wish me luck.......87 turbo into 76 skylark

[pphil]

i just bought a wrecked 87 t type

so i am going to install the drive train into my 76 skylark

scott

[NTX5467]

First thing I think of is plumbing the intercooler, plus "more" radiator and trans cooler.

Second thing is the rear axle (being the 7.5" ring gear axle). But given the heritage of the GM H-car being "Vega", there should be a plentiful number of vendors that could do you a stout rear axle to fit that chassis. Might need to upgrade to rear disc brakes at the same time, too.

Third thing is the exhaust system. A free-flowing exhaust on a turbo car is important. Might need to be creative in bending the pipes around the rear axle/rear suspension, especially with a larger diameter pipe.

Fourth thing would be the fuel supply system. Seems like there were some FI 4-cylinders in some of the sibling cars? In that case, you might need to change the tank sending unit and pump to that FI application's parts, or upgrade from there.

Have fun and keep us posted!

NTX5467

[Guest Hector]

Hey Scott,I saw the pics on V8Buick of your donor and green cars,good luck with it,very cool swap.

[joe_padavano]

Second thing is the rear axle (being the 7.5" ring gear axle). But given the heritage of the GM H-car being "Vega", there should be a plentiful number of vendors that could do you a stout rear axle to fit that chassis. Might need to upgrade to rear disc brakes at the same time, too.

The 1976 SkyLARK is an X-body (Nova clone) and has an 8.5" axle. The H-body Buick was the SkyHAWK.

Third thing is the exhaust system. A free-flowing exhaust on a turbo car is important. Might need to be creative in bending the pipes around the rear axle/rear suspension, especially with a larger diameter pipe.

Large bore exhaust systems for the 75-79 Nova will work, as should systems for the second gen Camaros. Walker Dynomax makes a number of pre-bent Camaro pipes in 2.5" and 3" sizes that should fit.

Fourth thing would be the fuel supply system. Seems like there were some FI 4-cylinders in some of the sibling cars? In that case, you might need to change the tank sending unit and pump to that FI application's parts, or upgrade from there.

You're thinking of the FWD J-cars that replaced the RWD H-body cars. The H-cars never had EFI except for the Cosworth Vega. Of course, if this is really a SkyLARK, then none of that applies anyway. On the other hand, aftermarket EFI pumps are plentiful and are available in both in-tank and external configurations. I've used the latter in an EFI conversion and it works fine.

[pphil]

The 1976 SkyLARK is an X-body (Nova clone) and has an 8.5" axle. The H-body Buick was the SkyHAWK.

sadly the 76 oddfire v-6 equiped cars came with the 7.5 rear not the 8.5

scott

[joe_padavano]

sadly the 76 oddfire v-6 equiped cars came with the 7.5 rear not the 8.5

scott

In the X-body cars? Well, in any case, a second gen F-body axle should be a bolt-in.

[JohnD1956]

Would the rear from the 87 fit into the 76?

[joe_padavano]

Would the rear from the 87 fit into the 76?

The G-body Regal uses coil springs and a four link. The X-body Skylark uses leaf springs like a Nova.

[JohnD1956]

I forgot about the leaf springs but that would seem to make this conversion simpler. I guess the bigger issue would be width, since the Skylark does not have full wheel well openings.

[NTX5467]

My apologies for mistaking "Lark" and "Hawk".

As noted, the base/smaller engine X-cars came with the 7.5" rear axle, but the V-8s would be 8.5"s. PLUS, as noted, the X-cars had rear leaf springs . . . which angled just the opposite, front to back, as the F-body cars did. This ALSO means that the spring perches are similarly angled for the particular application. It's not a great angle difference from "straight", but it's there and the spring perches are angled the same way. Although the suspensions on the X-car is more 1st gen F-body than 2nd gen F-body, there are differences that are not really apparent on first glance or until you try to swap them over and they don't work.

3rd Gen F-body cars, as did the '78+ A/G cars, used the 7.5" rear axle, but the GN you have should be the 8.5". 7.5" rear axles also came under S-10s, UNLESS on the later models, you got the 4.3L V-6 AND 5-speed manual, which got the 8.5" axle . . . both with rear disc brakes.

The THM200-family trans you have, if I recall corrrectly, is a little smaller than the THM350 (which the X-cars came with back then), so it probably would fit without any tunnel reshaping.

A point of interest would be the transmission crossmember . . . as to whether it has the clearances for real dual exhaust, one hump on each side, or not. Considering that by '76, all that was available was the single-cat system with a dual outlet muffler on the V-8s. The rh floor pan probably has the heat shield for the cat converter on it, too. BUT considering that your donor turbo motor will have only ONE outlet pipe from the turbo, that might not be an issue anyway . . . which would also negate using one of the pre-bent systems that were mentioned.

X-cars and EFI?? Cadillac Seville with the FI Olds 350 V-8! The pump probably doesn't have enough capacity to feed a healthy 3.8L Turbo motor, compared to a stock Olds 350, but the architecture might be adaptable--fuel lines and such.

With the rwd X-car platform, you can add some full metallic front brake pads (either the Carbon Metallic brand or the GM pads which used to be PN 12300192 (the old Nova police pad, 9C1, which also was used on later '80s Cadillac limos and 3/4 ton pickups). Both work well, but the GM pads (from my experiences) were better in cold weather and were generally less prone to squeal. With the Chevy 8.5" rear axle, you can upgrade the rear brakes to 11x2 rear brakes from a '77 Monte Carlo or middle '80s Caprice police car--bolt on situation in place of the existing 9.5" drums . . . and with the full metallic front pads, the cars will stop like they should.

To round out the chassis, get a set of KONIs from Tire Rack. Factory wheel choices are many. Factory X-cars could have 14x7 wheels, but 15x7 Chevy Rallys (think small center caps with a Buick emblem rather than a Bow-Tie, like they were in the later 1960s) also fit. NOTE: there are two offsets on the 15x7 Rally wheels--Corvettes used one that was pretty much "0" offset, but the normal Chevy cars used one with more backspacing than the Corvette wheels. Of course, the GN wheels would probably work, too.

Enjoy the project. Keeping a Buick ALL BUICK!

NTX5467