Hi, I have a 3.1l V6 that I got out of a 91 Camaro. I was planning on rebuilding it with forged internals so that I can run boost. I'm planning on doing a single turbo or twin turbo. (Haven't decided yet.)

My question is, where can I find forged internals for this engine? Also, if I found a forged 3.4l crankshaft would that work in the engine as a stroker kit? What would I have to do to stroke it if I can't use just the crank? (ie; connecting rods.)

One more set of questions. (sorry) Can anyone reccomend a turbo for this car if I run a single? What about a twin? Also what else should I do to the car before I run boost? I am running off of a $2500 budget, now that may sound like alot but I also have to redo the interior. (Racing seats, cage, harnesses, strip the interior, replace everything with lightwieght carpet, and no padding or sound insulation) Also, feel free to add any info about the turbo setups. (Yes I have been reading alot of threads about turbos so no need to throw up the "search" comment. Just if you feel that I should know of something before jumping into this.) Thanks alot guys!

 

Your budget is too low for all that you have listed. Good forged internals and a decent turbo is going to rip through your wallet before you even have a chance to think about the hot and cold side piping much less interior and chassis mods.

How much boost? Fuel management? Tuning?
You got a lot of reading ahead of you.

 

I knew that all this would be more than $2500. (tuning and things of that nature) The budget is just to buy the parts, not tune them or other things. This is a project car so it doesn't have to be running anytime soon. (But this time next year would be nice.) Also, I haven't thought about how much boost because I want to see how much the forged internals could stand, but 20lbs. when I'm at the track sounds pretty good and around 10-12lbs. per daily driving. I'm not sure if these number are possible, but hey, I can dream right? For fuel I was thinking about using the APEXi SAFCII, because my friend works on boosted cars and tunes them for a side job right now and he prefers those and injectors, I haven't really gotten a chance to talk to him about this project. I'm planning on taking it to the dyno after it is finished to tune it, I figured this would be the best way. Thanks for your insite though. It is much appreciated!

 

if u do it all urself ur budget is fine
#1 u would need a set of forged pistions
trw/speedpro makes them so does keith black and j.e
ive had my engine upto 18 psi with stock crank and rods.i suggest u get some arp rodbolts installed and a main stud kit for the crankshaft.
on the top end id also get a head stud kit.
#2 the safc may or may not work,i looked into it but never follwed threw with it,a more suitable tunning method would be a stand alone ecm like mega squirt MegaSquirt - Electronic Fuel Injection Computer by Bowling & Grippo * * ©2005
i run 9-12 psi on the street and upwards of 14 psi at the track on pump gas with my setup,though im still using the stock ecm with large injectors and an fmu to tune mine

 

$2500 should get you going on the turbo set up.Dave is great about answering questions.
60* v6's have forged crank and rods, howerver I agree with Dave 'bout beefing up your hardware if you want to run that much boost.
The 10sec k-car (Relentless) has pushed some factory cast pistons to 21psi, but the first time he got detonation the pistons came out looking like a wad of tinfoil! Here's the link http://www.thedodgegarage.com/the_reliant.html
So the forged pistons are a must. If you can do the work yourself, turbo's start at $150. And like Dave said, all the parts can be had for around $1000.
I don't know why everyone is so afraid of boosting?
With the technology we have today forced induction isn't as scary as it used to be.
THE most important thing is to NOT get detonation/lean conditions.
As far as the twin turbo idea, do some searching on old forums and your questions will be answered, it gets complicated if you use the stock MAF. You would have to go to MAP or speed density, so I'vd ditched the twins in favor of a larger single even though I have two Garrett a/r.48-.63's that I'm rebuilding in my garage (will have a how-to thread w/pics after completion).
Once you've beefed up the internals 20psi should't be a problem.
I am in the process of doing this build now on my 88,000mi 'bird 3.1.
Your budget will get tight if you plan on doing all that you talked about (int. etc), but you should be able to get into the 12's with a fully trimmed car. In fact Dave has a system even (do you take it out at the track, Dave?).
So, welcome to the site, atomiczebra, if I can help in any way, feel free to ask!

