[Kirby]

quote:Originally posted by Steve03GT

As a preface, in 1989 I purchased 1 of ~1500, 20th Anniversary Turbo Trans Am's with a Pontiac factory-modified, Buick 3.8L GN engine which stickered at ~$30K - in 1989 mind you. I had 1 of only 39 hardtops produced, since the remainder were all T-Tops, kept it for 9 years and sold it with 165,000 miles on the clock - with the original alternator. Now don't get me wrong, I don't claim to "know it all" when it comes to turbo-powered cars, but I do have some background in the matter, having both participated in both car shows and drag strip shootouts (lo 12's @ 110 mph).
OK, I'll cut to the chase now. Since I've had the GT Cruiser, my memory (most of which is gone due to the early 70's,) is reminding me of some things I learned while owning the TTA.
Maintenance:
1.Synthetic "Oil" is a must, preferably Royal Purple, though other brands will suffice. Synthetics can/will prevent turbocharger bearings from "coking" up due to it's resistance to "boiling off", thereby, forming sludge and varnish deposits, which contribute to corrosion, decreased fuel efficiency and increased engine wear - blah, blah, blah.
2.Turbo-timers, IMHO, are a waste of money for a daily driver, unless you drive like a bat out of hell and kill the engine without a cool-down period - duhhhh.
3.To be cont'd.


Performance:
1.Find a performance sparkplug (NGK,etc.)known to perform well with a Forced Induction engine.
2.If you're an aggressive driver, I recommend changing plugs <10K miles. They degradate quickly, yet, performance losses are so slight as to be unnoticeable; however, I recently had my supercharged Vette's plugs (lo miles) changed and Zowie, what a rush - both figuratively and literally; I had forgotten that part since my TTA days.
3.To be cont'd.

Anyone else have any tips?; feel free to add to my list - dinner time.[^]

As mentioned before, if you are changing plugs on an aluminum head every 10K use dielectric compound on the plug threads to protect the head.

Those new Iridium plugs are supposed to be a little tougher (made by NGK).