Thread: G-Body: 87 Cutlass questions.......

Hey Trannyman,

I know where an old 87 Cutlass is sitting at. I was looking into it as possible a "toy" for me. It needs alot of work, may not even be worth it, but after seeing yours it has alot of potential.

Tell me, how much trouble would it be to swap in a Series 2 3800 in it? I'm looking more along the lines of the Turbo route vs S/C, identical to what you did on that 85 GN. What kinda $$$$ are we talking? Can you provide the Turbo parts? Are you using a 4L60 as well? Should I just think about an SBC instead?

Unless you can do everything, and I mean EVERYTHING yourself it is not a cheap project. Expect to have $2K in a trans and good converter alone, then a custom driveshaft which will run you $300-$500, finding a good 8.5" rearend which run $400-$800 used IF you can find one. Then you will need an EFI gas tank and sendor, another $350ish. The engine is up to you on what you want to do and spend on it. If you want to go turbo then the exhaust will get expensive depending on what you want to do because everything is custom. GN downpipes run around $450 and need modified to work if you want to use it but that depends on where the turbo will sit in the car, but with the S2 engine it wont fit where a stock one is unless you do a lot of custom work with the tensioner bracket and coolant passages. If you want to use AC then that will get pricey also. The wiring harness will take a lot of work to make but depends on how you want to lay everything out. There have been others asking about making the headers or manifolds for swaps and IF I did do this it would be in the $650-$950 range and all stainless but they really should be wrapped to keep heat off of things under the hood. Theres just too much to explain and is easier to have the car at hand and just go at it for a swap

Yeah, I figured the trans, rear end, drive shaft, and of course wiring were in that range.

Yeah, with so few resourses it would be alot cheaper just to do an SBC if I wanted to go this route. Then I gotta factor in paint + body and interior too. May not be worth the hassel, oh well, figured i'd ask. If I could find a clean, grandma driven cutty that would be perfect, i'd save on at least paint body and some interior. LOL, oh well...