HOME

Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth

by Steve Phillips

I’m sure you’ve all heard the expression "too many cooks spoil the broth" before. Recently, I learned the hard way that this household phrase also holds true with building a high performance Turbo Buick engine.

Last year when I planned on rebuilding the engine in my 1987 Grand National and erasing the 145,000 miles it had accumulated in the last 11 years, I called about a half a dozen Buick tuners to get their opinion on what I should do. Since I use the car every day, practicality and good gas mileage were a must. And because it was a daily driver, it absolutely had to be street-able, not to mention run on pump gas. I called around because it seemed like the proper thing to do. My mentality was that if my doctor informed me that I needed to go under the knife, I’d surely get a second opinion. Wouldn’t you? Of course you would. When I went shopping for a new TV and VCR I didn’t buy the first one I saw. I shopped around. With this mentality I also shopped around to find out what the "best" parts would be for my Turbo Buick engine.

In the Beginning...

With this engine, my goal was simple: I naturally wanted more power—somewhere in the low 12-high 11-second ET zone and the car still has to function like a stock GN does on the street. The first tuner I talked to lived by the KISS (keep it simple stupid philosophy). He said, "Keep the bottom end and cam stock, maybe port the heads and intake, get an adjustable fuel pressure regulator, high-volume fuel pump, chip, K&N and put on a 2,800 rpm torque converter, dump tube and buy a set of good drag radials. That’ll really wake up your car." Another tuner with a strong background in building high-horse, full-race Turbo engines suggested that I "...Build a strong bottom end with billet main caps and a steel crankshaft. Get rid of the stock heads and get a set of aluminum heads, a mild cam, modest turbo, 42#, or larger, fuel injectors, large throttle body, front mount intercooler, and a dual 3-inch exhaust system." When I questioned them on the heads they said, "All the fastest cars are running aluminum heads. And factory performance cars like the Corvette and Firebird all come with aluminum heads, so you need aluminum heads, too." Oh, and because it had to be street-able, they said this combination would work with a 2,800 rpm converter. The third company I called tried hard to push one particular turbocharger claiming that "...It’s one of the largest street turbos available and will work with a 2,800 rpm converter." Another shop told me I should run more compression and less boost to get more torque, someone else told me to use headers, another company recommended I use a 9-inch converter—it would work great on the street.

All of them (except the guy with the KISS method) guaranteed I’d have well over 500 horsepower, have great gas mileage and have loads of fun on the street. I liked the sound of that, but I had no idea what I was doing, nor getting myself into.

The Right Way

After putting all of these parts into my engine, I scratched my head as to why it didn’t work right. I called around to get some advice as to what would make this car run like the animal that I thought it was going to be. The first shop I called said, "Sure it runs bad. With this combination there isn’t enough velocity to spool that big turbocharger so the power is being made very high up in the power band. And since you’re running pump gas, by the time it begins making power the engine starts to detonate because there isn’t enough octane in the fuel."

Who is to blame

It’s obvious who’s to blame. The shop who said use this turbo? No. The place that told me to use headers? No. The company that sold me the cam? No. The guy that built the engine. No. The person to blame is me. All of the reputable turbo Buick tuner companies out there have their own special recipes and they have dozens upon dozens of customers with "The Right Stuff" proving it. I seemed to have fallen into a trap that most Buick guys do who decide to "Do it my way." Now I’m going to have to take it to one shop and have them un do "My way" and do it the "right way."

If I would have listened to the shop with the KISS philosophy I would have been very happy. The car would have had plenty of low-end torque, would have been reliable, get great gas mileage and still be competitive in the street class at the track (when I go once or twice a year). But this is all it would take to make me happy, perhaps your needs are different. Maybe you want to run 9s and to get there you’ll need the big turbo and aluminum heads. I just wanted to have fun.

Now, the next step is to drop off the car to one Buick tuner and let them use just one recipe on the engine and not bits and pieces from a half a dozen different recipes. I learned my lesson and I hope that my misfortune can be useful to you. Take it from me, before you blow a small fortune on a whole lot of parts that may only restrict your Turbo Buick’s power, get one opinion from one shop, talk to a few of its customers and before you have them start doing any work, tell them exactly what you want and give a detailed explanation of your driving habits. If you do this you’re almost guaranteed to be happy with your car’s performance.


