Or you can port the $hit out of the heads. Your also going to want to port and polish the upper and lower intake manifolds. Alot of engine work to do to a 3.4l. That's why it's not done very often. Unlike the 3.8 which can handle boost of the stock motor upto 400+ hp. Your also going to want to make sure your turbo size is going to work on a 3.4 engine. If it's to big it's useless. If it's to small your not going to get the power you want. Then if it's an auto you need to look into what stall your going to need for your turbo to work properly.
There's more to it beside going hey i got this free turbo and now I'm putting it on my Camaro. I'm not sayin it can't be done and don't do just warning you of the 3.4 problems like what chaotic has said. Your also going to need to fab up your own headers, down pipe and bypass pipe. Alot of these things are a pain in the a$$ on camaros.

 

im not gonna go through ever thread and read every post . It says on tiagos web page he used a stock engine. it doesn't say he used a top end off of a 3100 or 3400 series engine.
if you go to that thread it talks about tiagos set up he was running ported STOCK 3.4 heads.
FirebirdV6.com/CamaroV6.com Message Board - View Single Post - 3.4L Turbo kit dyno sheet

FirebirdV6.com/CamaroV6.com Message Board - View Single Post - 3.4L Turbo kit dyno sheet

im not arguing the points of bad NA flow. Im still confused about the blown a head i have never heard of that. I have heard of cracked heads and blown head gaskets. I have a hard time believing that an aluminum head is stronger then a steel head. i had a 3.4 before i went to an lt1 and i had talk to tiago and a few other about this and we had discussed the stand alone. The reason i never went that route was because of the stand alone set up to make it run properly was beyond my skill level.

i skimmed the treads i didnt see any one say catastrophic failure to heads. mostly i heard people talk about NA increases.

Im still calling bs on what your saying. your claiming that the runners are so narrow that not enough air will get in but then say you will blow a head gasket or crack the head? that makes no sense.

Im not saying you wont get more benefit from a 3.1/3.4 series. black34v6 said he believe upper plenum from the 3.5 wont fit under the cowl of 4th gen. Im saying you can use the stock engine and you will see an increase. Will it be monumental probably not will you get increase flow YES.

 

I figured you knew what I meant when I said blow a head. (blow head gasket/crack a head)... And yes if you try to push too much flow through heads that can't handle it, you will have catastrophic failure. Having your 3.4 heads ported/polished is a waste of time when the STOCK 3400 top end will out perform your fully ported/polished top end. AND the 3400 conversion will be cheaper. Do what you please. To each his own. Have fun blowing up your motor

 

The only benifet for the aluminum heads are that they run cooler as they disperse heat better then steal. Less heat = lower exhaust temps = more air flow. Now tiago used a stock motor and ported heads like you said. That's why he had such low numbers for hp. Going with a 3.5 top end you can use a larger turbo and get more hp out of it. The 3.4 can be turbo'd and can make 350 hp but you need to port the crap out of the heads. To blow a head is insane. You'll blow a head gasket if your running to high of a compression. Turboing a stock 3.4 with out porting the heads you will be at high risk doing this. Now porting the heads your can run high boost and get more power. Going with the 3.5 top end you can get even more power. You can boost any engine you want. You just need to make sure you calculate the mass air flowing in and the mass air flowing out. To much air in and not enough out will cause head gasket failure. You want more exhaust flow then intake flow. This way you can get the air to flow out faster and spoil up your turbo.

 

completly understand what your saying and this comes back to picking the right turbo for your application and right parts. but someone cant just jump in a thread and say oh not can add any turbo to an engine there are different levels of boost and so on.

Now here is my big problem you say you can push enough air in to the engine because and then on the reverse side say it can exit fast enough that really doesnt make sence its a contradiction. if you cant get it in then you dont have to worry about increase boost or it leaving .

i dont know about the exhaust ports on the 3.4 i never really heard it brought up. from my understanding it was always the intake holding the 3.4 back. the runners on the plenum and the heads were just to small thats all i have seen black34v6 say.

i get what your saying 3800camaro im a little skeptical. maybe its becuase i just never heard of the exhaust port problem. i still think you could do fine with low boost the compression ratio seems low enough that it should be fine for low boost applications. Im not saying your gona get 50hp out of it but to make some gains.

i will agree for the costs its just not worth it and i will agree it would be better with other part. but i got to disagree that it cant be done with stock heads baring you are willing to run a reasonable amount of boost for the application.

but im done with this. becuase just like the build inst worth the time neither is this augment LOL

 

the 3500 swap is imminent relax chaotic ive done my research and smell what your stepping in. and I am porting and polishing the "****" outta my heads and manifolds. But while waiting for more parts I became bored and went ahead and mounted the intercooler heres a pic

 

Sorry for flaming. I was informed by multiple people that if boost was used on a 3.4, my motor would be shot. So as deserved, I'm sorry! On another note, please let menknow how this build turns out. If this does work out for you, I'd love to do the same with my car. Pics and progress mandatory from this point on lol

 

Dont want to take over the thread but someone mentioned 400bhp + out of a turbod stock 3800. Is this really possible with the standard t5 'box or would that have to be changed first before the engine work was carried out?? im interested in having a go with my car at some point. As im in the UK though, any major redesigning of trans would cost ridiculous money for parts that you all have readily available over there. thanks

 

Yes it is possible with the standard t5 but it won't last more then a few passes at the track. If you street drive and take it easy when launching you'll be fine. Otherwise look into a built t5 tranny.

 

You upgrade a stock 3800 over 280 HP and you are rolling the dice. The stock parts are strong. The bolts used to put them together vary a lot in strengh. We have a few members that have spun rod bearing on stock 200hp motors so to say a stock motor with handle 400hp is misleading.

To the Original poster. A turbo will charge the cylinder but it will do nothing to help empty it out. A cam designed for a Turbo has more valve overlap (both intake and exhaust valves open at the same time) and a more aggresive exhaust profile to help this. The exhaust port on the 3.4 is Very restrictive. This is why they do not respond well to turbos or NO2. I read the page that was posted from a "expert" that put a turbo on his 3.4. He blew it up. In the engine building world that is a newbee mistake. When the exhaust backs up there is still exhaust in the cylinder after the exhaut valve closes so your cylinder is already charged with a inert gas which means less Air/fuel can enter the cylinder. This will cause the turbo to cancel itself out at higher RPMs. Your going to find that you show almost no gain from 3-6 PSI. Well the only gain you will have is extreme high pressure in the cylinder. The heads can not be ported and polished enough. There is just not enough room in the design. You are going to be doing a lot of work to go from 165 HP to 185 with a high risk of engine damage.

You do not have to believe me, its simple, any combination that works will spread across the internet like wild fire. Someone comes up with a Cam/head combination that works real well, and they do not hide what they did, it will be copied 1000 times in less then a year all over the country. So ask yourself why don't I see turbo on one of the most common 4 gens around? Why not altleast NO2? That simple its not worth it. Even your above turbo expert abandoned the 3.4 as not worth it and moved to a V8. The only reason to build a fast 3.4 is to compete against other 3.4s but if you want to go fast get a v8. If you want to compete against other 3.4's more power to you but the turbo is not the way to go.