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I just confirmed yesterday that this one was crushed on 3/6/23… rip

Not to rain on your parade as I prefer these early style of front ends...but really, if we're talking about legal stuff, that front end is not technically legal. I absolutely love that corner area marked in sort of that grayish color with that emblem in the center. I think it's gorgeous! But, on the newer style Ciera's, there would be a functional illuminated or maybe it's just a reflective corner lens. The previous owner should have also switched out the bumper and kept the light that's mounted in the bumper ahead of the front wheels. Like this. Anyways, just something I noticed but no matter, the car is beautiful and I love it!

I like it.

Ooh, she's clean! So glad you decided not to drive her thru the salt!

I'm relatively new here having bought a red 1990 turbo Grand Prix this past fall. I'm not sure of it's history but one modification is that it has an aftermarket K&N air filter instead of the original air intake system to the turbo inlet. I used to have a 1985 Buick Grand National turbo which is before they had intercoolers. Of course the later Grand Nationals had intercoolers to boost horsepower. My 1985 GN had an aftermarket filter to improve air flow, similar to my 1990 GP. The other mod that we would do is to run ducts to get the air from the front of the car behind the grill. So my question is since the 1990 GP stock air intake was an intercooled system, why replace the air box and duct work taking air from the front of the car with the aftermarket open filter taking air near the turbo? Since intercoolers provide more horsepower via cooler intake air, it would seem the stock system would provide cooler air to the turbo than the open filter under the hot engine bay next to the hot turbo, all things being equal. This would seem to result in lower temperature after the intercooler hence more power. Was the original set-up so much more restrictive, robbing horsepower, or was there another reason? I would like to return the intake back to original but want to make sure that I wouldn't cause performance issues. By the way, I'm looking for the original system parts - any ideas?

The previous owner liked 1986 front end look, so he found OEM front facia and put it on this 1996. I bought it and have been meaning to paint it so it matches. I couldn’t complain about some of paint peel and primer front end because low miles and rust free bottom side

No problem. I need to make a correction after looking at my own pics, LOL. Those sunroof drain tubes don't go down to the floor pan obviously. They go down into the top of the quarter panel inner structure right next to the bottom of the quarter window glass and THEN they do down into the quarter panel cavity. My bad.

Ahhh, ok, yes, I’ll need to check that out… I saw a tube but thought it might had been for the sunroof, again, thank you so much for info..

No problem. Just to be clear, I was talking about the drain tube for your antenna mast, the area there in the trunk floor and quarter panel being crusty. The sunroof drain tubes will come from the sunroof, down the sides of the B pillars and into the floor pan. Again, there will be a hole in the floor pan where the tube goes thru and exits out into the quarter panel cavity ahead of the rear wheels. You can pull off those black pressure release covers that you see when you open the doors and look down into that cavity. You can check to see if the quarters look ok. Here's my International for reference.

Thank you!! Sunroof seal was swollen, so that was probably the issue, it wouldn’t close all the way.. speaking of sunroof… I need a new seal too… another part that discontinued. Only option I have is to source a new glass with a good seal…

Yes, I’m in search of a lower valance currently… just went to a u-pull place today for one they supposedly had but they said they crushed it 2 weeks ago… so sad!!!

Very good information! Let's not forget about the RPO code label in the trunk though.

Make sure the drain tube is hooked up properly and that it's actually down into the trunk floors drain hole...if it's still there and the rust hasn't made it disappear. This tube takes water from the mast and directs it thru the tube, thru the trunk floor, and onto the ground. Beautiful Turbo! Black is more rare than the Red cars and it having CD is awesome! CD units are rare on any early GP really.

Here’s what the valence looks like on a red TGP. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1989-pontiac-grand-prix/

If you could find the B4U lower valence that would really set the car off right. Has been a long time since I’ve seen one in even ok condition at the jy. They’re made of the rarest unobtanium on the planet. I bought a brand new one from the dealer in 01’ on clearout from GM they said it was the last one in western Canada at the time. Got it for under 200. Then they told me on the phone that it was lost in transit and offered a refund. I said let’s wait and they called week later, it showed up… or it was there the whole time and they just found it. You might get lucky being you're in the US. If you go to the dealer with your VIN they can print off the build sheet for your exact ride that will list all the options. Ask for the part number for the clip while you’re there. One of the few receipts for my car I do t have so can’t help you out there.

You`ll need to make an adapter from a donor instrument cluster and wiring harness. Heres a good thread with a working proto-type for the Cutlass however the Buick shouldnt be much different.

Well I`ll be a suck egg mule I didnt think of that at all. I just tested it on the seats I have and it`ll work perfectly. Thanks guys!

Okay, this conversation is some years old, but I bought a 1988 Buick Regal Limited and also like to swap the instrument cluster to an UB3 full digital cluster. If there is an adapter available, I would like to use that easy plug-and-play option to get it runing. If there's someone out there to help me with this, it would be great.

This is a good way to do it. Find whatever fuse powers the seats and have some wires ready to go. That way you can connect the battery to the pins in the fuse block. As long as the wires in the car are still intact, that battery should power up the seat and you will be able to move it around. That's how I used to test electronics at the yard. Just find the fuse and put power in there and check on whatever. Radio, cluster, ect...

Some yards will have a booster pack they will bring over to temporarily power up the car.

You have a 18v Milwaukee or Ryobi type drill battery?

I`ve found a near perfect front drivers seat for my `95 Cutlass Vert at the salvage yard, problem is that its motorized and the JY wont allow me to even buy a used battery from them to use to power it forward so I can remove it. Is there any way to manually get the seat to move forward to access the rear mounting bolts?

Had to pick the pad lock… previous owner forgot the combination… lol I reset it to 000… unfortunately no treasures but the fact that the fuses are still intact with original tape… I’ll take it…

Yeah, being a 96' it ought to have codes stored if its running that badly

I replaced the tensioner, it’s not as bad now but still does it (the bouncing) the noise is gone, I think I may still be leaking water, possibly from the water pump area, just ever so slightly but it could just be leftover mess from the new pump being put on by the shop, I’ll have to test drive more and monitor levels, it’s not the LIM leaking water and all surfaces on the motor look clean and I unstained, you may be correct on the pulley, the ps pulley might need cleaned and I think the belt should be replaced, it looks great however it has a hump in it from not being driven and sitting around the alternator. Not sure how much it would effect it, but it kinda formed a curve matching the little alt pulley.