Turbo 3800 T56 Grand Prix

[pontiac guy]

I have a 97 motor from a Camaro under my workbench. I've been sitting on. It's just waiting for a Sunbird or Astre to come back in my life. It was a knocker. Have the PCM and all the accessories. I think it gets no real love because...V6. Plus all the fabrication you mentioned. To most people that's a high bar. An LS is more available and many swap parts are available. Let's face it. Most people know jack about building a car, but they saw a YouTube video so they are ready to go. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. YouTube told them swap an LS and Amazon will sell them a turbo kit to make a jillion hp.

I've even considered swapping it into one of these extra third gen f cars I have laying around. I love your swap man. #inspiring

 

[ken87cutlass]

That's a really cool build, thanks for sharing

 

[bs009]

So the car needs a wash but I finally installed a new set of wheels on the car.

I wanted something that looks a lot like my original wheels on the car, I know yearone makes some wheels for a few cars but nothing like the wheels I had on this car from the factory.
I also wanted something that would actually show off the new brakes on the car too. I've been looking for something like these since I've had the car and just haven't been a big fan of a lot of the wheels most sites sell that would fit these cars.

I happened to find the new wheels stumbling around Summit's website and they fit the bill better than anything else I've been able to find. I might try and put the OEM center caps on them too later on. I'm super happy with them!











Side by side:

and an overlay:

Finally installed on the car after being ceramic coated

Drove the car up to Michigan from Nashville yesterday for the start of power tour

So far the trip is going pretty well all things considered haha!

 

[melloelky]

cool!!

 

[81cutlass]

Nice! Those wheels really set the car off.

Welds can make anything look great!

 

[Northernregal]

I remember seeing the L67 Cutlass I think you're referring to back when I was doing the L27 swap in 2008 and it was an inspiration for me and basically proved that swaps like this are possible. I was still in High School and didn't know what I was getting into but Dave from Triple Edge Performance (builder/owner of that Cutlass) was pretty helpful when I asked questions. Too bad the website he had is gone but there's still some images circulating on the web about it. Afaik that was probably one of the first L67 g-body swaps out there but definitely the first one I saw.

1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass L67 Swap

For those that havent seen the car or any info on it here is a pic under the hood after it was first fired up a little over a year ago. Below is a lin

www.grandprixforums.com

The 3800 seems like the most ideal swap for a turbo Regal looking for a better engine IMO. Still a Buick motor but with much better flowing heads, a stronger base to start from, a PCM you can tune yourself, and plenty of aftermarket support for it.
Then there's things like the exhaust and motor mounts, and trans adapter plates that probably make the task a bit overwhelming though.

Hmmmm... I have some series 2 questions. What is the cam and crank trigger setup on those?

Do you know if its a hall effect pickup or a VR?

I may have been looking into this recently

 

[scoti]

So the car needs a wash but I finally installed a new set of wheels on the car.

I wanted something that looks a lot like my original wheels on the car, I know yearone makes some wheels for a few cars but nothing like the wheels I had on this car from the factory.
I also wanted something that would actually show off the new brakes on the car too. I've been looking for something like these since I've had the car and just haven't been a big fan of a lot of the wheels most sites sell that would fit these cars.

I happened to find the new wheels stumbling around Summit's website and they fit the bill better than anything else I've been able to find. I might try and put the OEM center caps on them too later on. I'm super happy with them!











Side by side:

and an overlay:


Finally installed on the car after being ceramic coated

I first saw those Welds & was on the fence.... Open this thread & boom. I like that they do resemble the OE wheel style. That's pretty cool.
Neat build.

 

[nomoar]

Your car inspired me to do my own 3800 swap. The information you've posted, as well as others (Operation Lipstick on Pig for example) were a huge help in getting it done. It's taken me a good half year to get it finished, aside from some final details here and there (clean wiring 🙄). I Bought a wrecked Camaro for $500 and was able to use just about everything from it. I'd love to go the turbo route next.

How are you tuning it? Are you using a gm pcm?

 

[bs009]

Hmmmm... I have some series 2 questions. What is the cam and crank trigger setup on those?

Do you know if its a hall effect pickup or a VR?

I may have been looking into this recently

Sure! So the crank has an 18x wheel on it from the factory on the outside of the balancer, and a ~3x "sync" signal on the inside.
The cam shaft has a single magnet on it.

There's guys who have run these things on Holley EFI (which is what I'm currently planning on doing) and they're using the 3x "sync" crank trigger. The Sync signal is actually not evenly spaced though so it's not really a 3x signal. I'm planning on running a universal crank trigger wheel when I go to Holley's EFI instead because it doesn't allow a 18x signal.
I'll try to dig up some literature on it but I believe they are a hall effect signal.

Edit: Yup, both cam and crank are both hall effect sensors

 

[bs009]

Your car inspired me to do my own 3800 swap. The information you've posted, as well as others (Operation Lipstick on Pig for example) were a huge help in getting it done. It's taken me a good half year to get it finished, aside from some final details here and there (clean wiring 🙄). I Bought a wrecked Camaro for $500 and was able to use just about everything from it. I'd love to go the turbo route next.

How are you tuning it? Are you using a gm pcm?

View attachment 182582View attachment 182583

This is really awesome! I love how you were able to fit the A/C compressor down in the bottom location too, that's something I wish I would have done.

Wiring was probably the most time consuming part of the swap because you're basically rebuilding your own harness and power distribution. I feel your pain haha!
I'm tuning it with DHP myself but you could also use HPTuners too if you're using the stock PCM.
Fun fact, the 98-00 PCMs don't have any theft deterrent coded into them so you can pretty much just grab one of those and be ready to fire.

If you need any tuning help to get it going feel free to message me!