That's what I would do - L36, an intercooled turbo kit, and a built trans. If you want more power later, changed to e85 or add meth and crank the boost.

For reference though, the z3 turbo kit and trans alone is nearly $8k if you buy new + whatever it costs you to swap the engine in. If you're paying labor on all this, you could easily have a $10k project.

Maybe I could get around the labor I know a couple guys that might just do it for me. Although I'll have to save up for 4 months to get that kinda cash. I also may do each thing one at a time. Swap the engine put a built trans in then add the turbo kit last

If you've got someone to help with the labor, that's really your best route. Paying a shop $100+ / hr (or more, especially custom work like an engine swap) is going to significantly increase the cost.


Personally, I'd advise against doing the mods one at a time for two main reasons:
-if you just did the engine swap and transmission, you're going to end up with a lot of money in a really slow car. Between the swap and trans, you'll have an easy $5 or 6k into the car and it's going to be a dog, maybe only putting down 150 or 160 hp to the wheels (well under half of what you're looking for as a minimum).
-saving up the money all at once will give you time to really think about it to make sure that's what you want to do. At that point, you'll probably have $10k+ saved up, so you can weigh your options - buy a camaro / firebird + mods, a gto, c5 vette, etc - or spend it all on a platform like this understanding all of the downsides that come with that.

I just want it to be competitive with my moms mustang which has 300 Hp I believe crank Hp if I can get like 320 crank Hp I'll settle there. I have a dream for this car performance cars don't interest me

I mean, there is always the option of learning how to do that swap yourself.. Its actually easy stuff once you really look into it and just use common sense.. There are step by step guides and the supercharged 38 makes 300 at the crank.. Basic bolt ons should get you 320 at the crank..

It seems a lot more intimidating than it is..

https://montecarloforum.com/forum/pr...ger-kit-58692/

^^

This guy was trying to sell a ton of modifications for his 3400. This would get you faster than the Mustang, be a super rare build, AND not require an engine swap if he still has the parts laying around.

If you'll be happy with 320 crank hp, that changes everything. That's only about 250 whp - way below the 350-400 whp we were talking about before.

Either an L67 with basic mods, or an L36 with a basic turbo setup would make that no problem. A much cheaper option would be just to spray your way there on your current engine. Probably wouldn't take much more than a 100 shot to get there.

Which do you think would be cheaper/easier also excuse my ignorance spray my way there?

By spray, I mean spray/inject nitrous. That would certainly be the easiest / cheapest way as you wouldn't have to swap engines. The downside is that you'll already be pushing it pretty hard, so there won't be a lot of headroom for you to get more out of it (ie you're not just going to stick 250 jets in it and keep the engine together).


As for L36 + turbo vs modded L67, that's a tougher one as it depends on your local market prices and how far you're able to drive to get it. The L36 should be plentiful and cheap just about anywhere as they made so many. The L67 is tougher to predict they're not as common, and some places charge more for them. Either way, keep in mind that a running/driving GP GTP with higher mileage is down to $1500 or less now, so don't get conned into paying $2k for an engine alone.

Mod cost between the two would depend what route you'd go with the L67 as there are a few ways to get there. For the turbo L36, that's a lot more straightforward.

With that said, do keep in mind that any way you go a trans build could be in your future (just not as extreme as what I had previously suggested). I've seen stock transmissions hold a lot, I've also seen them fail behind a stock 3500. Certainly the further you push them, the less likely it'll be to survive for long.
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I know the L36 is at pull a part I've seen a couple but I don't really know how good a shape they are in. On milzy motor sports I can get a 80k mile L67 for 2k but I'm still not sure which is the best option I've heard turbos are hard to install