Non turbo to turbo conversion

[Buicksandrail]

I am curious, I am looking at installing a 1987 turbo setup on a 1987 non turbo SFI FWD engine. Will the parts just bolt up and what would be the downside to this conversion?

Thanks,

Trent

p.s. This is for a sandrail installation not for a street car.

 

[TRiv]

I can't answer you question on whether the 87 turbo set up will bolt up to 87 FWD engine, 3.8 I assume? not sure what year the 3.8 block changed for non turbo Buicks,, but if the block is the same, compression ratio is probably higher for normaly aspirated engine, that would be the first problem. The next and bigger problem is even if the block is the same, the cost to convert to 87 turbo set up with used parts is going to start at $1500 minimum, if you're lucky and get package deal from one source. I am just about done converting an 85 hotair turbo engine to 87 set up and am over $2000 in parts! Look in the hotair forum and do search for 85 to 87 conversion, or intercooled conversion, you will see the above prices about average.

Next problem will be getting the transmission to survive. According to you're sig, you are using a VW trans? The FWD Buick trans would'nt survive, and not to sure but the VW may not either. I looked into using Porsche/Audi transaxles with turbo Buick engine and was told by engine/trans adaptor company and others that the Porsche/Audi transaxles did'nt hold up well in customers cars.

That is just a summary of possible problems even if the 87 parts will bolt up, there is a long list of parts,electronics that make up the 87 turbo, again look at the hotair forum for conversion. There is a member here on the board I talked to a while back that has a turbo Buick powered sandrail, you can email him from this board, here is a link to one of our conversation on post:

http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomf...NSCPTop&remove_url=http://www.turbobuick.com/

Look about halfway down page, his logon name is "whiteyz" , again he has a 85 turbo Buick engine with TH325-4L transmission, I think he lives out that way

 

[TRiv]

Sorry the link does'nt work, look at the hotair forum on second page for post "Riviera owners unite!"

 

[wagon]

Well, if you are planning on using the 3.8 front wheel drive with it's own transaxle, it probably wouldn't hold up in a street car, but if you are running a sand rail that only weighs half, and you obviously won't have alot of traction, then I would think it might hold up. At least as well as the VW unit. Now, will it work. Not sure. The way I would go about it is see if they take the same intake gasket. If they do, then you should be able to swap the intakes. Check on exhaust manifold gaskets, to see if those are the same. If they are the same, then the headers might work, although you would have to do something with the crossover, because I doubt that would work. I'm guessing that you would have to make up custom headers. Although, you could probably use one of them. The engine internals will probably be different. I bet that your pistons would need to be swapped if you want to run any kind of boost, and yeah, the compression should be dropped. I don't know for sure, but I think that the turbo pistons and rods will fit that motor. I'm betting that it is all do-able, depending on what you already have for parts, and how much you want to put into it. I am planning something similar, but not for a while. I have a couple of projects in the works, but want to turbo a transaxle motor myself. The only thing that I haven't figured out is the cam sensor. I don't think that motor has the same one. I think it is in the front timing cover. BUT, I think that motor also has an oil pump drive that maybe you could put a Turbo Regal cam sensor into. Or maybe just maybe the one in the timing cover would work, you may just have to modify the wiring to reach and maybe change the plug. I also looked into performance axles/cv joints. I found a site from a place that does race ones. I tried looking recently for it and couldn't find it. I'll look again, but I doubt you will need that, just keep your eyes on them. Oh yeah, there was a tread I just saw earlier today about someone having issues with their vacuum modulated tranny TH350 I think. He was having trouble running over 10# boost. The tranny would act up. They talked about changing over to a mechanical modulator. I think the front drive motor's trans is vacuum modulated. Here is a link to the question. http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=107416
Well, that is all that I can think of right now. Good luck, and keep us posted with what you come up with.

Brian

 

[wagon]

I just found something on using a vacuum modulated tranny on a boosted apllication. I explained it in the post that I referenced in my post. http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=107416

Brian

 

[Buicksandrail]

I noticed that on the FWD 3.8, the throttle body would face the rear in a RWD config. Could I just simply turn the intake manfold 180 degrees and bolt it up?

Thanks,

Trent

 

[wagon]

Yes. No. Physicaly, you shouldn't have any problem. The linkage will be pointing in the wrong direction. Since you are doing a completely different install, and will be redoing everything, that shouldn't matter. BUT, the water neck will be facing the other way. I don't know if that would be a problem, maybe pulling water from the wrong end of the block, and not cooling the whole thing properly.

Brian