Need Advice for a 1978 Firebird

[CarAteMyMoney]

I'm new here and I have the opportunity to buy back my old 1978 Firebird. It's got the original 38,000 mile v-6 but the block is rusted too far to re-use.

I was thinking of going with a Buick GN setup. After finding an engine, where would I look to find a wiring harness and all the other electrical crap to get it all working?
What kind of performance would I be looking at with a stock 3.8, and what kind of mods does it respond best to?

Thanks

 

[CarAteMyMoney]

Ummm.. anyone?

 

[blackbuick87]

I love the 77-78 Firebird/TA's (the whole Smokey and the Bandit thing). You should get a 200R4 also to go with the 3.8. As far as a harness if you cant get one from the car that donates the engine/tranny there is a company name Painless Wiring that sells complete wiring harnesses. I dont know where they are located but they advertise in Chevy High Performance all the time

 

[dconnor]

Casper's Electronics should be able to hook you up with a harness & any needed sensors.

Bone stock 86-87 TR drivetrain in that car would probably run high 13's @100 mph or so. Be sure to convert over to a 200r4 tranny & 3.42 ratio rear end as well to make sure everything works well together.

Doug C.

 

[The Radius Kid]

Originally posted by blackbuick87
I love the 77-78 Firebird/TA's (the whole Smokey and the Bandit thing).

You too,huh?East bound and down......

 

[blackbuick87]

Loaded up and truckin'

 

[CarAteMyMoney]

Yeah, a setup like that has 'sleeper' written all over it. Poor corvette wont know what hit him

Anyway, how much should I expect to pay for a drivetrain?

And how do the carburated ones perform compared to the SFI?

 

[84wh1]

The old 4bbl turbo motors are slow, and they don't respons as well to mods. Stay with a SFI setup and try to get one out of an 86-87 TR, since they are intercooled and are better than the hotair 84-85 motors. An intercooled setup responds very well to almost no mods.

Here's a good example: My friend has an 87 turbo T with 15000 miles. The only mods that he has are fuel pump/hotwire, adj regulator, 50lbs inj, adj wastgate, 108 chip, kn, 160stat, race gas and sticky tires.

With only those mods, he ran a 12.3@ 108. Not bad for having a stock exhaust system and only about 1000$ in mods.

 

[The Radius Kid]

Originally posted by blackbuick87
Loaded up and truckin'

We're gonna' do what they say can't be done...
We another Smokey and the bandit movie.Dang.