 

nope i run my car in full street trim,with the exception of taking off the rear 16 inch iroc rims and bolting on a set of 26x9x15 slicks

 

Wow, thanks alot guys all than info really helped! I never expected to get amazing answers like that. I can't belive that your in the 12's with the full interior, I though it would have to be gutted to run that fast with a V6 Camaro, but hey your proof that you don't, great job! I'm kind of second guessing about the interior, right now anyways, I've always belived in "Go before show" so I think I will do that at a later date. I am going to put the cage in when I do the seats. (already bought it so, why not?) That will be all I do to the interior before finishing the turbo/s. I am still reading about the twin turbos, so I haven't really made up my mind yet. Also, my brother has an 06 Saturn Ion Redline that just got an extra 10lbs. of boost added to his stock 12lbs. so he is going to buy the HPTuners.com >> GM, Ford, and Dodge Tuning tuning kit, the kit works with all GM's so I think I am going to give that a whirl, and if that doesn't work I'll go over to the SAFCII. By the way, the SAFCII is an amazing product, we run them in the Ion Redline (14 sec, all stock. We haven't taken it to the track with the new pulley yet.), the SRT-4 (11 sec), the GSX (10 sec), the Tacoma (long story, but all I'll say is "soon to be boosted"), and last but not least the Corvette (haven't taken it to the track yet). Well anyways, the cars run a whole lot smoother with them, and plus they look cool. Hey Dave what size injectors aare you running?

 

ok first thing hptunners does not work with the 3rdgen ecm,its prom based not flash programable.check out the dyi-prom board for more info on tunning.u basically have to burn new chips,all the hardware for that costs about 150-200$'s

i run 36# injectors with base fp droped way low so the car idles,i use a fmu to restore fp when in boost

ive done the reasearch on the twins,just go with a single turbo,for an all out race app i would recommend an t61 with an ar of .84 on the hot side

i dont think the safc is compatable with the type of maf sensor the 3rdgen v6 camaros run.though if ur car has a speed density system,it may work,though apexi wont offer any kind of tech support for u becuse they dont support these cars with there products

for the price i would highly recomend megasquirt.specialy since it does more then the safc,and cost a hell of a lot less

 

Alright, thanks for all the help. I'm glad I found out that the HPTuners don't work before I bought it. I was thinking that if I were going to go with twin turbos that I would do a remote mount so that I have more room, plus that would mean lower EGT's. The reason why I want to keep the idea of tiwn turbos on the table is just to be able to say "Yea, it's a twin turbo V6 that just spanked you." Anyways, I'm not planning on making it a full race car, it will be used somewhat on a daily basis. I am leaning towards the single though do to the prices. Also, I know that everyone says this but I don't want a lot of lag, because I don't just drag, I do some auto-cross, but I plan on going to actual tracks sometime in the near future. Any other suggestions just feel free to throw them on here. The whole reason I decided to go with a turbo is to beat my friend who is putting a 350 V8 in his 91, he doesn't think it's possible so, I set out to prove him wrong. I would be way more than satisfied to be in the 12's like you Dave! Thanks for the inspiration, you also helped in me deciding on a turbo.

 

if ur gonna autox dont use a t61,go with the turbo i run T04E stage 3 .63 ar on hot side and .50 on the cold side

 

Dave, you still haven't beat your best of 12.6? If that was at 16psi and no spray, aren't you faster than that now?

 

Alright then, I am going to run a single turbo. I feel it'll be cheaper and easier to hook up, I guess I can't say twin turbo, but at least I can say turbo! So if I go with the To4e Stage 3, that will be best for an all around, semi-daily driving car? Since I am going wiith that turbo then I can use your sticky to set it up instead of winging it, right? But as I was going over that sticky, I was thinking, if I were to put the turbo behind engine right after where they go into a single exhaust, wouldn't that make it spool up quicker alowing e to run a larger turbo? The only problem I see with this is trying to find a place for the boosted air to come from behind the engine and to the intercooler. Does anybody have a shot of the under carriage of the car? I have never gone under a third gen so I only have a rough idea of how the exhaust runs by looking at aftermarket systems. I guess I am going to start gathering the parts over the next couple of weeks, I think I am going to have to hold off the fabricating of the system till spring because I have to do all the work outside in the freezing cold! The only thing I kept wondering when I was going through your sticky is if you can run bigger pipes for the boosted air? I think it would look so cool if I had a 3in. pipe going from the intercooler to the engine, because then everyone will see it. If I did run say 3in. piping would I loose any psi or performance? Also, I am going to borrow my friends mandrel bender I think to do the turns, just because I think it would be easier to run the tubes and I like the way they look! Well thanks alot guys you've helped me through a "large" hurrtle so to say, but I know there is still a huge hurtle in front of me, and thats the fabrication! So how long did it take everyone else to put in there turbos, and lets get a count going of everybody who has a turbo in there third gen!

P.S. If anybody knows if the Aeroforce Interceptor gauges will work with a thrid gen can you tell me? If so then I highly reccomend them, we just finished installing dual ones in my brothers Ion Redline and they are amazing! They clear codes monitor about 40 different things (including horsepower! There so cool!) and takes about 30 minutes to install. They may be a little pricy BUT worth every penny!