I bought TTA 1040 with 56K miles on it for $4000 on 4/4/11. This car was heavily modified and raced hard at the track. This will be my new project, codenamed "RAYDER". Rayder is a synonym for Bandit and also ties into the GNX history of the X-Ray(A GNX painted White) as well as a play on words of Vader as the GNX was referred to as the Dark Lord of Buick Grand Nationals. I am going to transform this one into a GNX/TTA street/show car that is a tribute to the Car where the best Buick Engine Turbo 6 ever came from as well as our favorite Pontiac, the TTA. It already has the GNX style wheels on it and will get a GNX style paint job once the mechanical problems are restored. Dennis Butt will be my lead mechanic on this project from Elwood, IL. He comes highly recommended as one of Chicago's, if not the countries expert in Turbo Buick's and he just happens to live in the next town to me. I think the GNX Black color and the gold 20th Anniversary emblems will give a special tribute to the Bandit Trans Am's of the past.
The body needs a few repairs before painting. The front spoiler by the right fog light is cracked. The Rear Spoiler is cracked and worst one I have seen yet. The rear window on the drivers side by the defroster looks like a heavy film on it or a bad tint, not sure but that will have to be fixed. There are few dents and dings on the driver door and hood. It also has fuel pressure gauge run from under the hood and placed on top of the hood for the driver to see. I won't need that. The Power antenna is stuck half way up. you can hear the motor run every time you shut it down. So hope it can be repaired. The fog lights work, but the headlights don't go up. You can hear the motor and see the knobs spin, so hopefully they can be repaired too. I was in and out of the hatch about three times and the latch and motor worked for two of them. It is now stuck in the closed position. I went to move it today and the battery was dead. I think the light on in the hatch since it can't be closed drained it so I unplugged it. Charged it back up and it started right up.So that will need to be repaired/replaced.
As far as the interior goes, the radio has been removed. The doors show heavy wear. The t-top bag and hatch privacy shade are missing too. The interior is in pretty good shape both carpet and cloth seats. The gauges have been changed to white faces which is unique and all work except for the gas gauge. The dash is in good shape. It has the column for extra gages on the driver side with a higher boost gauge installed. There is a plastic white bottle (Misty Mate pump) that has a push pump on it that runs along side the driver and I just set it in the center console. It is empty and not sure what it is. There is a red switch in the center console too. There is also a black knob along the drivers right knee. Any body have any ideas what these are? It also have a different computer set up and it is huge with a direct scan connected and just sitting in the passenger floorboard.
The engine, well I don't know where to start. The car starts right up and idles good, no obvious leaks in the engine bay or heavy exhaust out the back. It has a nice exhaust system with very shiny exhaust pipes. It sounds really strong. It drives right now, but a little scary. It run at high rpms in the gears and doesn't shift consistent. When you give it some some throttle, it sounds like it is boosting and the gauge on the column goes up, but it just feels like it is grinding and just doesn't have any power, like as if the parking brake was put on. So, the next drive in the car will be to Dennis's next week when he is ready to dig into this one.
The guy I bought it from said he bought the car the way it is now and didn't know much about it other than it didn't really run right. I was hoping to have it done by the reunion but that might be a stretch. Check out the pics. Let me know if you guys have any ideas what some of this stuff is. Like the intercooler has been changed, but it looks like there is no radiator anymore? Doesn't make sense to me, but looks funny, like a big hole where the stock intercooler was. The bigger and longer piping looks different too, not to mention the turbo without the cover.
The body needs a few repairs before painting. The front spoiler by the right fog light is cracked. The Rear Spoiler is cracked and worst one I have seen yet. The rear window on the drivers side by the defroster looks like a heavy film on it or a bad tint, not sure but that will have to be fixed. There are few dents and dings on the driver door and hood. It also has fuel pressure gauge run from under the hood and placed on top of the hood for the driver to see. I won't need that. The Power antenna is stuck half way up. you can hear the motor run every time you shut it down. So hope it can be repaired. The fog lights work, but the headlights don't go up. You can hear the motor and see the knobs spin, so hopefully they can be repaired too. I was in and out of the hatch about three times and the latch and motor worked for two of them. It is now stuck in the closed position. I went to move it today and the battery was dead. I think the light on in the hatch since it can't be closed drained it so I unplugged it. Charged it back up and it started right up.So that will need to be repaired/replaced.
As far as the interior goes, the radio has been removed. The doors show heavy wear. The t-top bag and hatch privacy shade are missing too. The interior is in pretty good shape both carpet and cloth seats. The gauges have been changed to white faces which is unique and all work except for the gas gauge. The dash is in good shape. It has the column for extra gages on the driver side with a higher boost gauge installed. There is a plastic white bottle (Misty Mate pump) that has a push pump on it that runs along side the driver and I just set it in the center console. It is empty and not sure what it is. There is a red switch in the center console too. There is also a black knob along the drivers right knee. Any body have any ideas what these are? It also have a different computer set up and it is huge with a direct scan connected and just sitting in the passenger floorboard.
The engine, well I don't know where to start. The car starts right up and idles good, no obvious leaks in the engine bay or heavy exhaust out the back. It has a nice exhaust system with very shiny exhaust pipes. It sounds really strong. It drives right now, but a little scary. It run at high rpms in the gears and doesn't shift consistent. When you give it some some throttle, it sounds like it is boosting and the gauge on the column goes up, but it just feels like it is grinding and just doesn't have any power, like as if the parking brake was put on. So, the next drive in the car will be to Dennis's next week when he is ready to dig into this one.
The guy I bought it from said he bought the car the way it is now and didn't know much about it other than it didn't really run right. I was hoping to have it done by the reunion but that might be a stretch. Check out the pics. Let me know if you guys have any ideas what some of this stuff is. Like the intercooler has been changed, but it looks like there is no radiator anymore? Doesn't make sense to me, but looks funny, like a big hole where the stock intercooler was. The bigger and longer piping looks different too, not to mention the turbo without the cover.
Also, I guess in order to use the Misty Mate, you would always have to have a passenger with a good forearm ride shotgun and pump away. LOL
