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View Full Version : Conversion research help please...


2000wrx
10-17-2005, 08:19 PM
If I get the job I am hoping for I plan to get a new toy next year. On the short list are a Syclone, and mayne a 3.8l powered 91 Firebird (always liked the look).

Can anyone point my in the right direction as to what all would be required to do a 3.8L swap into a 5spd car. I am sure it has been asked and I will do pleanty of poking around but I thought I would ask those in the know as well.


Thanks!!

Keller
10-17-2005, 08:36 PM
Note tha the factory TTA's had motors with FWD heads on the RWD blocks. That allowed the motors to clear the strut towers. This also required unique headers. A 5-speed setup would require a different, possibly unique bellhousing, as the 3.8L was not offered with the 5-speed.

I have heard of TR motor setups being dropped into F-bodies, but not with 5-speeds, and not often. You're not likely to find much help with this one.

The RWD block/RWD head combo will be a VERY tight fit, and the aftermarket headers for a TTA-style combo (available from ATR) will be expensive. The factory headers for the TTA-style combo will be all but unobtainable.

2000wrx
10-17-2005, 08:44 PM
Yea I was aware of the heads and of the potentional cost. I wasn't sure if anyone had done a 5spd swap though. I want to get an idea of cost/hassle to see wich car I would be best to shoot for. So far I think I am leaning toward a SY, have always wanted one of them too.. :D

dvsgn
11-11-2005, 01:07 AM
Yea I was aware of the heads and of the potentional cost. I wasn't sure if anyone had done a 5spd swap though. I want to get an idea of cost/hassle to see wich car I would be best to shoot for. So far I thiave always wanted one of them too.. :Di don't think a stick shift turbo
v6 will work too well ,because of the turbo spool time . `when you're shift gears ,you decelerate , then the turbo will lag!!!!!!!! :halo:

Blackbob
11-20-2005, 01:33 PM
Note tha the factory TTA's had motors with FWD heads on the RWD blocks. That allowed the motors to clear the strut towers. This also required unique headers. A 5-speed setup would require a different, possibly unique bellhousing, as the 3.8L was not offered with the 5-speed.

I have heard of TR motor setups being dropped into F-bodies, but not with 5-speeds, and not often. You're not likely to find much help with this one.

The RWD block/RWD head combo will be a VERY tight fit, and the aftermarket headers for a TTA-style combo (available from ATR) will be expensive. The factory headers for the TTA-style combo will be all but unobtainable.
But didn't the camaro/trans am come v6 and manual in the f-bodies ? I coulda swarn it did. And if that's the case wouldn't he just need to grab one of those trannies ?

Keller
11-20-2005, 01:51 PM
They did come with the V6 in those years. However, I believe it was the 60 degree 2.8L/3.1L Chevy V6. Different bellhousing pattern. The more recent cars were offered with the 3800 Series II motor. Again, different bellhousing pattern.

Blackbob
11-20-2005, 02:37 PM
They did come with the V6 in those years. However, I believe it was the 60 degree 2.8L/3.1L Chevy V6. Different bellhousing pattern. The more recent cars were offered with the 3800 Series II motor. Again, differennt bellhousing pattern.
Why couldn't GM be like Honda and have the same motor for like 15years with the EXACT SAME BOLT PATTERN !!!...be so much easier and cheaper.

Keller
11-21-2005, 12:27 AM
The BOP bolt pattern trans started out in...what?...'64? And was used until at least '89. That's 25 years.

The Buick V6 first came out in '62 and was used most of the time in the RWD configuration until '89. The Series II versions are still used to this day, and are used in RWD versions (albeit, in different trans bolt patterns) in Australia. Is 43 years for one basic engine enough? :winkgrin:

I like the Buick just fine. :pat:

Blackbob
11-21-2005, 01:06 AM
lol,

well maybe it's just in this instance

kenmosher
11-21-2005, 01:15 PM
Basically, GM started to make everything "corporate" thru the 80s/90s. They standardized on "corporate" motors (the Buick 3800 was in Oldsmobiles, Pontiacs, Buicks and even Chevy's (F-bodies)).

Transmissions started being made with "dual pattern" bellhousings in the early 80s so they could be used with either the Chevy or the BOP pattern. Eventually, the "corporate" pattern was made to accomodate all the FWD drivetrains. All this was evolutionary and occurred over the space of a decade or so. If you want to see confusing, look at the Ford transmissions and engines ... FE, Y-block, Cleveland, Windsor, Mod motor, FMX, AOD, etc. ... there for awhile, it was lucky ANYTHING bolted together :D

ANYWAY ...

The Buick V6 was also used in Jeeps in the late 60s, so looking in a Jeep catalog might be a good place to scare up manual transmission stuff. ALso, mid/late 70s Skyhawks/Monzas. Since the 3.8 RWD block was discontinued in favor of the totally redesigned 3800 in 1989, it's tough to find things in the later versions that interchange.

Blackbob
11-22-2005, 01:56 AM
Err...dumb I tell you "DUMB"...what happend to the days where everything bolted to everything else ?

kenmosher
11-22-2005, 01:56 PM
They never existed :D ... BOP (and Caddy) was always different than Chevy back "in the day". The more modern stuff is more "universal" than it ever used to be, since everything is corporate.