Motor choices

[7ptbuck]

Sup fellas.
Well health issues still have me stuck in the house but my mind has rebuilt that car 5 times now lol. Most of it will be easy but i keep running into a snag, what motor and driveline to use. Its got a stock 350 with 350trans and 8 bolt possi and im not quite sure i want to keep that set up. I know for sure the rear end will end up being a 9in, then i thought why not keep going ford and do a 289 or 302?
Well i like to be different if possible, so then i started thinking (and this is where i would like all your honest opinions) what about doing a 3.8 v-6 turbo out of a grand national? Anyone know if its been done before?

 

[madmike8]

I'm not sure what an 8 bolt possi is? Do you mean a Ford 8 inch by chance? I'm not sure I'd bother with a 9" unless you really need it.


I'm a big fan of Turbo Buicks... What are you gonna do for the Exhaust? Dump it out the one side? Or you could get one of the Supercharged 3.8's and do standard T style headers... The SC ones are easier to find too...

 

[btlfed7]

Ascetically I don't know how good that turbo 3.8 will look sitting out in the open like that, but it would be a friggin blast to drive.

 

[RPM]

I think a twin turbo small block would look great in one of these cars. Polished compressor housings and ceramic coated exhaust. Lots of room to work with no fenders or hood.

 

[Francis Blake]

There is a fellow that shows up at some of the cruse nights around here that has a 3.8 buick but no turbo. I think it looks good, and he says it has plenty of power. I am using a 4.3v6 and power wise it fills the bill for me. The big problem with v6 engines is expensive headers, so if I were building again I would use a v8.

 

[7ptbuck]

Umm :crap: no i meant a 10 bolt, i blame the meds :angel: . I was thinking if i was going to change the driveline, its gonna cost me some money and i have a buddy that has (i think he still has it) a buick type T. At some point someone put a cage in it and did a couple other things but the driveline is still stock except a bigger intercooler but that dont matter cause it would have to be changed anyways. Its a awesome running car still but would cost me around 4 grand but getting a ford driveline and rebuidling the motor, then cost of tranny and rear end, i may be at the 4g or more mark anyways. So in my mind i'd love to have a v6 turbo monster in my T but, how hard is it gonna be to adapt it into the T and have it look right and function?

 

[Mike]

It's just a matter of making mounts for it, same as it would be for anything else. That's the beauty of a T, you're not trying to deal with a restrictive factory crossmember or firewall. You can do anything you like.

As Francis pointed out, you'll have some expenses the SBC, BBC, SBF guys don't have, but those are just the expenses required to have something unique.

 

[Screaming Metal]

I think a twin turbo small block would look great in one of these cars. Polished compressor housings and ceramic coated exhaust. Lots of room to work with no fenders or hood.

X2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[benT]

I think a twin turbo small block would look great in one of these cars. Polished compressor housings and ceramic coated exhaust. Lots of room to work with no fenders or hood.

There is a yellow T in the Indy area that has a twin turbo's small block. I don't know the owner personally, but I've seen it a car shows for the last 10 years. Pretty cool and I'm sure it makes some power...

 

[Screaming Metal]

Umm :crap: no i meant a 10 bolt, i blame the meds :angel: . I was thinking if i was going to change the driveline, its gonna cost me some money and i have a buddy that has (i think he still has it) a buick type T. At some point someone put a cage in it and did a couple other things but the driveline is still stock except a bigger intercooler but that dont matter cause it would have to be changed anyways. Its a awesome running car still but would cost me around 4 grand but getting a ford driveline and rebuidling the motor, then cost of tranny and rear end, i may be at the 4g or more mark anyways. So in my mind i'd love to have a v6 turbo monster in my T but, how hard is it gonna be to adapt it into the T and have it look right and function?

How hard to adapt it to a T? Just fab up 2 motormounts and a trans mount! Any motor will go between the frame rails, its just the starter, oilpan, steering clearence that are the issues.
Looking right is a matter of view. One persons Jewel is anothers eyesore. DO WHAT LOOKS GOOD TO YOU! After all, your the one driving it and you have to be happy with it!
I'm with Ron though.....it'd look really nice.

 

[madmike8]

If you want to stick to the turbo Buick engine, you could twin turbo it with small 1.8l-2.3l turbos, and still have the dual exhaust... Turbo headers and exhaust aren't overly complicated to construct for the diy guy.

 

[Mike]

A twin-turbo car would likely never get hold of the ground, but it would sure have the look. The only thing I don't much care about turbos is the need to spool them up, to start building real boost.

That's a 4G63 Mitsubishi. 122 CID. 6.95 @ 193 MPH? Damn impressive, no matter how you look at it.

Where could you put the intercooler, on a T-Bucket? And a couple CO[sub]2[/sub] bottles we could use to spool the turbos? :sly:

 

[btlfed7]

Where could you put the intercooler, on a T-Bucket? And a couple CO[sub]2[/sub] bottles we could use to spool the turbos? :sly:

You could have it facing down with a small scoop, like buick does with the intercooled t-types.

 

[Screaming Metal]

Hahaha....I like it Mike! Polished Alum. Intercooler and some Polished CO2 bottles......they'd look killer! I love the sound of those little motors winding up!
Theres ways around that turbolag, its just some folks like to buck the system. Been experimenting with certain things, 'Unloading the compressor side so theres less inertia to spin (& open the wastegate slightly), spinning the turbo injecting air into the exhaust, spooling it up and help emissions, OR running a really small one so that the throttle response is almost instant, runs out at about 4000 and bleeds off as another one comes on-line just below that ones runout point.
We had a system hooked up that'd the 1st one would runout about 1400 rpm above the 2nd one coming on the pipe. It was totally impressive though. We twisted 2 cranks getting the bugs worked out!
OR, do like the Record holder was doing, have a rev limiter set for pre-stage (ignition interrupt), bump up against it to keep the compressor just under good boost, then slam it home when he drops the hammer.
Tough little motors......I'm impressed with them......