89-90 Cavaliers (and presumably sunbirds) came with an optional turbo 3.1. Hmm, Turbo, and let's see, 3.1 being a 60* engine, well wait, doesn't that mean....YES, IT DOES!!!!! There is a turbo for the 2.8/3.1/3.4 out there!!!! Maybe this has come up before and I mmissed it, but this is dang interesting news to me, what do you guys think? Check out the link.

-Reno
http://members.tripod.com/TurboZ24

 

Yeah, I've seen this page before. Pretty cool, huh?

 

So now, the question is, who made the turbo, and where can we get one for each member of the board? Any answers?

-Reno

 

The stock turbo was on the 4 cylinder engine...there were no STOCK 6 cylinder turbos on Cavalier or Sunbirds (or whatever Pontiac calls their Cavalier sister car, I'm loosing track).

 

You are correct Glenn (Sunbird then, Sunfire now BTW ). The engine that was turbocharged was used ONLY in the Sunbirds and Buick Skyhawks...the Olds Firenza and Cavalier Z24 got the 2.8 as their upgraded engine.

The turbo in the Buick and pontiac was a 2.0 OHC 4...it made 150hp from '84 until '87, when it was upgraded to port fuel injection...then it made 175hp. This little motor was a screamer! The Buick Skyhawk T-Types did 0-60 in under 8 seconds!

The ONLY 60 degree turbo V6 GM ever made was the '90 3.1 turbo, used in Grand Prix STEs and the special edition McLaren Grand Prixs. They had 200hp. This engine was replaced in '91 by the 3.4 DOHC.

So is there a turbo for our cars? Maybe...but they made so few 3.1 turbos, I'd bet against anyone finding one in a boneyard, and they probably stopped producing replacement units awhile ago. I can get more info on the turbo unit from the road test if anyone wants...but with this being set up for transverse mounting, it'd have to be a custom setup anyway.

[This message has been edited by Jason E (edited November 19, 2000).]

 

Check the link, GM made a 3.1 turbo. Besides, they had a turbo, STOCK, on the 3.4 in Grand Prixs in what, 91ish or so? catch is, those are impossible to find. The 3.1 seems to be easier if this guy tracked down two of them.

-Reno

 

Reno,

Never a 3.4 turbo, only the 3.1. The engine I described above was the ONLY 60 degree turbo.

 

I think swapping a 3.8 Turbo from a GN would be easier...after all it is the TTA and all parts and accessories are directly available (today) from GM.

Though I think swapping the Supercharged V6 from a Grand Prix, Bonneville or Rivera would be an interesting swap. Provided you got the ECM and all the necessary sensors.

 

There may be a lot more custom fab work needed for the blower 3.8 though...as they weren't designed for a RWD application.

At least with the TTA/GN motor, as you said, the parts are still available from GM.

But I gotta think either of these swaps is gonna cost noticeably more than if you just threw a small block in it. It depends on how bad you want a 6

 

Being as how I've never seen a 3.1 turbo or a 3.8 turbo motor in a junkyard, both of these swaps are impossible to me.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
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