Beginning Mods for New Guy

[my1stgn]

As the post states I am new to this forum (have been reading for awhile but this is my second post) First off I have bought a 87 Buick GN and so far all I have is Poston Headers (which I bought only to replace the cracked stock manifolds) Also I repaced the fuel pump with a Walbro 340 and did the fuel pump wiring upgrade. Has 3" pipe w/ K&N Filter. Other than that (as far as I know) the car is still stock. Now since Im new to GN mods, I just wanted some advice as to what mods I should do next to get the best bang for the buck and what companies you all recommend. Im looking at starting of with:

1. Exhuast system (either Flowmaster or custom exhuast)

2. Computer chip w/ 60 lb motron injectors (Ive heard Red Armstrong makes good chips)

3. 3" Down pipe (any recommendations ?)

4. Bigger turbo (Ive been told a te44 would be a good start)

5. And bigger intercooler ( cant decide rather to go with a "stretch" intercooler in the stock location or a front mount, also an recommendations on brands?)

My goal is to hit 11-12's pretty soon by my long term goal is low 10's, possibly high 9's

Ill eventually do mods to the bottom end and might go with Nitrous but I just want info on begginng mods for now. Thanks again in advance. I have posted a little about me in the "South Western" Area incase anyones interested. Thanks

Victor

[Squid4life]

1. Hooker dual cat back or a 3" single shot from Summit (for the hookers) or one of the vendors (for single shot).

2. 60 mototrons would be a good choice and offer lots of room to grow. Turbotweak.com (Eric Stage I on here) has the best chips in my opinion. He also has KILLER customer service.

3. 3" Down pipe- I have a Terry houston and am VERY pleased with it. Very popular piece.

4. Same with the TE44. Very good turbo, many say one of the best all around turbos without getting crazy with supporting mods.

5. Stock IC with Dutt neck mod, maybe the CAS V4 for sale for $450 right now. Either way has seen 11's at least.

6. Razors progressive Alky. I am addint that to your list.

But, before you do any of this or push the car hard get a scanmaster or turbolink. You need to be able to monitor what is going on. Aslo adjustable fuel pressure regulator, and a gauge to set fuel pressure, as well as ensure it raises 1 lb/1psi boost. Knock gauge, boost gauge, tach. Do not rely on the stock boost/tach. More to follow I am sure. Do a search for any topic you think about. A lot of info on here. Most of the questions you will ask for your first year or two of owning the car will have already been answered on previous posts.

Oh, and CONGRATS!!! WELCOME!!! ENJOY YOUR CAR!!!

last thing: go to USER CP, edit signature. Then put your mods, cars info etc in there. Then when you ask a question you can get more detailed, correct responses knowing what you are working with.

[vader87]

I agree with the post above! Get the scanmaster or turbo link first! This is very important! As for the chip Turbo Tweak. I love it!! If you put on a front mount, you will need to go to dual fans as it will run hotter due to less air flow. Just remember if your goal is eventually 10s, you will have to buy everything over again(turbo, intercooler, etc). I had the almost exact combo mentioned above and ran a 11.8. Good luck and have fun!

[Blown&Injected]

I have been doing this for 20 years (minus 2 months) and it is common to make to much out of the mods game. I do not recommend going over the same performance parts again and again and it sounds like you wish to go fast. Ergo:
1) Scan Tool
2) Fuel Pump/wire-relay
3) Good mandrel bend out of the turbo down pipe
4) 70 series turbo (it is a big one that needs a god converter to work right)
5) Big injectors (72 to 83 pph) - will need a modified computer to drive these
6) Good front mount IC
7) By now you have fried your trans so do a good rebuild with the converter mentioned above - add a big cooler
8) Some of the standard stuff like no cat and a solid MAF pipe with good filter and a good state of tune - everything running as it should.

