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Topics - kjhansen
16
« on: July 03 2021, 07:14:29 PM »
OK, so I have a 3" downpipe on my PTE 5858 turbo already. But the wastegate was stuck shut--good and hard. Rather than break it trying to fix it, then ordering a new downpipe, I figured I'd just order a new downpipe. Ordered one from RJC Racing. They seem to have a good reputation.
I had to wait 2 months to get it, but it came. Took it to my muffler guy and he could not make it fit. No matter how much he twisted and turned it, it would sit on the bushing on the passenger side A-Arm and contact the inner fender well where it's plastic. Plus he broke one wrench and three of the four bolts that attached it old downpipe to the turbo taking the old downpipe out.
So he went ahead and put the old downpipe back in after putting studs in the bolt holes on the turbo. He had worked and worked on the wastegate and said it should work... maybe. Only thing is, he accidently knocked the number 4 spark plug wire off. He didn't notice this because he just pulled the car out of the garage and into the driveway--just a few yards. This was late Friday night.
When I picked up the car and pulled out of his place of business I certainly noticed, but it was too late to do anything about it, so I went ahead and drove it home. It had no power, bucked and stuttered and almost died more than once. I immediately knew something was wrong of course, but I just had to get home. After leaving town the speed limit went up to 45 so I sped up. After it shifted gears into 4th it locked up the torque convertor, like it's supposed to do, and that caused the engine to lug and stutter. I got home all right, but was very unhappy.
The next morning (today, Saturday July 3rd) I inspected the car and found the disconnected spark plug wire. I hooked it back up and started the car. It ran much better and the wastegate seems to work--sort of. Supposedly it was set for 21psi of boost before it froze shut, but now that it's "working" the car will only hit about 18 psi of boost. The adjustable rod length hasn't been changed. It's as far back as it will go without cutting more threads. But it has a flat spot in second gear where it doesn't seem to have much power and doesn't increase rpm like it should. Then it hits third and pulls pretty good except that it backfires on the shift.
Anyway, I checked the TPS settings and they were pretty close, but I adjusted them to be spot-on. Then I reprogramed the Turbo Tweak chip to the settings the previous owner had told me for an alcohol injected car running 21 psi of boost. The battery had been disconnected so it needed that.
I'm at a loss. All that was done was to remove and replace the old downpipe (and accidently disconnect the spark plug wire). I know I was running 30psi of boost with the frozen-shut wastegate. Could just the change in boost have messed everything up so much? If so, what's to be done?
Keith
17
« on: June 21 2021, 06:30:25 PM »
This must be a weak ground, I would think. But where is the ground? The right side lights work fine.
Keith
18
« on: June 16 2021, 01:46:31 PM »
Hot day here in Missouri--about 90. Just tooled around town with a/c on. Coolant temp didn't go over 190. Stopped at a body shop to see if they could adjust the driver's side window. Then car wouldn't start. It wouldn't click or make any noise. Scanmaster said there was 12v from the battery. Tried jumping across the starter, which spun the motor but didn't engage the bendix. Poked around under the hood checking for loose wires... none. Looked under the dash for bad fuses, lose wires, etc., and no problems seen. Tried both Park and Neutral, wouldn't start in either one. Worked on it for 30-40 minutes. Finally gave up and called my wife to come and get me. Got in the car and tried to start it one more time and it fired right up.
I've owned another TR before and took it to San Antonio, TX with me for 3 years. It gets hotter in San Antonio than it does here and I never had a heat-soak problem there, and it was my every-day driver and Friday night drag racer. Of course this is a different car and I don't know how old the starter/bendix combo is. I do know that it's got a 3" downpipe that goes fairly close to the starter, but so did my old car.
Anybody have any problems like this? Won't start when it's really hot?
Also, different topic, I put a new regulator and motor in the DS window a while ago. The old one rolled up and down with jerks and bumps and wouldn't close all the way if the door was closed. Now the new one rolls up and down jerkily and won't shut all the way if the door is closed--which was why I was at the body shop in the first place. They lubricated the rubber seals, but that didn't help. Any thoughts?
Keith
19
« on: April 27 2021, 02:26:10 PM »
Having nothing better to do during this rainy weather, I was closely inspecting the boost control system on my TR.
First: the wastegate control valve/solenoid was not attached to anything except its wires.
Well, it is NOT the stock turbo, it's a Precision Turbo PTE 5858 and there is a tube running from it down under it towards the wastegate controller. So, obviously the stock wastegate valve thing is out of the loop now. However...
Second: The tube running from the compressor side of the turbo and just long enough to reach around it and hook to the wastegate controller wasn't connected to anything either. I assume it was supposed to be attached to the wastegate controller?
Third: I checked the adjustable rod from the wastegate controller to the wastegate. There didn't seem to be any more threads left to tighten it up. But I popped the clip off at the swivel and removed the rod from the pin to check it out. It seems to be almost all the way back--maybe one or two threads showing. Oh well. But after I took it off, I tried to move the wastegate swivel and it would not move either direction. Now, I admit it's been 12 years since I fooled with my first Turbo Regal, but I seem to remember that you could swivel that swivel. I mean, it's the wastegate. How does it open if it won't move? This is obviously not the stock system, and I don't know how it works, although it seems to work. I understand how the stock system works, but this appears to be different. I called Precision Turbo, but just got voice mail. If anybody could explain I'd appreciate it.
Keith
20
« on: March 30 2021, 03:12:12 PM »
Simple question: How can I get more legroom? I don't have the equipment or training to cut and weld steel. Does somebody sell extensions for the seat brackets? Safe extensions that won't fold up in an accident.
Keith
21
« on: March 18 2021, 09:31:16 AM »
Plastic piece that bolts under the steering column. Blue preferred, but not necessary.
