before i try it i was wonering if anyone has succesfully put a GTP supercharger on a 3.8L F-body?

 

do not know rk sports offers a supercharger for the 3.8 f-body i think it is a powerdyne

 

Hmmm sounds interesting. I know the 3800 Supercharged engines have the injector bosses in the actual cylinder head instead of the intake manifold because there is no room with the blower. So you would most likely need cylinder heads on up. Don't know if the accessory mounting holes would be the same. The TB would face the firewall. It seems like alot of work for an extra 45 horsepower. I would suggest a custom turbo setup if you wanna go FI, or a nitrous bottle if you wanna keep it cheap

 

i saw someone selling a complete GTP supercharger on ebay, and the bottom half of the intake had the injector bosses in it. it would be more than 45hp because the compression is higher, and with an upgraded pulley for a few more lbs. of boost would increase that even more. i've seen GTP's that weigh close to 4000lbs. runnin mid 13's with an exhaust and pulley. just think a 3.8L camaro that has the same amount of hp as a Z that weighs 2-300lbs less = definite 13 sec. passes. i'm not sure if there would be enough room between the throttlebody and the firewall to put a 90 degree elbow for the MAF and air filter though? i wonder if a T56 would bolt to a 3.8L???


matt

 

From what I understand it would be more trouble than it is worth. The block is the same but the internals are different. The injectors do go in the heads. To do it right you would probably need to put the whole thing in there. It is made for boost and your 3.8 isn't. The Grand Prix GT motor should be the same as what is in your Camaro. The advise given to the GT guys on ClubGP is to swap the whole motor. That is advise that is being given to guys that can bolt everything in place and have it fit with no issues anywhere. You would not be in that category. Then you have to deal with the throttle body sticking out under the cowl and probably against the firewall. I am not sure that there would be enough clearence there. Check out ClubGP.com's forums and see what you can find out. There have been people on there talking about putting these motors in all kinds of rearwheel drive cars but it seems to be a pain. The only cars that people seem to successfully put them in are Fieros. I did see one guy that had one in a T-type too. You can very easily find out what the differences in the NA 3.8 and the SC 3.8 are. If you can't find a post about it just register and ask.

It would be cool to do, but for it to be reliable I think you would need to swap the whole thing. If you are doing a motor swap and have to do a bunch of fabricating, just do a LT1 or LS1 swap instead

I think it is a great idea, I am just not sure it is worth the trouble.

Those GTP's are quick, that sc 3.8 is a good motor. My best time with mine is in my sig, and that is with a few easy mods and very terrible launches. Front wheel drive cars suck to launch, at least ones with torque do.

I hope some of my early morning rambling here makes sense. Good luck

 

I turbocharge them

 

Hey what's up Jason? I finally got a SC 3800 car (in sig) ...absolutely love it. It can bark the tires on the 3-1 shift . Did you ever go with the DUB setup on your GTP? My mods are in sig and I plan to upgrade the exhaust (3-inch downpipe, replace T with Y, Borlas, etc) ......maybe we should run our front drivers at KV next year just for fun (you've got to spot me some reaction time since you've got the weight advantage though ....lol)

 

How's it going Charlie?

Looks like you have a nice car there. I went with the press on pulley so it looks stock. I still have about 10,000 miles of warranty left and I wouldn't want to give the GM guys any reasons to be suspicious if I have a warranty claim.

I will have it at KV to when they open to better my times. I ran a 9.19 at Owensville with crappy 60 ft times/traction issues so I want another shot to see how well it will do. I had just started to get used to things and it started raining.

I just got my Street twin for the Z yesterday too, so the build-up is starting.

How's your Z running?

Shoot me an email sometime: JWBerk@adelphia.net

Later

 

I posted this two years ago when I had my V6 and the basic consensus was it's not worth it.
You really should talk to the guys over at camarov6.com, there should be a guy named tiago (i think) that has a turbo setup and was thinking about making a kit. Some of them have broken into the elevens in the quarter.
Anyway- your 3.8 could handle some boost, but I don't think anyone has ever made the gtp supercharger fit.

 

The Z has a bad valveguide or valve. It is going to be fixed probably in January or February and then dialed in on a dyno probably in March after having the heads done by Lloyd Elliot. I just thought since I'm going to the expense of R&R and repair it's time to get them ported by a professional while at it. BTW, I only paid $7,600 for the Riviera and everything works on it with just 54K miles ....it has every single option that was available in 98, including heated seats. I really like the Buick the 3.4" blower pulley made a nice difference. I only wish my Z treated me as well.

 

www.firebirdv6.com has a FI forum. There are a few blown 3.8's on there.

Back around 2000, I saw a former GM mule car, it was a black Firebird that had a supercharged 3.8 engine in it. It looked like a GTP setup in there. I believe the car was dismantled shortly thereafter but I heard it accelerated like a 12 second car.

I think you would need a ram air or higher than stock hood to clear the blower, this mule had a WS6 style hood on it and I think it needed the clearance.

All you really need to do is to see if the GTP heads are the same design as the f-body 3.8 heads.

The F-car has compression in the 9:1 range. Not sure on the GTP.

Good luck someone should try this.

 

Heads are different.

Injectors are located in the heads to make room for the SC. NA heads don't have the holes for the injectors, they are in the intake manifold. You would need the heads, intake, sc, injectors, fuel rail, and maybe a few small odds and ends. This is at the very least. You will make around 7-9 pounds of boost, I am not sure what compression the two motors are and that will obviously have a big effect on what boost you get. I do know that the sc motor is lower compression, which means you would be running higher boost than a GTP if you used your shortblock.

If I did this and used the f-body shortblock, I would at least change the pistons to drop the CR a ilittle.

 

The mule car had a 2 or 3 bar map sensor.

 

well, the compression ratio has no effect on how much boost the supercharger will put out. the higher the compression the the more prone the motor will be to detonation. if i supercharge the f-body motor, i will get forged pistons, but keep the compression ratio the same, because the motor will rev alot quicker with a 9.5to1 ratio. i'm sure it can be done, really the only thing i'm worried about is the clearance between the firewall and the t-body.

 

Yes it does, kinda. The sc puts out x amount of cfm. That is fixed. The resistance it encounters when blown into the motor is measured in boost. The same amount of cfm into 2 different motors can create different boost levels due to several things. I don't really remember what the stock CR on a GTP is. If the GTP cr is lower than a na 3.8 (which I believe it is) you will have the same cfm of air moving into a smaller space on the na motor. This will cause more resistance or "boost" than a factory sc 3.8. That is all I was saying. If you would get blower pistons then it shouldn't matter much at 9.5:1.

I could be wrong about how that works but I don't think so. I just wanted to clarify myself.

I would check into Tiago's turbo too. Turbo's are cool

Somebody correct me if I am off base on the theory behind this. I am about a year away from putting together some kind of LT1 FI setup and I am trying to read up and learn a little.