New guy from Rochester, NY

Like you say, personal preference. I just had bad luck and after $10k in my 383 I wanted to puke looking at the gauge that low before the thermostat opened.

I watched a guy with his arm in the window of my GN back when I was 16 right after my mother bought the car. It was in the Culver Ridge Plaza. His fingers were less than an inch from the lock knob as I walked up to the car. He ran into another car with a broken rear window and drove off. They went over to the theater and stole a gas powered compressor out of a truck and took off. It was around 12:00 noon. Turned out the other car was stolen 2 days earlier.

Right after that my cousins 84 cutlass was stolen right from his driveway in Webster. Found it the next day behind a house by East high-school. He had a for sale sign from his old car in the back and the guy renting the house called the number. He only cared because it was in his parking spot. Took RPD 4 hours to get there and then impounded the car because of the broken column. I know how it is. I'm scared with both of my cars.
 
What weight do you use?
I'm old school and prefer thicker oil. 10w40 should be good. A lot of guys are running 20w50 but many say that it just puts a strain on the pump and not worth it. How many miles are on your car and on the engine? 10w30 would be fine with low miles and not too much abuse. What are your plans? Just a driver or going to play. Mine was completely stock even the air box and chip. Looked just like yours under the hood. Took about a week of driving before the credit card came out. Upping the boost and adding methanol cut off 2 seconds and 12 mph with nothing else. Traction was gone after that. New Mickey Thompson drag radials should drop my 60' ft time this year. 2.2s was embarrassing. I think my wife might have beat me in her 14 Malibu. Hoping for a decent time this summer with the new parts, but I mainly want fun on the street where it is 95 percent of the time. No reason for a 66 mm turbo with a 3500 converter that flashes at 5500 on the street. I'm going mild but still enough to play.
 
I'm old school and prefer thicker oil. 10w40 should be good. A lot of guys are running 20w50 but many say that it just puts a strain on the pump and not worth it. How many miles are on your car and on the engine? 10w30 would be fine with low miles and not too much abuse. What are your plans? Just a driver or going to play. Mine was completely stock even the air box and chip. Looked just like yours under the hood. Took about a week of driving before the credit card came out. Upping the boost and adding methanol cut off 2 seconds and 12 mph with nothing else. Traction was gone after that. New Mickey Thompson drag radials should drop my 60' ft time this year. 2.2s was embarrassing. I think my wife might have beat me in her 14 Malibu. Hoping for a decent time this summer with the new parts, but I mainly want fun on the street where it is 95 percent of the time. No reason for a 66 mm turbo with a 3500 converter that flashes at 5500 on the street. I'm going mild but still enough to play.

I eventually would like to build it up a little. Nothing crazy and I am not looking to be the fastest car. Just something fun. That will be down the road and for now I just want to get it on the road and enjoy it the way it is. The car has 91K on it.
 
You're definitely going to need a new chip if you don't already. Even stock chip has way too much timing for the bad gas today. Detonation is the killer of these engines so make sure you don't get any. A Scanmaster is a necessity for these cars. It will display any knock retard. I also bought a Caspers knock gauge to show the knock retard even quicker. I'm sure you read already about the fuel pump and hot wire upgrade. Also very important since the stock parts are already over worked at original levels.
 
Got the Buick insured and registered this afternoon. First time driving it (other than circles around the block). Ran decent. Not totally happy. Idles a bit rough though. The digital tach seems to be off (too high) as cruising around 35 mph it is reading between 3-4k rpm. If I hit the gas (not to the floor) it jumps to the red. There is no way I was close to redlining the engine. I also found that the cruise control is not working. I would like that to get that working. Now I just need to drive it more and get used to it and get familiar with it's characteristics.

Exchanged the RP and got the Valvoline VR1 oil this afternoon as well. Going to get that done maybe next weekend. Put some fresh 93 in it today too. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will get my new injectors (42 lb) and matching chip. I am thinking of changing the spark plugs and wires too. A partial spring cleaning if you will.

I need to get some gauges too. I want every gauge. lol. I want the 3 pod A pillar gauges (sorry Scott, I like em, lol) and also the 2 gauges that fit in the accessory tray. For the pillar I would like the Boost, Knock and probably air/fuel or oil pressure. Water temp and volts for the accessory tray. Any suggestions for what and where?
 
In my A pillar I have EGT , Boost & Fuel Pressure , and in the tray I have Oil Pressure & Coolant Temp . You don't need the EGT but the others are a must .
 
In my A pillar I have EGT , Boost & Fuel Pressure , and in the tray I have Oil Pressure & Coolant Temp . You don't need the EGT but the others are a must .
Thanks. I can see that this may be an expensive summer. I definitely have to prioritize! :eek:
 
Thanks. I can see that this may be an expensive summer. I definitely have to prioritize! :eek:

You could get these for $1600
6576b331f4131204396419cbaa1d6fd7.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Lots of ways to spend your money on these cars! Lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thanks. I can see that this may be an expensive summer. I definitely have to prioritize! :eek:
Matt, wb's87 (Bill) is coming over next Saturday April 11th so my son can install that gauge cluster he showed you . Your welcome to come over also . Sam
 
Got the Buick insured and registered this afternoon. First time driving it (other than circles around the block). Ran decent. Not totally happy. Idles a bit rough though. The digital tach seems to be off (too high) as cruising around 35 mph it is reading between 3-4k rpm. If I hit the gas (not to the floor) it jumps to the red. There is no way I was close to redlining the engine. I also found that the cruise control is not working. I would like that to get that working. Now I just need to drive it more and get used to it and get familiar with it's characteristics.

Exchanged the RP and got the Valvoline VR1 oil this afternoon as well. Going to get that done maybe next weekend. Put some fresh 93 in it today too. Hopefully in the next few weeks I will get my new injectors (42 lb) and matching chip. I am thinking of changing the spark plugs and wires too. A partial spring cleaning if you will.

I need to get some gauges too. I want every gauge. lol. I want the 3 pod A pillar gauges (sorry Scott, I like em, lol) and also the 2 gauges that fit in the accessory tray. For the pillar I would like the Boost, Knock and probably air/fuel or oil pressure. Water temp and volts for the accessory tray. Any suggestions for what and where?
It's OK Matt. I like them too. But prefer the sleeper look. I am trying to find a pod that is less visible outside but still easily seen for while driving. Probably make something for over the radio, but smaller than the ones out by the vendors.
 
Matt,
Welcome to the site. The big get together at Kirban's in PA is coming up soon. Ill be flying out from CA. Hope to see you there.
Congrats on finding a clean one. They are getting harder to find. Take your time on the mods. Learn as much as you can here first.
That is the biggest key to making these cars haul ass and live a long and happy life.

Happy spooling...:)
Mike Barnard
 
Top