1987 Buick Turbo Turbocharger Install - Power Trip

You know it's installed correctly when the converter is almost flush with the bellhousing.

The trans/converter combo is wheeled under the Buick, jacked up, and mated to the flywheel with six 9/16 trans bolts. All linkages including the shifter cable are reattached and the three converter bolts are installed.

Junior installs the Classic Tube trans cooler lines into the transmission.

The HRPartsNStuff Poly Transmission Mount was installed next. This is an interlocking piece that, along with the motor mounts, will handle the huge torque that the V-6 makes. It comes with a spacer plate, mounting adapter, and high-quality mounting hardware. Speaking of the engine mounts, they were still loose-once Junior tightens the trans mount, he uses an 11/16 wrench on the nuts, and a 5/8 on the bolts to snug them up.

Uneven cylinder airflow distribution is a real problem with Buick Turbos-the rear cylinders are prone to going lean under boost, which can cause knock and blown head gaskets. Lucky for you boost monkeys, RJC Racing came up with the Airflow Distribution Power Plate, designed to get an equal amount of air to each cylinder. It looks too simple to work, but RJC's Jason Cramer gave me a demo with and without the Power Plate on a head/intake combo, and there's no doubt that it equalizes flow between the cylinders. PN ADPPp for Precision plenums costs only $59.

For that price you can't afford not to bolt this baby up; I cleaned the manifold surface, put a gasket down, and placed the Power Plate.

With the other gasket put on top of the Power Plate, the Precision upper plenum/70mm throttle body assembly is set down. The PTE plenum has a much smoother, rounded internal design compared to the angular stock plenum, and the 70mm TB will ingest a ton more air over the 58mm stocker. A few parts were swapped over from the original throttle body and doghouse: the idle air control (IAC) and its housing and gasket, and the throttle arm, spring, and its clips. The bracket for the stock coil pack/module is installed so we can place it onto the bracket and get the doghouse studs installed. Junior tightens the doghouse's bolts down.

Next up, the vacuum block and lines are installed with its gasket on top of the big throttle body. You may recall from past stories that this is a vacuum-conversion brake setup, which explains the extra vacuum block-to-brake booster nipple. A new PCV valve is pressed into service.