turbo engine swap

[greenmachine]

I just bought (cheap) a 90 TGP for my 16 yr old son. The engine is shot & the turbo is locked up. Is it possible to replace the turbo engine with a regular 3.1? The intake and the exhaust would need to be changed. Would the computer need to be changed also? What else? Thanks!

[94CutlassSLCoupe]

you could literally put the turbo parts on a regular 3.1 engine. I WOULD stronly advise against just leaving it a regular 3.1, it would be no fun. Get a regular 3.1 engine, swap on the upper plenum, exhaust, get a rebuilt turbo, and call it good.

[sl3196]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Dont do it! Someone will probably trade ya cars or something if you don't want to put in another turbo engine.

[TGPilot]

VIN V engines in working order can be found for $500 if you look hard enough. Converting to an N/A car from a turbo...not unless the car was total junk and you needed a winter beater or a demolition derby car. My opinion of course...but if the car is worth it to you I would try to find a working VIN V car and put the right parts back in it. 8)

[pwmin]

it will probably be cheaper and easier and definitely more worthwhile(imo) to either find a vin v engine or find a vin t and swap in the turbo stuff and get the turbo rebuilt or find another one.

[dbtk2]

Either find a vin T in a scrapyard and swap it in instead of the vin V and get the turbo rebuilt, or get the turbo rebuilt and get the vin V rebuilt. Does the engine run? When you say shot what does that mean???

 

Shawn

[greenmachine]

Defining "engine is shot". The guy I bought it from said it was smoking very badly. He started to replace the head gaskets 6 years ago and never finished. Intake was off and the plugs were out. His buddy said it was a turbo problem. The cylinder walls were hard to see but seemed slightly rusty. We put it back together, filled it with water, and started it. It missed on a couple of cylinders & blew a huge cloud of white smoke. Drained the water & restarted it the next day & it ran ok, without smoke.

[Guest TurboSedan]

if the engine is shot i would seriously consider looking for a NA 3.1 VIN 'T' engine and bolting all the turbo specific parts onto it. i did just that with my Cutlass and it runs pretty good 8)

[idbeast]

Defining "engine is shot". The guy I bought it from said it was smoking very badly. He started to replace the head gaskets 6 years ago and never finished. Intake was off and the plugs were out. His buddy said it was a turbo problem. The cylinder walls were hard to see but seemed slightly rusty. We put it back together, filled it with water, and started it. It missed on a couple of cylinders & blew a huge cloud of white smoke. Drained the water & restarted it the next day & it ran ok, without smoke.

Sounds like the clasic BAD Oil Return Hose but with 6 TGPS what do I know...

[Guest TurboSedan]

Drained the water & restarted it the next day & it ran ok, without smoke.

 

did you run the engine with the turbo "locked up"? does the turbo spin at all? or does it just have bad shaft play?

 

have you tried a compression test yet?

[Prospeeder]

Defining "engine is shot". The guy I bought it from said it was smoking very badly. He started to replace the head gaskets 6 years ago and never finished. Intake was off and the plugs were out. His buddy said it was a turbo problem. The cylinder walls were hard to see but seemed slightly rusty. We put it back together, filled it with water, and started it. It missed on a couple of cylinders & blew a huge cloud of white smoke. Drained the water & restarted it the next day & it ran ok, without smoke.

Sounds like the clasic BAD Oil Return Hose but with 6 TGPS what do I know...

 

Well, i know for a fact replacing it helped me, but if he drained the coolant and stopped.....that doesnt sound like the drain line, BUT how long did he run it for? because sometimes it will smoke, and other times it wont, so u never know

[idbeast]

because sometimes it will smoke, and other times it wont, so u never know

Exactly my point!

[Guest TurboSedan]

greenmachine, we need more details about what's going on it's kind of hard to say what's going on at this point.