monzaturbo
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2011
Hello all, I am a long time member of turbo buick.com, but I cannot access my old login name. been out of it for a while, but after getting personal things sorted out, my brother and I are ready to work on our little pet project. As the title says it is a pontiac sunbird (chevy monza) with 3.8 power. The engine is in the car and runs, and now it is time to turn it up a few notches. The driveline is already mostly complete. It is backed by a 2004r I built that works very nicely. The rear is a 3.42 with a posi and has S-10 axles for 5 lug pattern. The front spindles are from a G body for bigger brakes and also 5 lug pattern. The engine is a 84 3.8 hot air. The ECM and harness is in the car and it all works.
The engine bay is very tight and that is where we want to start making improvements. Years ago, I remember reading on here that heads off some 3 liter or 3.8 liter fwd gm car worked well with the turbo buick block and manifolds. The information I remember reading also said the heads were narrower on the exhaust side. I remember the information saying they were 1.5 " narrower and I can desperately use that space. The current exhaust manifolds are from a carb turbo 3.8, they have been angle milled to clear the fenders. If the FWD heads are narrower I can try to fit the intercooled headers to the engine. I want to go with an 87 type of intake also with a water/air intercooler. We would like to get to 400 or so RWHP in this car. That should make it pretty quick as the car weighs 2700 or so pounds. So, does anyone know what heads are the ones that are narrower and work on the 84 motor? That is the 1st place I want to start.
Thank you for any advice you can give me!
Jay
The engine bay is very tight and that is where we want to start making improvements. Years ago, I remember reading on here that heads off some 3 liter or 3.8 liter fwd gm car worked well with the turbo buick block and manifolds. The information I remember reading also said the heads were narrower on the exhaust side. I remember the information saying they were 1.5 " narrower and I can desperately use that space. The current exhaust manifolds are from a carb turbo 3.8, they have been angle milled to clear the fenders. If the FWD heads are narrower I can try to fit the intercooled headers to the engine. I want to go with an 87 type of intake also with a water/air intercooler. We would like to get to 400 or so RWHP in this car. That should make it pretty quick as the car weighs 2700 or so pounds. So, does anyone know what heads are the ones that are narrower and work on the 84 motor? That is the 1st place I want to start.
Thank you for any advice you can give me!
Jay