Tech Tips
	*Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth* by Steve Phillips I’m sure you’ve all heard the expression "too many cooks spoil the broth" before. Recently, I learned the hard way that this household phrase also holds true with building a high performance Turbo Buick engine. Last year when I planned on rebuilding the engine in my 1987 Grand National and erasing the 145,000 miles it had accumulated in the last 11 years, I called about a half a dozen Buick tuners to get their opinion on what I should do. Since I use the car every day, practicality and good gas mileage were a must. And because it was a daily driver, it absolutely had to be street-able, not to mention run on pump gas. I called around because it seemed like the proper thing to do. My mentality was that if my doctor informed me that I needed to go under the knife, I’d surely get a second opinion. Wouldn’t you? Of course you would. When I went shopping for a new TV and VCR I didn’t buy the first one I saw. I shopped around. With this mentality I also shopped around to find out what the "best" parts would be for my Turbo Buick engine. *In the Beginning...* With this engine, my goal was simple: I naturally wanted more power—somewhere in the low 12-high 11-second ET zone and the car still has to function like a stock GN does on the street. The first tuner I talked to lived by the KISS (keep it simple stupid philosophy). He said, "Keep the bottom end and cam stock, maybe port the heads and intake, get an adjustable fuel pressure regulator, high-volume fuel pump, chip, K&N and put on a 2,800 rpm torque converter, dump tube and buy a set of good drag radials. That’ll really wake up your car." Another tuner with a strong background in building high-horse, full-race Turbo engines suggested that I "...Build a strong bottom end with billet main caps and a steel crankshaft. Get rid of the stock heads and get a set of aluminum heads, a mild cam, modest turbo, 42#, or larger, fuel injectors, large throttle body, front mount intercooler, and a dual 3-inch exhaust system." When I questioned them on the heads they said, "All the fastest cars are running aluminum heads. And factory performance cars like the Corvette and Firebird all come with aluminum heads, so you need aluminum heads, too." Oh, and because it had to be street-able, they said this combination would work with a 2,800 rpm converter. The third company I called tried hard to push one particular turbocharger claiming that "...It’s one of the largest street turbos available and will work with a 2,800 rpm converter." Another shop told me I should run more compression and less boost to get more torque, someone else told me to use headers, another company recommended I use a 9-inch converter—it would work great on the street. All of them (except the guy with the KISS method) guaranteed I’d have well over 500 horsepower, have great gas mileage and have loads of fun on the street. I liked the sound of that, but I had no idea what I was doing, nor getting myself into. *The Right Way* After putting all of these parts into my engine, I scratched my head as to why it didn’t work right. I called around to get some advice as to what would make this car run like the animal that I thought it was going to be. The first shop I called said, "Sure it runs bad. With this combination there isn’t enough velocity to spool that big turbocharger so the power is being made very high up in the power band. And since you’re running pump gas, by the time it begins making power the engine starts to detonate because there isn’t enough octane in the fuel." *Who is to blame* It’s obvious who’s to blame. The shop who said use this turbo? No. The place that told me to use headers? No. The company that sold me the cam? No. The guy that built the engine. No. The person to blame is me. All of the reputable turbo Buick tuner companies out there have their own special recipes and they have dozens upon dozens of customers with "The Right Stuff" proving it. I seemed to have fallen into a trap that most Buick guys do who decide to "Do it my way." Now I’m going to have to take it to one shop and have them un do "My way" and do it the "right way." If I would have listened to the shop with the KISS philosophy I would have been very happy. The car would have had plenty of low-end torque, would have been reliable, get great gas mileage and still be competitive in the street class at the track (when I go once or twice a year). But this is all it would take to make me happy, perhaps your needs are different. Maybe you want to run 9s and to get there you’ll need the big turbo and aluminum heads. I just wanted to have fun. Now, the next step is to drop off the car to one Buick tuner and let them use just one recipe on the engine and not bits and pieces from a half a dozen different recipes. I learned my lesson and I hope that my misfortune can be useful to you. Take it from me, before you blow a small fortune on a whole lot of parts that may only restrict your Turbo Buick’s power, get one opinion from one shop, talk to a few of its customers and before you have them start doing any work, tell them exactly what you want and give a detailed explanation of your driving habits. If you do this you’re almost guaranteed to be happy with your car’s performance.