Are the HA's fading into oblivion?

[tbronk41]

After raising a set of boy/girl twins and two daughters to a point where I have a few minutes to think about something other than fixn the next Toyota that came to the shop. I decided to put the old Buick back together- you know- the one been sittn in the garage for 5 years collectn dust, the one your wife has been telln you to get rid of. The tax return comes back this year and Yeh!- ya got a couple extra bucks!!! Time to get the car running and back on the road, time for burn-outs, the looks from others like "What Is That?", the questions like "Is That A Grand National?"--and the oh so familiar answer-"No It's a 85 T-Type, It's a Hot Air Car It's Not Intercooled." "IT'S A WHAT?" I love That!

What's been Happening to the HA Community-Every other post is about a conversion. Are we a dying breed?

 

[Black84T]

Unfortunately,the true hot airs are slowly disappearing.Most performance parts
companys have catered to the intercooled cars and taken the market with them.
That being said my 84T is staying hot air and over time we will see what we can
get out of this lil 231.There is still a core of hot air guru's but it is slowly getting
smaller.Most people new to turbo buicks want a fast way to an 11 sec car,and some
want to make the swap from a hot air because the initial cost of a hot air is less than
the later year cars.If thats their cup of tea great, but I like something slightly different
so we'll keep the ole hot air.

Brian

 

[tbronk41]

Once again I'm a minute late and a dollar short!- I was just reading Boostmasters post. It's sad to see that happen. Well I'm not converting! Maybe I don't need 11's. I do know that every model year car that is manufactured has something unique to that year. Having worked on toyota for 20 year and lexus for 19 years you see that each year brings a new level of engineering and certainly understanding of consumers wants and needs, from gasoline engines to hybrids. I guess I'm stuck in the mid 80's.

 

[Boost231]

In the next year or so i'm almost 100% positive you will see several Hotair cars running 11's and a few more maybe even 10's. Dying breed, I won't go that far...

We are very fortunate to have some great vendors that will go away from the norm and help us hotair guys out. Without them i think yes we would be a dying breed.

Thanks to the Vendors who have gone above and beyond for us hotair guys.

 

[scpls19398]

We are not dying - just catching our breath

I agree we will see several in the 10's this year, maybe a couple of low 10's.

Lots of new turbo's for us now:biggrin:, and some real pioneers in this group. Just hang around, and stay tuned. lol.

Their are some being re-assemled as I type this applying many different approaches we shall see what works and what don't.

 

[turbonut85]

I agree with Brent...yet again. the recent issues seem to be, for one, lack of performance parts...which 1 vendor is getting a great handle on now...and the bigger issue reems to be the lack of support between hot air owners themselves...but, rest assured, the hot airs won't die out completely...mine will always be a hot air...

 

[Boost231]

... double post

 

[Boost231]

^ Great minds think alike.

But you hit the nail on the head perfectly with this statment

the bigger issue seems to be the lack of support between hot air owners themselves...

That's something i have been trying to change for years. I have no secrets, nothing to hide, and nothing i won't share or help you with if i can. However thats not the mind set of others and its been that way for atleast 10 years.

This won't change anytime soon but maybe just maybe others will start thinking about others and keeping these cars around instead of thinking about themselves.

Ok i will get off my soap box before i say something that lights a fire under somones ass.

 

[boostedyards86]

E85 is God's gift to hotairs... Wont take much for my car to go 11's...just dunno if i need that many fast cars.

 

[Boostnitup]

Hmmm...

In 1984 when my car came out nobody called it "Hot-Air"...

They called it a Buick Grand National.

Some of us had went the routes already... a girdled block, ported/oversize valve heads, ATR exhaust, and a brand new TA-33C turbo.

You have to start somewhere... ~smile

I even went V-2 intake setup with a front mount intercooler.

Those of us who converted in our '84/'85 year group still own T-Types and Buick Grand Nationals. Some of us did "firsts" that you are only grasping now.

I promote "nitrous" as the hot-Air enhancement. With the controllers out there now you could safely add 150 horses to your cars and be dollars ahead.

 

[MikeStarner]

I'll tell you I sincerely hope we are not a dying breed, if we are I am spending too much money staying hot air LOL. As they said above, one vendor is going extremely out of his way to make a bunch of us hot air guys shoot for tens. As far as community I have been trying to help by giving as much advice as I currently can, Brent helps everyone, Brian helps ALL the time, I think we are just going through reorganization and coming together. BTW where you located turbonut? I'm moving to Omaha in two weeks, maybe we could chill sometime.

 

[turbonut85]

I'm in a Western suburb of Des Moines. About 2 hrs East. My wife has family in Omaha, so we make it out there a few times throughout the year.

