Yelo

Ok....first, I'm not a newb, I'm just lost on this project....

I've seen 10 different ways to do it and about 500 different prices, but none of them seem to follow the KISS principle that I firmly follow....

So...help me out here guys, what is a realistic single turbo build for a 3.8 that will net me in the 350-400hp range with minimal lag and a relatively simple installation ??, I don't mind having to fab some parts, but manifolds are out of my league so I gotta use something commercially available...Tuning isn't an issue, I can handle that end but I do need to know what parts I'm gonna need....

Am I better off going with a rear-mount setup for ease of install or should I keep it under the hood and deal with the nightmare there for better power??...

Any input ??

Yelo

nothin ??

CalSpeedPerformance

iTrader: (64)

Sell the car, use the $ you were going to put into turbo charging it into buying a LS1 car...

stefan256

iTrader: (1)

atleast hes honest seen too many people on here kicking themselves for boosting their 3.8

HAZ-Matt

iTrader: (8)

You should either find a kit for sale that someone made for their car or find a shop that will custom build a set of forward manifolds and y them together in front of the motor. There is plenty of space in the engine bay to do a front mount. I would not do a rear mount. Pick a reasonably sized turbo like a 60-1 with a larger T3 hot side and it will spool well and easily make the power you want.

You should also get at least 42pph injectors and a new fuel pump. I recommend an intercooler of some sort, but you could run a few psi non-intercooled on the stock motor and pump gas since compression is 9.4:1 in the L36. Colder range spark plugs and some tuning software. That's about it. I might also consider jumping over to a V6 oriented site...

SPRAYED 01

iTrader: (22)

Well im sure your going to hear this from everyone. For 400 hp you are much better off buying an ls1 instead of dealing with all the pain of fabing up a turbo kit.

Jimmy P

iTrader: (177)

If you REALY want to go ahead and do it, you can probably look at the kits that are being sold for the W-body guys and see if you can use anything from them. Lots of shops specialize in the 3800 series 2 motors. But like most have said, in the long run you would be better off getting a LS1 car.

MY99TAWS6

iTrader: (3)

There are some very fast v6 turbo cars. Some in the 8s ..That said I also think get an ls1 but can't that Kentucky turbo place build you a custom v6 kit?
Does sts make a v6 rear mount?

subarubill96

iTrader: (9)

the sts setup should in theory work since the back ends of the cars should be similiar but i wouldnt take an STS kit for free. id swap a built 370/408 in or sell the car. the ls1 is a much better platform to start with and you'll always be behind the curve. in the long run, it might work out to a similiar price since we all know how cheap FI is

lifeisgood

iTrader: (4)

i myself thought of doing this. yea the ls1 car is a better choice. but the youll get "holy **** thats a v6 that just pulled on my bolt on ls1"
i say go for it. as far as where to start. where does anyone start? manifolds. get some or try and flip yours, get a IC, theres plenty of people that tune them, and if you **** it up, 3.8 parts are cheaper than ls1's.

BadgeZ28

iTrader: (28)

Someone posted a 6 setup they had built a couple years back. Damned if I could find it with search. Here is all I found.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-in...ercharger.html

HAZ-Matt

iTrader: (8)

You can't flip the manifolds because the bolt holes don't line up correctly.

An STS will nearly bolt up but the turbo that comes with it won't be sized correctly. And you have a lot less displacement to try to spool it.

If you don't want to mess with manifolds you can do a reverse Y pipe setup which is less than ideal but not too terrible. A couple of guys have got pretty decent numbers out of their setups like that.

lo_jack

iTrader: (27)

You can do years more research and it will lead you to a variation of this.
I second investigating v6 site in addition.