Killed my gn lastnight-need a motor

LOL Al.;) Cranks are the same but the 4.1 has a bigger bore. If it's never been opened it'll even have the same crank and rods as the 3.8 turbo, just different pistons.
 
Turbo buicks are finicky bitches. You have to be patient and wiley to out fox them. If you cant take the newbie heat you'll never survive dealing with the actual car. It will kick your ass. There are many professional mechanics that come on here looking for help because even with their experience they get stumped. If you really want to get your ass chaffed pick on an elder like grumpy, that pretty much gaurantees you'll look like a fool.
 
I've been popping in on this from time to time and I agree, it's funny.:D Now what I will tell you is that these aren't normal cars, as you've noticed, and the owners are a bit hard core.;) Respect is earned on this board just like in real life, and someone that's just gotten a car that's unique and finicky doesn't quite grasp the headaches and heartaches that come with them. A HA car can make it into the 10's and it's been proven by 2 members, but the time they spent on figuring out how to do it was many years, not weeks or months.

At this time of year we see a bunch of new members that have bought a car that's pretty much stock and think that minor bolt ons or something cheap will send it into the 10's or better. It won't! If you like the car then stick around and figure out how to work on it as well as improve it, but if you're going to give up this soon then you'll be better off buying a mustank and adding nitrous to it.:p We had 1 guy a few years ago that wanted his "dream" car so he bought it, and promptly blew it up. He was in the NE around NYC if I remember right. Quite a few members up in that area and several of them offered to come help him work on it. He didn't listen to any of them unfortunately.

He pulled the engine and found someone to rebuild the it for him. The guy that did it owned a machine shop and didn't know squat about Buicks. The guy even sent the turbo out for improvements. Once the engine was installed he started it and had issues right from the start. In less than 30 minutes he needed another rebuild.o_O It also trashed the rebuilt turbo.:confused: At this point most of the people on the board gave up on him. We have no idea what happened to him now but his board name was Iliv4GNs. I'm sure if you look up some of his posts you can see why, as a group, most of us are hard on newbys.:D
Yup that was a local guy to me. Liv4gnz was his name. Sold the car because he just got headache after headache and was tired of it. Can't blame that aspect but the way going about it was incorrect. I'm slowly starting to deal with this finicky bitch myself. And it's still leaking oil like she has been pms'ing for years. At least I got chassis lube which saves me from rust.
Just replace the head gaskets because I don't know where to go after I got her to smoke at idle but not under acceleration. Working on putting her back together now.

@k10boi. Listen dude. I'm 23. I wanted a muscle car and used every penny and dime and got an 87' GN. Dam best decision I ever made. An it's turned out to be part mystery of its life and part excitement. If you seriously are selling your HA, you should just give up on cars in general. Overcoming the hardest shit in life brings the most rewarding satisfaction you can ever imagine. Well, maybe not the most or best, but pretty high up there if you are a car guy. Take this as a stepping stone. Swallow the pride, look back at your comments and see if you would have liked someone saying the things you did to yourself, and don't think about your life and apply that to it. Just look at the plain words. If you don't you will be regretting not staying with this group of fine gentlemen. Trust me when I tell you, they are wise asses for a reason and its only to build your character. So get a movin' and fix the HA.


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@k10boi. Listen dude. I'm 23. I wanted a muscle car and used every penny and dime and got an 87' GN. Dam best decision I ever made. An it's turned out to be part mystery of its life and part excitement. If you seriously are selling your HA, you should just give up on cars in general. Overcoming the hardest shit in life brings the most rewarding satisfaction you can ever imagine. Well, maybe not the most or best, but pretty high up there if you are a car guy. Take this as a stepping stone. Swallow the pride, look back at your comments and see if you would have liked someone saying the things you did to yourself, and don't think about your life and apply that to it. Just look at the plain words. If you don't you will be regretting not staying with this group of fine gentlemen. Trust me when I tell you, they are wise asses for a reason and its only to build your character. So get a movin' and fix the HA.

When I joined I got put down, belittled, and basically told to go away.o_O Why? Because I had a HA DT carbed car and no one wanted to mess with them.:( There are very few of us and we're even more hard headed than the IC or HA guys. What's happened in the time since I've been a member? The first viable turbo upgrade for a draw through car was figured out as well as a few other things. I'm still plugging away at my car and 1 of the draw through guys has busted into the 11's so far.:D There have been a few undocumented people that have done this but very few. Now we have HA SFI cars in the 10's and hopefully soon one of the draw through cars will be there as well.:)

Yes, these cars are a PITA, but it's the challenge of doing something that no one's done before that keeps the hard core guys going.:cool: Those that have done it before are great to draw knowledge off of and sometimes they can be harsh, but that's because they've been there and learned the hard way. If you want to make fun of them or tell them they're wrong, you better know what the hell you're doing or you will get stomped on.;)
 
