Goal is 400 HP. Most will say its much cheaper / easier to get another car... I can understand this but I don't want to go this route simply put because I want a project car and I love my Firebird.

I posted this here instead of the V6 tech section because I WANTED a biased opinion and I also feel alot more comfortable with the techs here. Both setups will be able to give me the power gains I'm hoping for, but reliability, cost, and most importantly, fuel mileage is also at stake.

With the Turbo Setup, I can run up to 8 PSI before I need to rebuild the motor with forged internals. I can throw on a turbo grind cam and ported / polished heads and Intake with 8 PSI and I should be making my power goal.

The car is a 02 Firebird and its a daily driven street car. I have to keep things in check as I want to keep her as a daily driver and not go astronomical built it into a race car....

The pro's
- It's tunable so I can adjust my power levels to my desires.
- It's unique, will probably win alot of props at car shows.
- Possibly retain V6 gas milage on a good tune
- On a real good tune to prevent detonation, can run 12 - 13 PSI and skip the forged internals / cam / heads / intake and come out close to my power goals.
- Keeps original wiring hardware to avoid conflictions with the PCM and vehicle.
- Decently potent aswell, I can come around 350 HP with 12 PSI on a good tune, slap ported heads / ported intake / turbo cam on that and I'll easily be at 400 HP... If I want more, forged internals, lower CR, and I can go higher in boost making 500 attainable.

The con's
- If I run into trouble, I'm very limited on help and information.
- If I pop a piston, I'm screwed.
- Won't sound like a V8, but a cam will definitely make it sound throatier.
- I know turbo cars can become money pits, don't want this.

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With the V8 swap, everything has to be changed over... But I get a lot of flexibility in this change that it makes it worth it.

The pro's
- I get to rebuild my car to my liking during the swap, this means suspension, transmission, and rear end
- I have PLENTY of potential left if later I decide to go over 400 HP and I wont have to worry too much about reliability.
- Great exhaust note with a TD system and a cam. - 400 HP is real easy to attain with boltons
- Probably will have a much better power band so I'll feel torque down low as well as the top end.
- Probably MUCH more reliable than a turbo'd car

The con's
- It's overdone, just about everyone who wants this kind of power goes this route and thus is nothing unique in the car shows... But I can still make it pretty!
- No telling how much fuel mileage I'll achieve... this is truly a gamble and is also dependent on how its tuned but odds state it will definitely get worse.
- There MIGHT be conflicts with the V8 hardware and V6 shell - as in electronics mainly.

 

An LS1 with bolt-ons will be much more daily-drivable, sound better, get 25mpg on the highway, and make more power than a stock-internal blown V6 could. Add a cam and, well......

 

my nephew has a fiero with a 3800 turbo stock bottom end XP cam making 500 hp. for 400 HP I would go turbo 6. here is a thread about the car.

http://www.nepontiac.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1412
http://ballertown.info/forum/index.php/topic,21.0.html

 

If you really want to keep the car then my option would be LS1.

 

Stock bottom end on the L67 engine (supercharged 3800) has gone to 800FWHP in a Grand Prix.

You can easily run an intercooled turbo setup and 1.9 roller rockers and make 400+ WHP. The 3.8 platform is very capable and easy to work on.

The LS1 would sounds better and just be a better base for a more extreme setup.

 

GN motor swap ;-)

 

You wanna daily driver??? I think your forgetting what all that extra power is going to do you tranny and rear. I know nothing about these 6 cylinders but i can tell you with my 410 horse Z, i have already replaced one rear, one tranny and 2 sets of gears... im sure your rears are worse if there not the same.

Save your money and save your time, find a wrecked Z or SS and snag the K-member, trans cross brace, motor and tranny, PCM with the wiring harness and rear if you can (or buy a 9"). Put a cam in that motor while you got it out (along with supporting mods obviously) and your at 400 horse, 25 MPG highway, and its been done a go-zillion times so help should be easy to find.

You'll be glad you did everytime you hear that nasty cammed V-8 start up... regardless of the turbo those v-6's sound like cavilier turd mobiles haha