ZeroDCX Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Is it possible to do a custom turbo on a 3800 Series 1 engine? (I know it's been discussed, but I have yet to find anything on it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfewtrail Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Yes, it is "possible," but it's best that you do everything needed to make it run properly and handle the newfound power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeroDCX Posted February 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 thanks for the info mfewtrail, but could you elaborate on that. I don't exactly know what, to do and where to start. On other cars I know a lot of things about turbo preparation, but they've told me that the L27 engine is supposed to be so horrible. So, I don't even know where to start. thanx in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99RegalGS Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 The L27 isn't the best because it wasn't made form the factory for a turbo. That doesn't mean you can't do it. The engine can proably handle 6-7psi fine with a absolute max of 10-12 psi. I know Scott (MaroonRegal) wants to put a turbo on his car. He has a L36 but that's close enough. He bought a book and is reading it to see what he all has to do. You can ask him about it if you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeroDCX Posted February 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 thanks 93RegalGS ... much appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeroDCX Posted February 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 yeah, i might just end up doing that, but the wiring harness gets me thinking twice about it ... and the lack of funds, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaroonRegal Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Turbocharging an L36, L67, or L27 is going to be a difficult and interesting task for anyone who takes it on, even after somebody has done one and written procedures out. I think doing this project on an L36 or L27 would be better than the L67. The low end power before the boost starts to climb is significantly better. With the right intercooling and choice of turbochargers, along with a well thought out design will allow an L36 or L27 owner to do 8 or 9 (10 as liberal maximum)psi of boost, no problem. This should give more than sufficient horse power. By more than suffiecient, I mean that track times would rival some of the absolute fastest w-bodies out there. The only contenders being the few Turbo 3.4's and the highest boosted L67's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaroonRegal Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Add this: if you want nothing more than perfect 1/4 mile times, and street driveability is not an issue, turbocharging an L67 with an L36 intake would be your best bet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeroDCX Posted February 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 i'm interested in turbocharging my L27, if there's anything you thing that could help me out in the long run, please let me know ... thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-REX Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 this 6-12 pounds of boost are on stock interals right??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaroonRegal Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 i'm interested in turbocharging my L27, if there's anything you thing that could help me out in the long run, please let me know ... thanks in advance Read Maximum Boost by Corky Bell. That will help you in the long run, regardless of whether you turbo your L27 or not. this 6-12 pounds of boost are on stock interals right??? 7-10 pounds on stock internals. 10+ if you either convert to L67 pistons or Use an L67 to begin with. Do you even have a 3800, C-REX? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topless94style Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 If you want to know what kind of power gains you may get, on a stock engine, turbo charged, that is in good shape, you can expect 7-8hp per pound of boost. On an engine that has some mild modifications to it to help out the boost or to handle more boost, you can expect 8-9hp per lb. On an engine that is built for high performance and to handle alot of boost, you MAY be able to expect 8-10hp per lb of boost. LQ1 = 210hp Turbo@6psi = 48hp Total = 258hp Pretty good gain in power, just using stock LQ1 as example because i dont know what the power numbers are on the 3800 motors. I would also assume that the LQ1 can get better power per lb of boost than the 3800 because of teh 24V DOHC. So i did 8hp*6psi. Add exhaust, some porting, and other minor mods, and you could probably hit 300hp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
99RegalGS Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 I know the TGP gained 65hp and 35 lbs of tq with the turbo. I think it ran with 7psi? If so, thats about 9hp and 5 lbs of tq for every 1psi on a pushrod engine. If the same holds true for a L27 3800, 7lbs of boost would give it 235hp and 260 lbs of tq. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve LS Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 See just like everything else built today, the engineering is figured out nearly to the T so that nothing is over built, therefore saving production costs. The L27 is a strong engine and handles itself well. The first L67 which was the series I had many differences from the L27. So this obviously shows that Buick figured the L27 was not good enough to boost and take peoples money for. All factory boosted engines have better pistons, crank and rods. The turbo Regal engines had better blocks as well. For GMs they all had special built trannys also. With the SI & SII L67's getting HD trannys. Depends on how you drive and what you really expect out of the engine. If you want to race and beat it continously, it wont hold. If you want to boost the heck out of it it wont hold. If you want to have the power there for the occasional smile or just to pull stronger on hills or passing it would probably last awhile but you'll be shortining the life span of the engine & tranny no matter what. I know of 3 people that turboed a LN3-C the L27's predecesser. One Trofeo, he claimed alot of power but quit posting about a week after completion. New post that came up said the car was toast. One 90 Lesabre sedan, it was the guys proto type he put a turbo on quick to see what gives. He made lots of power but it ran very lean so he put it back to normal and started building a L67 based turbo engine using what he had learned from his prototype. Then he put that on hold and did a charged L67 swap and modification into a Buick Lesabre T-Type. One Reatta which I've read very little about but the guy knows what hes doing and isnt into it for some 1/4 mile timeslip ego. He just wanted more