85 T-Type LS turbo swap

[kornball426]

Well, HVAC for me is putting the windows down. I was a young, dumb kid when I yanked all that stuff because racecar geez!!!!
Honestly, I went overkill and could've saved alot of money on the swap by using stock truck parts. However, my Cutlass is more of a show car/cruiser and I just couldn't use the ugly intake or front drive setup. If I were to guess I'd say I'm $6K deep at least on the swap, but I learned along time ago to not fret over build cost. I save, buy parts, save, buy more parts that way it's all paid for in the end.

You're definitely ahead of the curve on the stuff you already have. Get the car and hammer down!

That's a number that doesn't bother me, I would like a better looking intake than stock, but I could live with the stock truck intake.

I am thinking round numbers, the RJC exhaust is like $600, BW turbo about 950, $300 for the Hooker turbo manifold, maybe, 400 for a good drive shaft to work with the 80E combo, $300 for injectors, $250 alright intercooler, 150 for a fuel pump. Then either buying a tuning device or paying a tuner to get it running right. I'm sure I'm forgetting things.

Will need a custom down pipe and plumbing, but I have friends that can help with that. That's just under $3,000 without an engine and transmission.

 

[kornball426]

Well, the seller apparently is going to give his brother the car, I'm trying to talk some sense into him since he said he needs money. Giving it away certainly isn't going to make him any money, so I think I may be successful. If not, I really should concentrate on my current project car.

I need to sell some bikes and bike parts too, to make some money and more importantly space.

 

[fleming442]

I thought you already had it.

 

[Texas82GP]

I might have to log in on my computer to see your signature. I don't see anything on my phone.

Turn your phone 90° (landscape orientation) and you will be able to see the signatures.

 

[Silent viewer]

Be prepared for some hate from the turbo buick guys.... I am swapping a 85 GN to LS power and even though it is a hot air car that has 140k and not much power, allot of them still give me a hard time if I even mention LS. My advice with any LS, do it right. Holley has the best stuff out there for a LS swap but it is not cheap. I am down to collecting the last few parts for mine which is headers, exhaust and accessories, those parts alone add up to almost 2k. My personal opinion is the turbo buicks and 442s were the best setup cars from the factory that you could get, adding a modern EFI engine and trans just makes sense but that's me.

 

[kornball426]

I thought you already had it.

No, I have the 86 GN, was trying to buy this 85 T-Type. Seller said he had another interested party, turns out it was his brother, and he told me he agreed to give the brother the car, but the seller said "I'm going to try to back out of it, I really need money". So, I may still get it... We'll see. Being nice to your brother only goes so far when you need cash lol.

 

[kornball426]

Turn your phone 90° (landscape orientation) and you will be able to see the signatures.

Well how about that... Thanks, never would have thought to do that.

 

[kornball426]

Be prepared for some hate from the turbo buick guys.... I am swapping a 85 GN to LS power and even though it is a hot air car that has 140k and not much power, allot of them still give me a hard time if I even mention LS. My advice with any LS, do it right. Holley has the best stuff out there for a LS swap but it is not cheap. I am down to collecting the last few parts for mine which is headers, exhaust and accessories, those parts alone add up to almost 2k. My personal opinion is the turbo buicks and 442s were the best setup cars from the factory that you could get, adding a modern EFI engine and trans just makes sense but that's me.

I hear a lot of great stuff about the Holley Dominator and X Terminator, etc. ECU's but on the other hand I've heard a lot of arguments in favor of keeping it OEM. Ease of setup and tuning are the two big plus sides I've heard about the Holley stuff. The thing I think is cool is the fuel quality sensors that will automatically adjust timing and fueling for optimal performance be it pump gas, race gas, E85, or some concoction of them blended in the tank. That is a super cool feature. I think it was an AEM standalone in a MKIV Supra I saw with a similar feature, and a screen on the dash was calculating octane on the fly as the guy was filling his tank from pump gas to E85 and making changes to the tune automatically. Pretty damn slick.

 

[fleming442]

I don't know enough about the OEM PCMs, but when I helped my buddy convert his 09 ZR1 to Flex Fuel, it was stupid simple. Just install the sensor in the fuel line, and hook up 3 wires- one of which was pre-terminated to plug into the PCM. Now, that's a factory LS PCM; I don't know if the aftermarket has similar capabilities. I imagine they would.

 

[L92 OLDS]

The thing I think is cool is the fuel quality sensors that will automatically adjust timing and fueling for optimal performance be it pump gas, race gas, E85, or some concoction of them blended in the tank. That is a super cool feature. I think it was an AEM standalone in a MKIV Supra I saw with a similar feature, and a screen on the dash was calculating octane on the fly as the guy was filling his tank from pump gas to E85 and making changes to the tune automatically. Pretty damn slick.

You can do this with the factory ECM. No need for an expensive aftermarket set up. You just need to plumb and wire in the sensor. We did it on this Avalanche build.

https://gbodyforum.com/threads/2004-avalanche-build.73035/