Turbo Buick Camaro

[neilb]

Hey guys, I'm in the process of swapping in the turbo 3.8 into my '86 Camaro.(I'm still in the process of gathering up parts) The car originally came with the 2.8 litre V6. Will the stock wiring harness and ECU work with the buick motor, or do I need to splice in a regal harness? Also will the 700r4 bolt up to the block or do I need to swap to a 200r4?

Thanks for the help

 

[91Bird305]

Your stock wiring harness will not work with that swap. Either get an 86/87 GN harness or an 89 TTA harness.
Also, the 700r4 will bolt up but you need an adaptar plate from TCI (Buick motor to chevy trans). Good luck.

 

[SPOOLN]

Do you also have to have the TTA exhaust headers or can you use the stock GN headers? I was thinking of doing a future swap.

 

[Matt Sando]

you can use gn headers tta headers wont fit on the GN engine the TTA had different heads on it.

 

[88ZNX]

That swap was farly easy. The GN headers will fit, and i used the fram mounts as well as the engine mounts Caspers electronics made the wireing harnes for me it fit just right. At first i ran the 700r4 using an adapter plate untill i switch to a BOP th400 .It semd that the most time cunsuming part of the swap is making a downpipe fit . Also if your using GN heads and not TTA you will lose your AC. Have fun and good luck

 

[91Bird305]

I actually made it so I was able to keep the AC with my GN heads but I had to have the downpipe ran different which only gives me about 3 inches of clearance from the ground. But that is with the stock k member. Spohn should be putting out their new one soon and hopefully that can save me some more room.

How did you like your 700r4 with that motor? I did exactly what you did with the 700r4 w/ 3500 stall, transgo kit, yada yada...is it a good trans for this motor or not?

 

[88ZNX]

absolutely loved it! I took it out because i knew it wouldnt hold up to the 9 sec passes (if I ever make it to them ) I would deff go with it for street driving. its flawless.

 

[91Bird305]

absolutely loved it! I took it out because i knew it wouldnt hold up to the 9 sec passes (if I ever make it to them ) I would deff go with it for street driving. its flawless.

What did you end up doing about your gauges? I haven't fired my motor with them connected yet but heard i might run into problems since my 89 TTA wiring harness might not work with my 91 firebird 305 TBI guages?

 

[Matt Sando]

You can get them to work. Use your sending units for the coolant temp and oil pressure from the 305 engine.

 

[91Bird305]

You can get them to work. Use your sending units for the coolant temp and oil pressure from the 305 engine.

Ok, so the coolant temp and oil pressure but what about the rpm tach and speedo?

 

[88ZNX]

Yes that is what i had to do. Use the sensor form the engine that came in the car. My OEM tackometer is 1000 off higher than the direct scane i think the DS is corect.

 

[91Bird305]

So you were able to hook up EVERYTHING like it was before but your rpm tach was off by around 1,000 rpms? Now I heard casper's sells something that can recalibrate that?

 

[Matt Sando]

mine was about 500 RPM'S off.

 

[91Bird305]

For some reason I cannot get my tach to work. What wiring harness are you guys using? What would I be doing wrong? Does everything just hook up the same way it did before with my old harness with the 91 305 tbi gauge cluster? Does casper's sell a calibrater for my rpm tach?

 

[chikn305]

Has anyone figured out how to make the tach work. I did the same swap and my tach doesn't work. The car is a blast to drive now.

 

[Matt Sando]

you need both c100 bulkhead diagrams. I believe the camaro wire is white, look up the tach wire color going into coil, splice the white wire into the tach wire. My tach was a little off but not much.

 

[turbolimited]

I bought a tach from a V6 firebird in a local bone yard. Thought I read somewhere that you have to run a V6 tach for it to read correctly. Car isn't running yet, so I can't vouch for the tach. I'm crossing my fingers...

 

[91Bird305]

Has anyone figured out how to make the tach work. I did the same swap and my tach doesn't work. The car is a blast to drive now.

Yeah, I am at this same point. Need to figure out how to get the rpm tach to work. Almost considering just paying the $$$ for an 89 TTA gauge cluster. :-/

 

[leirch]

I did this swap into my 87 about 1.5 years ago, its basically all stock with some intake porting and an alky kit. Oh, and a homemade hotwire kit(thats what that relay is for that you see on the right).

The white wire is definatly the tach wire on my 87, I'm gonna say its probly 300rpms off which is ok for me.

Here is a picture if this helps answer any questions.

 

[Hi-psi]

I actually made it so I was able to keep the AC with my GN heads but I had to have the downpipe ran different which only gives me about 3 inches of clearance from the ground. But that is with the stock k member. Spohn should be putting out their new one soon and hopefully that can save me some more room.

A little more info and/or pics on how you kept the AC using GN heads? I have a spare motor laying around that I might do something crazy with.