The reason I have'nt been around here much.......pics inside

Been busy for lots of weeks working on my friend Mike's '87 Buick T-type. Complete engine upgrade, torque converter, and mods.....lots of em.

Brief history: 1987 Buick regal T-Type, approx 40k miles. Silver with Burgundy interior. 3.8 Liter SFI turbo, 200r4 trans, 8.5 rear axle (same drivetrain as a Grand National)



He has owned the car for 10+ years now. It started out bone stock, he started with basic mods along the way, and started getting quick, fast. It got the usual mods for these cars, 60lb injectors, fuel pump, adj. fuel pressure regulator, air intake, 3" down pipe & Hooker dual exhaust, valve springs, udgraded intercooler & turbo, ported throttle-body, methanol injection, 2,800 stall converter, built trans, eaton posi, lots of regular maintenance stuff.

This netted a best time at NED of 11.3@120, with a 1.5 60 foot time! (on pump gas, drag radials, thru the exhaust, and driven to the track!) Car still had stock unopened engine, stock wheels, mostly stock suspension, A/C, weighing in at 3,800 lbs with driver.



When the stock headgaskets started crying mercy, he decided to step it up a little....

The new: .030 over block, fitted with forged crank, rods, and pistons. Billet main caps, SFI balancer and flexplate, balanced rotating assembly, billet timing chain, roller cam, roller rockers, ported heads (with stainless oversize valves), ported intake with EGR delete, raised valve covers, ARP headstuds, main studs, rod bolts, cometic head gaskets, custom made stainless headers, Turbonetics BIG double ball-bearing turbo, 3,200 stall converter. I'm sure i'm missing stuff, we did alot of maintenance stuff along the way, stainless fuel lines, new motor mounts, resealed p/s pump etc.

Got it running beginning of the week, will update with any times if he runs it soon.

engine coming out:







new converter:



new engine:



new headers:



new turbo:



new install:





Back together:







new wheels: 15x7 & 15x8 Ion, with 275/60 M/T drag radials on rear



Hoping to be in the low 10's on low boost!

One of my favorite Buicks /grand national/T Type.
I love the monochrome look / light color with dark accents.
Those wheels are kinda unigue with those extra ribs on the spokes.

This is one of the cleanest T's I have ever seen. It is gorgeous. And Mike is a great guy, too. Man, that thing is gonna be awesome! It was before!!!!

Nice work!

Now get it off the lift! You have stuff to do!

toomanytoyz wrote:

............... Nice work!

Now get it off the lift! You have stuff to do!

+1+1+1+1+1+1

Guess we cant call you a slacker anyway

I think that it's ok you haven't been around just because of that! Nice work! Needs video!

That is awesome. Nice work!

I've always been confused as to what the difference is between a T-Type and "Turbo T"...

Matt Trakker wrote:

That is awesome. Nice work!

I've always been confused as to what the difference is between a T-Type and "Turbo T"...

Funny you say that, because his car is actually a Turbo T.

In just the '87 model year GM decided to drop the "T-Type" and just go with a T. Nobody I know is quite sure why, but it does give you a way to id them.

84-85 turbo regals (know as the hot air), had a rear mounted non-interccoled turbo

86-87 they front mounted the turbo, and put in an intercooler

87 GNX, same configuation as other 87's, but had a ceramic impeller in the turbo and added more fins to the intercooler (Turbo Trans Am also got the GNX intercooler in '89)

89 Turbo Trans Am, got same basic SFI 3.8, with the addition of a cross-drilled crankshaft, and FWD cylinder heads to give clearance for the downpipe near the strut tower

All got the 200-r4 trans, g-body got the 8.5 rear axle with3.42's, TTA got the borgwarner 9-bolt with 3.23's

Glad you posted that...interesting.

Which was fastest from the factory?

Can I assume technology moved forward?
-OR-
the other option where they scared themselves & backed off?

sdstick wrote:

Glad you posted that...interesting.

Which was fastest from the factory?

Can I assume technology moved forward?
-OR-
the other option where they scared themselves & backed off?

These cars were WAY ahead of their time. Distributor-less SFI turbocharging in the end of 1984! Chevy did'nt do this in a V8 till the end of '99.

Cool article, with real world times taken from magazines,

"So just how fast was the 1987 Grand National? It consistently obtained 14 second 1/4 mile times in auto magazine tests back in the day, beating its competition with ease. Motor Trend magazine (August 1987 issue), did speed and performance tests of the seven fastest new American cars. The test included the 1987 Chevrolet Corvette, 1987 Ford Mustang GT, 1987 Chevrolet Camaro Iroc-Z, 1987 Pontiac Trans Am GTA, 1987 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe, 1987 Dodge Daytona Z, and 1987 Buick Grand National. The end result was the GN beat its 6 rivals with ease in the acceleration tests. The GN went 0-60 mph in 6.07 seconds and completed the 1/4 mile in 14.73 seconds @ 95.1 mph. The closest competitor to the GN was the Mustang GT (0-60 mph in 6.54 seconds and the 1/4 mile in 15.13 seconds @ 94.1 mph). The braking (60-0 mph in 149 ft) and the skidpad (0.79 g) numbers in the Motor Trend test for the GN were pretty good, but not enough to beat its competition. Part of the problem was the GN's P215/65VR15 tires were the narrowest in the seven car test. And the rear drum brakes were no match for the five cars in the test that had rear disc brakes. Where the GN fell far behind its competitors was with its dismal 122.72 mph top speed Motor Trend obtained. Motor Trend asked the question - "how can the strongest-engined best-in-acceleration vehicle be the slowest top-speed car?" Motor Trend figured since the 1987 GN had new VR speed rated tires, the speed-limiting chip from the 1986 GN should no longer be needed. Motor Trend after a little research discovered - "the [Buick] engineers were concerned with front-end lift at high speeds, and determined that 125 mph was a good limit to maintain the stability they felt necessary, so the chip stayed for this year." The GN was using a 10 year old Regal body style which had been only slightly updated since its 1978 model year debut, so the problem with front end lift at speeds over 125 mph was no surprise. Motor Trend mentioned - "the Grand National has the power to go faster-how much faster is a question we can't answer unless we find someone who'll give us a trick prom for the computer." Motor Trend did get their chance to test the top speed of the LC2 with no speed-limiting chip, but it was not in a GN but rather the 1989 20th Anniversary Trans Am. The end result was a top speed well over 160 mph."

