely hard by the previous owner. Since then I have been using it for a daily driver and been putting abouut 400 miles on a week. By the way the car is currently at 138,000.

Even after all of the abuse and all of the miles, it is still very reliable and extremely fast. The only thing has has broken is the powermaster. Besides that, no problems.

 

[Fred 86 GN]

TRs can be tempermental "money pits". Depends mostly on how hard they are pushed. Tune the car, get the basic maintenance done to it, and run it in the mid/high 12's and major items probably will not break (around 350hp). Run them in the 11's, and things will start to break (head gaskets and transmission most notibly) eventually.

The LT1 camaros have their own issues. Lots of little things and the opti-spark and plug wires really suck to work on. Plus they only run mid-13's typically with bolt-ons. Get them going in the 12's and other items start to fail.

I would not recommend a TR, or any other "hot rod" for a daily driver. A nice Honda or Toyota sedan, or caprice or crown vic would be much more reliable and comfortable for that duty. A TR will do the daily driver job better than most any other car that can go as fast as they do...but it is no fun when your only car is down for modifications or when something breaks from being pushed at the drags.

Just my opinion. HTH

 

[Turbo Brian]

i bought my gn about 2 years ago with 127k. the car was all stock and had regular oil changes. im now up to 147k and still running strong. i did the basic upgrades like fuel pump and timing chain then the speed bug bit and ive been slowly adding more goodies. the car should be in the mid-high 12's now and i still drive it every single day to work and school in full race mode (20#, 22deg chip, nitto's and 91 octane plus alky)

if you keep up with the maintanance and keep the car tuned well, it should last forever. if i didnt do any performance mods, the only things i would have needed to do to my car would have been the fuel pump, timing chaing, thermostat, and a maf sensor. and of those things, the maf is the only one that actually died, the rest were preventative maintanance.

if you take care of your car, it will take care of you!

 

[cd7]

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ok guys i want to know now am i money ahead with the late model camaro/firebird or gn, i know the gn is speed ahead but which needs less money with more reliable power, its kinda hard for me to spend 6-8k on a 14 year old car when i can have a camaro thats say 6-8 years old for the same price you know...

 

[Fred 86 GN]

6-8K?!?!

If that is all you plan to spend, you would be money ahead to get a Mustang! The F-body in that price range will need tires ($800+ just for them), front suspension parts, shocks, probably an opti-spark, plug wires and plugs in the near future (big PITA). A GN in that range will be a high milage stocker or, like I got, a high milage one with lots of bolt-ons just waiting to fail and need rebuilding. Only a Turbo Regal could be a decent deal for that level of cash. Could get a nice one for that much...if you can find one.

Course, you could luck into a great one for low cost. Or maybe cars are just dirt cheap where you live. My experience (dozen cars in the same number of years) is that you get what you pay for...nothing is for free.

Just my synical two cents.

 

[cd7]

NO mustang!!!!!!, basically i found this turbo t with 101,000 miles and all stock, it sounds like a nice car and its in the bottom end of my range, but i find alot of these nice in that range with around 100,000 miles which is ok with me, it would be just a weekend/race/special occasion car, no big miles being put on.