I decided to document the next phase of my 1987...er 1988 GT.

The car is my orange and black 1987 GT. It had a V8 with four carburetors that I had to hack up the frame to fit and I was originally planning on back-halving the car, but instead I purchased a 1988 Formula that had a clean rust free frame to move the body over to.





The first step was sell off the drivetrain and strip and sell off the parts not needed from both cars. Then Joey prepped and used POR15 to cover every inch of the 1988 chassis. I removed every nut and bolt and every part was individually coated. Both the interior and exterior metal was done.









The interior was insulated with Dynamat....roof, floor and behind the dash and rear firewall. The trunk was done with high temp thick insulation after we cut and resealed it.



Every small part was coated with POR15. Then new brake lines, brakes, bearings, bushings....basically everything that was a wearable part was replaced.





Then the body was washed and I took a claybar to it prior to removal.




Then I moved the body over one weekend. That was scary due to the $12,000 paint job...I was terrified to chip it. Joey and our oldest daughter helped.









Now that the body has been moved over, it is time to start fitting the new powerplant. My specifications for it are:

Must be a DOHC type of engine. Just say no to pushrods! lol.
Must sound great (similiar to the VR6)
Must be modern and use Variable camshaft timing
Must be a factory turbo engine
Must not use a timing belt
Must be tuned with resources that I have access to
Must be a 6 speed.
Must be able to make 400whp
Must be reliable and be able to travel across the country and get decent gas mileage

So I narrowed it down to a few different options....and here is what I decided to use.



2007 Saab 9-3 Aero 2.8 turbo with F40 six speed.
The engine parts are still available as Caddy uses a variant of this engine in one of their 2010 models.

From what I understand, this will be the first GM high Feature swap.

So we traveled to Connecticut to pick up a freshly crashed drop out swap.





The next step was to tear it down and add my personal touches.







I powdercoated the valve covers with chrome base, then coats of the orange, then coats of clear. They match the exterior paint perfectly. The intake was powdercoated with wrinkle black.

In the meantime, we are porting the intake runners and the turbo is getting modified to fit a 19t compressor wheel (original size is 15t). I decided to use the stock turbocharger due to it being a twin scroll design and with larger injectors, my power goals will be met.

There is no timeframe on this build and I may take a month or two away from it because that is my choice. I will update as more progress is made.

The only trouble I have run into so far is the F40 for the Saab is completely different than the G6. The mounting points are nothing alike. My original plan to use mounts I made for the G6 setup is back to the drawing board. I'll redesign them for the Saab.

Dave

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www.hausofguru.com

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88 Coupe: 2.0L Turbo 4 Cylinder, W2A, T25 Turbo.
84 Indy #64: Restoration Project!

quote Originally posted by Raydar: Is this engine DI, or port FI? Is it the same basic engine (as I've heard) as the HF 3.6? What about the PCM? Watching...

It is port injected. The DI engines are all later years...and I couldn't find an application with the F40...only AWD and RWD. I really wanted a DI engine for the benefits, but from my experience with BMW's, I'm not sure if it is really worth the cons.
This is in the same family as the 3.6. I wanted to use an engine that was already assembled with the F40 so I wouldn't have to mess with a custom flywheel. The cost of this swap is much higher than most.....check out the prices for the saab engine alone on www.car-part.com I got a deal for everything uncut with intercooler, harness, ecu, trans, axles, engine etc....with under 50,000 miles on it.
As of today, I'm using the stock ecu and I've been in contact with jzwtuning about my options for it. I have looked into the Motec M600 as a backup if the stock ecu doesn't work out.
Dave

[This message has been edited by bmwguru (edited 02-09-2013).]