Engine: Engine Swap with a 3.8 GM

[Leroy Cook]

Has anyone tried to swap the 289 with automatic tranny with a modern 3.8 General Motors engine and transmission?
I am leaning to a Buick rear drive set up. Hopefully its been done and I can follow!

[Carl Purdy]

If it was a 6 banger I would say go for it. But replace a V8 with a V6 I don't get it.

[Alan]

Thing to look out for is the Buick oil pump. It is aimed right at the right side motor mount. I would use a 3.8 or 4.3 Chev. V6.

[studegary]

Has anyone tried to swap the 289 with automatic tranny with a modern 3.8 General Motors engine and transmission?
I am leaning to a Buick rear drive set up. Hopefully its been done and I can follow!

I can't think of any "modern" Buick with a 3.8 and rear wheel drive. Maybe none are coming to me at this hour. I can only think of 1980s cars and that wouldn't qualify as "modern" since most are antiques now. Please advise as to what particular (year/model) drive train you are referring to.

[whacker]

The 4.3 Chevy V6 is getting to be a very popular swap among the hot rod crowd. Light weight and based on the belly button SBC, it develops respectable power. Also, for us old folks that aren't familiar with the computer controlled modern engines, it can be run with an old fashioned carburetor. The intake manifold is available as a marine version, with either a 2 or 4 barrel plain old carb. It also is one of the last engines to have a distributor instead of a crank sensor. It may be the last engine to be built this way.

Of course, the Buick (and Pontiac) 3.8 is available in a supercharged version. To mount it in a rear wheel drive application would require a special bellhousing, as well as unique exhaust headers and motor mounts. Also some computer skills, so be sure to get the engine wiring harness with the ECM when you get the engine. If you decide to go with the turbo Grand National type, I have a set of Grand National exhaust headers and the attendant 4 barrel intake mount. I also have the turbo, but it needs a rebuild.

[JDP]

One of the nicest cars I had the pleasure of owning for a few months was a 53 coupe powered by a 231 Buick turbo. It had the complete engine/trans from the donor Buick. It had a carb and no fuel injection or computer.

[klifton1]

An interesting subject. I built a streetrod a few years ago using a 3.8, out of a T Type Buick. It was fun to build, but expensive. Over twice as much to build as a sbc. Took the turbo off to keep the whole power plant under a full hood, then modified the engine to bring the horse power back up for performance. The car was a fiberglass 27 Ford roadster that scaled in at about 1500 lbs. The car was a lot of fun to drive, handeled well , vary quick up to about 80 mph, top speed well over 120. Big blocks were easy prey stop lite to stop lite. It was a hard car to sell (and most of us sell are cars sooner or later) because of that V6. Would I do it again? I just finished a flat head. Don't think I'll ever learn.
Klif

[Mike Van Veghten]

Both the older Buick 3.8/4.1 (even/odd fire) and the more modern Chevy 4.3 (262) are very nice engines.

The Buick -
Use the older Stage I or Stage II parts. 350 to 400hp is easy to get. I even still have a few custom parts left over from my build.

The Chevy -
The modern 262 is also a very good power option. Pretty much the same power (as with the Buick) can be made using all Chevy parts. I put one in my 67 Chevy II. A fun car resulted.

Though both engines parts are getting harder to find, they are out there.

NOW...if you are talking the 60 degree engine (later ones got to 3.8)....I would stay away from that engine all together...like the plage.

Mike

[junior]

Both the older Buick 3.8/4.1 (even/odd fire) and the more modern Chevy 4.3 (262) are very nice engines.

The Buick -
Use the older Stage I or Stage II parts. 350 to 400hp is easy to get. I even still have a few custom parts left over from my build.

The Chevy -
The modern 262 is also a very good power option. Pretty much the same power (as with the Buick) can be made using all Chevy parts. I put one in my 67 Chevy II. A fun car resulted.

Though both engines parts are getting harder to find, they are out there.

