What Mods to do first

[GNDreamCar]

I am a failrly new GN owner, but I would like to start modifying this car I have always wanted. It is all stock only 53K on it. Should I do all suspension first or start in the motor area? I am wanting to possibly see High 10's or Low 11's. Any and all advice is more than welcomed. :hlp

[bob s]

the stock suspension will be okay for high 11's, save for air bags in both rear springs and a taller pinion snubber on the rear.so for now, concentrate investing $$$ elsewhere, perhaps in this order;1. fuel delivery system. get a good walbro pump with caspers hot-wire kit, adj. regulator and 50# injectors. this may seem big now but will save you the expense of going the 36#,42.5# route. 2. exhaust system. good 3" downpipe with decent dual 2 1/2 or single 3" exhaust. DO NOT get headers at this point, it would be a waste of $$. i know guys in the 10's with stock headers. 3. get the tranny up to snuff. good shift kit and external tranny cooler. 4. turbo; look at the current 60 "big shaft" series from PTE. you'll have to decide which one. 5. Intercooler; PTE has a nice front mount and alot is being said about the new "mease" stock location intercooler. 6. Torque Convertor; Art Carr (tx) currently has a 9 1/2" 3200 stall for $550. i just had one installed and haven't been to the track yet. but from what i'm feeling with the car, it's gonna be awesome.

do the usual bolt-ons as well. K&N filter (out of the hood area!!), good spark plug wires, #42 plugs, perhaps a Volt Booster,drop the front swaybar,PTE doghouse with rjc power plate,PTE doghouse. that should get you low 11's i would think. don't forget the driveshaft loop for safety. you may want to put some good "brute force" u-joints in the driveshaft. especially if your current joints are of the greaseable version. if so, they are hollow in order for the grease to travel to the cups and are not as strong as solid units. I KNOW THIS!! nothing like grenading a u-joint while staged at the tree under 8lbs of boost.

i hope this helps somewhat. i know i'll remember something after this is posted, but i'm sure a few fellow buick owners will be chiming in.

congrats on the car and good luck with your mods. remember to have fun with it along the way. keep the rubber side down.

bob
I am a failrly new GN owner, but I would like to start modifying this car I have always wanted. It is all stock only 53K on it. Should I do all suspension first or start in the motor area? I am wanting to possibly see High 10's or Low 11's. Any and all advice is more than welcomed. :hlp

[GNDreamCar]

Will a 3" downpipe work with a stock turbo :fragez: As for dropping the front swaybar, do U mean to replace it with beefier one :fragez: Also do U mean to replace the current doghouse :fragez: Sorry if I sound like I dont know what U are talking about. I have always tooled around with the older carburated vechicles I.E 71 Camaro. I have not had much time working with fuel injection or a turbo....But I am a very quick learner

[XxDarkSidexX]

all i have to say for u my friend is www.ArizonaGN.com these post very often and have been apart of the buick community for a long time. They should help u out with whatever questions u have.

[Scott GN]

Have you seen the recipies at www.gnttype.org? Some are dated, but they should give you some good ideas. You can also look at the combinations that people who are actually running those times use-- I think you'll see a lot of common elements.

Also, be clear about your budget at the onset and avoid buying parts (like turbos, injectors) twice as you upgrade.

Scott

[HairDrier]

Will a 3" downpipe work with a stock turbo :fragez: As for dropping the front swaybar, do U mean to replace it with beefier one :fragez: Also do U mean to replace the current doghouse :fragez: Sorry if I sound like I dont know what U are talking about. I have always tooled around with the older carburated vechicles I.E 71 Camaro. I have not had much time working with fuel injection or a turbo....But I am a very quick learner


Dont worry about the DP until you are very low 12's or high 11's

Dont do the swaybar unless you have the lower control arms boxed first. Otherwise things can get ugly

Dont mess with the doghouse. It will run 10's

Fuel system first. Do that and get a scan tool, THEN start making it fast.

[EvilGN]

I agree with bob, fuel first, scan tool, learn to tune the car....then piece by piece make it fast! (also slicks help immensly with getting lower ET's but some people arent solely about ET.)

[MacneilBMX]

I would get a TE-45A for the turbo, 3" thdp, and all the other necassary stuff to support it... injectors, headwork, cam, etc... make sure you have your car running good .. do the spring cleaning!

