Hey, everyone

I have recently come across an '89 pontiac tgp for sell near me.  I was over at a friend's house and saw the tgp across the street.  I am in need of a new car because it is on its last leg.  It was clean looking from afar so i went to take a closer look and the car was in immaculate condition.  I  also noted that is said turbo on the side and was surprised, for I never knew that GM made a turbo w-body.  Unfortunately the owner was not there and, so, I could not ask him for more details or even the price.

I was wandering if you guys could give me a little more info about the car.  I have found some websites about it and it really looked like an exciting car to drive and own.  But, to make this long post quickier, how does it take to modifications, (I have noticied that a number of you have commented about the lack of available mod parts, i.e. taking the tgp to the next level post) and how is it in day-to-day driving, i.e. reliability, because it would be my only car for awhile.  

Also, is there anything that I should look at when I do go look at or test drive sometime.

Any comments would be helpful.

Thanks for your time,
Damien

oh, tried the search function and did not have much luck, please excuse the newbishness

There are a few main problems that you should watch out for when looking at a TGP.  First is the exhaust crossover pipe.  The pipe that attaches the turbo to the manifolds is not well engineered, and from what I understand is that ALL of them crack.  I know because I have replaced 2 in the 2 TGPs that I own.  Jeff M makes a great replacement for a fraction of the GM cost, I think $425, might have changed.  It will need to be replaced to get that car running correctly if it hasn't been done yet.  I have had a Jeff M x-over on my TGP for 4 years and it is still perfect.  

Another thing to look out for is the ABS.  The system is the Power Master III and it is prone to housing leakage and accumulator failure, which will eventually cause it to fail.  The acc. can be replaced for $99 from Prior Remanufacturing, or you can pay $250 for the GM one.  I used the Prior and it worked fine, but it is bigger which makes it harder to install.  Giveaways for PMIII problems is the antilock light flashing and also the red BRAKE light being on.  Good thing to do is before you start the car, push the brake pedal 40 times or so, which totally depressurizes the system, then let it repressurize when you turn on the key.  It should run for no more than a minute and the lights should not stay on or flash.  It is well over $800 to have this ABS system rebuilt, and j/y ones are hit and miss.  

Overall these cars are a blast to drive, not to difficult to maintain, and Jeff M makes performance and driveability chips that correct and also improve on ASC's mistakes.  I bought the Top Gun 160 and I couldn't believe the difference it made for the car.  Way faster and much more fun to drive.  There are many other little things that can cause problems but those are the majors.  Keep those in mind when looking at this car and also educate the owner about these things, use them to get a better deal.  Good luck and welcome.

As for reliability they are very good daily drivers (in my opinion).  I get around 28-30 miles per gallon on the interstate (which is better than my 95 monte carlo LS with technically the same engine which gets 25). I would recomend a high performance fan if you do a lot of stop and go driving just to help out the cooling.   8)

Hey, ryan and speeddemon,

thanks for the input guys.  much appreciated, if anyone else has any info that would be a big help.  oh, another thing that would help me out is what would big a resonable asking price for such a car?  Like I mentioned earlier, the interior is emmaculate.  I looks like a brand new car and so does the interior, besides a few stone chips and a couple of dings.  Oh, and from what I could see the mileage was 30,000.  If the abs and crossover checkout ok, what would you guys think would be reasonable?  Again thank you for any help given, it is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Damien

Well man, I got my second TGP this past summer, it had 38,314 miles on it when I got it home.  The x-over was toast.  It sat for several years, and had a bad cam, needed an accumulator and has some minor blemishes in the paint.  No huge dents, just normal wear on a car.  I only paid 500 for it, but then again, it had serious driveability issues.  If the car is as nice as you say it is, and if it has 30,000 it could be worth big bucks, as far as an 89 Pontiac is concerned.   Ask what hes looking to get, tell him about some of the problems that it has, explain some things to him, and talk him down.  I would say anything under $2k is a decent buy.  But you're looking at some maintenance and everything.  Check it out well, make sure you know what you're getting into.  Trust me.   :shock:  :lol:

If it hasn't, which is highly unlikely, the x-over has already cracked.  They were poorly designed and will fail under normal circumstances.  If it's not a Jeff M pipe or repaired in a similar fashion to how he makes his it will fail again.  Look for oil in the intake or intercooler, check the oil make sure it smells good and doesn't look milky, check the coolant, and talk that guy down.  Anything with that low of mileage has got to be in good shape.  You'd have a nice daily driver with that car.

Sounds like the red TGP that's been on Ebay a few times now.  It has ~30K on it and the guy had around $8-9K for the "buy it now" price, and probably about the same for the reserve.  I think the red one I'm talking about was in Ohio anyways....

No, that's the one in Chicago Heights, about 30 minutes from me.

yeah, this one is near columbus, ohio.  going to try to call the guy after school and voting, woohoo!  And then I will talk to him about the car and price.

RareGMFan and mfewtrial, what's the story about the one in chicago heights? You guys said that it has been on there a few times now, is it the price or is there something wrong with it? I would have thought that one of you guys would have bought it up by now 8) .  If this car turns out to be nice and addicting, like you guys say they are, I might try to get another someday. haha.

Again, thanks, for the input guys, much appreciated.  Wish me luck!

Later,
Damien

Oh, I think I know which one you were talking about, last time I knew it was a 4K.

Quote from: Neovenator55Oh, I think I know which one you were talking about, last time I knew it was a 4K.

It's the price...hardly anyone is willing to shell out $8-9K for a car that old even if it's in great shape(mainly because there's just not much of a market for them right now).  Don't get me wrong though, if I had the money to spend, I would probably be all over a really low mileage TGP.

Well, the guy decide he was going to keep it and he decided to put it back into storage.  oh well, thanks for the advice anyways.  it was appreciated.

Thanks,
Damien

ok, so only the accumulator, wich usually goes bad, is 100$? i thought they were like 700$ or is that the whole power master 3 system

Quote from: Prospeederok, so only the accumulator, wich usually goes bad, is 100$? i thought they were like 700$ or is that the whole power master 3 system

From the dealer they are around $250 or something like that, I know they are $180 my cost at the dealer, so $250 should be around normal price.  But the prior one is $100.  It is bigger than the factory one and has the nut on the back which makes it harder to install (I've never installed one so I don't know but thats what I've been told), but supposedly it functions just the same.  Personally, I'm just gonna dump the $180 on a GM one for my STE, but the Prior one looks like a good alternative.

Shawn

oh ok, well can some1 tell , me how much harder it is to install, ill probably have a pro install it, so they can mess with it, unless its really easy, 100$, i dont care, if its a pain, oh well