78-83 turboed buick...PLEASE HELP

[zex03]

recently i acquired a 78-83 turbocharged buick v6 231 engine that i have planned to drop into my 1985 celica. i am unsure of the exact year because so far no one has been able to tell me where i could find an engine id code on it, not even my local chevy dealer... so that would be my first question, where do i look? i took in the intake already and all they could tell me was it only fits 78-83 turboed buicks.

next on my agenda would be how well do these early turboed buicks respond to performance upgrades? i would really like to be able to drop this engine in with simple performance mods and be able to run 10-13 second times. i figure with the right set up and right kind of help this goal can be achieved. by simple performance upgrades i mean things i can easily do with the turbo (if i shouldn't upgrade) and what type of comp chip is best to go with and a cam and other small areas.

i was also curious if this engine can be changed from the carburation to the single port injection or multi port injection.

last but not least i know my little toyota 5-speed wont be able to put up with the abuse it will receive from this engine upgrade so is there a good 4 or 5-speed tranny that anyone can suggest?

i know this is lengthy but please...if anyone can help i would really appreciate it. i have been to other boards and have received no info at all and i would really like to be able to put this engine in. thanks for any help you can provide!!!

one more thing, the only number i can find on the block is on a machined surface under the passenger side cylander head: 48H187319 anyone know what this is?

 

[b4black]

The casting number off the intake and this page will get you the year of the setup:
http://home.flash.net/~rjgeorge/casting.htm


Tuning, and maybe water injection should be able to get a little car into the 13's and better.

Does it have a computer? 78/80's didn't. There's no chips for the carb/turbo V6's that do have ECM's anyways.


You could swap it over to EFI, but then you might as just get an 84/87 EFI motor to start with.

Manual trans? Try this:
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=76266


That number off the engine matches part of the VIN from the car it came from. Try looking on the block just under the EGR valve (between the intake and bellhousing.)


HTH,

 

[Ttype83]

You can also lot under the driver side header and the casting number for the block is there.

Intake number is easier to find.

first let's id the engine, than it will be easier to help with the setup. My car weights in at 3460lbs w/ 1/2 tank gas, full spare and me sitting in it. You should be 1000lbs under that, that's a big plus right there.

Know how you feel, called a place today that stocks SFI buick parts and told them I have a 83...she said that she didn't know that they made them then

Jim