Thread: Going turbo

I wood do a Catera over an eldo

Originally Posted by Turbocharged400sbc

I wood do a Catera over an eldo

Probably a discussion for a separate thread but, has anyone done a Catera build? Like, what's possible?

I have been wanting to do a catera

Originally Posted by 98FvckingCrazyVet

Ive sent a ton of PMs back and forth to James aka turbo400sbc and the only thing that i know of is the 3rd gear shift that can be fixed with the valve body if someone were to actually go through with it and do it.
The making it fit and then the making it shift would be far more of a concern than whatever soft shift issue there is. The 80s are so cheap by the time people shove a bunch of unobtanium mega buck GMR parts into a 65e I still cannot understand for the life of me why it hasnt become more popular.

A bonneville would be much easier to shove a 3800 turbo 4t80 combo in but yet no one has.

For me, I kinda disappeared, and I wasn't to involved in 3800s much for a long time and kinda missed the boat on the 4T80 possible solution.
The idea had been around for a while, but the big issue then was shifting and fitment and what not. Fast forward a few years when I did my
turdbo car, the idea fell off my map, and never thought about it until Dave made a post one day that he had a car working with it and driving,ect.

I'd say, for the most part, why it hasn't become popular yet, is its not exactly a drop in and be done solution. Installer needs to do a bit more work to get it all in there. So may scare off a few people who are not handy at fabbing things up and like their simple bolt on and be done solutions. I don't think there has been any step by step guide of do this, wire that, invert this, blah with pictures, ect yet? No one was doing cam installs much in the early days on 3800s, and once someone did on clubgp, you started to see cam install posts every few days it seemed for a long time. Not everyone are mechanics (i am no where near one) and sometimes one just need hold your hand with pictures instructions.

I have yet to see anyone in FWD application put the 4t80e through the paces. I'd LOVE to see what a stock/rebuilt one can take. Can it take 10.. 100... 200+ passes in the 10s with 1.5x or better 60s in a 3000+ pound car before it needs any work. If it could go 100 passes at the track during race season before needing any work, that would be a stupid win in my book. I just haven't seen this proven quite yet? Unless I missed someone other than the twin engine car getting a few passes out a junk yard pick.