Hello, I was thinking about puttiing a turbo V6 in a bird with a 5spd. I have never seen one anywhere. Is there something that won't work, because they have them on regular 6 I think it would be an awesome car.

 

well v6 thirdgens had 5 speeds in them right.
so a turbo just hooks to the exhaust. i dont really see a problem, anyone else have anything else to say.. i could see maybe the torque and hp from the engine might hurt the 5 speed over time.

 

You're not planning on putting the turbo on the stock v6 are you? If you do that it'll probably blow the motor. You NEED to rn forged pistons and get the whole motor balanced to optimize power/longevity. My recomendation would be to get a 3.8 liter, bigger is better, and build that up for a turbo. I agree this will definately be a sweet set-up. You can break into the 400 HP range easily if you get the right turbo and intercooler setup. Don't forget that right exhaust and intercooler are CRITICAL for a turbo.

 

I wouldn't recommend a standard transmission for a low-revving turbo motor. Auto's work way better building boost from a launch.

 

Well your T-5 will need to be modified if you use it and if you do choose to keep a manual, actually whatever tranny you use, you will need a blow by valve. (I think that's what they're called.) I recomend checking out some magazines that specialize in Turbo's, unfortunately most are stricty foreign, but the Turbo info. is good for any car. "Turbo and High Tech Performance" is a magazine I get... Manual trans are just so much fun though!

 

I would use the whole buick engine, with this standard t5.

I was told by my local GM that it wouldn't take the torque my current V8 makes. (375 lbs. ft.) Well nothing has happened to it yet. I just let go of the gas when the rear end starts hopping. It's the shock that will do damage. My V8 is a low revving engine too. With my T5 and 3.08 gears I'm at 1500 rpm @ 60 or 3000 rpm at 120 mph.

I find it strange no one did that. Wouldn't it be neat to use all the Torque potential with a standard and some 3.42 gears for quarter mile.

All turbo engines need a blowby valve incase too much pressure is built while holding it in a gear too long.

 

Do yourself a HUGE favor and stick with an auto. It's been done before, a buick turbo 3.8 and a manual trans that is..the results blow, you CAN make it work but like everything else it taked DEEP pockets...hell even GM tested it with poor results

One will say "well look at all the imports with turbo's and 5speeds"

Import motors also rev to 8K, buick 3.8's rev to about 5K-5200 unless you have a Stage 2 motor...

You can try it, better be prepared for a lot of work and $$$

If you're truely serious about a turbo 3.8 stick with a solid built automatic

 

No they don't, not in the least bit, you don't NEED them on an auto car...

 

If a turbo setup was just as easy as "hooking it up to the exhaust" i'm sure more people would have turbos

It will take a lot of work,fabrication and tuning, but the results are nice once everything is in good running order

 

What if you held it in 1st gear at max rpm. Wouldn't you build too much boost? From my knowledge their turbos, can go higher than what the engine is designed for if held long enough? But i could be wrong.

 

Let me clarify some things about turbos. First a turbo can only produce so much boost, it will max out, say at 15 lbs. and if you rev it to the red line, once it hits 15 it won't go higher.

Second ALL turbos NEED a blowby valve, EVEN automatics. The purpose of the blowby valve is after heavy acceleration, you DO build up the boost, but if for some reason you let off suddenly that boost drops, but some of it is still stuck in the chambers. With your engine not revving high anymore, and hence not opening the exhaust chambers as fast, it can cause a back log of boost to go back into your turbo and thus cause it to start spinning backwards. THAT IS NOT GOOD! That can easily begin to damage a turbo. The blowby valve is there to immediately release that excess boost, so as to prevent it from going back into your turbo. That's why ALL motors, no matter what the transmission, need a blowby valve.

 

GM did it to the TTA (3.8 turbobuick in trans am) in the late eighties. FAST AS HELL car.... basically grand national drivetrain in a ws6 bird.

and if you do want a turbo 6 in your ride....use an auto.