A copy from Car and Driver, TTA performance data.



The winner would be the TTA, 13.4@101, 0-60 in 4.6 bone stock. Faster than the ZR1 of the day. GNX was close in acceleration, but did'nt have the top speed, handling or braking.

OK...that explains what you choose to put in your garage.

sdstick wrote:

OK...that explains what you choose to put in your garage.

Old-school stuff now. An LS-based engine with a turbo......WOW is all I can say.

Does anyone know why they originally went with a turbo six versus eight cyl? Was it to do with MPG or because the V6 allowed more room for everything?

I've always found it interesting how you could get a turbo Regal "Limited" with all the chrome bits and Limited interior, but with the whole turbo drivetrain and suspension setup...I don't think I've ever seen one of those.



Are the T-types a better deal overall than buying a GN these days? I've watched these cars go way up in price, and I wish I had the money to buy one like 10-12 years ago, but I didn't. I kind of want one... Always have. Even back in the BUM Equipment sweatshirt days when I saw them all over the place on my Huffy.

Matt Trakker wrote:

Does anyone know why they originally went with a turbo six versus eight cyl? Was it to do with MPG or because the V6 allowed more room for everything?

Are the T-types a better deal overall than buying a GN these days? I've watched these cars go way up in price, and I wish I had the money to buy one like 10-12 years ago, but I didn't. I kind of want one... Always have. Even back in the BUM Equipment sweatshirt days when I saw them all over the place on my Huffy.

I think Buick was in a big push for years to prove that technology could do so much, hence the V6. The Buick Stage 2 V6 ran along side the V8 cars in the Busch series for years Basically the end of the RWD platform ended their V6 use in racing series.

The fuel mileage can be crazy good, if....and only if you stay out of the throttle. Horsepower produced consumes a certain amaout of fuel, and the little 6 will use just as much fuel to produce equal levels of power.

The T's and T-type's are almost always cheaper than the GN's (and lighter), and the prices of these cars is lower than it's been in years.

I still love that slate grey Limited T with the vinyl roof we saw at the Turbo G cookout in CT a couple years ago. Man, that thing was IT!

Ooh! Ooh! Do mine next!!!!

To give my thoughts and/or opinion, In 87 they went with just a "T" as a styling cue. You could get a regular regal T package with a 307 and the T type wheels not sure what the suspension was in those cars, which I guess would be why they called the 87s "Turbo Ts". Supposedly when they knew that 87 was going to be the last year they made these, they decided to let people order any style regal with any options they wanted including the turbo T package. In 96 I owned an 87 Turbo T limited that actually came from the factory with roll up windows, the base chrome mirrors, no rear defrost and no posi. I have a bunch of pics of it but they were pre digital camera and I dont have a scanner. I ended up selling it to Dennis Kirban, which is one of the big turbo buick gurus for those who don't know of him. He couldn't believe the car had such weird options and it is supposedly in the book he wrote about rare turbo regals, although I haven't seen the book so I cant vouch for that. Anyways, back to the point. I saw Mikes car during the build. Super clean car thats gonna screw!!!!

V8Killer wrote:

Hoping to be in the low 10's on low boost!

hahahaha... low boost isn't goin to cut it. What turbo ??

Grumpy wrote:

V8Killer wrote:

Hoping to be in the low 10's on low boost!

hahahaha... low boost isn't goin to cut it. What turbo ??

Who are you???

toomanytoyz wrote:

Who are you???

Well I am a good friend of the "woulda, coulda, shoulda's" Those cars are VERY easy to get into the high 10's. I ended up driving my daughters GN for 6 weeks this summer as my DD. The wagon's POS 700R4 can't take a little power from a V6 . put 1000/1200 miles a WEEK on it.. Didn't miss a beat.. Oh Melissa drove it up on the Mt Washington road during vacation. Funny watching people as 4 of us climbed out of the car.
Guess I have to get back to the track !! Al when is he goin ??

Grumpy wrote:

V8Killer wrote:

Hoping to be in the low 10's on low boost!

hahahaha... low boost isn't goin to cut it. What turbo ??

That was a joke. We will keep it under 30 lbs



Dunno when or where he's going for the first runs, but he said "I'll try to pick somewhere Dan is'nt watching"

V8Killer wrote:

Dunno when or where he's going for the first runs, but he said "I'll try to pick somewhere Dan is'nt watching"

hahaha... I have been to the drags maybe 3 times in the last 3 years.. Just have way to much goin on. I do have one last car I am finishing now goin to Australia.. Then only my own junk is getting worked on.. That alone will keep me goin.. BUT I do have "eyes" up there watching every Buick