First time owning a GN. My combo. Where to find and buy parts? Catalogs ect.

[Rowdy45466]

Hey,

I'm thrilled to be a 1st time GN owner. The car is OK. Showing its wear and tear and has had a poor-average paint job done on it. Looks OK from 10 ft. Has a bunch of perfromance up-grades.

Motor looks to have been rebuilt with upgrades including Hooker Super Comp headers,high flow crossover, a 3" downpipe,test pipe w/dump,3" dual muffler exhaust,adjustable waste gate rod,ESP front mount intercooler ($1063 new) torque strap,B&M linelock,2004R w/Trans Go shift kit and billet servo (shifts very well) 9.5" 3500 stall,SFI flexplate.Factory 3.42 posi rear.

.Interior is in decent shape, but needs the following: Driver seat needs a new cover, power seat does not work as do not the power door locks. A/C still works and windows are fine,but the passenger window switch only puts the window up not down. I believe it just needs a new switch on the passenger,since you can put the window down by the switch on the drivers side, passenger door panel has speakers in it and the driver side does not,so I may need to get a passenger side door panel.There are also boost,oil pressure and temp gauges mounted on the dash.

I was told most of the above and I'll have to verify lots of it. The PROM chip and it is an aftermarket chip labled Street 93 20* 40 # What does this mean? How do you tune it and with what?


What do you think it needs? Are there any after market places that have a good catalog to use to find what I need?

Good internet sources?

Thanks,
Rob

 

[CJ's6]

go to gnttype.org and read read read, and search, this is a good site for info on the turbo cars. Also check out http://www.vortexbuicks-etc.com/ lots of good info there as well.

 

[onslow]

Welcome to a new experience in your life...you have entered the Turbo Zone.

The sign board says you are about to take responsibility for your new toy and must be prepared to search and learn a lot of stuff about the GN...particularly since your car has mods you should know about.

Parts & Service: There are lots of good vendors who advertise on this site...you will see their names on the home page and in the display ads at the top of each page. I suggest patronizing them...it keeps our community strong and viable.

Other sources include (in no particular order) kirbanperformance.com, jaysgn.com, gmpartsdirect.com, postonbuick.com.

Maintenance and Repair: If you plan working on your car (including tune ups), you must get an electronic diagnostic tool like a Scanmaster or other device. If you let a local mechanic do engine-related work, you never know if s/he is familiar enough with these cars to do a good job. So, try to find someone who knows turbo Buicks...you never know...a member might be a local mechanic.

As a supplement to what you can learn here and elsewhere, you can get a CD manual at: http://buickman.r00td0wn.net/info.html or a manual from helminc.com.

Knowledge: I wholeheartedly agree with the previous post...search for info and use the links suggested. Also, the turbobuicks.com forum and general search engine forays will provide you with a wealth of info you can use.

Good Luck, Have Fun, and We'll Talk With You Here!

Steve

 

[Dreamcar86]

I have owned a GN for 9 months now and I truely know how you feel right now. Get involved with your local GN club and they will be a wealth of information. This is a great community and so far all of my experiences with everyone have been nothing short of excellent. These guys like to help and will point you the right direction when you ask. As stated above you need to read, read, read these forums and watch for threads that pertain to issues that you are seeing. To answer your question and in addition to the ones already posted here are some websites: www.fullthrottlespeed.com, www.gbodyparts.com, www.rjcracing.com, www.turbotweak.com and there are many others.

Welcome aboard and good luck!

 

[Way2QWK]

the #40 written on the chip probably means the chip is burned for 40lb injectors

 

[V6POWER]

Where do you live? Maybe someone on the board lives nearby and can look at your car.

93 = octane
20* = timing
40# as mentioned above = injector size

 

[Rowdy45466]

I'm all new to this so you'll have to really explain stuff.

How do you tell the size of the injectors?

Some one in town mentioned an extra fuel injector as a common upgrade?

It does have the http://www.espperformance.com/Intercooler.html Esp unit. How do I know if is internal or external.

I'm in Urbana, IL down state on the east central part. 2 1/2-3+ hours to Chicago. 2 hours west of Indianapolis. About 3 hours from St. Louis.

Any one know anybody?

 

[ES1]

Take the numbers off the injectors and post them.
7th injector is old school.
A lot of us run alky.

 

[onslow]

Injector size: Ask the seller of the car, or pull one and get the mfr. and model # to check it out.

Extra Injector: Search on this site and others for "seventh injector." Before getting involved in performance mods, I strongly suggest you get very familiar with the basics of the car. Read about these issues on vortex buick.

Internal or External: You are referring to the ESP intercooler application. They have two - one for internal wastegates, one for external wastegates.

On stock cars, our wastegates are external. The wastegate is the cylinder-shaped device (horizontal orientation) located under the turbo's intercooler inlet. It has an actuator rod that runs to the passenger side of the turbo.

If you get an engine description manual of some sort, you will be able to identify all those seemingly strange parts on these cars...and there are many.

Members Near You: On the Forum page, scroll to the bottom left and see if you can find anyone in the Midwest Region. If not, post a message and ask.

My best advice to you: "Seek and ye shall find."

