Just wanted to say I'm back from the not-so-dead. Some of you know me, and many of you are better for having never met me. I built Anna Nicole...which got blowed up by the guy I sold it to...it was my labor of love and hours and hours upon even more hours of hard work, blood, sweat, and even tears.
Well, I sold Anna Nicole to pay for my move to NC. Life has been hell since. The state effed me on my pay, and I'm in the middle of divorce. Thanks NC.
But, I haven't forgotten about my GPF brethren. I made a lot of friends here (some of which I owe money to...you WILL be paid back before this starts,) and my plan is to do sort of a GPF tribute project. Except this time my plan is to not use a W-body of any form or even a FWD. Nope, not a F-body either...
I bought myself a 1995 GMC Sonoma...2.2L with a T5 (5 speed.) My Race Golf got sold due to declining reliability and scarcity of parts in the area. Anyway, back to the truck...the 2.2 shares the same transmission bolt pattern as the 3800. The 2.2 sucks donkey nuts on everything from power to fuel economy compared to a 3800. Also, I know 3800's pretty well by this point. So, my plan is to put one into this Sonoma. The goal is to make it a NA 3800 swap using a lot of F-body components, but prepping it for boost at the same time. I'm not afraid of boosting a high compression engine by any means...and I'm not afraid to fabricate...so you can kind of see what my future plans are...twin turbos. The T5 can be built using many F-body components to hold up to about 600 ft/lbs. of torque and relatively cheap. The 3800...well we all know the W-body platform is losing popularity and parts are popping up for sale on a daily basis.
I've been asked already by multiple people..."why not go LSx?" There's too damn many LSx S10's out there. 3800 S10's...not so much. It HAS been done in L67 form, so I am not a pioneer here...just like I was not a pioneer with Anna Nicole, but I do tend to put my own spin on things. Other plans for the truck include a 3/4 drop, 3.08 or 3.42 gears with LSD out back...and basically leave the rest stock. This is supposed to be clean and not flashy. Final HP goals near 500HP should be attained if done right. I'm not going over the top and I'm not pushing the engine to its limits...especially with what funds I'll be working with. But, something is coming...and I think it'll be fun.
Originally Posted by Sven The Sexman
