Thats awsome.

Where did you get it. Or is it a turbo off another car like a Daytona or an old 2.3 Thunderbird that oyu plan on hooking up to your 2.8...

Just wondering,

 

sorry for the late reply, my friend in MD hooked me up. we believe it's from a turbo mustang. got the whole assembly, turbo, intake & exhaust manifolds. Just have to find one of those turbo fords & see how everything hooked up. I think I'll go ahead & add it to the car, when the engine blows, it'll already be there for the 3.4 swap

------------------
$150.00 2.8 Auto.
Blown Head Gasket.
turbo has arrived,
this close / \ to getting parts to fix it.

 

Awsome, I want to see pictures of this setup when you are done, because I am thinking Turbo, when ever I get my ext car, or upgrade my curent car...

------------------
1987 Firebird
2.8L Auto
T-Tops
New Paint last Fall
No mods yet...

 

the fun part will not be routing the exhaust, but keeping the psi down. Have scanned a little on the f*rd sites, & apparently those turbo made up to 15 psi stock, but then the 2.3 was a low compression engine.

 

Also you need a Fuel pressure regulator that increases Fuel PSI as your boost increases.
What are you going to do about your computer?

------------------
89 Trans Am Turbo 3.8L All stock 43,000 miles #1053 of 1555

Past Thirdgen:
86 Trans Am w/ built 355TPI with SLP goodies and too much other stuff to List. One sweet *** car, wish I would have had a good enough Job to pay insurance on three cars so I could keep it, but for a 89 Turbo Trans Am w/ Low miles, I think I made the right choice!

 

from what i remember, there's a company that made a turbo kit for a 2.8L fiero, what u need to do is order the chip from them, the chip cost something like 150 bux or so, not all to bad. Routing the piping could be a difficult step, i've got some buddies at minekee that'll hook me up for whole-sale, so i'm not to worried about that aspect for when i start my turbo project. There's a website that has the entire project of turbo charging a 2.8/3.4L fiero, i have the intentions of following most of this diagram. I'd like to mount the turbo infront of the motor, same place it's found on Grand Nats etc, instead of the side mounting like on the Turbo510 site, cause there's just not enough room between teh strut towers, then route the piping up and over existing exaust manifolds, unless i have a custom header made for the right exaust, then route everything back through, just under the exaust manifolds. All in all, it should work, after the turbo, get a dial a boost( i think it's MSD) and an ignition retard so you don't fry the motor. lol. all in all, it'll be a lot of fun, plus the dial a boost will allow you to turn the boost down on the car to a respectable and safe 10psi vs. the stock 15.

 

The only "acceptable" placement for the turbo will be in front of the engine. was thinking of putting on 2 driver side exhust manifolds, but there's that damned egr there. I'll just make a routing model w/pvc & take it to a shop & see if they can fab something like it. as far as computer goes, i'll have to research some more. Fuel Management Unit (FMU) only costs $100 new from the vortec site, & I will have to get one of those master boost timing boxes. (retard timing 1* per every psi boost). I have that turbo fiero site in my fav, wikk review again for more insite.


edit: also might pilfer some injectors from 3.4 motor, ave cleaned & put in. I hear that proper air/fuel mixture is a good idea for any vehicle

[This message has been edited by Project: 85 2.8 bird (edited October 02, 2001).]

 

Just read monkies' thread on fuel pressure, &, would the comp from the turbo 3.1 work for my/others setup? Kyle F just got everybody thinking: transfer/put in fpr/injectors/fuel pump from them in f-body & not much need for custom or inferred parts.

edit: looked up ecm at autozone.com, & they are compatatable



[This message has been edited by Project: 85 2.8 bird (edited October 02, 2001).]

 

Well the computer is not the whole problem. Here is the thing with a Turbo your will be force feeding you car way too much air for a stock compouter. The 3.1 Turbos were pathetic to say the least for a Turbo V6 car. Thefore you will have to do better than thier ECM and chip. You will definately have to go custom on the prom.
No I know that it all sounds like fun and games, but have you seen the exhaust routing on a TTA? I dont think any shop with a hydrolic pipe bander would be able to make the pipes. There are specailly designed header that are nothing like what the Grand Nationals have. Then on pipe wraps completely underneath the oil pan and up the other side to meet the the other pipe and on to the turbo. The worst part of the system is the Downpipe from the Turbo. On a 3rd gen there is not much clearence for the downpipe because of the angle it makes in realtion to the openeing below the firewall.
I know you guyus are loyal to the 2.8/3.1 and I respect that, but this is going to be way too much work for too little gain. I mean the non intercooled 3.8 Turbos are really not that fast because they cant run much boost with out knock. For the work/ price you would be better of doing a Dreaded V8 swap, suspension work, and a dinner with your lady.
Seriously do you ever hear about how fast those Grand Prix were? Nope because it was nothing special.
Oh yea and think how small those Sunbirds were. Yep that Turbo sub compact should have been real fast as light as they were, but they werent.
You might want to reconsider you block choice.
Heres and Idea
We dont want 350s or 305s
So build a 327. They are made for high revs and are pitiful if you put a TPI on it. THough here is the thing if you would swap a TPi coputer in and run a TPIS mini ram to make the intake friendly to the High reving motor and the force feed it with a Turbo. Yum is all I can say because High RPM motors just Love Turbos! then you could have something that not everyone has and it would be fast as hell.