Coming into this group at 14 years old was scary as hell. Nobody suggested to me, to buy one of these cars. In fact, most were opposed to it. No one wanted anything to do with this teenageer trying to buy a fast muscle car, nevermind one of these.... priceless GNs. They said I'd ruin it, crash it, etc... I had saved a large sum of money since I was very young, and bought an 84 GN to restore slowly. This is how I started talking to Charlie, and eventually became friends, over this 84. I ended up parting the car (still have some parts if needed). I bought my 87 two years ago today. Ain't that a trip? I was the youngest GN owner, still not very liked. Over the past two years I've learned a lot, made lots of friends, and managed to build a pretty fast Buick. My advice? Listen to these guys, don't talk back to them. They have forgotten more about these cars than I've ever known. You really aren't as knowledgeable as you think. Hell, I still know nothing. But now that I have the respect and friendship with these guys, I can ask what I don't know. That's the key to this community.


Grumpy. Ill take a piece of that RX7 :p

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When I joined I got put down, belittled, and basically told to go away.o_O Why? Because I had a HA DT carbed car and no one wanted to mess with them.:( There are very few of us and we're even more hard headed than the IC or HA guys. What's happened in the time since I've been a member? The first viable turbo upgrade for a draw through car was figured out as well as a few other things. I'm still plugging away at my car and 1 of the draw through guys has busted into the 11's so far.:D There have been a few undocumented people that have done this but very few. Now we have HA SFI cars in the 10's and hopefully soon one of the draw through cars will be there as well.:)

Yes, these cars are a PITA, but it's the challenge of doing something that no one's done before that keeps the hard core guys going.:cool: Those that have done it before are great to draw knowledge off of and sometimes they can be harsh, but that's because they've been there and learned the hard way. If you want to make fun of them or tell them they're wrong, you better know what the hell you're doing or you will get stomped on.;)
As cheesy as it will sound, really just want some friends that love GN's. want to learn more about them or just in general car repair. :)


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Zack you started by asking fairly intelligent questions and if we advised reading something you did. You started tuning slowly and safely. Seems like 80% of the new your guys have to hurt there motor at least once before they will listen....things are going to happen on there own, no need helping them come apart. The respect you shown us cot all your questions answered. Now I have seen you give some advise that was actually quality advise from what you have learned.....Good job.
 
Grumpy. Ill take a piece of that RX7 :p

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Oh boy, here we go again!:D
Well, I'm happy to say you are matured into a true Turbo Buick owner. Your first project got me worried you would be overwhelmed and bail out to some small block Chevy car. Glad you found something that was in better shape so you could concentrate on performance not rebuilding every aspect of the car. Now you have a new goal. Better be working as much as you can, mo power=twice as much money as you thought.
 
Since everyones pouring their hearts out, I'll add some lessons I've learned with my car/this site:

You dont just barge into this tight knit group and demand knowledge-especially without reading the wealths of info on gnttype.org or vortexbuicks... I read those sites over and over before I dared join this site and ask a question.

You dont just "assemble" a fast turbo buick. It literally has to be earned. These cars have feelings and will boot you in the ass every chance you get.

Fast is a relative term- I would shout from the top of the highest mountain that my t type is the fastest f'ing thing on four wheels, simply because it runs circles around any of my buddies cars. Its all in what youve experienced, I would never call out a member and claim my car is any faster than theirs though! The only reason my car rips is from the experience of old timers who paved the way, experimented, blew things up, then were generous enough to share this info so I didnt have to do the same!!!

If you're serious about having a gn, these guys will be happy to have you- humble up, grow some thick skin, read your ass off, save as much dough as you can and LISTEN.
 
And before you accuse me of being a rich dick, I have $11k, hundreds of hours of wrenching, and twice as many hours reading, planning and asking for advice, into my car total- I bought the car from a kid just like you, he wanted instant gratification, didnt want to listen to the pros, and blew it up three times due to stupidity. He had about 12k worth of receipts in the glovebox for all the best parts, as well as 2 head gasket jobs. He took a bath on the thing and only put about 300 miles on it because he was a know it all
 
You seem to have me all wrong. I never came on this site wanting "Gratification" I asked for help on figuring out what I had aparently i barged into the wrong forum. As far as money I've probably put about another grand into it maybe on a tune up, tires and parts car. But im glad I was able to create a bonding moment for you guys
 
nah i think you have us all wrong...

we sounds really mean and bad... but they are actually pretty cool.

and ok we may have had a bit of fun at your expense... but its part of being a buick guy on this board... gotta have skin like an alligator to survive sometimes. I mean look at some of us here... most of the time im like a typing dumpster fire, Charlies flat "loco" and Grumpy... well... nuff said.

So relax... pop the tab on a cold one and come bond with the rest of us... extra points if you bring sheep with you. ;)
 
Guy im seriously trying to help you, not point out your shortcomings... you blew up your car then came on here and pissed on the shoes of arguably one of the fastest turbo buick guys within a hundred miles of you (grumpy). If you want all the knowledge youll ever need, without any harassment, check out the websites I mentioned above and study hard. Im sorry I cant tell you what you wanna hear
 
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