dsmith4994
Member
- Joined
- May 5, 2004
- Messages
- 653
I recently converted my 1986 t-top buick regal NA 3.8 to Fuel Injected, Turbocharged and IntercooledThis car had the original engine with 124,000 miles on it. It was my daily driver when it isnt snowing.
I got tired of the choke / carburetor problems these cars typically have. Even on a good day i dont think it had the advertised 110 hp. The valve covers, front and rear main seals, intake manifold, oil pan were all leaking oil. The T-200 3 speed transmission lost reverse for the third and last time. So out came the motor and tranny. I have a few 84-85 turbo motors kicking around but decided to use the stock matching numbers 3.8 engine as an test mule. .
Why would you do this you ask. I already have an 86 and 87 GN undergoing restorations and two nice 89 turbo trans ams. Well i think its funny and i was always curious if it could be done. I wondered how long it would hold up when i start turning up the boost and the ultimate questions. How fast will it go and how will it eventually fail. I see no one has made a thread on this. So i am now. I am located in CT and was at a local buick GN club show at Hooters in Wethersfield CT. There was a guy there (Craig) that did it and had clocked a good 5k miles on his converted stock 3.8 NA engine regal. It basically had the stock bolt on 87 gn parts except for 42 lb injectors, a front mount intercooler, and a tweak chip burned for the stock 2V NA cam. It had a stock 7.5 rear and TH350 tranny. The car went pretty good on about 14 lbs of boost and didnt cost that much to build. So with seeing this i decided to do it too.
The only difference was that i was going to use much better parts in my conversion. The engine was pulled, the tranny and rear end were tossed. The engine was stripped down to the long block and painted up pretty. Here is a list of all the parts i put in it:
Lunati 20/200 cam with new GM lifters, same pushrods and a double roller timing chain
New 100 lb valve springs
Port matched intake w/ egr milled out
adjustable fuel pressure regulator
stock 62 mm throttle body (new seals) and rjc distribution plate
42 lb bosch fuel injectors and matching turbotweak 93 octane chip
Walbro 340 fuel pump with hot wire kit
type II coil pack
10 mm spark plug wires
neoprene front and rear main seals and all new gaskets
baffled oil pan
3 into one driver side header and mandrel bent 2 1/2" crossover
T/A 49 turbo with adjustable boost actuator
modified cam sensor rotor so it doesnt blow apart
3" terry houston style downpipe and test pipe
3" ATR single shot exhaust
Precision stretch SLIC ( the new one that actually fit really good )
K&N Air filter and solid intake tube
new HR driver side motor mount
Along with all this a known good BRF 200R4 with a shift kit w/ stock D5 converter and an oil cooler
High pressure nylon braided fuel feed line and stainless stock return line
8.5 gn posi 3.42 rear end
dual air bags 25lbs right 9lbs left
Hotchkis rear control arms
1-7/16 ATR rear sway bar
4" pinion snubber
I used all GN wiring harnesses throughout and used the stock GN analog instrument panel.
and a scanmaster to tune it.
For now im running about 12 lbs of boost with zero knock retard
seems to holding together ok so far
Of course it started snowing so it put a damper on turning up the boost any further.
for now anyways.....
I also daily my 85 which is now ic'ed, and want to grab a junk yard 3.8 and toss it in. I wanted to start a thread and take bets on miles/ boost/# passes etc it would survive. I am very interested in your build up and to see what she'll take!