 

but they're not firebirds
once I get the pvc routing going, I will see exactly if the exhaust will be plausible. if so, I WILL go with an intercooler. THis will be my experiment and i will either
a: blaze a path of glory for those to follow & improve upon,
or
b; blaze a path of engine parts & tranny gears, and end up doing the 3.4 swap any way.

 

This is actually something I considered this weekend.. I am going the NOS route.. Easier to do and I can easly run 125HP with the right pistons for less money.. Yes I won't be as fast in the end, but I am runnin 15.98 something without my headers on, toss the cam, double roller and rockers with forged pistons and NOS I should run 13.9-14.1 and that is good enough for me with the old 2.8...

 

I have gone over the concerns for turbo instals many a time. The computer is the least of your worries, trust me. The pistons are the first thing to replace. PERIOD. Second the rods. A freash rebuild. The extensive tubing for the install. the entensive time consumption for the intall test and fit process. and after you get all that done you get to replace you fuel pump(go to an out of tank design) and make a custom "filler pipe" where the pump was once mounted. You then get to add 2 yes 2 additional fuel filters, one before the pump and anothe after the pump to keep the fuel clean. then you get to wory about the computer problems. But thats no biggie, remember the turbo 3.1 Grand Prix's? GM's already done the hard work for you. Download and burn that Bin onto a chip as a starting place. The tubing under the car and in the engine bay is gonna take weeks, if not months to get right, trust me I have started it. And now after I finally got my bussiness licence and I get this thing creating enough money to support me minimaly I will quit my job to work on this full time.

The headers, cross pipe, down pipe, intake pipe and intake tubing will all need to be made and test fitted to each other. I am not trying to disuade you by any means, but you may not realize all that needs to be done realistically. The boost is nothing to worry abut untill you get everything else togeather. Again the things you think are the biggest probs are your least biggest from what I have read.

Though I do suggest highly T304 18 GA or higher for the headers and cross pipe. The intake you can run 16 GA safely.

 

Forgot have fun mating the 2.8 crank to the 3.1 block. Yes you need to lower your compression that much to run any amount of boost safely. You can get the bigger injectors no prob, you can even get the adjustable fuel pressure regs to help on demand. Oh forgot this one... hope you intake is nice and strong... PSI does something to aluminum... LIKE RIP IT APART!. I am making a mini ram setup for my project.

 

Yep he is right, and you also have to set up to oiling system for the turbo which means a larger oil pump to.
Then after all this work, I hate to say this, you wont even be out of the 13's in a 1/4 mile.
Just think of all the larger returns on your investment you could get going with another motor. LIke even a 3.4. I would advise a 3.8 out of a new camaro as a starting point if you want to stay V6, but I would say try doing something original with a V8 if you want to invest all that time and money you could get a V8 car in the 10's

------------------
89 Trans Am Turbo 3.8L All stock 43,000 miles #1053 of 1555

Past Thirdgen:
86 Trans Am w/ built 355TPI with SLP goodies and too much other stuff to List. One sweet *** car, wish I would have had a good enough Job to pay insurance on three cars so I could keep it, but for a 89 Turbo Trans Am w/ Low miles, I think I made the right choice!

 

I was thinking of maybe 4-6 psi max with current engine. I'll be happy with low 16s-high 15s. eventually this engine will die.
My therapist says i can cope. once I have mourned, everything will be in place for the "correctly preped" 3.4.

and just think of that potential.

If I did go the 90* motor, it'll probably be the 4.3. maybbe a tbi unit w/a vortec. still a six, still a third gen, still kickin a$$.
Idid some looking at the engine bay, at that exhaust is going to be lots-o-fun. but since it's currently not being used, i can see about rerouting/shielding potential routes.

Finaaly removed turbo from manafold, I can make the oiling workjust wondering though, the inlet on top is about 1/4-5/16' and the drain is about 1/2"


edit: Oh yeah, if i hear any more talk about 13s i'll just go ahead and rebuild that 400 poncho block, put it in my regal and be done with it. too easy. not counting the blazer(wifes vehicle) this is my first 6 that i can play with. (a hush falls over the crowd as the MC snaps)

[This message has been edited by Project: 85 2.8 bird (edited October 06, 2001).]

 

I think we scared Joe_L off.