Darth Fiero
3800 Series II Turbo
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2003
Just finished the latest project - a 3800 Series 2 SC / 4T65-E HD swap into an 89 Buick Skylark. Donor car was a 1998 Bonneville SSEi.
As you can see, it was a very tight fit. The original powertrain for this car was the Buick 3300 V6 and 125-C auto trans. There is about 3/8" clearance between the SC belt pulleys and the right chassis frame rail and about 1/4" clearance between the 4T65-E's side cover and the left side chassis frame rail. I was not able to reuse the OEM 3300 engine or 125-C transmission mounts. I had to modify the "J-frames" and basically build an engine cradle out of them. I used rubber cradle bushings from a Fiero to make engine and transmission mounts (1 at each corner).
Exhaust was tricky. The steering rack in this car mounts to the firewall above the transmission leaving little room for exhaust. I had to modify the rear manifold by welding a tight radius bend directly to it so it would clear the rack.
PCM is mounted outside the engine compartment under the battery location. The K&N air filter resides under the PCM mounting location so it can source outside-the-engine-compartment cold air. The filter and PCM are protected by a splash shield I installed under them.
I installed two aftermarket electric fans - a pusher and a puller. Not much room for anything in front of the engine once the A/C lines were made and installed (yes, the R134a A/C does work).
As you can see, it is a very clean 89 Skylark. Too bad there isn't more room in the wheel wells for much bigger than the 215 60 R14 tires it has on it now - it really needs more rubber because 1st gear is about worthless. Of course, the stock 85 mph analog speedometer needle disappears to the far right too quickly as well. GM did make a few of these cars with a digital cluster (looks very similar to what was put in the late 80's Park Ave Electras) but I have not ever seen one and I think the chances of finding a good used one in a junkyard are going to be slim at this point.
-ryan
As you can see, it was a very tight fit. The original powertrain for this car was the Buick 3300 V6 and 125-C auto trans. There is about 3/8" clearance between the SC belt pulleys and the right chassis frame rail and about 1/4" clearance between the 4T65-E's side cover and the left side chassis frame rail. I was not able to reuse the OEM 3300 engine or 125-C transmission mounts. I had to modify the "J-frames" and basically build an engine cradle out of them. I used rubber cradle bushings from a Fiero to make engine and transmission mounts (1 at each corner).
Exhaust was tricky. The steering rack in this car mounts to the firewall above the transmission leaving little room for exhaust. I had to modify the rear manifold by welding a tight radius bend directly to it so it would clear the rack.
PCM is mounted outside the engine compartment under the battery location. The K&N air filter resides under the PCM mounting location so it can source outside-the-engine-compartment cold air. The filter and PCM are protected by a splash shield I installed under them.
I installed two aftermarket electric fans - a pusher and a puller. Not much room for anything in front of the engine once the A/C lines were made and installed (yes, the R134a A/C does work).
As you can see, it is a very clean 89 Skylark. Too bad there isn't more room in the wheel wells for much bigger than the 215 60 R14 tires it has on it now - it really needs more rubber because 1st gear is about worthless. Of course, the stock 85 mph analog speedometer needle disappears to the far right too quickly as well. GM did make a few of these cars with a digital cluster (looks very similar to what was put in the late 80's Park Ave Electras) but I have not ever seen one and I think the chances of finding a good used one in a junkyard are going to be slim at this point.
-ryan