Steve

 

[Quiky One]

Chip from www.turbotweak.com and upgrade parts from www.fullthrottlespeed.com. I've had nothing but great results from both of them.

Jason

 

[John Larkin]

Get one of these first: Service manual on CD-ROM

Call these folks:
Seat covers They might sell you a driver side only if you ask nice.

Most likely your PDL problem is a blown fuse (cig-clk on the fuse block).

Read the injector numbers off the tiny numbers on the flat sides of the injectors. You can spin/twist them a tiny bit to get a better view. They may also have a colored band around the upper part of the injector body.

As for someone in your area, there is a guy outside Paris, IL I know of on the board here as tim87tr. Might send him a private message. TR owners are like everyone else; if you're willing to help yourself, they don't mind lending a hand when needed.

 

[VadersV6]

Honestly, if you want a car you wont end up hating, do it all right the first time and replace/adjust all the sensors, buy all new injectors (I like my 50 pound MSD's), get a new ignition module, a new MAF...Id recommend buying a used LS1 MAF from a junkyard for cheap, and then buy the LS1 MAF translator from fullthrottlespeed.com. Add their extender chip which allows you to tune everything and slap on those injectors at the same time. Go through all the vacuum hoses. Get a hosing diagram and make sure everything is hosed up right, and replace ALL cracking hoses. New PCV, new plugs 2 steps colder (AC 42), new plug wires....best to save a weekend and do everything here at once. Spend a month reading all the tech articles on gnttype.org. Buy all your stuff and plan what you're gunna do beforehand.

 

[Drip Pan]

Rob,

Not to disagree with my fellow So Cal TR brethren VadersV6 but I would not go for an AC Delco R42 spark plug at this time unless they are already in there; an R43 (or Autolite 24; both are one degree colder) would be better at about a 0.035" gap. Given your initial post my sense is your vehicle might also have an upgraded (read: bigger) turbo to complement the stall converter you have-- do you have any idea of its size, or did the prior owner tell you? I would also look under the car near the fuel tank and see if you can spot any heavy duty non-factory looking wiring that might indicate if the fuel pump has been changed; my hope is that it would have been in its past life given the combination you listed initially.

If you are located near a dragstrip, that's a good place to meet other Turbo Regal/GN guys; I met a fellow TR guy who eventually became my kid's godfather that way. And, if you DO meet up with knowledgable GN/TR folks, LISTEN and TAKE NOTES for future reference. Finally, a 20 degree timing chip is a little more timing than I like to see in a car being driven on 91-92 octane, but I tend to tune on the conservative side.

 

[raflyer]

I'm all new to this so you'll have to really explain stuff.

How do you tell the size of the injectors?

Some one in town mentioned an extra fuel injector as a common upgrade?

It does have the http://www.espperformance.com/Intercooler.html Esp unit. How do I know if is internal or external.

I'm in Urbana, IL down state on the east central part. 2 1/2-3+ hours to Chicago. 2 hours west of Indianapolis. About 3 hours from St. Louis.

Any one know anybody?

Hi and welcome! I'm in Indianapolis and own my own performance shop! I've owned 5 turbo buicks of my own since 1986 and have worked on countless others. Feel free to come over and we'll check it out for free!
Rob
www.hoosierperformance.com

 

[kodak]

who sold the 86-87 parts cd awhile back i need to get one....

 

[GNRick]

I think I've heard of Urbana! I live in Champaign near Parkland. Call me at work 278-5723 or home 352-3755 and we'll see what you got. I can also recommend a local mechanic who is pretty good with GN's.

Rick

 

[TR Custom Parts]

And don't forget us if you need dress-up items, cold air kit, MAF pipe, etc.

www.buickgn.com

 

[ESP Products]

Internal or External: You are referring to the ESP intercooler application. They have two - one for internal wastegates, one for external wastegates.

On stock cars, our wastegates are external. The wastegate is the cylinder-shaped device (horizontal orientation) located under the turbo's intercooler inlet. It has an actuator rod that runs to the passenger side of the turbo.

It may have been corrected and I missed it, but our/your stock wastegates are internal, not external. Our ESP Frontmounts come in two designs, as mentioned. If you have an external wastegate (Aftermarket) you can eliminate a bend in the intercooler pipe for improved flow.
You did not mention your turbo; what is it?
At the moment the only tuning you can do is to adjust your fuel pressure and maybe your TPS. Strongly consider one of the Translator products ("Pro" is suggested) and a WB o2 gauge. This will allow very accurate tuning.

Hope this helps you.

 

[Rowdy45466]

Not a clue on the turbo. I'm going to have to get out and write some numbers down and take a few picks.

Cool. Champaign huh, I'll be in touch.. Indy as well. We are over there every now and again.

Its running rough at the moment and I'm not happy about that. I did order a scan tool to see whats up.

I had thought about the O2 sensor but on my Chevelle 489. I wanted to see how the AF ratio was and do a better job of jetting.

So I bought the car so I could learn the basics of fuel injection and tubos and boost in general.

Also you can't beat the looks of it. I wanted/wished for one when I was a kid but I guess its never too late.

More questions are coming as I get time. I had a few close calls and was at the E.R. a couple times last week.

Thanks,