johnc Posted October 30, 2001 Share Posted October 30, 2001 Excuse my ignorance about things GM, but is the late model 3800 series V6 based on the Buick 3.8 turbo engine? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike C Posted October 30, 2001 Share Posted October 30, 2001 They are very similar, from same engine family. Internals may be slightly different since power of the NA motor is lower, and electronics have probably changed since '87. I contemplated putting a 3800 with T5 from a 97 Firebird in my Z. Seems like a great swap for a driver. Billy Grahams Camaro/Firebird salvage has complete assemblies for sale and relative to V8/6 speed combos, they are giving them away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted October 30, 2001 Author Share Posted October 30, 2001 That's what I was thinking. Get a supercharged 3800 series 2 and an auto from a Firebird or Camaro. You just have to be sure to get ALL the electronics. [ October 30, 2001: Message edited by: johnc ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 30, 2001 Share Posted October 30, 2001 I looked into this when I was deciding engines. It seems do-able. I may be wrong, but I think the bellhousing they used in the camaro V6 will I think fit as I think they used a 3.8 in one of those) The supercharger might cause a bit of interference with the firewall as if you turn it for front drive applications, it'll put the superchargers intake pipe into the firewall I think. Being as small as that little thing is though, moving it forward a bit to clear probably would'nt cause much problem handling wise. I drove one of these in a late model pontiac and for such a big car it accelerated pretty good, drop a 1000+ pounds and put it in a Datsun, I'd bet it'd be pretty quick. It is relatively smooth, and the Eaton supercharger and intake looks pretty neat. Had there been better examples at my local dismantler I might have considered it. Regards, Lone [ October 30, 2001: Message edited by: lonehdrider ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike C Posted November 1, 2001 Share Posted November 1, 2001 The rear drive 3800 uses a Ford world class T5 and a special Ford to BOP bellhousing from what I can glean. I haven't been able to find out if the block is a different casting in a front driver (This is not uncommon for motors that are in both North/South and East/West applications)The camaro/firebird motor/trans setup is ideal, but the jury is still out on the FWD motor. I'm sure the supercharger would swap right on, but that would require two different donors... Seems like it wouldn't be to hard to score a set of OEM Grand National turbo, manifolds, injectors, down pipe, etc. from somebody with a hopped up GN and a box of old parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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