thinkin about buying a GN, PLEASE HELP

[stngh8r]

GUYS, i am really interested in this GN stuff. The thing is, i if i were to buy a GN, it would be my only car/daily driver/weekend warrior. Can a car this old handle it?

I realize that these things are crazy fast on high boost and race gas, but how fast is one in daily driver trim?

MPG?
Realiablity?
cost of parts/upgrades?
pros or more so, the CONS(i think i pretty much know the pros already)?

 

[TrboHead]

We can't tell you. You have to buy one and find out.

Really, these cars need allot of attention. Find one that someone has dumped all thier money and time into and for some stupid reason lost interest or one good reason would be that they are in a bind and need the cash. I've seen it many times over. Just wait and one will show up.

Pros and cons....It's a love hate relationship.

 

[OKTurbo]

I drive mine every day and love it.

Yeah, it's an "old" car, but parts are still readily available for them, and you have the best resource around ..... this board. There is no problem that hasn't been discussed here at least a hundred times. Go to www.gnttype.org for even more info.

If you find a good, low mileage example from someone who knew how to maintain the car, you shouldn't have any problems. The major weak point is the powermaster brake set-up (big bux to fix). In stock form, these cars are very reliable.

Now, when you start hot-rodding it, things change. With nothing more that a chip, K&N filter, and upgraded fuel system my car ran a 13.40. But you become addicted to the ease in which these cars make power. Just a few turns on the wastegate gives you 20, 30, 40 .....more horsepower....add race gas...more boost....now I need slicks....uh oh...bigger injectors....etc

It becomes a money pit. If you have the personal fortitude to leave it (nearly) stock, the cars make a great daily driver.

I get 16-25 mpg....A/C....automatic transmission....seats 4 comfortably....5 in a pinch...quiet....and it will (even stock) stomp 99% of the cars on the road.

Oh well....that's my take on it,
John

 

[UNGN]

I used to drive my 90K mile, $5K White T every day, but then I discovered the joys of racing it. I ran 12's with pump gas when I didn't know what I was doing. Luckily I never hurt anything.

They aren't the kind of car you can get in and flog, though. You HAVE to run good gas (No 87 octane), you HAVE to run expensive sythetic oil, you HAVE to keep an eye on knock and tune very conservatively.

If a sensor or powermaster or whatever goes out , you HAVE to be prepared to shell out $200-500 to fix something or your car will be inoperative.

If you drive the car stupidly one time, it may cost more to fix the car than you initially paid for it.

If you live by these rules, they are absolutely the best bang for the buck cars ever built to run deep into the 11's. If not, you'll have twice as much money in the car than it is worth.

 

[stngh8r]

well, as previously stated, i would like to buy one that someone has already sunk time/money into. I really dont have time to work on the next mod and i really dont need to be worring about either, and i know i would.


ALso, as far as my interest in buying one, the brunt of the interest is to go FAST and have a daily driver. The car i have now gets 28MPG on highway and 17-19 in Dallas, it dynos around 380 and should in theory run very low 12s or maybe on a special day high 11s. But it is capable of "turning it on" any time any day! But from what i understand, you have to have race gas or alky injection to get high boost and power. SO how fast could i have one in day to day tune/trim?

The great thing about a GN is, if i buy one and sell it a few years later, it will be worth about the same. The car i have now will be worth much less in a few years.

 

[UNGN]

A turbo regal will ALWAYS be faster with race gas vs. pump gas. You can build one that will easily run 11's on pump gas (GN1 heads, 60's series turbo, 55 lb injectors, 3200 stall converter) and it will still get decent mileage (22 mpg highway, 15 city) BUT it will run 10's with race gas (and the cost of mods would buy years of race gas).

I don't know about you, but If I could run 10's for $25 dollars more in gas, why would I bother with mid 11's. I'm cheap, but I'm not that cheap.

If you don't have time to work on a TR, though, they probably aren't for you. A low mile, Pump gas 11 second TR that has no problems will set you back about $15K (Much more than a stock low mile TR) because it needs about $5 to 7K in mods to live and work in the 10 second zone (11's on pump gas).

Buying one with problems will cost less, but fixing problems is expensive and time consuming.

 

[stngh8r]

yes, i agree. At this point in my life, i really cant take alot of time out to fix stuff. Maybe after i get out of school and have a second car i will think more seriously about getting one.

 

[fast86gn]

Originally posted by stngh8r
GUYS, i am really interested in this GN stuff. The thing is, i if i were to buy a GN, it would be my only car/daily driver/weekend warrior. Can a car this old handle it?

I realize that these things are crazy fast on high boost and race gas, but how fast is one in daily driver trim?

MPG?
Realiablity?
cost of parts/upgrades?
pros or more so, the CONS(i think i pretty much know the pros already)?

I believe these other guys have about covered everything except one. I do not recommend these cars for daily drivers and only because they are to easy to steal.
These cars draw a lot of attention on the road, sometimes that's good but sometimes that's bad.
Do you want to leave your TR in the Food Store parking lot or the Movie Theater lot, it might not be there when you return!


Plus the Insurance on these cars, there are plenty people out there that can tell you horror stories about trying to get there money out of insurance companies when there TR was stolen.