Keith
22
« on: March 18 2021, 09:29:32 AM »
Mine is broken. Is this piece interchangeabl e with other g-bodies?
23
« on: March 16 2021, 03:03:09 PM »
First, this car is fairly new to me and also most of the parts are fairly new also, i.e., 3 years old or newer.
Most of the work on this car was done by Anderson Performance East (APE) in Maryland.
According to Billy Anderson at APE the torque converter is a 9/11 Billet lock-up unit. He remembers the car and the converter.
The car has a 145mph speedometer.
Again according to Billy, because of the 145mph speedometer it will not lock up at normal lock-up speeds and so will need a manual lock-up switch.
First I tried the old paper-clip lock up, connecting A and F in the ALDL port. This is what I remembered from the my old days with my TR. No lock-up.
I put a simple continuity switch doing the same thing and drove around, trying to lock the converter. No dice.
Am I remembering this wrong?
Is it worth getting the Monster Lock-up kit for $99?
Keith
24
« on: March 04 2021, 07:06:11 PM »
Turbo is a PTE PT5858. Makes an obvious clicking sound when the engine is running--even when the car is idling. Could this be a valve train sound being channeled through the exhaust? I put the stethoscope on the valve covers and don't hear the noise through them, so I don't think that's where the noise originates. A clicking sound from the turbo sounds expensive. Can I rebuild this turbo?
25
« on: February 26 2021, 01:31:08 PM »
My '87 TR had had a very light ticking sound. Apparently not a lifter, but rather from a very slightly bent pushrod. Easy to replace a pushrod, but the pushrod guideplate needs to be replaced also. I can't find ANYONE selling these. Any help out there?
Keith
1987 TR
26
« on: December 29 2020, 12:13:14 PM »
Found--no longer needed. I need a driver's side regulator without motor for an '87 Regal.
Keith
27
« on: December 01 2020, 02:59:42 PM »
I used to use this program, a long time ago, and it worked fine for what it was. So I found it online, still free, but updated so it would run on newer computers. Since I no longer have a laptop that runs on Win 95 or older, I figured that was a good thing. I do have a laptop using Win 8, which is supposed to be good for WINALDL. My homemade cable, however, no longer has an old fashioned serial port to plug into. So I bought a cable with the ALDL plug on one side and a USB plug on the other. The cable maker said it worked with WINALDL.
Not so much.
I only get four streams of data and they make no sense.
I hooked the cable to the ALDL port on the car and to com port 4 on the computer. WinALDL sees the cable and the car's ECM. I drove around until the engine warmed up and the car went into closed loop. It started streaming data--at least, some data--as soon as I started the engine.
The problem I have encountered is that the data flow makes no sense. With everything hooked up and the Raw Data tab OR the Sensor Data tab on, I mostly just get two data streams--and they're in the first two rows: MW2 and PROMIDA.
These numbers seem to change randomly. Occasionally I get more data, but only a few more rows; PROMIDB, IAC, CT and MPH. These numbers also make no sense. MPH, for example, can vary from 3 to 145 when the car is moving at a steady speed or standing still.
The car has a non-stock chip, but the ECM is stock. The chip is a Turbo-Tweak chip, if that helps.
Any thoughts?
Keith
28
« on: November 18 2020, 10:33:57 AM »
The tape deck in my '87 TR won't let you push the tapes in. Not that I have any tapes, but I do have a cassette adapter that lets you plug your phone into the system with the mini-jack. Any thoughts?
Keith
29
« on: November 06 2020, 08:45:42 AM »
1987 Turbo Regal, new to me. Dash is not stock--has 145mph speedometer. My understanding is that the low fuel indicator was NOT an option on these cars. Nevertheless, the low fuel light goes off and on no matter the fuel lever. Any idea why this might be happening and how to stop it? Other than pulling the bulb. I know that.
Keith
30
« on: November 05 2020, 06:33:45 AM »
Hey folks,
My name is Keith and I recently joined your board. I have a 1987 Turbo Regal and a 2012 Buick Regal Turbo (Yeah I know, who cares about the 2012? My wife drives the 2012 and loves it). I just recently bought the '87 out of nostalgia. I had an '87 for about 15 years. I'm retired military now. Back when I was stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in the early 1990s I bought a 1987 Turbo Regal. It was one of the light brown colors with two black rectangles painted on the hood. I didn't do that, it was that way when I bought it. I began doing some basic modifications, maintaining the stock turbo and injectors, while in California. I bought a G-Tech Pro and began testing the car on the long straight roads out by the flower fields in Lompoc, California. Lompoc is the town nearest Vandenberg AFB. When we were transferred to Randolph AFB, on the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas, I learned that (at the time) San Antonio had a drag strip--Alamo, now known as Alamo City Motorplex. It was there that I made my first officially timed runs. Eventually another strip would open. I don't remember it's exact name, but it might have been something like "River City Raceway" or something. It was only open for a short time before I got transferred to Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Anyway, I met a couple of friendly guys who also drove Turbo Buicks and were willing to give me advice. One was Todd King, who had a really fast car. The other was a guy name of Steve Wood, whose car was faster then mine too. Now I don't know if that was the same Steve Wood who is here, but that was his name.
Anyway, I had a lot of fun racing there and the car went from low 14s to low 12s as I made more basic "recipe" mods and put on a bigger turbo and injectors etc.
After Colorado Springs I retired from the Air Force and we moved to Missouri. I kept the car for a few more years, but sold it in 2009. From the day I sold it until a couple of weeks ago I wished that I hadn't. Finally I caved in and bought another one. I actually tried to find my old car--tracked it to Ozark, Missouri, then to Alabama and finally to Texas, where it might still be in Amarillo. But no luck.
So I bought this dark blue one. So far, loving it.
Keith Hansen
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