1978 Buick LeSabre Sport Coupe - EFI turbo conversion Q's

[Daytona_83]

Hey guys, my dad has a 1978 Buick LeSabre Sport Coupe that he bought from a guy in Minneapolis that converted the original carb'd turbo to an EFI turbo from an '84-85 hot-air car. The block/internals are the original 1978 engine, but the heads and up are from the '84-85 setup. It needs a little bit of work to get everything going right (wipers don't work, cruise doesn't work, etc), but it runs and drives pretty good. It has Poston hot-air headers and needs gaskets (I was told that OEM replacements work perfectly with the Poston headers).
What I'm wondering is, if he gets the car to where it's really a nice driver and works out all the bugs out of it, is there a way to take the converted '84-85 setup and upgrade it to the '86-87 setup? Or would I have to source out an entire '86-87 engine? Is the '78 block ok to run with the '84-85 EFI setup or would it be best to try and locate a correct 84-85 block?
Also, if I kept the "hot air" setup, how hard is it to add an intercooler to it?

The reason I'm asking these questions, is that my dad said he'd sell me the car and I'd love to get back into another turbo Buick (had an '87 GN years back), but the car is big and I'd like it to move. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

-Brodie

 

[b4black]

The 1978 block will be fine with the 84/85 SFI set up. The FWD Riviera turbo is laid out different than the RWD Regal and there was no 86/87 Intercooled Turbo Riv. You would be trying to adapt Regal hardware to the Riv. Maybe possible, but not likely practical. You'are likely better off putting the effort into making the 84/85 setup faster. They can move if done right.

 

[Daytona_83]

Its not a Riviera, its a LeSabre Sport Coupe...rwd, not fwd.

 

[b4black]

Doh! Sorry, I was answering a question about Riv right before I replied to you. Upgrading your 84/85 set up to 86/87 should be exactly the same as doing a Regal. The long block is essentially the same. Your 1978 short block, 84/85 heads and then all the 86/87 exhaust, intake, etc. will do the job.

 

[dr_frankenstein]

one thing i would look into is your asseccory bracket requirements. the 86/87 system is way different then the others and you want to use all of the advantages of the 86/87 tech, you will need the brackets with it. but for an early car which has AC and Alt on one side then Pwr St on the other... makes for a pain in re routing lines and wires since the 86/7 is all on drivers side.

intercooling the HA stuff would work too and it can be done, but it does require fabrication and time. the other alternative to intercooling the HA EFI system is to run it on E85. HA cars have been documented into the 10s with E85 and no intercooler.