3.8 turbo swap
- Thread starter Gustavo90
- Start date
- Status
I can't help (much), but am watching as I have a friend trying to do the same.
I don't know where you would find the diagrams, maybe turbobuick.com? The 84 to 85 year switch makes it complicated because they changed a bunch of stuff for the 85 model year. I'm 100% it can be done, though. Hell, I jammed 2002 stuff in my 85. The General didn't change colors for most of your basic stuff like pink being ignition, orange and red being constant, black for ground, etc.
Did you get the harness from the donor car? That would be huge. I don't know if you can get repops or not.
There's a few turbo 6 guys here, too.
I don't know where you would find the diagrams, maybe turbobuick.com? The 84 to 85 year switch makes it complicated because they changed a bunch of stuff for the 85 model year. I'm 100% it can be done, though. Hell, I jammed 2002 stuff in my 85. The General didn't change colors for most of your basic stuff like pink being ignition, orange and red being constant, black for ground, etc.
Did you get the harness from the donor car? That would be huge. I don't know if you can get repops or not.
There's a few turbo 6 guys here, too.
It can be done with the factory parts. ECM and wiring harness, but that is very limiting. You best bet would be to probably get an aftermarket harness and a Fast ECM. They come up used from time to time. There are several threads on making this work over on Turbo Buick forum.
I would put a '86/87 top end on it. With Headers/Ls swaps, you can probably find a set of 86/87 manifolds for not too much money. Lots of people have spare '86/87 intakes in their garage for cars they got rid of/LS swapped.
Sell your '85 stuff to an '85 guy that is happy with 15 second 1/4's and people telling him to "sell it and buy an '86/87".
There are about 15 times more parts & support for the intercooled stuff than for the '85 stuff.
Sell your '85 stuff to an '85 guy that is happy with 15 second 1/4's and people telling him to "sell it and buy an '86/87".
There are about 15 times more parts & support for the intercooled stuff than for the '85 stuff.
True, but most people over there will tell him to convert it to '86/'87 style. There are threads for that, too.
Agreed. There is a lot more to be had with the newer setup, but some times it is not all about horsepower. Either way it will be an improvement over what he started with. Parts have been drying up and prices have been going up since I built mine. A lot of the Grand National people are a different breed. If all you want is a little more power and fuel injection? I think the 85 hot air engines would be a good choice.
In the recent past, there have been people complaining about $1,500-$2,000 '85 Turbo's. I wouldn't spend $2,000 on a Complete '85 motor. My TA49 was $400. Maybe there is some niche guy still out there still supporting them, but the aftermarket support on '85's dried up around 2002 when suppliers realised there was no market. That will never happen with an '86/'87 set up.
If someone was swapping in a old Jaguar engine into his car (the trans bolts up) it would have more aftermarket support.
If someone was swapping in a old Jaguar engine into his car (the trans bolts up) it would have more aftermarket support.
I swapped an 86/87 setup in my 80 wagon. The interior harness to under hood side of the chassis harness plug is different between 78-83 and 84-87. Since you have an 84 olds you can remove the engine side of the chassis harness and plug the headlight harness into the turbo buick engine harness. Basically unsnap the headlight side of the turbo buick harness and snap in the olds headlight harness.
I had to splice 86/87 engine harness wires into my 80 dash plug. You just need to cut a few of the wires that would go to the dash harness and route them to a relay since the Cutlass dash harness doesn't have enough power source wires to trigger stuff like the fuel pump, fans, ignition, ect.
You can eliminate the power master power wires since you probably are going to use a vaccum booster.
You also need to splice the dash harness of the Olds to the dash harness pigtail of the engine harness near the ECM that sits in the passenger kick panel. This triggers the OBD plug, power from the key, gear select for ignition cutout if not in park, and cruise stuff/vehicle speed sensor
I also echo you need to swap to a 86/87 setup. Not for the power but for the support. I bought my 86/87 engine from a deceased person who parted out turbo buicks. Everything was in boxes and I had to assemble everything. I had a hell of a time getting the thing running at first. My MAF, cam sensor, and ignition modules were bad at first startup or went bad within the first 100 miles. If you have a running driving 84/85 setup it's probably OK but if it sat for a few years assume all the modules are dead and you will have to buy questionable used ones or $$$ NOS ones.
There are enough modules to hack newer parts like an LT1 maf or LS style coils into an 86-87 setup but that doesn't exist with 84-85. NOS parts and aftermarket repops are semi available for 86/87 stuff but 84/85 is a big question.
86/87 Turbo buick's are tribal knowledge as it is and 84/85 are like that weird uncle of the tribal world. In Turbo Buick world, you don't just buy parts, you adopt them. You have to prove to the seller the parts are going to a good home; you don't own them, you are their caretaker.
I had to splice 86/87 engine harness wires into my 80 dash plug. You just need to cut a few of the wires that would go to the dash harness and route them to a relay since the Cutlass dash harness doesn't have enough power source wires to trigger stuff like the fuel pump, fans, ignition, ect.
You can eliminate the power master power wires since you probably are going to use a vaccum booster.
You also need to splice the dash harness of the Olds to the dash harness pigtail of the engine harness near the ECM that sits in the passenger kick panel. This triggers the OBD plug, power from the key, gear select for ignition cutout if not in park, and cruise stuff/vehicle speed sensor
I also echo you need to swap to a 86/87 setup. Not for the power but for the support. I bought my 86/87 engine from a deceased person who parted out turbo buicks. Everything was in boxes and I had to assemble everything. I had a hell of a time getting the thing running at first. My MAF, cam sensor, and ignition modules were bad at first startup or went bad within the first 100 miles. If you have a running driving 84/85 setup it's probably OK but if it sat for a few years assume all the modules are dead and you will have to buy questionable used ones or $$$ NOS ones.
There are enough modules to hack newer parts like an LT1 maf or LS style coils into an 86-87 setup but that doesn't exist with 84-85. NOS parts and aftermarket repops are semi available for 86/87 stuff but 84/85 is a big question.
86/87 Turbo buick's are tribal knowledge as it is and 84/85 are like that weird uncle of the tribal world. In Turbo Buick world, you don't just buy parts, you adopt them. You have to prove to the seller the parts are going to a good home; you don't own them, you are their caretaker.
- Status
Similar threads
