'79 Turbo Coupe, wondering what to do

[ownor]

Hey guys,

a friend of mine has this '79 Turbo Coupe that was kinda deserted for the last 10 years or so. We got it last year on a trailer and fiddled around a bit to get it running, turned out to be the ignition module and some loose wires/corroded terminals.
Anyways, only driven it once on the street since would have to get it inspected over here and all, which would require quite some effort.
Said friend has then started to dismantle it and give it some new paint, but never got to finish it, now thinking about parting it out.

I'm still not done with the car kinda and thinking about doing some tuned roadcar when it's all said and done, or use it for dragging kinda as-is.
What do you think, it's an old draw-thru 3.8 and i'm not sure I have a whole lot of possibilities here?
I have the EBL C3 Flash in my Firebird and think it's amazing, and the only way i can picture taking that Buick to another level would be converting it to EBL SFI-6.. Is it worth all the effort with the old-style block? I think I remember reading that at some point (82..84?) the hardware was changed and updated along the way in order to put down those nice power numbers some GN/GNXs do, so I'm wondering if there's really a lot of potential with this '79 one.

Please let me know what you think.... or if you could need any parts, heh.
Thanks & Regs
Andi

 

[John Larkin]

You are in Austria? It doesn't sound like you are a die hard on originality. The 1979 setup will never be a real power maker even with tweaks.

Being that you are overseas, I don't know what you have at your disposal for engine tech and/or parts but I would be looking at swapping in a modern drivetrain and mothballing the one you have for some future collector. If you have to build what you have, then it needs to be converted to a SFI intercooled '86/'87 engine configuration to get much support. And that will mean buying alot of parts. Your shortblock should have a turbo crank already in it. You'd need to change the heads, intake and accessory systems plus all the wiring and associated components. Good luck. Oh, and a transmission too.

You might be better off going with something you can get locally like a turbo'd Ecotec if they have those there.

 

[ownor]

John, yes that's right I'm overseas. However I'm mostly working with american cars so shipping and all that is a non-issue or let's say one I can deal with for me. I have built quite a few SBCs all with parts from the other side of the pond, not a whole lot available over here and if it is, they charge you an arm and a leg.
Anyways you mention the heads, intake, and for some reason(?) the accessory system, ok. I was also thinking along the same lines concerning the SFI change. oh yeah and IC that's a good point too. What about the bottom end, are the pistons much different or anything?
Tranny, the 200C is gonna give up soon under higher power in comparison to the 200R4 or..?

Thanks for your input so far.

 

[dr_frankenstein]

If you desire to stay draw thru the power can be made. but it is neither easy or cheap. Check out the Before Black section down low, we can guide you to a draw thru operation. Or you can Join the Sheeple and go with the 87 SFI. I use EBL Flash and a FAST 4bbl on one of mine. More then enough to even do Blow thru.

 

[usetaboost]

Decide how fast you wanna go with it and start there. I'm sure the draw thru is capable of 13s. First thing I would do is 2.5 exhaust from turbo all the way back. Then rig up methanol injection.

 

[6APPEAL]

I wish I had kept my 78 Turbo Coupe and done an 86/87 swap into it.

 

[usetaboost]

BTW you can use your heads.

 

[hensleyt]

My 79 had Turbo 350 and 3.54 gears
I miss that car

 

[Daniel Scarle]

My first car was a 79 Sport Coupe. It had a Pontiac 350 with a 350 trans. I wish I still had that car to

 

[john keskes]

Had a 79 Regal SportCoupe , really nice cruiser. Tune the car up , get a higher stall Torque converter (the car came with the THD350 trans ), test pipe , 2 1/2 " exhaust and some 3.42 gears and the car will wake up. those mods alone will get you from a high 17 sec quarter mile to mid-low 16's. Meth and up the boost should get you into high 14's. Of course, if you can find an 87' LC2 motor for a good deal then you're done.

 

[charlief1]

The car is capable of 10's but has to be modified. In my sig is a link to a bigger turbo if you feel like doing it. So far 1 car has gone into the 11's with the newer design but with a bigger compressor wheel and the exhaust wheel and housing off an 86-87 IC car you can get to the high 10's.

 

[ownor]

Thanks for your input guys! I have no real desire to stay draw-thru, i'd much rather go to a blow-thru SFI setup when/if we decide to build the car up.
What about the heads on the '79?
Also, is the bottom end any/much weaker?
I also wasn't aware there was TH350 in there..? For clarification again, it's a '79 Century Turbo Coupe.

