lf4 3.6 turbo engine sawp???
 

so i was surfing around the net board, as usual. i was looking up other V6 engines that you can build up. 3800 supercharged etc etc.

i came across the LF4 3.6 twin turbo and was reading about its internals, titanium conrods, Low-inertia titanium-aluminide turbines in each of the two turbochargers, some other goodies in a article about beastly V6 motors you can get out of the box.

then i saw a pic of the motor and was surprised by the turbo set up. it bolts to the head like the LFX down pipe/cat pipe, looking up more info yup same family of motors.

that had me thinking after that . would this "technically" be able to swap over in a 5th gen? i'm sure there are differences. ECU, wires, sensors just how much similarities does the 2016 LF4 twin turbo share with the 2012 LFX and LF3

could you frankenstein the guts over to the LFX or heads and turbos?

i am genuinely curious and looking for a discussion. from other people with better knowledge of the LFX family of engines. or just engines


i will admit i know Nothing about engine building outside of putting things together at the specs required out of a book and in a car. but that's as far as it would go in my hands i know absolutely diddly squat about fuel ratios and how to do any of the technical stuff.
i Am a big dumb gorilla my hands do no posses fine motor skills.
no i am not planning to do this i just want to start a discussion
on a interesting idea of just want could be possible to make a monster V6 for this car.
i've seen supercharged v6 camaros turbo charged ones i forget the forum members name but he had a turbo llt V6 5th gen then swapped a LFX and modified the turbo set up and i'm sure a lot more, life happens and i left the forum for a while tell recently. so i never saw if it was finished

i cant help but let my mind wounder on this subject. i am kinda obsessed with V6 engines and inline 6 and inline 5 even the oddball VW W6.

do we have our own little frankenstein's monster with the LFX engine family?
and the GM parts bucket kinda situation or am i poking a dead body with a stick. :iono:

There was a lot of talk about this in the Facebook group the last few years. Essentially about 90% of the parts on the LF4 are unique to that engine only and cannot just swap over. People were definitely interested in swapping over the twin turbos but it was just something that couldn’t work. There was someone who has attempted to build the engine to fit into the LFX and the total costed about $13k and got to the point where it would just not work and claimed it isn’t an option anymore based on the small differences the engine has. So pretty much as much as we wished it would work it just won’t and the only forced induction option we have right now is the Overkill supercharger.

So just swap motors basically is what I am taking from this. The Cadillac it comes from does not go for much from copart and other insurance auctions. I was in my head trying to think k what modern v6 would be best to turbo or power add to for decent cash but not obscene amounts of cash. If your gonna drop 10-15k on a motor I'd just go full out at a shop to drop the lf4 in it's pretty bad ass.

It just seams what is available for the lfx for power the cost is better spent doing a V8 swap and 5k on top in power mods vs the lfx the cost just gets you in the door for power but it's still laughable power vs same money pumped in to a V8 gets much more power. It's just odd chevy to do so unbalanced on a motor they always leave room for something.
The supercharged v6 3800 is so odd in Buick and seeing sleepers running that motor. I don't do Facebook groups mostly just don't like facebook

Well, that was also his point. You can't just swap the engine in to our cars. It doesn't fit.

Yeah what I was trying to get at it was the engine simply did not fit and would require a lot more modification to get it to actually fit properly and run. At about $13k and it still not working right I’d say if you had an extra $15k-$20k and a lot of time you may get it to work. V8 swaps don’t seem to work so easily on the car, either.

We have to work with what are provided with and right now there isn’t a ton for the car. There are a couple twin turbo builds and people are seeing upwards of 500-600whp which is about Z06 power in a V6. If power really is a big thing it would just be easier to upgrade to a 2016 SS making about 400whp for $30k, or purchase a 2012 1LS for $12k and throw on a supercharger for $6.5k and have the same 400whp while saving $10k which can be used for additional mods or whatever else you wanted.

Would I go that route? Ehh not too sure. Car is paid off so I do plan on keeping it forever so adding a SC doesn’t seem like a bad investment for forced induction. I am curious to see what comes out in the future. We are all wanting more options but there just isn’t a ton of people working on turbos or other power adders.

How is this possible? For that kind of money(13-20k) you should be able to swap just about any engine in with a stand alone. May need to do some fab work but still.

Personally in the future I will probably get the Overkill SC, cams, rebuild the motor. I'm not gonna get rid of the car, I like the 6 too much.


On topic. So the LF3 and 4 turbos bolt to the stock manifold flange spots on the block - well, that means that your turbos are intersecting the frame I think? If you pop your hood and look it's obvious why all aftermarket turbo kits were mid mounted basically parallel with the transmission. That also doesn't include all of the intercooler plumbing necessary because if memory serves the LF3 and 4 are all water to air, the intake manifold is designed like the 09-13 ZR1 manifold (sans TVS2300).



It was a few years ago. I followed all the threads because I, like many others, thought a factory bolt on conversion would be the way to go. Considering all the LF3/4 cars are Alpha platform makes it less surprising.

bottom line is,if you want a beast buy the V8 and go from there.

Tracy Lewis will do a custom single turbo starting at 6,500. Ship your car down to Tampa Fla. go down a week later and BAM, Turbo V-6 Camaro. Single turbo will take you to the limits of your stock fueling system, over 500 rwhp. That’s starting price and power. You can go as far as your wallet can take you

Well if the motor won't fit because of size then at this point I'm wondering if the turbo eco tech would fit... Maybe just k20 swap lol.
I want turbo. I hate that little Audi I had but man boost is addicting.

In all seriousness of it it just kinda a bummer non of it really work given the cash being spent vs just getting a car with a lot more options. I'll just have to wait and see as the price comes down and as these camaro's become more affordable what might come in the aftermarket.

Now I'm curious if the turbo 4 cylinder would fit. I won't put it in I'd pay a professional to do that. I'd rather buy a junk Honda to learn on before doing major work on my only running car

I mean, nothing is stopping you from going through the previous threads and grabbing a pair of turbos and having a shop build your car. It would definitely be more cost effective than swapping the LTG in, nevermind getting the transmission, custom drive shaft, associated wiring harness, etc. The LFX isn't a bad motor. Most people are just 1 not concerned about getting a ton of power out of the V6, 2 more willing to swap to an SS than build the V6, or 3 no longer on the forum after building their V6 to over 500whp.



(A K20 in a 4000# vehicle doesn't even need to be dignified)

twin turbo LFX with a built short block

More power than a HellCat. BAABBYYYYYY!

For me it kinda sucks I get most of it is because of the cost of living and the miles to work and home. You could say I'm essentially looking for an option later down the road for when my engine does go out. my family has a particular problem where we tend to keep a vehicle anywhere between 10 to 20 years.

I would love to do an engine swap or something with this car whenever that comes up the engine needs to be rebuilt. the thing is is when you don't have a lot of money and you want to have something that's fast you spend a lot of time trying to think of ways to make something fast but don't have the money to spend.

I don't know this whole thing has me looking at my current car differently that I should really take it as a reliable daily driver that I can depend on and maybe I should just buy like a Honda engine block to build up. my room and just build it up over the next six to eight months or whatever and find a vehicle that will work with that engine that's a rolling chassis

I'll just stick with visual details being done to my car versus performance at the moment it looks like it'll be around here for a long time and I should think of the long-term Investments.

but it is interesting the read the knowledge that a lot of the people have that have commented on this really does help in some. sometimes it's hard to remember that people have a car for a long time and after a long time they just invest a bunch of money into it cuz they like it I haven't had this car long and I'm impatient.