Engine swap 98 riviera

So my engine and transmission in my 98 riviera are currently going to shit, car has over 200k miles and don’t plan to save it. I rather spend money on a healthier engine to modify. Anyone know what other vehicles I can get a 3.8 SC Engine from considering the riviera mounts are different. Due to the 98s being a bit hard to find in my area I wonder what other options I have.

Gm basically put that in everything from impalas, regal, park avenue, grand prix. Or you can go for a v8 option and get a 5.3 ls4 and a trans for like $1500 dollar's. It all depends on your taste. Thats the option I was going with if my drivetrain goes out.

sloboy wrote:

Gm basically put that in everything from impalas, regal, park avenue, grand prix. Or you can go for a v8 option and get a 5.3 ls4 and a trans for like $1500 dollar's. It all depends on your taste. Thats the option I was going with if my drivetrain goes out.

Well the thing i don’t want the hassle of any extra fabrication just want it to go directly
On as a stock one would. But the mounts are different from a gtp or regal gs in a riveira. Look it up

Angeles98 wrote:

sloboy wrote:

Gm basically put that in everything from impalas, regal, park avenue, grand prix. Or you can go for a v8 option and get a 5.3 ls4 and a trans for like $1500 dollar's. It all depends on your taste. Thats the option I was going with if my drivetrain goes out.

Well the thing i don’t want the hassle of any extra fabrication just want it to go directly
On as a stock one would. But the mounts are different from a gtp or regal gs in a riveira. Look it up

If you inspect an actual engines you want to buy, you will see that the mount points for the Riv are sometimes already there. Yes, if they are not there then there might be some modification needed. SO -- If you are in the Los Angeles area I would consider traveling out of that immediate area and up toward Rancho Cordova, where there are a number of large salvage yards - some pick n pull some serving primarily the trade -- a Row 52 stringer (person who pulls parts for you if you pay them something) or a yard dismantler will likely know and if you are a serious buyer will simply tell you or find one for you. It's a haul, though being northeast of San Francisco.

That said - if your engine/transmission has been reasonably maintained it may well not need much to make you happy -- maybe the engine just needs regasketing and the transmission might use an overhaul. Depends on what it's actually doing.

I have no opinion or experience concerning the LS4 swap. If you ask a list member like Codith who has modified it a lot, you'll probably get a 'why bother' - the 3800 has a very strong bottom end and will take substantial modification.

Just the cost of rebuilding your transmission might exceed the cost of an used engine and trans with much lower mileage.

I wish I was able able to remove my drivetrain that had a very well modified yet babied engine w/125K miles and a trans that only had 30K miles since overhaul and a new cradle with all new bushings, control arms etc.

If my back was still capable I would have dropped the cradle with powertrain, kept the re-programmed PCM and offered it up for sale to someone that could appreciated the mods and the rest of it.

But that's just spilt milk at this point.

Good luck on your search.