 

#1 its a blow-OFF valve

#2 Head over to the buick boards and tell me what they say about BOV's. Unless you're running a huge turbo you don't NEED one, sure it could be viewed as cheap insurance...if you're a super agressive driver and floor it, let it get up to 18#'s then get off the throttle real quick on a constant basis then it'd be more practical. Most people don't drive like that

#3 So if they NEED one why didn't GM use on on the LC2? I've seen PLENTY stock turbo's last well over 100K miles with no BOV...

Me personally, I'll probably end up putting one on this winter just for piece of mind but its by no means a needed item..

I'm not trying to be an ******* here but to say every turbo car is required to have a BOV is retarded when 2 of the fastest GM cars in the last 20 years have been fine all this time without them...

 

the wastegate would open up at the desired setting and stop there, no matter how high you rev or how much load you put on the engine if you set the wastegate at 15#'s it won't go over that provided the wastegate is working correctly

 

First off thanks for clarifying it as a blow off valve, I just couldn't remember.

Second they didn't put a blow-off valve on the cars for the same reason Toyota didn't put one on the Twin Turbo Supras. THEY WANTED TO SAVE MONEY. You know they're good insurance, I know they're good insurance. Saying they NEED one may have been over the top but I would RECOMEND one to all people running a turbo.

Now I have another comment. DARN I wish I would have thought about dropping in a turbo into my car instead of just a big block Oldsmobile.... It would have been alot easier and turbo's are just cool. Maybe I'll turbo charge my 455, or at least get a blower.

 

[the wastegate would open up at the desired setting and stop there, no matter how high you rev or how much load you put on the engine if you set the wastegate at 15#'s it won't go over that provided the wastegate is working correctly [/QUOTE]


Isn't a wastegate basically a blow off valve????

 

Isn't a wastegate basically a blow off valve???? [/QUOTE]

not really, the wastegate controls how much exhaust spins the turbo, once you reach your desired boost setting the wastegate opens and allows the engine exhaust to pass right through.

A BOV is for the pressure/air going through the pipe before the turbo. Like state above it helps release the pressure if your turbo is spooled up at say like 10-15#'s then u slam the throttle shut, the air has to go somewhere, the BOV valve vents that pressure, not to start another arguement but the GN and TTA turbos arent big enough and don't move enough air to require one..once you start getting into the bigger turbo's like 60 series and bigger turbos it becomes more practical

 

just to throw my .02cents in...Pontiac did make a turbocharged Grand Prix in the early 90's. This was if I remember correctly a 3.1 so the headers from that car should fit the 2.8 that came in thirdgens.

Go here for part numbers:
http://www.geocities.com/ste_turbo/pnturboftexh.html

or here to look for pix:
http://www.geocities.com/ste_turbo/home.html

 

the 3.1 was FWD though, not sure if that matters..

 

Well I was just checking out the links I posted and found a pic of where the turbo is located.

it is in here under the galeries and sounds section:
http://aldridgec.home.att.net/

It is located directly in front of the engine where the v6 has to most room. **At least I think that is the front of the engine**
It might be the back and then it won't work unless the headers can be swapped backwards or upside down. It's hard to tell which way the engine is facing in that pic.

 

I just recently saw one of these up close at work. The turbo sits squished in between the engine, radiator and washer fluid jug (where GM put the battery underneath ). Not a whole lotta room, but the turbo is a pretty decent size.

 

So can you stick one of those motors w/turbo in a Firebird or Camaro? Is the amount of power it would give even worth the effort? I know it's FWD but shouldn't it still have the tranny mounts drilled into the back of it? (I don't know.)

 

IMHO no, not worth all that time at all...


now a LC2 motor, that's a different story

 

No one's ever really fooled around with those STE Grand Prix's. I'm sure you could put out some decent horsepower numbers with them, but I bet the stock internals wont hold up like a LC2's. Plus with the Buick 3.8, you're gettin more displacement which equals more power.

 

I was just thinking you could acquire one of those motors probably alot cheaper than the 3.8 turbo. However I guess the build up would cost more due to lack of after-market backing as compared with the Buick 3.8. Plus the extra displacement/power is always nice...