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1988 Buick Lesabre T-type

L67 powered classic!

Welcome to my page! This page is to show my 1988 Buick Lesabre T-type. This relatively rare car (1 of 6426) sports many features unique to the T-type. Special interior, wheels, spoilers, suspension, among others separate this car from the regular Lesabre - and the rest of the pack!

Most who are familiar with this era of Buicks know that cars like this came with the 165 horsepower 3800 V6. This one was no different, however...

When my supercharged '95 Riviera succumb to body rot, I kept the engine, transmission, and PCM and swapped them into my T-type! I'm not the first to do it, but one of the only to do it with the Series I L67 engine. Most swap in the Series II because of it's easier ability to modifiy for power.

The swap was certainly a project. I took apart the entire front end of the car, dropped the entire subframe with the old engine and trans, and swapped the new engine and trans right onto the frame. I needed new mounts, axles, and wheel hubs but everything was either a GM part or direct replacement. No fabrication required.

Wiring was the main issue with this project. I had to fool the Riviera's computer into thinking it was still a Riviera. After a month of pouring over my wiring diagrams and tinkering with the car, I've got a stock looking system with all systems working normally, with no modifications. I even have the stock cruise control, and full OBD data connectivity.

To the untrained eye (ignoring the red paint as well) one would never know this engine wasn't supposed to be in here. The car was a blast to drive originally, but now it's even more exciting! The sound of the supercharger is addicting - GM should have built this car this way. I'm certainly proud to have accomplished this project (in only 4 months, working weekends on it) and I hope to have the car for a long time to come.

Now for some regular pictures, ie., a tour of the car. I've done some minor appearance modifications to the car, besides the engine. I've added hood louvers, which are reproduction GNX fender vents placed on the hood. They REALLY help to alleviate the engine compartment of heat. I've added a 'T-type' script emblem to the grille, and modified the exhaust.

When I bought the car back in 2006, the interior was cloth. I changed it over to a set of leather seats I had from my original '89 T-type (transmission died, sold 2006). I believe that my interior is one of the better ones out there, as GM was not known for their interior materials quality during the 80's...

Since the engine swap, I've added a vacuum/boost gauge to keep an eye on the engine a bit more, and a few years back, changed the shifter handle from a vertical grip to a horizontal grip from a '90's Chevy Eurosport.

Even at 121,000 miles on the clock, the car looks fantastic, having been painted once and the wheels refinished by your truly. It's a garage queen - it is in the garage every night, without argument. It DOES get driven though. I move it about 3,000 miles every year, mostly to work and back, with a trip or two during the summer.

These next few pictures are about 4 years old, but besides the hood louvers and L67 engine, are fairly accurate.

One of my favorite recent pictures. Sorry, these aren't in any particular order.


Video and audio clips

This is a video of the first start-up of the new supercharged engine. Short run - I didn't have any coolant or trans fluid in it, just oil.


This is just a walk around of the car and the new engine.


Video of the exhaust, and some driving around town. Long video, but skip to 6:27 and 9:27 to hear some supercharger whine!


This is a drive-by video from my driveway at home. Skip to 1:30 and 4:10. The rest of the video is just cars driving by. Sounds awesome though! I'm very pleased with the car.

I have a few modifications lined up to perform over this winter: port the supercharger inlet and outlet, minor porting of the intake manifold, install 1.8:1 roller rockers, and install a 2.55" supercharger pulley (down from the 2.85" stock pulley). Should end up with about 260 horsepower and around 330 ft-lb of torque. Looking at low 14's in the 1/4 mile!



Related

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Comments

ghpcnm on Dec 15, 2011 said:

Beautiful car, Andrew !!!! You have done a marvelous job on it. FIVE BIG STARS !!!

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ghpcnm on Dec 15, 2011 said:

Buick should hire you !!!

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Anonymous on May 21, 2012 said:

Looks good Andrew! You should post this site on lesabret.com!! We'll have to have a whine fest when I am done with my swap.

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Anonymous on Aug 14, 2012 said:

AWESOME!! Love the addition of the supercharger for the T-type. Should have come that way anyhow! Excellent!! Haven't seen one of these since high school.

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Anonymous on Aug 24, 2015 said:

Great job man. I have a 88 T-Type with a stock 3.8 do you know if there is an after market super charger I can add on? DMHUNTLEY0408 @yahoo.com.

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Anonymous on Apr 27, 2018 said:

Great job my friend and Buick Brother. You have done an incredible job here and really looks factory! I own 2 GS Regals ( a 1998 and 2000) as well as an 86 T-Type and Regal T (LC2). Been a Buick nut since 1991 when my brother took me a ride in an 1987 GN from a used car lot. I have never looked back. ;)

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98TTYPECALI on Jan 31, 2019 said:

Anyone have a front end for a lesabre t type 87-89 im located in California will pay for shipping in desperate need thanks

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Anonymous on Jan 24, 2023 said:

My dad had one in 1988. I drove it on occasion, then wrecked it. It was fixed but he never let me forget it. Haha. Great memories in that car.

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