power. I believe his engine is doing fine. I dont visit the Reatta forum enough to have read much on it however. Getting a turbo plumbed up and mounted doesnt seem to be the problem. Getting the computer to supply the right fuel/air ratio is way more important and money must be set aside to pay someone for this when your done fabricating. Other wise your money and car will end up like the above mentioned Trofeo. He did nothing but hook a turbo up and proceded to beat the pants off it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve LS Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 By the way - who said the L27 was horrible ? I got one with 240,000 + miles not kilos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaroonRegal Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 One 90 Lesabre sedan, it was the guys proto type he put a turbo on quick to see what gives. He made lots of power but it ran very lean so he put it back to normal and started building a L67 based turbo engine using what he had learned from his prototype. Then he put that on hold and did a charged L67 swap and modification into a Buick Lesabre T-Type. When building a turbo system, you need to make sure your fuel system can handle the extra air, and if it can't, you need to modify it. Air/fuel ratio is infinitely important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaroonRegal Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 By the way - who said the L27 was horrible ? I got one with 240,000 + miles not kilos. Nobody. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribbie Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 nocutt, has a turbo charged L36 in his Beretta. You can find him on ClubGP. Really all custom turbos are the same generally speaking. Only details you need to figure out are: How are you going to control fuel? FPR or additional injectors. What size AR of turbo are you going to run? Depends on when you want boost to come on. The rest is going to be custom manifolds, intercooler piping, down pipe, etc.... Talk to nocutt, he gave me quite a bit of interesting information. As well the book by Corky Bell is a good read if you are serious. Cheers D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeroDCX Posted February 6, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 thanks for all the help guys ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
god910 Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 Add this: if you want nothing more than perfect 1/4 mile times, and street driveability is not an issue, turbocharging an L67 with an L36 intake would be your best bet. Don't forget the heads!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaroonRegal Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 nocutt, has a turbo charged L36 in his Beretta. You can find him on ClubGP. Really all custom turbos are the same generally speaking. Only details you need to figure out are: How are you going to control fuel? FPR or additional injectors. What size AR of turbo are you going to run? Depends on when you want boost to come on. The rest is going to be custom manifolds, intercooler piping, down pipe, etc.... Talk to nocutt, he gave me quite a bit of interesting information. As well the book by Corky Bell is a good read if you are serious. Cheers D Those are the basics. A/R on the turbo also helps determine maximum boost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeroDCX Posted February 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 so should i just go with the L67 engine and the L36 inake and heads then, instead of using the L27 engine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaroonRegal Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 so should i just go with the L67 engine and the L36 inake and heads then, instead of using the L27 engine? No. If you've got a good L27, and you want a turbocharged engine, use it. If you were building a car from the ground up, and your absolute most important (or only) criteria was 1/4 mile time, you'd want to use either an L67, or an L36 with some L67 parts (pistons, heads, etc.) and run about 15psi. Since street driveability and practicality of building cost are important, using your L27 is a great idea. The 9:1 compression ratio should allow for about 8-9psi of boost, you'll be fine using your L27. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
god910 Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 ...you'd want to use either an L67, or an L36 with some L67 parts (pistons, heads, etc.) and run about 15psi. Not trying to bust your chops here, but I don't want misinformation passed around. You, DO NOT, want L67 heads. They have injector bosses cast into them. You will have to fill the injector bosses in either the heads or intake. I know alot about a L36 Turbo because I'm building one. I'm using an L36 block & heads, and L27 upper intake (it's metal, L36 is plastic, and the common reason those are in the junkyard, and the reason I got my COMPLETE engine for $200, I'm also scared about threading N2O fogger nozzles into plastic, just doesn't seem like a good idea to me :shock: Worried that high manifold pressure, mixed w/ heat would blow them out), and the rotating assy. from an L67. I talked to the guys at Intense and they are using stock L67 rods in all their motors, and he told me I will never make more power than they can handle (Yup, even in their 10 sec. Turbo GP) If anyone has any other q's lemme know. I have looked into this quite a bit. 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfewtrail Posted February 7, 2004 Report Share Posted February 7, 2004 ...you'd want to use either an L67, or an L36 with some L67 parts (pistons, heads, etc.) and run about 15psi. Not trying to bust your chops here, but I don't want misinformation passed around. You, DO NOT, want L67 heads. They have injector bosses cast into them. You will have to fill the injector bosses in either the heads or intake. I know alot about a L36 Turbo because I'm building one. I'm using an L36 block & heads, and L27 upper intake (it's metal, L36 is plastic, and the common reason those are in the junkyard, and the reason I got my COMPLETE engine for $200, I'm also scared about threading N2O fogger nozzles into plastic, just doesn't seem like a good idea to me :shock: Worried that high manifold pressure, mixed w/ heat would blow them out), and the rotating assy. from an L67. I talked to the guys at Intense and they are using stock L67 rods in all their motors, and he told me I will never make more power than they can handle (Yup, even in their 10 sec. Turbo GP) If anyone has any other q's lemme know. I have looked into this quite a bit. 8) Jay, do you happen to have a picture of this "metal" L27 intake? The one on my parents 94 Regal looks to be made of the same plastic as L36 intake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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