NOW...if you are talking the 60 degree engine (later ones got to 3.8)....I would stay away from that engine all together...like the plage.

Mike

Mike...the 262 Chevy, as in v-8, or v-6? I could never figure out building the v-8 when 350's are so cheap and plentiful...you know, same size and weight as the 262 v-8 so I was kinda felt it was a why bother situation. I do like the 4.3 chevy v-6 because its so compact and can be built into a powerhouse. There is a guy in town that took advantage of the short length of the 4.3 v6 and stuffed a roots blown one in an old Thames pickup...was still a squeeze but made it in the stock engine bay.

The Buick v-6 has always been a favorite of mine. Back in the day my brother and I built a Datsun 521 pickup and put one of those engines in it. We made the classic mistake of over-camming and undergearing (3:25 ford 8") with stock converter, but it was still fun to drive, and because it was a 1975 odd fire engine it sounded wild at 6,000 rpm with open headers but could only manage high 15's at the track. I even cast a set of valvecovers for that engine out of aluminum, they were about 1/2" thick, stupid, but we learned alot (of what not to do) when we built that truck. I was 17 and my bro was 18.

Leroy, back in the day KenneBell was the go-to source for performance buick engines...think they are more into water-cooled blowers now, but they might still be a buick source. Regards.

[Mike Van Veghten]

V-6

Both the Stage II Buick and the 262, V-6 Chevy CAN....be easilly built to well over 600hp...unblown....no nitrous., race gas only.
Want to put a blower on...done correctly will go over 1100hp.....THEN...add nitromethane (or maybe nitrous) and expect to go into the 1500/1600hp range.
This is not a guess, it's all first hand knowlege.

Mike

P.S. For what it may be worth...Kennedy-Bell's engines took a way back...back seat to most any of Ken Duttweiler's Buick (or other makes) engines. Still does.

[junior]

V-6

Both the Stage II Buick and the 262, V-6 Chevy CAN....be easilly built to well over 600hp...unblown....no nitrous., race gas only.
Want to put a blower on...done correctly will go over 1100hp.....THEN...add nitromethane (or maybe nitrous) and expect to go into the 1500/1600hp range.
This is not a guess, it's all first hand knowlege.

Mike

P.S. For what it may be worth...Kennedy-Bell's engines took a way back...back seat to most any of Ken Duttweiler's Buick (or other makes) engines. Still does.

Ken Duttweiler's Buick ...forgot about him...wasn't he the guy with the killer turbo buick v-6 Regal that the NHRA kept slapping weight restrictions on, and he kept still kicking butt?

[Mike Van Veghten]

Yep, both Ken and for a little while..Larrry Torres (of T&D rocker arm fame). He also was doing well in the Buick V-6 heyday.
Add to that...and don't forget Buddy Ingersol. He tried to get a turbo V-6 into Pro Stock. He was faster thAn the 500inch Pro Stock cars of the day. The NHRA was thinking hard about it till ALL of the Pro Stock guys protested the inclusion of a "turbocharged" car...even though the engine was only 272 inches..

Mike

[S2DSteve]

'Put an early 80's turbo 3.8 Buick V6 and TH350 trans in my '53 Starliner about 20 years ago. Real sweet setup and it nestled right down into the engine bay. Left side exhaust manifold/steering box clearance was the biggest issue as I recall. BTW, if you decide to go that route I still have the crossmember style motor mount I made for the swap tucked away in my stash somewhere.

[Jeff T.]

Hmmm.

I've got a 1980 Buick Century with V6 and turbo 350 that I need to do something with before somebody complains about it being parked in the trees out at the ranch. I thought about using it in my Champ project just because it's there. How hard could it be to drop into a Champ frame with no body on it?

Jeff T.

[allstateguy]

didn't the later (~1995) Camaros and F-birds come with a 3.8 and a T5? Somewhere around 200hp? If it is in a Chebby is it still a Buick?