call me crazy, turbo'd cutlass!!
 

hey guys, i've been looking around the forums here and decided to register to see what you all thought of my crazy idea. now, i'm expecting some of you to not like it, but please, don't be too much of a prick, i'm just having some fun with the first car;D anyways, on to the story...i have a 1996 olds cutlass which i got for $500. it had blown head gaskets, and the body was in perfect condition, amazing since it lived in northern michigan all its life. i have a garrett t3 off an old lebaron for a turbo, bearings and everything are PERFECT. (junkyard turbo, got it for a buck), and an intercooler from a supra for $20. unfortunately, the inlet and outlet are on the same side, but it's huge, so i guess i'll suffice. if anyone is familiar with this car, i would like some input on where to actually mount the turbo, since it's slightly harder to do on a 3.1 V6 than a 4 banger. i have the intercooler mounted already, so i don't have to store it somewhere lol. another thing, i would like to use those digital A/F gauges carried at advance and autozone, but will they work on narrow band O2s? one of my buddies said it would only work at full throttle? any edumacation on this guys? ok, well i guess i'll keep this somewhat short. if anyone wants some pics, let me know, i can get some, but the turbo is back home, so i won't have pics of it till after turkey day. well, roast away...

read read read and read you are no where near on the right path. to be honest you are about a years worth or reading away from where you need to be

Over the transmission like everyone else with a FWD.

agree'd, but the 3.1 or 3.4 can actually be turbo'd really well. you might also want to take a look at thirdgen.org or some fiero forums. dunno for sure if it would fit a cutlass, but a setup from a fiero would prolly fit fwd too? dunno what you can do about fuel control though. as already stated, lots of info out there, you better spend some days reading up.

the o2 gauge you talk about seems to be a narrowband, meaning it will be all over the place during closed loop operation, but once you mash it the ECU will go to open loop and stop cycling the o2 sensor and that's the only time you will see a steady signal on the gauge. for a good tune you would want a wideband o2 though. good luck

the only problem i can see with mounting it over the tranny is the heat. i don't want the heat from the turbo cooking my battery and everything else. so far i'm thinking either in the empty space in the front bumper(damn plastic ----), or right next to the rack and pinion under the car. i won't know for sure what i'm going to do until i actually get all the stuff and start building. my MAP and MAF (yeah, this piece has both) are going to be fooled through "creative modification", as i like to call it. i have a cold start injector off an old BMW that i'll use for extra fuel. as far as A/F, i talked to my fuels instructor at lincoln today, and he reaffirmed my concerns about the gauge, so i'll end up using the one that my buddy at school told me about. oh, and if anyone is curious, it's a 44mm T3 turbo

my first f-body was a 3.1 v6. iirc the MAP is only used for BARO corrections? so your cutlass is a MAF system right?
btw imho the turbo from the le baron should be a 50trim.. was it a T1 or T2?

huh

if that was in response to my question about T1 or T2.. i know the turbo is a Garrett T3 ;) but the turbododge k-engines are called Turbo I ("T1"), Turbo II ("T2") etc.

The turbo is a .48 AR garret of of a old lebaron I am a k car fan and also helping with this build, I think the owner of the baron had the garret put on in place of the junk ass mistu turbo that should have been on that car. The garrets should have only been on the older style of the T1 with the nasty log mani. I think the turbo should fit the needs of this build well, He isn't hoping for for a 7 sec car here just something to help the 2 ton tank get down the road. We are planing on using the extra injector/hobbs switch style of fuel management (ya we got some true ---- going on) and if we had found a T2 in the yard I would have stolen the parts and put them on my cars!

dont you think a .48 a/r turbo is going to be alittle very small for a 3.1L? have either of you ever sucessfully turbo charged a n/a car before?