84 gn swapping out for 86 motor

[alliedmike]

I have an 84 gn, I have an 86 motor i am going to get rebuilt and put in the car. i have the harness for the 86 so i will not have an issue there but, i want to upgrade the turbo and install an alky kit. i am looking for some input on turbo options, engine rebuild options and any issues i may encounter doing the engine swap. i want to make some power with this car it is going to be street driven alot but i want to do this once and do it right and not end up saying well while i was in the engine i should have done this or that. any info on this would be very much appreciated.
thankyou
Mike

 

[ZNix]

What are you going to do with the 84 engine?

 

[84BuickGNYorkPA]

Mike,

1st of all let me tell you from exsperience, you are going to be very happy with the swap. It will feel like a completly different animal...
Jack and Brian Cotton did my car, it was my divorce gift to myself, great for mental relaxation..
Just going from what I been through, the fuel lines are different from the tank out, filter location, all that. It's best to have the donnor car right there to swap the stuff over... went to the vacuum set-up.... try to keep your current hydro brake set up if you can, they are better then vacuum.
Power steering is different also....
After the 87 motor was installed Brian Cotton took it for a test drive and got the bugs out of it, but after laying into it the 84 tranny turned to mush real quick. You might as well build a good tranny or at least a fresh tranny for that new found power.
As far as the engine build goes, set some goal and shoot for that, I always stated that I would be happy with 11.50 times, because I don't want a bar in my car at this point in time. I would consider a roller cam, just because of the design, a wheel rolling over the cam is less force then a cam ramming a lifter up the bore, although many have over 200,000 miles on there stock motors.

Chuck

 

[alliedmike]

well thankyou for the info on your car my problem is i have no donor car it was stripped apart before i got to it but the motor was complete. and the 84 motor i found out was bored PAST 30 over and at that point i was not going to deal with it i had so much blow by its not even funny i could not even do a leak down test on the cylinders it just leaked into the crank case as fast at the air went in lol it ran like **** and could not boost past 11 psi and thats with the turbo screaming you could hear it spooling it must have all been blowing past the pistons

 

[UncleDave]

Well, I can vouch for the "while I was in there I should have" etc, because I'm living it! I have donor parts, but no donor car (or even a donor 109 block, so you're lucky). Everything I've learned so far has been from studying other peoples' rides, and asking the seemingly dumb questions on this board. I just hope I didn't screw anything up beyond repair, and that the thing actually runs when it's back together!

Sorry not much to add, just to add a voice in support. If I can do this swap and get it to run, then anyone can. Good luck!

 

[RegalT-type85]

The 84/85 motors can boost higher then that,unless you adj the wastegate but still stock you will only see about 13lb max or so. Are you gonna part out that motor? Turbo?? I'd like a extra turbo,PM me with a list if or HA section.