engine swap.

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jamiedunlap
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engine swap.

Post by jamiedunlap »

i wonder how hard it would be to swap the engine in a bonneville, whether it's a six , blown six, or a gxp eight, with a twin turbo out of a cadillac. that would be the 3.6 420 h.p. found in the xts and cts vsport. anyone care to speculate ?
Last edited by jamiedunlap on Tue Oct 21, 2014 12:54 am, edited 2 times in total.
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nos4blood70
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Re: engine swap.

Post by nos4blood70 »

Welcome.

There would be no point. You can easily turbo the stock 3800 to way more power than the 3.6.
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Re: engine swap.

Post by 00Beast »

Answer? Very.
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Re: engine swap.

Post by CMNTMXR57 »

I think you mean a CTS-V sport, NOT a CTS-V. That has a fire breathing, 556hp 6.2L Supercharged LSA (I.E. the LS9 from the ZR1 Corvette). So not sure I would want to swap ANYTHING from a Bonneville into that...

But to Ed's point, Very, and I'd add, why? What's the point?
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Re: engine swap.

Post by SuperHbody »

It's already a GXP and with a little assuming you have the N*. Enjoy it, mod if you want and thrash the crap outta it. Don't try to make it something it isn't.
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Re: engine swap.

Post by nos4blood70 »

Not much to mod in a N*, gotta love it as it comes. Luckily those motors loves to rev, and make a great noise.

But if you want to go fast in your GXP, you're gonna have to pluck the N* out and replace it with a turbo 3800. Well, at least if you're trying to break 400 horsepower in a daily drivable manner.
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jamiedunlap
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Re: engine swap.

Post by jamiedunlap »

CMNTMXR57 wrote:I think you mean a CTS-V sport, NOT a CTS-V. That has a fire breathing, 556hp 6.2L Supercharged LSA (I.E. the LS9 from the ZR1 Corvette). So not sure I would want to swap ANYTHING from a Bonneville into that...

But to Ed's point, Very, and I'd add, why? What's the point?
i agree with the 6.2 on what's the point. i was talking about the vsport as found in the xts. just wondering if it would be doable as the xts has a six speed transmission and decent power, not to mention also being a front wheel drive. seems like it would be an interesting swap.
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Re: engine swap.

Post by nos4blood70 »

No I meant the V6 from the V-Sport as well. You can stick a turbo on the 3800 and probably make more power than the 3.6.
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Re: engine swap.

Post by CMNTMXR57 »

But the initial point is... Why? This wouldn't be a weekend swap. This would be an involved, custom fabrication (I'm sure), swap of something that wasn't designed to be put between a Bonneville's strut towers. As such, donor parts might be hard (unless you got the whole engine/drivetrain/harness/etc), from a donor car, and again retro-fabbing stuff to make it work. Then there is the network. Any 3.6L vehicle is going to be a CANbus. So you will NEED ALL the operating systems from that donor car for it to even run.

At the end of the day, it would be cost prohibitive, and a backyard engineering nightmare for something that wouldn't net you monumentally siginificant results. Yes, the V-Sports 420hp looks spectacular. but add everything I posted above, with the fact that the CTS is a RWD car. So all the parts/packaging are also set for that.

Your better options... Buying an SSEi, modifying the blown 3800 and Eaton. Turbo'ing an L36, or just getting a car with the proper engine/drive layout and that already has, or can easily achieve the power goals you want?

Keeping it relatively simple (and on a budget), I would buy an SSEi personally and start my project there first before anything IF you're insistent on keeping it a Bonneville.
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Retired Bonneville Owner and former GM Tech:
2004 Pontiac Bonneville GXP: Black/Ebony *SOLD*

Summer Toys: Combined 827 RWHP / 877lb/ft RWTQ
2004 Pontiac GTO: Impulse Blue Metallic/Black/M6: lots 'o mods, 415 RWHP / 405lb/ft RWTQ!
2006 Cadillac STS-V: Light Platinum Metallic/Light Gray/A6 - Spectre CAI, Magnaflow exhaust, Speed Inc. tune, 412 RWHP / 472lb/ft RWTQ

Daily Drivers:
2019 Chrysler Pacifica Limited: Mommy's new RGC
2015 Chrysler Town & Country Limited Platinum: Kids new RGC
2011 Camaro SS
2009 Pontiac G8 GT: L76, Sport Red Metallic
2004 GMC Sierra 2500HD: Victory Red - 8.1L Big Block and Allison
2003 Chevrolet Suburban 2500: Doeskin Tan - 8.1L Big Block... RIP
1999 Chevrolet Suburban: Sunset Gold Metallic - RIP
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Re: engine swap.

Post by 00Beast »

Not to mention the cost. Even an engine from a wrecked car would be very expensive since it's so new...
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