I used this site as research back in high school. now I'm back again

[Isaiah Brown]

Thank you for the warm welcome. My name is Isaiah, "Zay" for short and I'm 19 years old. Although I'm from Lansing, Michigan, I'm currently residing in Pennsylvania for school (I go to Lincoln University and am studying Criminal Justice). A few years back when I was in high school and driving a '93 Cutlass Supreme, that belonged to my mother, I had an account on here that I had used primarily for research about swapping Getrag 5 or 6 Speeds and motors bigger than the 3.1, namely DOHC 3.4's and Souped-up and supercharged 3.8's into cars like my Cutlass, Luminas and really anything w-body for that matter. This in a way comes full circle for me as my family growing up has owned nothing but GM FWD cars until my mom broke the tradition back in 2010 and bought a Durango (It's not a bad truck at all, too bad it got repo'd back in November). I had decided to rejoin the forum to not only find out more about the W-Body platform [current future DD is a 2010 Impala Police Interceptor, 3.9L v6, beefy as all get out, 163,115 miles; getting work done hopefully at semester's conclusion in April] but if my finances are right, this summer I want to build a '92-95 Cutlass Supreme coupe, kinda like the one my mother and I used to own and document the build ups of that and of my Impala here on this site. Not only was I born in the backseat of my old Cutlass, and not only did I drive it through high school, but it was also the reason why I'm so hooked on cars today, namely GM FWD ones. Currently, her old car sits in a junkyard outside of Lansing rusting away badly but that's besides the point. If I were to build a Cutlass, I would want to install a Getrag 284 (because it's slightly stronger than the 282) and either put in a Turbo 3.4 or a Supercharged 3.8 and make sure it's reliable. That, and put in an aftermarket sunroof. Hers had one put in, I forgot the name of the company that did it. But, I'm highly thankful that there is a forum dedicated to the improvement and enrichment of some of the best cars to ever be produced by General Motors. I think that this site holds vast and knowledgeable information regarding 5 speed swaps and engine swaps into older W-Body cars for not only me to enjoy, but for future W-Body enthusiasts to come. Thank you.

-Isaiah Anthony Brown.

P.S. Wondering, is it at all possible to swap Northstar engines and the Oldsmobile 4.0L V8 into Cutlasses and Grand Prix's? I think the Northstar engine came standard into some later model GXP's but I am not too sure. If I don't build a 5 Speed Cutlass this summer i'll probably build an Aurora instead so, jw.

Thank you again.

[Euro]

Glad to see you back!  Quite a neat story, that'd be cool to build a tribute to a car you've been around and in literally all of your life!

[88red4cyl]

Welcome to the site Zay! The Northstar was never in the W platform. The shortened v6 version (dubbed the Shortstar) was in the Intrigue, but never the v8 version. The GXP Grand Prix got the LS4 (which the Impala SS and Monte SS had in thr 3rd gen). There is a guy on here that had a gen 1.5 Monte that he swapped a Northstar into though. The Cutlass was available with a factory sunroof and I would personally stick with those. I don't trust the aftermarket ones, but to each his own.

[Isaiah Brown]

Slight update to this post: I bought my Impala 9c1 on 5/6/16 but I decided not to go with the tribute car build until next summer 2017 sometime. But I encourage you all to follow my Impala Build Thread which needs a new title by the way. link to it is right here, http://www.w-body.com/topic/55027-of-impalas-and-isaiah-2010-chevy-9c1-impala-build-thread-twentysexxythe-interceptor/?do=findComment&comment=1219803

[Padgett]

Really there were three: 4.5 Northstar V8 introed in 1993, 4.0 Aurora V8 (also used by Shelby), and then the 3.5 ShortStar V6, plus a few racing variants.  All were chain driven DOHC 90 degree blocks (even the ShortStar which used an offset crank) These were Cadillac and Oldmobile only. I always thought the Quad-4 was an ancestor.

 

There was a short lived FWD 5.3 all aluminum V8, the LS4. This was a pushrod engine and used by Pontiac, Buick, and Chevrolet from 2005 to 2009. Its ancestor was the SBC

 

Make more sense ?

[rich_e777]

I have wet dreams about a 1st gen Shelby Aurora coupe, , but they will have to remain just dreams...

 

 

Welcome back Zay, this place hasnt changed a whole lot other than its not as busy as it used to be. We stay a pretty tight group try and help out anyone who happens to come along and hang around. We still do our hanging out in the whatever thread, sometimes post about small issues but if you`ve got something that might need more than a few quick replies start a thread about it.

[88red4cyl]

Really there were three: 4.5 Northstar V8 introed in 1993, 4.0 Aurora V8 (also used by Shelby), and then the 3.5 ShortStar V6, plus a few racing variants.  All were chain driven DOHC 90 degree blocks (even the ShortStar which used an offset crank) These were Cadillac and Oldmobile only.

 

Not entirely true..  The Bonneville GXP got the Northstar as well.

[Nas Escobar]

Not entirely true..  The Bonneville GXP got the Northstar as well.

 

And the Lucerne for that matter.

[88red4cyl]

And the Lucerne for that matter.

I always forget that the Lucerne existed

[55trucker]

I always wondered why Buick named a car after a carton of milk.......lol

[Nas Escobar]

Actually, I think it's named after the city in Switzerland.

 

At least they didn't name it el taco since we all know GM had a bad habit of using spanish names on their cars.

[Galaxie500XL]

Actually, I think it's named after the city in Switzerland.

 

At least they didn't name it el taco since we all know GM had a bad habit of using spanish names on their cars.

...or the name of a famous Italian firearms company, who promptly sued GM...

[Heartbeat1991]

No offense, but I have to laugh when a 19 year old says "back in high school"  LOL  

[Psych0matt]

No offense, but I have to laugh when a 19 year old says "back in high school" LOL

well, it was in the past

[rich_e777]

I see what you did there, for some reason thats the funniset thing I`ve chuckled at all week, Its been a very dry week.

 

I could say back in HS at 19, they threw me out when I was 17. Well not so much thrown out as decided to leave but thats a long story.