Who in Spokane can rebuild turbos ??

[SRT Brian]

So im just going to rebuild the stock turbo on the Grand National for now and then build it up little by little. Im sure it just needs new seals put into it. It was smoking really bad. I have the turbo off the car and ready. Can anyone point me to a good shop? Thanks

[talntid]

John @ Advanced Diesel

[trbo355]

The stock turbo isnt anything too fancy and depending how bad its wounded, it may be a better deal to buy an aftermarket upgrade if it costs too much to fix. If they are smoking, the thrust is usually creamed, which means the compressor wheel probably touched the housing which ( although it may look ok ) will kill the delicate balancing of the wheel. Now your approaching totalled compared to buying a new one for 750 bucks.

I used to run stocker GN turbos on my firebird and the stock 270 degree thrust made them pretty fragile under high boost. The aftermarket ones ( or John can do it to yours ) have the 360 degree conversion thats mandatory for any hard usage. Grab the shaft and see if it has any in/out play. If its minimal you may get lucky on a cheap overhaul.

[SRT Brian]

I dident fill much in and out movement at all. I have it mostly all taken apart. We were going to go aftermarket but, this is the non-intercooled car, so the turbo mounts right to the intake man. so aftermarket you cant do unless you just get something and remount it some place else, run all new piping ect ect.

[SRT Brian]

Wow they are pricey!

[SRT Brian]

Also Marty, I would LOVE to go aftermarket, but everything I have been reading up on its way overwhelming I dont even know were to start.

[talntid]

Might give Kirk @ PTR a call -- he had a GN in there not too long ago with some stuff done to it... Maybe he's got a stocker laying around or something :)

[SRT Brian]

I will give him a shot.

[trbo355]

Aaaah non intercooled car. If you want to put something big on it, ive done 3 of em over the years and it can be done using an 87 application bigger turbo. There is a guy around town named Rob Dehn that has my old hot air 84 GN and i did a huge turbo conversion on it. With a stock 87 turbo grafted on ( way better than the shitty 84-85 piece) it went 12.47 back in the day. It should be a solid mid to low 11 car now.

The conversion is a bit tricky and my labor bill on his conversion was around 350 bucks. Whatever you do, dont put the stocker back on cuz its totally worthless from a performance standpoint. I dont think anyone has hit 12's with it. The head pipe from header to turbo is a hideous double wall design and the only pipe worse than it is the downpipe. Fix those 3 things and they go pretty fast!

[SRT Brian]

Cool man. That helps me out ALOT. So I got the box out with the old turbo, and there is in and out shaft play and alot of side to side. From the 85 Hot air to 86/87 ones can I buy a 86 Intake and build off of that?

[SRT Brian]

Marty I would like to chat with you more if I could sometime. It seems you know alot about these cars and could set me up pretty well.

[trbo355]

Gimme a call and well blab about em! I think ive blown up one of everything on those cars and got to know them real well. LOL

You can leave the stock intake as its actually a pretty good piece and with a few mods can adapt a better turbo to it. You have to retain an original style compressor housing with the 2 bolts for the throttle body. The best hot rod turbos are listed as "stock appearing" for the 86-87 cars and that gives you the 2 bolts needed instead of just a smooth hose connection. 86-87 cars had a bolt on inlet bell that converted the turbo inlet to a hose connection since their throttle plate isnt anywhere near the turbo.

It just so happenes its the same bolt pattern as early cars but the throttle clocking changes about 30 degrees but it works just fine.

[SRT Brian]

O ok. I will give you a call when is the best time?

[trbo355]

Anytime during normal business hours. 999-4344. If you need any parts for the car, Mike Dopkins is the local Buick GN guy around here and has lots of inventory since he parts them out on a regular basis. 926-8521

[SRT Brian]

O perfect. I think im going to convert it over to 86/87 Intake and headers/computer/MAF/ ect. on Turbobuick.com I hear the 85 Intake is shit.