opabinia

Life's been kinda lame lately. I'll go to my safe place:

No standard tranny with a turbo six, for another reason: Turbo Buick people say it's a bad idea to separate a turbo six and its stock transmission. They say the dip in RPM between manual shifts lets the turbo unspool, which drops you out of the meaty part of the torque curve. I don't quite follow -- seems to me one should be able to keep the engine revved between shifts -- but they've actually driven these cars, so I should probably believe them.

I want a V8 anyway. :)

***

antihero983 asked for details about the car. It's a 1986 Buick Regal Limited, so there isn't much to say. It's a column-shift auto (that's gonna change). It's grey (that's gonna change). It has grey velour seats (that's gonna change). It has 14" steel wheels (that's gonna change)...

I could have bought a used Grand National to save a few steps (vinyl roof removal, rear end swap, black paint and trim), but there are two good reasons I chose to buy my slag heap:

1. It should cost less to swap/modify my car into the parts of the GN that I would want to keep than it would to buy a GN to begin with. I don't want the GN drivetrain, wheels, or interior.

2. If any Turbo Buick people found out that I had gutted a perfectly good, rare Grand National to make what I intend to have, I'd be stabbed in my sleep. I would feel bad about taking a GN apart. They're really cool just the way they are.