REATTA TURBO PHOTOS/TEXT NOW AVAILABLE

[reattadudes]

we have posted the photos and text from the 1989 Reatta Turbo press release. just go to our web site, at www.buickreattaparts.com and click on "1989 Reatta Turbo".

happy viewing! <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Mike

[Guest EDBS0]

Thanks, noticed that the totally pathetic front air dam is gone.

[padgett]

Looks like the entire front fascia was changed to incorporate the air dam. Is nice looking & might be worth repoping.

The "blow through" turbo is a surprise does look like they grabbed an entire GN engine. Plenium does appear smaller than stock 3800 & has the earlier valve covers.

Exhaust pipe routing looks interesting, wonder if it still had an a/c (do not see a dryer) or cruise control. Note the relocation of the ignition module behind the engine.

[reattadudes]

its interesting the photos have "Reatta FWD Turbo" printed on the bottom. just wonder when the "Reatta RWD Turbo" photos will surface. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Mike

[twistedmooch]

i wanna know where this engine vanished to, they need to start making them asap

[Guest tempest68]

Greg Ross needs to find the CRT stuff from this car...the press release mentions the CRT showing the level of boost from the Turbo...would be nice for Greg to be able to know how much boost the SC is producing right on the GUAGES function of the CRT.

[padgett]

Should be no more difficult than replacing the odod reading with oil pressure and coolant temp but requires reprogramming the BCM (and also adding a MAP sensor that can register boost).

Problem is simple - nothing exists publicly on how the BCM is programmed and I am having enough trouble understanding the Engine Control Module to meld an L-67 map to a 88 data stream. Have not gotten to the Body Control Module (same basic system with a 27C256 though so once understood, reprogramming will be easy).

Must admit have not been able to devote much time to the project. First step would be to find the engineers on the project and hopefully they would still have some notes or pointers.

Reverse engineering without help is possible, I have the PROM dump, but tedious and experimentation is difficult without a test bed which I have the parts for but just have not done either.

Heck, it has taken me several months to check out the late ignition system and that was a bolt-in.

If anyone has a Buick or ex-Buick contact who might know something about the BCM programming, I would really like to talk to them.

[2seater]

Thanks for the link! I had seen something like the underhood photo once before but from a different angle and not as detailed. The exhaust routing looks just what I did. The rear manifold outlet faces the passengers side and the exhaust is routed to the front manifold past the front of the water pump, although mine sits lower and is less obvious. This also allowed the ignition module to remain in the stock location although it is rotated 90 degrees. I still have a/c and the cruise control servo is still in the stock location, and I would bet theirs was too. They did orient the turbo 90 degrees to the way mine is, but the basic location is the same. They had the advantage of a purpose built unit so things like the receiver/dryer for the a/c may be different. It is definitely a GN style engine rather than a 3800 but it looks like the exterior 3800 stuff grafts right in place. No intercooler visible, so if this is a high boost model, that inlet air temp. must be in the hundreds of degrees. Maybe it is just well hidden.

The front styling does look a lot more aggressive, and maybe could have been marketed as the Reatta GS, even without the turbo? The wheels look surprisingly good. I have a similar style on my winter car (similar vintage) and I never considered that style for the Reatta, but I kinda like them.

[Guest]

I wouldnt mind getting my hands on those anti-sway bars and some info on the springs. I was doing some research into adjustable vette springs, and they use something like a moveable block system. I plan to do some experimentation on mine in the next few weeks with a 2x4 block of wood at the tops of the spring and see the distance lowered, and check stiffness and clearance of everything. If anyone has any suggestions on this or prewarnings post em.

The turbo reatta looks good. One thing that shocked me is the size of the turbo. For a car with shift points at 4800, thats a quite large turbo with some spool up time in it. My project is using a garret T4 turbo from a first generation eclipse with a very short spool up time. Once I get that in place, Im gonna replace teh turbo with a 16g unit that mounts up to the housing. And the lack of intercooler is very shocking. The PR says that the front air dam allows more air to the radiator and trans cooler. No mention of an intercooler. Imagine the power increase, throttle response and spool up time. Also, I didnt see any form of BOV, and no mention of a waste gate, but I imagine the wastegate is on the turbo. I would definately love to get my hands on this piece of history.

[2seater]

I can't find any modern references to a T-25 turbo but I imagine it is smaller than the stock T3 and T3/T4 hybrids used on the GN. Spoolup time can be varied to a great degree within any turbo family by use of different compressor wheels and the A/R of the turbine housing. All things being equal, a T4 turbo should spool slower than a T3, as it has greater total capacity potential. But of course moderm materials,(ceramics),can make a larger one spool quicker than previous generations, along with more capacity. The Eclipse engine is pretty small, so it probably has a small A/R in the turbine housing. This helps the spoolup time but it can limit the high end power if it chokes the exhaust flow too much.

The Reatta photos must be of the low boost version, otherwise outlet air temps. would be awfully high. Even at 7-8 psi boost the outlet temps are in the same range as my coolant temperatures, 170-180 degrees. The wastegate actuator diapragm is visible just to the rear of the upper radiator hose elbow at the radiator. It looks to be the conventional style. I wonder if all the standard Reatta electronics were still fully functional? I would be seriously interested in the computer or programming used. It's really a shame they didn't make a production run as it is pretty obvious this addition is just as easy to do as the S/C engine which came later. It had more horsepower and torque than the Series II S/C engine, and has taken GM 15 years to again offer a mainstream sedan engine with the same power level (Series III).

[55chevy]

I have a one page story from Hot Rod in 1989 that talks about the Reatta and Regal turbo prototypes, it has a outline/ghost drawing of the rear wheel drive Reatta turbo, I will have to see if I can get it scanned, article is at work right now. The Hot Rod story shows a blue Reatta with ground effects all around and a hood bulge in front center, although it doesn't have the round fog light openings, I believe it is the rear wheel drive version. Auto Week also had a small one photo caption showing a wrap around rear spoiler on one of the turbo Reattas. By the way, how do you "hand build" an engine? hehe

[Guest]

Put it together by hand, and not like an machanical assembly line do it.

[padgett]

At or around GM there used to be a number of people who could make a stock engine a little "more". Smokey and Grumpy were artists with small block Chevvys & Milt Schornack could do almost as much wizardry with Pontiacs as "Mac" Mackeller.

Often cars prepped for magazine "road tests" were a little more and while "hand built" these days then meant first a trip to the parts bin where for instance a could of hundred rocker arms would be gone through to find the occasional "1.6" rocker that was really "1.65". The block would often be slightly decked and a precision hand-lapped valve job done.

Both the carb and the distributer received extra attention with "weak" advance springs selected and a touch richer jets. Probably the most outrageous were the red and blue '64 GTO used as test mules by journalists who never quite realized that the stock 389s had been replaced by Super Duty 421s.

Somehow a "stock" engine produced by one of the wizards always put out quite a bit more than what the dealers received off the assembly lines.

Most blatent was one comparison test done by Car and Driver in the late sixties that disqualified the 390 Mercury Cyclones for having full Bud Moore prepped race engines. (from memory so open to challenge, no longer have the issue).

Keep in mind that these cars were prepared to do one thing: go fast. None were sold that way so there was no need to be concerned about emissions or lasting through a 50,000 mile warrenty and that makes a big difference.