Questions about engine swap or upgrade

[BlueBird_99]

Hey, I've just registered and I need some help making an important decision that will come up in October.

I just bought a 99 Firebird shortly after I turned 17 (you can read more into my car at the Car Domain link in my profile), purposely going with the V6 to save some money in order to obtain a V8 somehow when I turn 18. And that's happening Oct. 10, which from savings and working in the summer, I'll have the money to make a major upgrade.

I'm trying to decide between 3 routes and I need comments or suggestions from those more learned on this topic than I.

Basically, what option would be better in terms of cost, ease/labor, performance, and longevity for my car?

-Swap out 3.8L V6 for 350 LS1
-Add CarTuning Performance new 3800 Turbo kit and upgrade (625 HP)
-Trade in for same year or newer Trans Am

[97rs4life]

well your insurance will go up once you swap to a v8, but if you have the money to pay for the extra jump in insurance from working in the summer maybe go the v8 route. The swap would be something to do if you are somewhat mechanically inclined and think you can take on the challenge of swapping everything. If not and still want the v8 go trade yours in then.

Otherwise if you don't wanna pay v8 insurance yet, then go the turbo route and have the same/more power than a ls1 with a turbo kit.

[97rs4life]

oh yea, insurance only goes up if you tell your insurance about the swap. ;)

If you keep it a secret though you could get some major ace raping if you are in an accident and they discover a v8 under the hood. They might not even cover the accident then which would really suck.

[tdz16]

625 hp??? You would have to build the crap out of that engine to get 625 with a turbo. I think the most power on this site has been 330ish.

As for the V8 swap, you may as well just sell the car and buy an LS1. By the time you pay for an LS1, you'd have spent the money to buy a car all put together. I've learned this doing my 3.4 to 3.8 swap. If you are satisfied with around 300 horsepower, i'd suggest the turbo kit, depending on its final quality.
~Tom

['94firebirdv6]

625??????? :eek: [img]graemlins/omg.gif[/img]
by upgrade you mean completely dissasmble the engine and rebuild everything with forged internal and upgrade everything else on the car as well:clutch, tranny, rear end, pcm, suspension for the major traction issues right?
cuz thats the only way you would see 625 from a 3.8 and you are talkin prolly 5 times what a v8 swap would cost

[loser]

heres links to v8 swaps. i dont think your gonna get like 450 hp out of a v6 not where near 600 . http://www.dxsoftware.com/magnus/v8swap.htm
http://ls1swap.50megs.com/

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

625 at the wheels will cost at least 30K.....

[Teufel Hunden]

Originally posted by viper04af:
625 at the wheels will cost at least 30K.....

That seems a tad bit high... you can build a motor stout enough to hold that for 10k, nice heads, nice cam, Gigantic turbo, add on another 5-7k... 2k for the tranny, 2k for the rear end.. there you have it.

[carmelcarswholesale]

Why bother? It's quick and easy to buy LS1's all day long for $10,000 for low milage clean cars...even SS are around $14K...save time, money, grief and get an engineered package...but sometimes the young need to learn life lessons.

[wolf]

hey, I see you live in st. louis, if you get ahold of an l67, I can help you put it in

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

Originally posted by Teufel Hunden:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by viper04af:
625 at the wheels will cost at least 30K.....

That seems a tad bit high... you can build a motor stout enough to hold that for 10k, nice heads, nice cam, Gigantic turbo, add on another 5-7k... 2k for the tranny, 2k for the rear end.. there you have it. </font>[/QUOTE]plus shocks and things...... i forget you dont have to have roll bar and things lol

i would really like to see my car put that down oafter its tuned have to wait and see what it can doo

[BlueBird_99]

My bad on the 625 number, I was told about this Cartuning TC by a friend, after reasearching it myself I found this, which you can all read up on here:

http://www.3800performance.com/Merch...roduct_Count=0

@Wolf: Where in St. Louis are you?

[wolf]

acually i'm just across the river, alton, IL