wanting some opinions on an engine swap

Ok so I've been back and forth on this for the last year. Do I go and drop a 5.7L in my Firebird or should I try to put in a 3.8L turbo?
I know there are several pros and cons to each, but I'm thinking also more on money factor and power factor. We all know that the engine setup in the 89 turbo trans ams is excellent, but still I'm sure has its own few flaws that can be worked out of it. Then theres the 5.7L that you can fry the tires off with forever but has some massive power once you hook up. Not sure how much it would run me up on either one though, I've seen prices between $500- $2500 and I just was curious as to everyone elses opinions on this one.

good luck finding a 3.8 turbo. i would get a LT1 or an LS1 from a junkyard or something. great power, mounts right in, and has great potential. i am planing on doing the same thing.

the 3.8 will need different mounting brackets as far as i know, and finding one will be hard enough. and then it will be really expensive compared to the LT1, wich is alot easier to find.

go with the 350 for one you'll get a hell of alot more torque out of it and more cubes mean more accesable power and its easyer to get then out of a small 3.8 which would already be turboed and you couldnt take it much further for cheap.

the 350 would be a bit more expensive to get but alot easyer to find

Yeah I figured it would be really hard to find the 3.8L turbo engine, but I wasn't sure how much more could really be done to it. Were they pretty much upgraded internally from the factory, or was it stock 3.8L internals?

Yeah its simple to find an LT1 or LS1 but I was checkin out this one guys third gen camaro and it seemed to me that he actually had to alter quite a bit of stuff for it to fit. Maybe you guys have seen it, its white with an SS hood and was featured in the December issue of Hot Rod magazine. It was pretty sweet but he had a lotta money into it. I'm kinda not wanting to spend as much as he did, but I know it'll still be a lot.

It's not a simple drop in for either an LT1 or an LS1 into a 3rd Gen, don't let anyone fool you.

Yeah I knew it wasn't a simple drop in, by the stuff that one guy had to alter on his. So I still donno which I'm gonna do, possibly just a third gen 5.7L that'll drop right in with not many changes. Or I have been lookin around for a cheap Trans Am that just needs some body work done, but I'm lookin for the 88-89 style. Thats my favorite. But so far no luck, everyone trashes the hell outta their third gens around here where i live.