Upgrading engine

Since the bonneville has a nice big engine bay, I bet it's possible. You'll probably get a better idea from asking the guys at the bonne forum.

Good luck with it - and make sure you take photos of the process.

_______________ Paul Michaels Ft. Lauderdale, FL

This is one of those questions that if you have to ask it here, then you can't do it, because you don't have the skill. If you'll look around at other GM cars with a tranverse front drive and more power than you have now, then you'll see the easy ways to do it. If you are really going to do that, you'll want to transfer the drivetrain of a car that's similar to what you want.

Calyx,

The engine bay of your "H" body Bonneville is the same size as the "C" & "K" body cars which are both available with V-8 engines (Cadillac DeVille and Seville), so physically the transplant would not be that hard given the proper tools.

HOWEVER, that having been said, just dropping in an engine is only the tip of that iceberg. You'll also have to change the transaxle (the

4T60/65E will not handle the torque of a Northstar V-8), the drive axles, possibly the engine cradle and for sure the entire ECM electronics. Interfacing the Northstar's electronics to those of the base vehicle will not be an easy task. Now if you have the skills to do all that you'll end up with one really nice car, but we're talking 100s of hours of work. You'd be better off trading the Bonne in on a Seville STS.

If you still want to go ahead with that swap, I'd recommend you find a Northstar of model year 2000 or later - it is MUCH improved over the earlier Northstars and, as a bonus, will run on 87 octane gasoline.

Think this over VERY carefully before proceeding - you've got a lot of work (and cost) ahead of you (and legal issues as far as smog law compliance in some states like California).

Regards, Bill Bowen Sacramento, CA

P.S. A better alternative would be using a 3800 Series II supercharged engine (GM VIN Code "1"). The Bonneville SSEi used that engine, so all the parts are available for a "clean" transplant. With some minor tweaks the Series II supercharged engine can produce in excess of 300 HP (the HP rating of the Northstar in the Seville STS).

yes it is the same subframe used on cadillacs. it is far easier just to buy a a cadillac or ssei than to do all of that to a se. the ssei will already have air ride suspension which out corner the se.