New here, My Series III 1999 Firebird 3.8 v6 turbo build

[jamesklyne]

I'm new here, so I figured I'd post up what I got. This is duplicated from fullthrottlev6 and turbomustangs

I'm normally a Ford guy, but have a love for Firebirds/Trans Ams

I bought a 1999 Firebird from a coworker for $400 dollars. It had oil and coolant mixing, so figured it may be the intake gaskets (bad on these motors). I swapped them out but the motor ended up seizing after a short while.





I bought some wood to build jackstand extensions from home depot. Loaded them in my utility vehicle :doh:

[jamesklyne]

Re: New here, My Series III 1999 Firebird 3.8 v6 turbo build

Lifted the car up and dropped the motor out of the bottom.



The new motor came out of a 2008 Buick Lacrosse



I had to strip it down to pretty much a long block, lots of unusable parts. I swapped over the old motors lower intake and installed all new gaskets.

[jamesklyne]

Re: New here, My Series III 1999 Firebird 3.8 v6 turbo build

I figured while I'm at it, I'll go ahead and do an under k member turbo kit too.

[jamesklyne]

Re: New here, My Series III 1999 Firebird 3.8 v6 turbo build



It runs fairly strong at the current 4-5 psi of boost I have it at. I want to add water injection, FMIC, BOV, bigger injectors and fuel pump.

Not sure what to use to tune. HP Tuners stuff looks awesome but pricey. I also need to sort out the PCV system and fix some leaky valve covers (caused by PCV I think).

VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApmsX...1&feature=plcp

[jamesklyne]

Re: New here, My Series III 1999 Firebird 3.8 v6 turbo build

Some more random pics I have of the build process:

Oil feed line



turbo to throttle body



Parts painted with some high BBQ paint



another angle of the motor before I installed it



What's with the 4 image limit?

[LETZRIDE]

Re: New here, My Series III 1999 Firebird 3.8 v6 turbo build

nice build, I would tune it before I really did much else though. Hptuners is good because you can tune many cars with it. Including I think the newer mustangs. One you learn what you can do with it, and how to use it you can tune some buddies cars that have GM vehicles. Since most of my buddies help me with stuff, I usually just charge them for the credits that Hp tuner uses (because using those credits devalues the tuner later if you go to sell it). That helps cover the cost of the unit to. The other thing to remember is with something like Hp tuners, there will be a demand for the system for quite awhile, all sorts of performance cars like vettes etc still use it and continue to use it with the new models. So you'll definetly recoupe money from selling it when you are eventually done with it.

[sac2165]

Re: New here, My Series III 1999 Firebird 3.8 v6 turbo build

Excellent - Welcome :tup:

[2.8 Bird]

Re: New here, My Series III 1999 Firebird 3.8 v6 turbo build

Awesome built!!! With the PCV, there's a hole inside your TB. You can plug that up and put a breather where the oil tube is. That should help with your blowby.

Welcome to the board. Nice Stang btw. We have a member here that makes his own stands out of wood too.

[ssms5411]

Re: New here, My Series III 1999 Firebird 3.8 v6 turbo build

Nice ride.

[jamesklyne]

Re: New here, My Series III 1999 Firebird 3.8 v6 turbo build

I just ordered some 60lb injectors and a 255lph fuel pump from zzperformance :banana:

What do people do for upgraded MAF's?

[thebeewantsboost]

Re: New here, My Series III 1999 Firebird 3.8 v6 turbo build

y under k? you got one of the forward facing headers with your new motor! just giving ya hell... looks clean
400 bucks thats a ridiculous deal

[jamesklyne]

Re: New here, My Series III 1999 Firebird 3.8 v6 turbo build

y under k? you got one of the forward facing headers with your new motor! just giving ya hell... looks clean
400 bucks thats a ridiculous deal

I blocked off the PCV port in the throttle body. I filled it with JB Weld and added some RTV on top.

I don't see an easy way around going under the K member without deleting A/C unless a tubular K adds an ungodly amount of room.

[SixShooter'00Camaro]

Re: New here, My Series III 1999 Firebird 3.8 v6 turbo build

Welcome man, nice build and car. You got one hell of a deal on that bird.

[LastCallKillIt]

Re: New here, My Series III 1999 Firebird 3.8 v6 turbo build

Nice work man! Welcome to the L26/ Series III Crew, I have one as well. Cammed, stalled and geared, not boosted like yours though.

Yeah no **** on the $400... That won't even get you a set of used leather Trans Am seats around here...

Switch your caps over from the L26, they look nicer and make it look "newer".

[jamesklyne]

Re: New here, My Series III 1999 Firebird 3.8 v6 turbo build

Thanks guys. I only had to pay what the junkyard was gonna give him for it! The motor cost more than the car lol.

Okay, so far this is what's on order, waiting for delivery:

-60lb Siemens Deka Injectors
-ZZP 255lph fuel pump w/ venturi
-50mm BOV
-3 GPH & 5 GPH Water injection nozzle for my DIY water injection kit (shurflo pump, Delrin solenoid, etc)