im gonna be doin a 87 3.8l gnx turbo motor in my 89 bird.just bought an 87 gnx for 2500 bucks almost totally destroyed the motor is so perfect though has 13,798 miles on it and runs like a dream come true.car was rear ended by a semi and then rolled 3 times its bad.and my ? to you guys is what is the 87 gnx rated hp and tq wise?ive heard any wherrre from 250 to 320 im curious about this.only bad thing is i want to keep my manual tranny.any suggestionns on this swap my space bar isnt workin right sorry guys.

 

i hope u know whats involved...?

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Flowmaster 80 series, Random Technologies Cat, 3" intermediate pipe, SS
Hand Made Tips, 3 1/4" out, Accel 8.8 wires, MSD Coil, MSD Ignition Module,MSD 6A Box
Currently Working On:
T5 swap
Next to buy:
Slp dual cold air intake!

1982 z28..
350 4bbl black leather inside and black outside...no mods yet except for maybe the exhaust from my firebird

 

that bad huh i know about the electronics and everything the only thing im not sure of is the motor beinng a 90* motor and how the motor will fit any suggestions you guys?? im gonna go this route cause its gonna be cheaper and hella faster than my origanal 3.4 idea now i got 2 camaro parts cars for just seats and stuff oh well ya live an learn i guess.anny body got specs on the 87 gnx motors info will be greatly apprecitaed he said it ran an 12.3 in the 1/4 last time he dragged it which im guessin 300 at the wheels at least im not to sure on gns though iknow the hp and tq specs on any 3rd gen though

 

Might wanna do a rebuild on the motor. Turbo motors are alot different than ours. Hey, you will basically have a 20th anniv T/A!

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1992 Camaro RS 3.1L
T5 Manual 5 speed
Open Air Intake
Z-28 Exhaust
8.5mm MSD Ignition wires
TB Coolant bypass

Kills:

95 (****) Probe GT
94 Mustang GT
91 CRX (dont ask me why he raced me)
2nd Gen Z28 (350) haha to you V8 guys!
1992 RS 305 TBI (good race)
More to come

 

why rebuild the motor?it runs perfect and has less then 8000miles on it and as far as the 20th ta i knnow ainnt it cool all for less than 5000 grand i paid 450 bucks for my 89 and it ran good just needed some body work and a complete brake system.and consider my stereo now and my 87 305 bird i bought for 240 bucks which also ran great but parents wouldnt let me keep it used it for body parts and the brakes and such and the 2 maro parts cars i think im doin pretty good?cant wait till the 2.8 throws a piston through the hood {need a hood too}lol then project 2fast4u will begin thats what im callin it that is also my personalized plate roflmao.anyways catch yall on the flip side and bye the way this is the best 3rd gen site ive found so far keep it up you guys.see ya doods

 

The only problem you might run into is that the 3.8 DOESN'T FIT. The heads are too tall to fit between out strut towers. The TTA had a special set of TTA only heads to make it fit in the engine bay. You'll need to do some reshaping under the hood, or get your hands on a set ot TTA heads (4 digits +). I'm not trying to scare you off, I think if you don't do this, you're killing a great oppurtunity, but it will be tough. Good luck and keep asking questions, we'd all like to see this done!

-Reno

 

Or, this just occured to me, maybe the heads off a 4th gen 3800 motor? those might work, and be cheaper then finding TTA heads...

-Reno

 

i might be wrong, but i think i had heard before that the Turbo Trans Am used 3.3L heads. Those can be found on early 90's Grand Am's with 3.3.L v6's. If those are the heads, they'd be easy enough to come by.

 

The heards from the LeSaber will fit and you get the advantage of 9.5 to 1 compresion . Basicly by reworking the waste gate settings you can see low 11's and even high 10's as for the trans hook up I've heard that the bell housing will bolt up but I don't Know for sure .Looking to do the same thing in the future but somehow this motor stays together no matter what I do to it .Not that thats a bad thing.Keep us posted.Good Luck.

 

do you have a 5spd, or a auto? The auto should work out o.k., yet the 5spd, would probably have some problems. The only reason i'm saying this, is because gm never put the 5spd behind the 350, supposedly because the tranny could't handle 350 power, so it'd never be able to handle TTA power. You might score though, with a 6speed tranny, don't know if it'll bolt up though. But if so, that'd be killer. as far as the motor power ( i just reread your first post.) the TTA was rated at 250hp, because the Vette only had 255hp in 1989, so it had to be rated less than the vette, problem was, it smoked the vette in every race, and is supposedly having something in the neighborhood of 300+ hp, probably close to 320-330, cause it's still faster than a stock 200T/A with 320hp. also, those 320hp, might actually be at the rear wheels, but don't know.

 

hey you guys its not a tta motor its an 87 gnx motor and well as far as it not fitting is there a company that makes tta heads so i can get this thing in between the sttrut towers well im gonna look around and see if anyone does make aftermarket tta heads if not then i dontt know what im gonna do,maybe look for a wrecked tta but much easier said than done ohwell ill keep yall posted and i promise im gonna get curent pics up real soon ,if i could email and some else post em that would be great cause i dont curently have a web site should have shortly though,bye you gys thanx for yer help.

 

like we said, the motors are basically the same, the only difference is that the TTA used different heads so it'd fit. I think those heads are off a 3.3L v6, like the ones found in early 90's Grand Am's. And like 84bird said, the lesabre heads will also work. So you won't need to find a TTA motor, if you find a TTA with a motor, you'd be an idiot to leave that engine in the boneyard. You could sell it here for a lot more. But try those lesabre and grandam heads, browse your J.Y. until you find em. If you're worried about losing power because of them, just have them bored out, and re-enforced, to handle that mean Turbocharged power.

 

85f-bird is right about the heads, and Reno is right that the exisitng motor won't fit.

I have an '89 Hot Rod TTA test that states that the TTA's used 3.3L heads, because the 3.8 GN heads wouldn't fit.

Mark, how do you know the car is a GNX rather than a GN? There's telltale signs such as the rims and the portholes on the fenders of GNXs. The engines are significantly different with respect to the turbo and output.

The reason why I question whether the car is a GNX or not is because I've only seen 2 in the last 10 years (one repainted a hideous bright red ) They made less than 500 of these...you sure its a GNX?

 

MARK28V6, check this site under technical articles. one of the first links has a lot of info on putting a buick 3.8 in an f-body. it states that the TTA used 1986 Buick LeSabre FWD heads. PN 25536701.

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Dan
1990 3.1L RS
80 Series Flowmaster
It's fast(er than a 3 cyl metro)