Thanks again.

 

[b4black]

1978 heads were different. 1979-87 heads are essentially the same (minor tweaks here and there). Basically you can use the entire long block for an SFI build up. The updates to the engine were the SFI fuel injection in 1984 and then intercooling in 1986.

Century Turbo Coupe is an odd, but cool looking car.
http://www.beforeblack.net/century.htm

 

[dr_frankenstein]

aww.... well we tried.

 

[ownor]

b4b, thanks i see. does that mean the '79 ones would be good enough to build up nice power with some port and polish or would i have to go bigger valves and other things with those to lay down some power?

hey doc you talking about the draw-thru thing now?
i'm just an FI guy, that's what i started out with and whenever approached with a carb i think of (to me) complex caveman tech, sorry no offense meant by that. i'm just much more familiar with and comfortable around EFI.

 

[dr_frankenstein]

Nah I'm just giving you a hard time.. I'm always trying to recruit for the carbon mixer guys. I have had some big success with efi lately, so I can relate.

 

[ownor]

heh, well i'm already familiar with EFI and also EBL in particular, just not the SFI6 variant, but so far so good.

how much work would the '79 heads typically need, are there some guides for porting them and what's the usual approach in general for these?

for SFI & blow thru conversion, i guess i'd change the intake.. for a street/strip kinda deal, would i just run the stock later-model 3.8T intake?

for the long block, what do i need to change here? are the B4B ones lower compression or cast pistons or thinner rods or cast cranks or anything i would need to pay particular attention to?

please keep the input coming guys, i need your widsom!

 

[dr_frankenstein]

Okay okay... your EBL familiar... thats a good thing.

I use EBL alot... its my go to EFI system. ive used all of there systems and in my book Bobs a God.

So follow me here.... This is what ive done lately and i think it will fit your bill perfectly.

You already have a decent turbo engine... yes you could work the heads and stuff, but at this point I would say forget about all that stuff. Get yourself a nice 4bbl TBI unit. like the FAST or the Holley or Proform.. whatever. Get yourself a 4bbl intake, toss on the 4bbl TBI system run by EBL, use the 86/87 turbo manifolds , turbo and intercooler, set the engine up in a BLOW thru fashion and there you have it.

Dont waste a minute on the crappy sfi intake and even crappier ECM.

so for roughly 1500 american... you now have an engine that will take probably 25lbs of boost before it will shit the bed.

Adam (WARWAGON) has proven that this setup will work well into the 10s..... and his has a carb. imagine what you will be capable of with EBL Flash?

Follow me on that?

 

[ownor]

so for roughly 1500 american... you now have an engine that will take probably 25lbs of boost before it will shit the bed.

...words to live by!

I hear ya, that sounds really nice! So there's no need I'd have to dig into the short block if it's mechanically sound? This is starting to look more promising than I thought!

For the SFI setup, I'd need some kind of crank trigger wheel tho right?

Otherwise, would you say it's easy to convert the harness or am I better of building a new one while I'm at it?

I get what you're saying on the 4bbl TBI and running it with a 4bbl intake, sounds good. Which cfm rating did you get, for what goals?

Also how do you guys handle the rearend? If I'm not mistaken we got the 7.5" 10bolt like the F-bodies and coming from that world I know they rarely hold up to a lot of power.

Thanks!!

edit: Let me get this straight.. In your case you're just running a 4bbl TBI run by an EBL Flash, that was modded by RBob for 4 injectors - NOT the EBL SFI6, right? So in this case I'd just get the carb'd intake and slap it on and don't even need to worry about a crank trigger or something like that... Hmm, yes that's an easy recipe ^^

 

[b4black]

O
So follow me here.... This is what ive done lately and i think it will fit your bill perfectly.

You already have a decent turbo engine... yes you could work the heads and stuff, but at this point I would say forget about all that stuff. Get yourself a nice 4bbl TBI unit. like the FAST or the Holley or Proform.. whatever. Get yourself a 4bbl intake, toss on the 4bbl TBI system run by EBL, use the 86/87 turbo manifolds , turbo and intercooler, set the engine up in a BLOW thru fashion and there you have it.

Where's the "Like" button? Wait, found it. (didn't know we had that now)