I celebrated the 4th of July by buying American.

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

Originally Posted by dirt_cheap_fleetwood

You got me beat. Last time I timed the Lincoln it was around 9 seconds.

No way! Really? I thought they were more like 7.5-8.0 or so.

[dirt_cheap_fleetwood]

Its old and beat up. It won't even squeal the tires when I punch it from a dead stop. After I do some work I could probably get it that fast, but as of now it could use some refreshing under the hood.

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

So I'm at a crossroads with the Regal. I want to start modifying the car, but if I do that, it'll void my warranty. I'm thinking about cancelling my warranty, and getting $1810 back towards the loan, but I'm just wondering if these cars have any specific costly problems that I'll need the warranty for.

Window regulators/motors seem to be fairly common on the W-Bodies, and those are fairly costly. Anything else?


I wanna get modding so bad!!!!

[jey]

Holy cow that's an expensive warranty. Even if something serious happened surely it wouldn't cost $1800 to fix a Buick?

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

Well, if the tranny or supercharger goes... Not that it would, but if...

Besides, I'm a stickler for fluid flushes (it comes with the job), and we all know if you maintain it properly, odds are it won't fail. Plus, the company that I work for (BG) backs up their products with a free "protection plan", so if something does go awry after the fluid flush was done, BG will pay to get it fixed.

[Aron9000]

Dump that damn warranty. Even if the transmission grenades, it'll cost about $1800 to have it rebuilt.

If you do up the boost on your car, read up on how to do it right. You need to make sure its tuned properly and getting enough fuel for the extra air you are putting in the motor. That's how most people blow up their turbo and supercharged motors, they do all these mods and have a shit tune that runs it lean and grenades the motor.

[96Fleetwood]

Neglecting maintenance is the biggest mistake most make when modifying a used vehicle. Make sure you use your money to bring the Regal up to date with all services before you add any strain. I spent a tad over $1K on the Mark already to make sure it can handle the upcoming mods.

[eldorado99]

Originally Posted by I~LUV~Caddys8792

Well, if the tranny or supercharger goes... Not that it would, but if...

Besides, I'm a stickler for fluid flushes (it comes with the job), and we all know if you maintain it properly, odds are it won't fail. Plus, the company that I work for (BG) backs up their products with a free "protection plan", so if something does go awry after the fluid flush was done, BG will pay to get it fixed.

The supercharger is very unlikely to go. The only thing that will probably happen to it is the coupler will go at some point (it will sound like there is a rock bouncing around inside your supercharger). Buy a new coupler from ZZP for 30 bucks and spend a couple hours replacing it (and your supercharger fluid) and you are good to go. Your transmission may go at some point but you've already spent the money on your warranty to replace it, so why not just get that money back in case it doesn't break, because it very well may not.

Other things to watch out for (at higher miles) are: ignition switch, blower motor resistor, the stock plastic belt tensioners, fuel pump resistor, and as you stated the window regulators. That's all I can think of at the moment. My list is generated from my experience with GTPs so it is possible it is slightly different that your Buick, though I think all those parts are the same on both. At much higher miles your wheel bearing assemblies may go. If you ever get a CEL make sure your gas cap is on real tight and reset the CEL because my GTPs seem to have been pretty sensitive to me not closing the gas cap properly (I used to close it until I heard 1 or 2 clicks). If you start to notice a whining sound and harsher shifting in your transmission it is probably the presure control solenoid (Code P1811) which is a somewhat expensive repair unfortunately.

Also, I assume your Buick has had the recall repair done on it for the engine fires? As you probably already know it involved replacing the front valve cover gasket and re-routing the spark plug wires. I replaced my injector O-rings as well just for piece of mind even though the recall doesn't say anything about them, but for the 2 bucks it costs to get O-rings, why not?

If you want to buy modding parts make sure you check out: http://www.zzperformance.com/
I've been getting all my parts from there since I got my first GTP a few years ago, great service. They also have tutorials on the proper order to do mods in to have minimum KR which is what will blow up your engine.

[Aron9000]

Originally Posted by 96Fleetwood

Neglecting maintenance is the biggest mistake most make when modifying a used vehicle. Make sure you use your money to bring the Regal up to date with all services before you add any strain. I spent a tad over $1K on the Mark already to make sure it can handle the upcoming mods.

I'm just curious as to how you can spend 1k in preventive maintence

Unless you had to redo the air suspension on that car or swap it over to conventional springs and shocks, I could see that costing a pretty penny.

[96Fleetwood]

Originally Posted by Aron9000

I'm just curious as to how you can spend 1k in preventive maintence

Unless you had to redo the air suspension on that car or swap it over to conventional springs and shocks, I could see that costing a pretty penny.

It already had a lowering kit with springs and shocks when I bought it.. but that kit prematurely wore out the control arms, tie rods, ball joints, and a few more items... also had to replace two coilpacks due to a surge at idle, full tune up, all fluids changed, new driver's door lock actuator, blend door for hvac, camber kit w/alignment, two new tires.. and a few more odds and ends. The car only has 39K miles, but it is 11 years old.. and I am a stickler to have my cars in good running condition.

[Aron9000]

Originally Posted by 96Fleetwood

It already had a lowering kit with springs and shocks when I bought it.. but that kit prematurely wore out the control arms, tie rods, ball joints, and a few more items... also had to replace two coilpacks due to a surge at idle, full tune up, all fluids changed, new driver's door lock actuator, blend door for hvac, camber kit w/alignment, two new tires.. and a few more odds and ends. The car only has 39K miles, but it is 11 years old.. and I am a stickler to have my cars in good running condition.

Okay, I could see how you spent 1k now if you had to replace ball joints, tie rods, etc. I'd love to own a Mark VIII, but that damn problematic air suspension has really kept me from buying one. It really is a superior car to the 90's Eldorado, even though I prefer the crisper styling of the Eldo.

[dirt_cheap_fleetwood]

Mark VIIs are 10x times better looking though, but my opinion may be a little biased.

[Aron9000]

Originally Posted by dirt_cheap_fleetwood

Mark VIIs are 10x times better looking though, but my opinion may be a little biased.

Yeah, the Mark VII is the ultimate 1980's personal luxury coupe, it occupies that same space in my mind as a BMW 6 series or a Benz SEC. The 80-85 Eldorado looked really cool, but it was a turd performance wise. The 86-87 Eldorado is perhaps GM's worst attempt ever at a car, it looked like a 2 door Grand Am. The 87-91 cars infused some Cadillac styling cues, but IMO they still look way too similar to the same year Riveria or Toranado.


Lincoln was firing on all eight cylinders with the Mark VII in the 80's, it was a very distinctive and stylish car with the same RWD dynamics the Europeans were offering.

[I~LUV~Caddys8792]

Mark VII's are great, but I also liked the 1990-92 Toronado Trofeo from a styling and handling perspective as well. It's too bad they never offered the supercharged 3.8 with it. The '79-85 Toronado/Riviera and Eldorado are the best looking coupes of that era, but like you said, they were a turd as far as performance went.

[dirt_cheap_fleetwood]

Early 80's Riviera convertible.