[GNDreamCar]

Dont worry about the DP until you are very low 12's or high 11's

Dont do the swaybar unless you have the lower control arms boxed first. Otherwise things can get ugly

Dont mess with the doghouse. It will run 10's

Fuel system first. Do that and get a scan tool, THEN start making it fast.

Thanks all for the advice I agree with the fuel/scan tool issue's for sure. I welcome any and all advice I can get. I sure hope to meet some of ya all at various events :beerglass

[Be4u]

All Stock 87GN w/53K Original Miles, but wanting to change that.

Haha, do you see who wrote the quote??? I'm just messin', wanted to see if it worked.

Anyways, I started 8 months ago with a car just like yours...lower miles though :zahn: First thing I did was the spring cleaning. Then I added a hotwired340...cold air kit, chip from Eric, rear seat braces, upper engine braces.

When my gas was half full I dumped in a gallon of xylene from Lowes and a little Mystery oil, ran the tank untill my low fuel light came on, filled her up and did the same thing at half empty.

Over time I bought non engine stuff...made a set of kickass tinted brakelights turn signals and corner lights and installed my stereo system (thats removed now).

Now that I'm a little more comfortable with my car I bought a scanmaster. Right now I'm trying to learn how to tune. I set my IAC and TPS(http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/faq/IACresetscan.html) After I figure out how to tune I get to buy/install my gofast parts. Caaant wait!!!

[1badTTA]

If you go out and buy a bigger turbo, Downpipe, Injectors, Front mount etc.. and haven't learned how to tune the car you will be another one driving a modified 14 second GN.

The only upgrades you should even concern yourself with now are the fuel system. Hotwired W340, Adj fuel pressure regulator, Adj wastegate, possibly a set of injectors, a chip, and either racegas or Alky injection will get your car running in the 12's all day long once you learn to tune it. Obviously you will need a scan tool for tuning.

After you have it running good (108-110 in the 1/4) it should be time for some suspension work such as air bags, boxed control arms, rear seat braces.

Of course you are going to need to do the spring cleaning and any maintenance items such as timing chain and valve springs but you will have a reliable car that runs respectable numbers. Once you are confident that there isn't any more power left in the stock parts, it is time to go with a bigger turbo, downpipe, intercooler etc...


Remember, you need to learn to crawl before you walk.
Also, a scan tool costs about as much changing a set of headgaskets and is alot quicker to install!!!!!

[HairDrier]

Oh yeah do the valve springs and timing chain. A decent steel replacement chain and some Comp Cams 980 springs are cheap insurance. Trust me the engine will need them.

[efi-street]

Like many said, I'd get a scantool, fuel pump adjustable regulator and at 17 years old, I'd go ahead and do a set of injectors and chip to start.
Second round, I'd do the adjustable wastegate, K&N, exhaust, ect...

[1badTTA]

Like many said, I'd get a scantool, fuel pump adjustable regulator and at 17 years old, I'd go ahead and do a set of injectors and chip to start.
Second round, I'd do the adjustable wastegate, K&N, exhaust, ect...
What do you mean by exhaust, if you are refering to a cutout/test pipe, I would agree. I would still do those as a first round of mods. Why not do an adj wastegate right away, just adjust it to stock boost levels for starters. Alot of people can't get anything more than 91 octane from the pump and depending on the chip, you may not even be able to run stock boost levels without using toluene/xylene or you will get knock. I know the TTA's ran 16.5psi stock and I can only run 14-15 on 91 octane without getting KR.

[Be4u]

Why not do an adj wastegate right away, just adjust it to stock boost levels for starters.

LOL! Yeah right!!! No disrespect :anbet: I'm green and I cant comment on much but if that would have been one of my first mods I'm sure I would be making posts about "I heard a big bang" (ASSuming thats what it sounds like when a HG blows). I have an adj wastegate...way too afraid to put it on. The temptation of raising it to 17#'s is way to great! Dont do it maaaan! Hold out till after you tune, upgrade fuel system, braces, maybe alky.

[HairDrier]

Once you have the fuel mods, a boost gauge, and a scantool you can go the adj wastegate route. You need to be able to read boost and knock accurately first.

My car ran 15-16psi on 93 without knock, but all cars are different

[1badTTA]

Once you have the fuel mods, a boost gauge, and a scantool you can go the adj wastegate route. You need to be able to read boost and knock accurately first.

