85 heads, intake, cam, cam sensor... work on a 79?

It shouldn't be that hard to do... the 79 needs new lifters and I will be taring the motor apart anyway, so why not just upgrade it? I guess I just want to be the first to do a 78 SFI:biggrin: The only hard part is changing the fuel delivery... is there some alternatives to doing this? Not trying to race the car, just trying to keep it an everyday driver:biggrin: I did have the 79 carb turbo setup, but my uncles room mates stole everything but the turbo & carb mount, cause it was in the trunk of the car:biggrin:
 
IT's gonna be far froma everyday driver for what you are trying to do. I'm just trying to save you a huge headache. SFIs have already been int he old TRs. A carb turbo setup is very reliable. But if you insist on doing this I will help you if you have any questions. I'll assume you have the dash harness and ecm. You need a different heater core. I hope you got all the relays and BS that goes under the hood also. Don't be surprised if the maf isn't any good. If that ends up being the case you will have to track down a used one because no one makes mafs that are wortha crap. If you want it to be reliable you will have to get an 87 ecm, a new chip, an lt1 maf, and a translator to run it. Beings you will have that stuff (cuz you said you want it reliable and good on gas) you will have to rig up some sort of CAI for it, which you should be able to steal off your current setup. I'll assume you also have all the accessory brackets and that stuff. You need to upgrade to at least a 100 amp altenator, a 120 would be about right though. Gonna need the fuse block and harness under the dash. The wiring that goes to the back of the tank, the gas tank or at least the hanger adn pump, run a Fuel FEED line, gonna need an OD trans and d5 converter, a custom crossmember (can't use the stock 83-87 on because the mounting pad on the frame is different).

I'm sure I'm missing a few things here and there, just going from the top of my head. You will have to pull the driver's fender off to bolt in the fuse block. THe dash will take about 2-3 hours to pull if you know what you are doing. Any questions that I don't have answered let me know.
 
Okay... you got me there:biggrin: I still want to do it, but I forgot the GN trans were OD. and I still need to get all the little stuff. Know where I could find the intake for the carb turbo? or could I just make a converter out of metal and bolt it on the one I have? and I need the up & down pipes or could I swap the 85 turbo and use the pipes off it. I also need the turbo chip or do I? I`v seen people running them without it. I would do a carb turbo, but I could never find what I needed. Can`t afford to get another engine just for its parts:biggrin:
 
Your car is a 78. What year is the motor and what is the casting number on the heads? You have the turbo. I think you can use the 85 exhaust manifolds, but I don't know about the downpipe. This is where you want Rich, Charles, and AJ to chime in and tell you what you need. Hell they probably got it all. I know of a few setups around here, but you'd have to buy the whole fricken car:rolleyes:
 
Its the same 79 motor. I forget... my uncle said they were class c heads, what ever that mean:biggrin: I just had the valve covers off too. What about the 85 heads, would they work with it?
 
FlintBuick4Life said:
Okay... you got me there:biggrin: I still want to do it, but I forgot the GN trans were OD. and I still need to get all the little stuff. Know where I could find the intake for the carb turbo? or could I just make a converter out of metal and bolt it on the one I have? and I need the up & down pipes or could I swap the 85 turbo and use the pipes off it. I also need the turbo chip or do I? I`v seen people running them without it. I would do a carb turbo, but I could never find what I needed. Can`t afford to get another engine just for its parts:biggrin:
Click to expand...

Well I have a spare 81 intake, plenum, and turbo if you're interested. Quite frankly I could use the money so PM me for the price.:smile: The 80-81 are a direct swap for the 79 and it's aluminum so it's lighter and gets rid of heat better then the cast iron ones on the 78-79 cars. I don't have a spare carb but I can make one for you if you'd like.:smile: I know how to do them now.:eek:;) I don't have any spare exhaust parts so you'll need to look for them.:frown:
 
Ill PM you. The aluminum intake I have now is awesomely lighter than the old one and I there is a guy on turbobuicks that has spare up & down pipes.
 
you where saying you want to do the 87 swap why dont you use the money to do that. you have to drill the front of the block it just as much work as the 85 set up. you will get way better power with the 87 setup. there was a guy i knew who swapped his 85 to a 87 set up he said it was easy. the only thing is the tap cost alot. you can always use a 87 turbo and make a blowthrew carb. get the book Max-performance Buick Engines by Jefferson Bryant the book talks about v6's and alot of things you can do.
 
ive also thought about changing over the monte carlo (drawthru carb/turbo) set up to SFI front what i read in here its just a big waste of time. and money. since nothing is compatable. is this what most of yall are getting at?

sorry for hijacking the thread
 
Alright some thread advertising for me!
I think no way to build these v6's is a waste of time. Each style of build; (NA, SFI, drawthru, blowthru) all have there pro's and con's but hey are all fun, all perform well and are different.
 
therookie said:
ive also thought about changing over the monte carlo (drawthru carb/turbo) set up to SFI front what i read in here its just a big waste of time. and money. since nothing is compatable. is this what most of yall are getting at?

sorry for hijacking the thread
Click to expand...

No not at all. You just need to think about what your goals are. IMO there is nothing wrong with having a draw thru turbo setup. As far as I'm concerned no one on this board have fully maxed the potential of the setup. I think Charlie is working on changing that. A draw thru will never be a 10 second car, but I would think it is possible to run a low 12.

If my car was daily driver duty, and my car had a plain v6, I would go with 4bbl and rear end with decent gears. If I could take some down time and had a few hundred bucks lying around, I would convert to a draw thru. If I had a crap GN lying around and a NICE gbody shell I would do a full conversion.

I don't think I would ever convert a factory draw thru car though. If you buy a draw thru to begin with why would you convert it? My philosophy is lay out a budget and get what you can afford, not try to get what you want out of a shoestring budget. Same goes for carb, ha, or ic. Fast isn't cheap and cheap isn't fast. Do you guys get what we are trying to say?

If you aren't happy with your draw-thru monte, you can drop it off by my garage;)
 
To be completely honest, switching a car over isn't cheap or easy. There are several threads about doing it so you might want to do some searching about it.
 
Blowthru: It's fairy easy to scrounge for parts and setup, the tuning is challenging but rewarding once complete.
 
Triple layer reinforced silcone connectors and t clamps, 3" mandrel tubing all cut and welded, spectre 4" carb hat, special carb gasket, and now I unclude a VW diesel intercooler.
 
WarWagon said:
Triple layer reinforced silcone connectors and t clamps, 3" mandrel tubing all cut and welded, spectre 4" carb hat, special carb gasket, and now I unclude a VW diesel intercooler.
Click to expand...

Nice:biggrin: Okay... here is what I`m working with...

79 Turbo
PICT0318.jpg

Have some of the lines to it too.

85 Turbo
100_0682.jpg


85 Up & Down pipes
100_0593.jpg
 
I wouldn't bother with ebay headers, do the stock ones


BTW the carb for a blow thru is around 550 bucks. That's just for the carb. To each his own for what way you want to go. I like to keep stuff simple.
 
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