For about $4.5K you should be well on your way to some serious fun

[my1stgn]

Awesome Guys!! This is exactly all the info I needed to get started. I will probly open up the exhuast first, then maybe the chip and injectors. I run the 60 lb Motrons in the GTP and Ive been pleased with them so far. I jumped from a PB of 13.2 @ LACR to a 12.5 after a little tuning and switch out the injectors. And I never new about TurboTweak.com but with the good suggestions I heard, Im going with that! Also I heard Red Armstrong was good too but Im thinking TurboTweak since you guys recommended it! And any more info you guys could throw @ me Ill suck it up like a sponge!!!!!

[BlackMetal]

Where is the CAS intercooler selling for 450 right now?

[buickboy]

Forget about Nitrous. Go with the above reccommendations and you will be at your goal in no time.

[my1stgn]

Yeah the thing is I want to keep the car a daily driver and still try to get some good gas mileage so Im thinking about doing a 300 Shot Wet System (of course I will start off witha 125-150 and work my way up) but that should help get me into the low 10's Im looking at. Once I build the bottom end Im thinkg of going with JE Pistons since I run those on my GTP and Ive had great luck! But Mike was talking about having to do a different block to stregthen the bottom end. Well I guess Ill cross that bridge when I get there but I do plan on trying to build a "bullit proof" set up and not take any short cuts!

[turbo39151]

I concur with the scanmaster comment. Buy it first before anything else. I learned the hard way and did lots of mods first, thinking that the scanmaster was just a fine tuning device. (it is, but so much more).

When I finally got mine, I discovered things like my TPS and IAC where out of alignment which didn't let the car run right. Still tuning...

Gte the car in perfect running order first and then play with the mods. (it's a lot cheaper )

[DCVING 6]

Originally Posted by my1stgn

Yeah the thing is I want to keep the car a daily driver and still try to get some good gas mileage so Im thinking about doing a 300 Shot Wet System (of course I will start off witha 125-150 and work my way up) but that should help get me into the low 10's Im looking at. Once I build the bottom end Im thinkg of going with JE Pistons since I run those on my GTP and Ive had great luck! But Mike was talking about having to do a different block to stregthen the bottom end. Well I guess Ill cross that bridge when I get there but I do plan on trying to build a "bullit proof" set up and not take any short cuts!

Don't take this the wrong way, but a 300 shot is crazy! NOS isn't needed with these cars. With adjustments to the timing and boost, you should be able to reach 10's with the right supporting mods.

[my1stgn]

Well the only reason I said 300 Shot is becuase I found a 300 shot kit for the GN that has all the nozzles located under the dog house and I want to keep the car some what as a daily driver and help me get into the high 9's/low 10's and I know if I go all motor/turbo then I doubt it will be a true daily driver. But 300 does sound like a lot so Im gonna start with 125 and move up slowly!

[DCVING 6]

Originally Posted by my1stgn

Well the only reason I said 300 Shot is becuase I found a 300 shot kit for the GN that has all the nozzles located under the dog house and I want to keep the car some what as a daily driver and help me get into the high 9's/low 10's and I know if I go all motor/turbo then I doubt it will be a true daily driver. But 300 does sound like a lot so Im gonna start with 125 and move up slowly!

May want to check out the Auxilary Injection portion of the board and talk to some people who have been there done that. Like I said not too many people use N20 on GN's, especially in large amounts like that. There is a reason for it.

There is quite a learning curve for the Buicks. As you mess with it more and read more on here you will learn quite a bit about them. It's kind of a lot to be looking for a high 9 second car that is a daily driver and gets good gas mileage.

[my1stgn]

Well Im not sure why people dont use N2O on these cars but if you have any info that I should know Id appreciate it. I just figure most people dont really like nitrous because they had very bad experiences. Im running nitrous on my GTP and Ive got a daily driven GTP that runs low 12's @ LACR and still gets 20 MPG Average (around 16 city and 24 highway) while other people in my club run low 13's with more mods and only get 16-18 MPG Average.