My car ran 15-16psi on 93 without knock, but all cars are different
I keep forgetting that there are actually cars out there that don't have an aftermarket boost gauge...............LOL

I wasn't saying to put on an adjustable wastegate and crank up the boost, I just would have a really hard time trying to tune without it. So what are you supposed to do if your O2's are good and you get a little knock?????? Ignore it?? About the only thing you could do then is to get another chip burned with less timing.

BTW, when a headgasket goes (I mean really goes) it sounds like you are missing a sparkplug or two. Keep an eye out in the TTA section as I will be doing a writeup on changeing HG's with some pictures of different blown ones (my own personal collection which has grown rather large).

[Be4u]

I wasn't saying to put on an adjustable wastegate and crank up the boost, I just would have a really hard time trying to tune without it.

But the temptation to turn it up a #, I personally wouldnt be able to resist! Told 'ya I'm green:)

[GONE N SIXTY]

:applaus: For those who said FUEL FIRST.. High volume fuel pump, adj.fuel presure regulator, fuel pressure gauge(to monitor your fuel)...and INJECTORS most important is the SCANMASTER......... after tuning your car from what you have and getting the best out of it..then modifiy :SHOCKED:

[GNDreamCar]

:applaus: For those who said FUEL FIRST.. High volume fuel pump, adj.fuel presure regulator, fuel pressure gauge(to monitor your fuel)...and INJECTORS most important is the SCANMASTER......... after tuning your car from what you have and getting the best out of it..then modifiy :SHOCKED:

Well I am upgrading the fuel system and then the scan tools will be next still trying to decide on which one, I have read the posts on the forum. I am leaning towards the Turbo Links, but I think it might pay off in the long run if I also get either the scanmaster or Direct Scan. Again thanks for the advice, and keep it coming :applaus: :beerglass

[1badTTA]

Well I am upgrading the fuel system and then the scan tools will be next still trying to decide on which one, I have read the posts on the forum. I am leaning towards the Turbo Links, but I think it might pay off in the long run if I also get either the scanmaster or Direct Scan. Again thanks for the advice, and keep it coming :applaus: :beerglass
As far as scan tools go, all 3 that you mentioned work great, but for everyday use the scanmaster is better. If you do decide on either directscan or turbolink, plan on getting a knock gauge also so you don't have to boot up the laptop everytime you drive the car.

[HairDrier]

If you have a laptop go for T-link, otherwise get the Scanmaster first. I run both because both have their advantages

[1badTTA]

If you have a laptop go for T-link, otherwise get the Scanmaster first. I run both because both have their advantages
I would actually recomend Direct Scan over T-link due to there being alot more FPS and the boost sensing can be integrated into DS also. Guess it is really a matter of personal preference but any chip burner will have an easier time burning you a custom chip if you send them a DS file over a TL file.

T-link and a ScanMaster just seems redundant to me.

[HairDrier]

Sure Direct Scan has a lot more info but to a new guy it will just confuse the hell out of him. All the info does nothing if its not understood. Also Direct Scan means you have to modify the ECM case and screw with the cables.
There is no doubt to go really fast you need DS but I think its a bad idea for a newbie

[1badTTA]

Sure Direct Scan has a lot more info but to a new guy it will just confuse the hell out of him. All the info does nothing if its not understood. Also Direct Scan means you have to modify the ECM case and screw with the cables.
There is no doubt to go really fast you need DS but I think its a bad idea for a newbie
That is just like saying someone should buy 009's for a stock car since they won't be able to use anything more. Buy once and be done with it. T-Link has almost exactly the same info (sometimes called different names) as DS but it just has a slower refresh rate. So how can there be too much info??

BTW, my first scan tool was DS and nobody showed me how to use it, I just ignored most of the data and was only concerned with the basics untill I got a better grasp on it all. I still don't concern myself with most of the info unless I am looking for something that it out of place but it doesn't mean I haven't figured out what it means over time.

As for modding the ECM, once it is out of the car, it takes me about 20 minutes to have it open and cleaned up and I haven't had any problems with the connection ever.

So do you think T-Link or a ScanMaster could detect a slipping tranny?

[efi-street]

For ease of use on a daily driver, I would definitely get a Scanmaster. Not everyone wants to lug around a laptop everywhere they go. For the track, I would definitely recommend one of the previously mentioned programs on a laptop because of the ability to record a run and study it later.

[GONE N SIXTY]

AMEN, Brother