Turbo Safari?

Ground Rat

New member
I was wondering if you guys know of anyone that has turbocharged an AWD 4.3L GMC Safari? I understand it has the same drivetrain as a sy/ty. I am keeping my eyes open for a deal on one for a future project. I already have one turbo minivan, a second couldn't hurt. ;)
 

willyson

trollin'
Re: Turbo Safari?

theres a guy that i saw on here not too long ago thats converted one. i think overseas? its a pretty neat idea nonetheless.
 

tyndago

New member
Re: Turbo Safari?

I always thought it would be neat. I delt with Astrovans for years.

Just never had the time or money to mess with it.


The vans are really heavy. Nearly 5000 lbs or so. Depending on what is or isnt in it.
 

dgoodhue

BuSTeD 4.3
Re: Turbo Safari?

It can be done, but they are tight under the hood/interior.

Negatives

A They are heavy
B Its an Astro Van/Safari :D
C You will need a built transmission (weight)
D Overall cost of The motor/wiring harness in relation to the value of the Astro Van Safari.
E Tight under the hood/interior (think swapping spark plugs.)
F Its an Astro Van/Safari
 
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skipztt

boost
Re: Turbo Safari?

my neighbor is selling his gmc van, i think its an astro van. i brand new and it los Very nice. he said it had the 4.3 in it and its awd. he bought it for work but he said it sucks too Much gas for him, thats why hes selling it.
 

Drac0nic

New member
Re: Turbo Safari?

hehe, a person after my own heart (I'm one of those nutbags that's into hopping up mini vans, my Astro's getting a 305 TPI) Actually an AWD isn't any heavier then your Typhoons probably if so minimally so. My RWD weighed in at 3730, A/C, full interior less rear seat spare battery and half tank of gas. Supposedly the AWD only adds a few hundred pounds to the weight, doesn't a Ty tip the scales at 4 grand? I'd put the turbocharger "out the back" under the passenger seat, I've seen one done this way before, it works well. On the plus side without the A/C condenser in the nose you could cram a 4 inch thick mack truck intercooler in if you wanted, even with the condenser you could cram quite the cooler in there. I've got 30# injectors in my 305 with the Megasquirt II unit I"ve got I should be able to run a few PSI on the TPI motor when I get that far (hell, I'd be delighted with it in) There was a Syclone motor in a Safari up on ebay a few years back, I'm wanting to say it was an AWD but am not too sure. The harness for the TBI vans wouldn't be that hard to convert to the '7749 ECM, the biggest difference is that the Syclone's batch fired port injection while the Astro is TBI, I think the only stuff you'd need to run is for the turbo system (WG control) and you could modify what was there for the rest. I've got $5 that says 80% of the connections at the ECM would work with at most moving the pins to a different spot in the connector. (Hell, the GN motor swap harness I built had 2/3rds the pins in the same locations and it's a MAF DIS system compared to a HEI SD system)

ED:I can change the plugs on one in 45 minutes tops, beats a 'maro with headers ;)
 

Drac0nic

New member
Re: Turbo Safari?

Just FYI the gentleman you posted the links to for the turbo astro is a Syclone owner, a GN owner and a TB SS owner too :)
 
Re: Turbo Safari?

I thought about that when I saw Ron Gregory's name.

I never even noticed that it said Syclone1452 on the yahoo.com page.
 

VermontTy

Support Our Troops
Re: Turbo Safari?

The wiring wouldn't be too bad. As mentioned above, its suprising how similar GM's wiring harnesses are from truck to truck.....
 

'JustDreamin'

Dream: 6LV8 Turbo Bravada
Re: Turbo Safari?

And people have done crazier things.

I've seen pictures of an AWD Astro / Safari (can't remember which) with an LS1 motor in it. Guy said it was a blast. Accessory drive was the thing that took him the most effort (that and messing with the oil pan). I have no idea where I saw the pictures at, so I don't have a link (sorry)

'JustDreamin'
 
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