I have a 92 firebird and love the car!! I was seeing witch would be cheaper and produce more RWHP. Should i turbo the 3.1 or try to find a 3.8 tta motor? And if i get a 3.8 is it a hard swap and have re wire the whole engine and stuff. Please help me out with your knowledge on this. thanks and it would be cool if you could show me some pics. thanks
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engine swap 3.1 to 3.8
- Thread starter 92turboed
- Start date
72firebird
Super Moderator
to be honest neither are going to be "cheap". You're talking an easy 6k to do either one unless you have a lot of fabrication experience and have access to mandrel pipe benders and tig welders and that's to turbo the 3.1, you're talking probably around 8k or so to do a 3.8 swap. As far as ease of install I would say the 3.8 is the easier of the two because the knowledge, parts, and everything is there. One of the main questions is do you care about having AC? If you don't care about it then you can just use a Grand National motor. Everything basically bolts in off a GN except for you have to use TTA motor mounts and I would suggest just getting a Painless wiring harness. I know there are a lot of other little things that need to be changed but there are lots of people who have done it and you can use a lot of TTA parts from Advance or places like that.
To be honest, if you're just looking to go fast neither is a good choice. I would sell the car and find a L98 car to mod, you're going to be able to pick one up for the same price you pay for the swap or the turbo setup and you're not going to run into as many problems.
To be honest, if you're just looking to go fast neither is a good choice. I would sell the car and find a L98 car to mod, you're going to be able to pick one up for the same price you pay for the swap or the turbo setup and you're not going to run into as many problems.
ok cool, i dont care about a/c. do you kow where i would be able to find that gn engine or a 3.8 in general? I just had a 98 Z cammed and everything but i got into a wreck and sold it. But my dad is buying me the new camaro ss when it comes out in 09. So i just want to make this a fast v6. I am wanting to just push around 400rwhp. not trying to make it no 9 sec car just enough to pull or stay even with some cammed lsx's. thanks bro for your help
72firebird
Super Moderator
you can find a 3.8L LC2 long block on www.turbobuicks.net or www.turbobuick.com Your going to need a TTA downpipe or you can contact Phillyturbosix on here who is making a 3" downpipe for TTAs. To give you a good idea contact UR50SLO on www.turbobuick.com http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/members/ur50slo.html he's built a couple third gen hybrids with the 3.8 and he can tell you exactly what you need for the conversions. His name is Scott, just tell him Jared with the TTA sent you and he'll put you down the right track if that's what you're looking to do. He may even be able to fabricate some parts you may need cheaper than trying to find the OEM TTA equivalent.92turboed said:
