hey, i was wondering what would be easier to find and actually put in my car. a 3.8L turbo engine out of a GN or a 455 (buick of course). which one would require less modifications to the car? which would be cheaper to do? thx
A stock 455 and th400 is easier and cheaper. For the fastest street/race combination it is hard to beat a turbo. The problem with a turbo swap is you really need a donor car because the little parts will kill you. The cheapest way to go is find a nice 10 second car for $10000 and buy it.
I'll vote for the 455 as well. With the right placement of the engine you need no modifications at all and can easily get into the 12's for around 2-5k. The turbo will be far for finicky and need a lot more attention. It'll also cost you a lot to get started. the 455 is a minimal cost investment, only about $500 to get up and running.
Would have to go with the herd on this one. To do the intercooled motor swap you just about have to have a whole parts car to swap back and forth. Did the math before I started tearing down the 82 GN and conservative estimate is 455 would be half the cost of the turbo conversion.
Which is easier? Why not which is more fun? You'll only put it in once (hopefully), but you'll drive it a lot.
Go with the GN drivetrain. I found that on my car I didn't need a lot of the stock parts since I'm upgrading every damn thing. I got most parts used so it didn't cost me an arm and a leg either.
What happend Josh, What happened to the 350 swap? P.D. sorry I didn't get back to you on the ignition ? you had.
