3800 Supercharged Repower

Has anyone repowered you FWD Buick with a 3800 Supercharged? I thought about repowering my 84 Centuty wagon with that engine but the engine and ECM or PCM is from different time zones. I don't know if it will even bolt up to a THM 175. I have a 3.0 V6 now and looking towards the future. I got almost 100k on the 3.0 and think the lower end is getting louder, AL.

 

It can be done... but it's up to you to decide wether or not its worth the trouble.

It's a lot of work.... I was looking into it for a swap into my 96 Grand am GT, and decided that it's more trouble than it's worth. Plus the're some structural changes that need to be made for engine mounts and all the power that thing puts down vs. what the car was intended to handle.

There are a couple of places where it's been done on the 90-93 models and 99+ but all say that it's a traction nightmare.

What are you thinking about putting it into???

 

Jeff, in a 84 Century wagon, AL.

 

Best thing I ever did to my car.

I had no problems swapping the engine from a 98 Riviera into my 89 LeSabre.
You need to swap the entire drivetrain. Engine, trans, axle shafts, pcm.
Wiring is the hardest part.

The car runs low 13s now (hoping for a 12.99 when the weather cools off).

<img src="http://www.buickracer.com/cars/ttype/Swap/SwapDone1.jpg">



There is some information at: http://www.l67swap.com

 

Bill, Clean Install!!!! Looks right at home!! :TU: AL.

 

An 84 Century.... ooohhhh... I'm getting a headache just thinking about it. While I'm sure you plan on keeping it forever (so resale value isn't a consideration), I'm sure you're going to have to do alot of metal cutting, welding, fabrication, and wire it from scratch (using the donor ECM and Harness would be the best idea).... although, in 84, I don't think anything else on the car relied on the ECM so swapping from the donor shouldn't cause any other problems like it would've on my 96.

Grab a junk SC regal or Grand Prix and start measuring :TU:

 

Jeff, the car has a Buick V6 in it now, why would I need to start doing any cutting? I may just end up doing a build up on the correct engine if this turns in to being a non "do-able" option, AL.

 

I think I found a good supplier but doesn't show the PCM in the auction. The link is http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...bayphotohosting . I'm not going to get involved in this unless the whole thing is complete and it can be fired up on the engine cradle and have some support from you guys :beer AL

 

Which V6 came in thos for 84?? I don't rember ou: If it's the 3.3L (older brother to the 3.8) getting it in there should be easy... you'll just need to address getting all that extra power past your older suspension, new struts and springs. Plus, even if your trans will bolt up, I doubt it'll handle those HP/Tq numbers for very long. So you also need to see if a 4t60E will fit, bolt up to existing mounts, and worry about custom axles (yours probably won't fit, and newer car's might be different lengths).

Some people with earlier Grand am's had an easier time sapping out a 3.3 with a SC 3.8.... traction and transmission were problems according to them though.

Would definatly look cool in there though... Good Luck.

 

Jeff, the car came with a 3.0 (same block as a 3.8) and as far as the transmission, I would need to use the complete drive line #s matching to even think about going forward. AL

 

Looking better with every post... :Brow: :Brow:

 

I hope the swap works out for you. My wife has an '04 Grand Prix GTP with the supercharged 3.8 and it performs very well. I've been wanting to swap one into an early 90's Regal GS 2 door. The early 90's Regals sell very cheap and I bet you could get a wrecked '98 GS reasonable to do the swap with too. Good luck.
Ken

 

how 'bout rear wheel drive?

Does ant one know about bell housing patterns? will this 3800 series fit a th350 pattern...or is an adapter available.....cool street rod swap i'm thinkin.

 

They used the 3800 in baseline Camaro's in the late 90's, available manuel or auto :Brow: :Brow:

 

Pretty sure that the Vin C 3800's that started in '88, used the same bellhousing pattern as the 2.8-3.4l V6's. The Vin 3 engines were 3.8l and used the traditional BOP pattern, from what I've been told. That would be early '88 and earlier.

I have a factory rebuilt 700r4 from a low mileage (84k) '84 Camaro that I parted out. $395 plus shipping if you're interested.