 

[MikeStarner]

Cool, I gotta swing out to see Jeremy sometime too he hooked me up on a wheel couple months back and seemed pretty cool so I figured the rest of TFW must be too. Don't think I'd fit in very well though bc my car is hideous and my only car so as of right now I can't ever let it sit. I can't wait to get a beater lol

 

[Anarchy]

well the age old discussion is back again hot air vs cooled air. im staying hot air. for the simple fact is like mentioned above there is a vendor out there taken a part in adding to our cars. i do want a low 11 car or a high ten car. i feel my car deserves it. all the ic guys get what they want, all the time. but i pondered this while reading this thread. WHAT IF THE GNX CAME HOT AIR AS WELL. would we have after market stuff at arms reach like the ic guys. i often thought about that what if there was a ha GNX. would the game have changed. or would it be the same still with the ic guys getting all the love.

 

[racemybuick]

Hot Air's RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


That's been my opinion since my very first buick in 2000... I was a senior in high school (ha ha you old farts!), and I had an 86 Regal Limited 307 with a carb and headers and then some black car that looked very similar to mine spanked the #@$% out of me at Island Dragway in NJ... At that moment I had to have what he had!!!! I found out it was a GN, and the only GN in my price range was a car local to me. It just so happened to be an 84 WH1 repainted black with a new headliner and a rod knock! lol

I fixed it, blew it up again (what's KR??? lol), sat for a couple years, picked up and 86 t type, sold it for college, picked up another 84 GN with a bent frame, had to junk it but kept all the goodies, then picked up an 87 Regal that was converted to a 87 T-Type, sold it for my house, and ended up with my georgous 84 T-Type with factory moon roof and not a lick of rust! Now I have a crazy looking motor set-up, and just waiting on $$$ to complete the resto/mod... I tried the IC cars, they were awesome... Ive had the hot airs running and they were just as fun... But what it all boils down to is how fast for how much... Its all about $$$. I dont have any, so I nickle and dime the $%^& out of my hot air until it is where I want it to be! It will forever be a hot air, and it will look awesome!!!!!


HOT AIRS RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


John

 

[scpls19398]

I have nothing to hide on my car. I will let everyone know what I did, how I did it. Just need to complete it first, hell may not even work. I have gone my own route on my car. Will it get into the 10's? not this year as I will not have any time for the suspension work that is needed to run 10's. Hot Air cars can and will be getting faster. It just takes alot more $$$ and tuning time (along with trial and error).

The way I see it, anyone can have a fast intercooled car, or a fast Mustang or Camaro, just open the catalog and pull out the credit card and in a few days you will have a 10 second ride. A hot air car requires thinking outside the box, trying new things, tuning, tuning, tuning. didn't work? pull it back off, add something else, tune, tune, tune. Building a 10 second hot air requires commitment (and a lot of time and money).

 

[Anarchy]

aint that the truth. i want to get a bigger turbo. and i plan to one day. its just money is tight right now. but i will improve with nickle and dimming.

 

[charlief1]

The way I see it, anyone can have a fast intercooled car, or a fast Mustang or Camaro, just open the catalog and pull out the credit card and in a few days you will have a 10 second ride. A hot air car requires thinking outside the box, trying new things, tuning, tuning, tuning. didn't work? pull it back off, add something else, tune, tune, tune. Building a 10 second hot air requires commitment (and a lot of time and money).

I have to say that the general public want's everything easy so converting is easier than using knowledge to make what you have work. The research involved in making a car faster versus buying parts and throwing them on takes some time and most people just don't want to do it.

I've posted most of what I've done on my car for one reason. No one else has put the info out there. No, I'm not putting it all out there because you have to decide how to build your car by yourself. I don't expect a 10 second car but since the fastest recorded time for a carb turbo is 12.92 in the quarter I do plan on beating that down.:biggrin: It has taken me several years just to get as far as I have because this and other forums aren't interested in helping one of the "slow cars" get out of it's own way.

The B4Black cars are the first of the turbo cars and no one has really done anything with them in 28 years as far as development. I'm not the first to do anything with them but I am the first that has posted the info on how to do it. This benifits both the C/T cars and the HA cars because we both have a great deal to over come. You guys do have it a little easier though since your system is a little more adaptable to newer technology.:biggrin:

 

[turbonut85]

Cool, I gotta swing out to see Jeremy sometime too he hooked me up on a wheel couple months back and seemed pretty cool so I figured the rest of TFW must be too. Don't think I'd fit in very well though bc my car is hideous and my only car so as of right now I can't ever let it sit. I can't wait to get a beater lol

Do you love Buicks??? Do you like beer??? If yes to either of these ?'s.....you'll fit in just fine with the TFW. :biggrin: We don't discriminate....a TR is a TR....no matter what it looks like...or whether it has a radiator in the intake tube or not. After all, I have a Hot Air car, and an IC car...so, which side of the fence does that put me on?? Not all the TR's in the TFW are pretty, and we don't care...

 

[natethegreat85]

I hope we're not a dying breed... I'm going to need help when I start to restore mine. My 85 will stay the way it is, hot air, the way it was meant to be. If I want an intercooler, I'll buy an 86/87, the way those were meant to be.