Just my .02

 

[G McCall]

Originally posted by UNGN
I used to drive my 90K mile, $5K White T every day, but then I discovered the joys of racing it. I ran 12's with pump gas when I didn't know what I was doing. Luckily I never hurt anything.

They aren't the kind of car you can get in and flog, though. You HAVE to run good gas (No 87 octane), you HAVE to run expensive sythetic oil, you HAVE to keep an eye on knock and tune very conservatively.

If a sensor or powermaster or whatever goes out , you HAVE to be prepared to shell out $200-500 to fix something or your car will be inoperative.

If you drive the car stupidly one time, it may cost more to fix the car than you initially paid for it.

If you live by these rules, they are absolutely the best bang for the buck cars ever built to run deep into the 11's. If not, you'll have twice as much money in the car than it is worth.

Twice ?........ I would love to sell for less than half of what I have in mine. I sure would.

 

[stngh8r]

Originally posted by UNGN


I don't know about you, but If I could run 10's for $25 dollars more in gas, why would I bother with mid 11's. I'm cheap, but I'm not that cheap.

its not that i am against putting race gas in when needed. Its just that i want a car that is VERY fast on the street in daily driver trim. You never know when you might have some sort of emergency and need a fast car or maybe just put the smack down on somebody at the stoplight

i dunno, i just got really excited when i seen all the sig.'s that have 10s,11s and 12s in them. i.e. G McCall! But then i got to realizing that most of these people are running race gas or alky, which is something that most of us cant afford to do when just driving back and forth from work or school. Know what i mean?

 

[fast86gn]

Originally posted by stngh8r
its not that i am against putting race gas in when needed. Its just that i want a car that is VERY fast on the street in daily driver trim. You never know when you might have some sort of emergency and need a fast car or maybe just put the smack down on somebody at the stoplight

i dunno, i just got really excited when i seen all the sig.'s that have 10s,11s and 12s in them. i.e. G McCall! But then i got to realizing that most of these people are running race gas or alky, which is something that most of us cant afford to do when just driving back and forth from work or school. Know what i mean?

Ok I confess the sig below is on race chip and fuel with high boost 23lbs of course!
Now for the street, on pump gas, street chip and boost at about 16lbs 13.10 @ 104mph

 

[stngh8r]

Originally posted by fast86gn
Ok I confess the sig below is on race chip and fuel with high boost 23lbs of course!
Now for the street, on pump gas, street chip and boost at about 16lbs 13.10 @ 104mph

cool, 13.10 is very fast. I mean, my 94 camaro with a few boltons and a stall ran a 13.3@101 and at the stop light i could take on just about anybody! But from a rolling start, it was a different story. The newer, more powerful LS1 cars were smokin' me left and right, from a roll, i just did not have the power. With the stall, DR's and LT1 torque, i loved going from a stop! They would have to play catch up
Anywayz, i guess if you cant beat'em join'em, right?

 

[Audiowizard]

Re: Re: thinkin about buying a GN, PLEASE HELP

Originally posted by fast86gn
I do not recommend these cars for daily drivers and only because they are to easy to steal.

True to a certain extent. I have 2 hidden kill switches for fuel pump and ECM plus my aftermarket alarm if. Mine has been a daily driver since July '96 with not one incident. Not to say that it would never happen but the car will never be able to be started to be stolen. I can replace glass and column in the worst case senerio.

Originally posted by fast86gn
Plus the Insurance on these cars, there are plenty people out there that can tell you horror stories about trying to get there money out of insurance companies when there TR was stolen.

Depends on who your insured with. I am with State Farm and I am insured for full market value of car if it is totalled or stolen. My wife smashed the front end and State Farm cut me a check for $4,500.00 the next day to replace the front clip and made the check out to me since I did the repairs myself with no questions asked. I couldn't ask for a better insurance company or agent.

 

[iamjeff]

it will be hard to start with now fuel, no ecm, and a seering collar lock that kirban sells. that thing is tuff.... i guess they could tow it....

-jeff

 

[sixgun86gn]

Well ,I know I have gone 7.70s in the 1/8 on pump gas leaving with 2 to 3 # of boost.I can probably hit 7.50s on 93 but I havent really tried that hard.Been learning to use race gas and still have alot to go.If you don't want to use race gas alot you will learn to worry about the tune up.Daily driver,it could be (especially now that I found my oil leak).I have driven it 2hours and raced it all day and would have drove it home,but the oil leak was just too bad.They are tough when built right and will last a long time without trouble if you take care of them.I know I would just die if it was stolen though and they are all the time.I never let it out of my sight.I have had mine dyno at over 400 rwhp at 16# on 93,so the turbo and heads have alot to do with the low boost power.I just wish I knew how to use it better.BTW my car also has more money in it than its worth......until it spools up!

 

[john's87GN]

I may have the car you're looking for. It has light mods and upgrades, including the steering column collar. I drove it to MI in August. Nearly 1100 miles one way with no problems. I run normal fuel, trying for 93 octane, most of the time, occasionally airplane fuel. I don't drive it daily, but wouldn't hesitate if one of my other vehicles was unavailable. It has less than 25k original miles and I'm the second owner. I have all paperwork including the window sticker. It's in excellent condition. And it's for sale.