Bright idea...maybe?

[Farmer Mike]

Waiting right now for a call back but I found a turbo'd 3.8 out of a 84 Buick GN. Its complete with ECM and harness. What do you think? Good jeep engine?

 

[mylittlecj5]

No. I'd have to think the power band on that, especially with the turbo wound up, would be wayyy to high for a good trail Jeep. Now if you wanted to drag race it, that would be a different story...

 

[Farmer Mike]

True but how often are you above 2000-2500 on the trail? But heading to the hills or pulling a small trailer on the pavement it might be worth it. And being fuel injected it could have some low speed drivablity.

 

[mylittlecj5]

Like I told poppatello, look into the 4.3L v-6. Its a tried and true engine for the Jeep, and I can't believe that an engine designed for a "race car on the street" would work well in a CJ...I guess it just depends on what you use it for,, and how its geared.
Personally, If I want power, I have a 360 V-8. It runs about 5500+ when I need that much power (in the mud).

 

[Farmer Mike]

Well I wouldn't really call a gran national a race car. It was a heavy over-rated car with some serious turbo lag. If I decide to can the turbo idea I can more than get my money back selling the turbo, inj, harness and ecm. As for the 4.3, unless the later model ones did away with the counter balance issues, I thought they sucked. There was just to much and to many complaints from engine vibration. I got pretty fast at swapping those motors.

 

[mylittlecj5]

lol Ok you got me...I'm not a car buff by any means...
But they did something to the later 4.3L to smooth them out..I never can remember if they were the odd- or even-fire engines tho...And the one my buddy has is fuel injected as well..

 

[poppatello]

I just did some research on this and it was the odd fire engines...

 

[Farmer Mike]

Came home with it. $400 included engine, harness, ecm, exhaust crossover and down pipe, alt and bracket, new radiator, 5 flywheels, 3 worn discs, 3 pressure plates, and a burned in image of "Hoarders". How people can live like that amazes me. I brought extra money cause they had other stuff for sale. Nothing of value. I almost just wanted to give them another $100 for garbage bags. Opted for a nice dinner on the way home instead.

 

[mylittlecj5]

That should make an interesting project, for sure! Keep us informed!

 

[Farmer Mike]

That should make an interesting project, for sure! Keep us informed!

You can say that 10attractive times over. The hardest part is having the ecu reprogrammed to use the manual Transmission . As far as I know they only used 700r4's behind these motors. If all else fails I can use a FAST controller and then there will be no issues and also be fully laptop programmable.

 

[C dubya]

Seems like parts my be scarce for GN motors. My uncle had an 84, and he had to really search for hoses and some other stuff. Turbo had to be rebuilt, couldn't find a new one.

 

[jasonmark1993]

I dont think that would be ideal for off road. Those old turbos did lag pretty bad and when the torque does hit you're gonna be spinning. I bet you could sell that to someone trying to restore one though.

 

[priceg]

The 3.8 is an outstanding choice. Excellent power and reliability. The turbo only makes it cooler. No reprogramming necessary, GN's used the metric 200 that was a manual valve Transmission anyway, no processor. With so many aftermarket turbos available today, you can fine tune one to fit your trail needs. Good luck, and keep us updated.

 

[Farmer Mike]

Was a little bored so I yanked one out and put one in. Bolted in perfectly. Crossover pipe clears and the downpipe is gonna have to be redone. In the second picture you can see and adapter plate between the Transmission and bell housing. Its a little wierd cause the bellhousing that the kid gave me with the turbo motor is the same length as the other housing and adapter. It also has the same bolt pattern as the Transmission .