Now I know comparing a GN to a GP, well there really is no comparison but I figure if I could build a solid bottom end and run a strong set-up that will get me high 10's low 11's (which from what Ive heard/seen is very possible) and average about 15-18 MPG, then with a properly tuned nitrous kit I should be able to see high 9's or even deeper 10's..... but I guess I wont really find out until I start modding..... not to mentioned a took off about 1 sec off my 1/4 time with a 90 shot of nitrous so I figure a 125-150 to start off with should take off about a second on the GN...... Now whate negative stuff have you heard about running nitrous on these cars? ........

[DCVING 6]

It's not so much bad experiences, from what I have read, most people don't use n20 because the bigger the shot you run, the more you have to lower the boost and timing. It is very different from a N/A or blower car. It also involves a lot more tuning that isn't needed when you can just run more boost and timing.

A stock shortblock should get you into the 10's with ported irons and a roller cam, and a 63ish turbo on boost alone. As long as your not on the gas all time, you should have any problems getting 16pmg or more.

When it comes time to gow low 10's, get an eagle crank, K1 rods, J&E's, and up the turbo, fuel system, etc.

[my1stgn]

Well Ive heard the stock block (with mods of corse and built) could only handle soo much power then your have to go to a stage II block or something. But uping the boost and timing verses using nitrous does make sense.... also I hear almost everyone running an alky kit but I was just gona go with some good old fashion race gas. I usually run VP C16 on the GP, I know its leaded but I have no cat and the O2 sensor is lead resistant (so it works good for now but eventually it will die!) ...... so I hear you could run 91-93 octane w/ alky and it runs as good as race gas? Pros and cons please .... sorry I keep dragging this post but the info here is soooo adicting! Thanks again!!!!!

[DCVING 6]

Originally Posted by my1stgn

Well Ive heard the stock block (with mods of corse and built) could only handle soo much power then your have to go to a stage II block or something. But uping the boost and timing verses using nitrous does make sense.... also I hear almost everyone running an alky kit but I was just gona go with some good old fashion race gas. I usually run VP C16 on the GP, I know its leaded but I have no cat and the O2 sensor is lead resistant (so it works good for now but eventually it will die!) ...... so I hear you could run 91-93 octane w/ alky and it runs as good as race gas? Pros and cons please .... sorry I keep dragging this post but the info here is soooo adicting! Thanks again!!!!!

Thats true, a stock block with billet main caps or girdle with the forged internals is good for approx. 700hp. Some have made more, some have broken with less, just an approximation. Once you get into the stage 2 stuff, it gets REALLY expensive really fast. Your looking at around 2000 just for the block, at least 1200 for crank, 1000 for good rods, 1500 in oiling system, 800 for custom pistons, etc. You'll have easily 7-8 thousand in the shortblock alone.
Race gas will work fine, no alky *needed*. It is however a nice option. In short it allows you to run lower octane gas, like 93, and still be able to run high amounts of boost. It will also help cool inlet air temps. Most of the guys I know run the race gas at the track and the alky on the street since 116 is expensive to cruise around on. Thats not to say that you can't use alky at the track.

[Gary Wells]

fwiw & imho:
Real turbo Buicks don't need n2o, but that is just me.

[SloGN]

you need Direct Scan TE-45a turbo #72 injectors 3200 stall convertor Front mount I/C C116 boost @ 30 psi high 6's 1/8 mile here you go. all on a stock block, heads, cam. I have seen it done several times.

[my1stgn]

Can you run a TE-45a turbo with stock TC?...Pros/Cons?.... And the only reason want to go with 60 lb Motrons is becuase I could run them with the stock PCM, Im assuming I have to get a driver for the PCM if I go with the #72 right?.... And how does a 3200 stall TC handle on the street? Just want to make sure I am able to drive the GN daily ..... thanks again for all the info!!!!!!

[DCVING 6]

No on the stock TC for that turbo. TE-44 will be about your limit on turbo with stock TC, and the TE-44 is good for mid 11's typically, low 11's if your really leaning on it.
I have a 300