Engine Swap + Gen V

It's not an overbore. From all I can tell, there is no reason to use anything but a stock bottom end. There are twin turbo Grand Prix's running 8's in the 1/4 mile on a stock bottom end. Okay, there is one that I know of, but still. If you need to rebuild a motor, it's cheaper to find a stock bottom end with low miles and use it instead of a full rebuild.

I found the engine for a sweet deal, already built. It's got 35K on it with all the components together. I was going to put a bigger cam in it, which it deserves, but decided it was enough for my DD...

I'm being gentle with it until I'm sure my mixtures and timing are satisfactory. So far, it putts along quite nicely

That's awesome Deekster!

Thanks Deekster for sharing your info and pics on this job, very helpful! I was wondering, how hard it is for one to replace their motor with a more recent Supercharged 3.8 from another GM brand, where the motor mount may not be in the exact same position?

Welcome to the GenV club!!

GEN V FTW

Jack the R wrote:

That's awesome Deekster!

BMD wrote:

Thanks Deekster for sharing your info and pics on this job, very helpful! I was wondering, how hard it is for one to replace their motor with a more recent Supercharged 3.8 from another GM brand, where the motor mount may not be in the exact same position?

All the Series II 3800s have the same holes in the block, so although my source motor was from a Grand Prix, I had no problem swapping all my accessories and brackets right over to it, and putting all it's accessories and brackets right back on my old block. I don't know if the Series III 3800s are as interchangable, but I would think so, as cars like the LeSabre have that same funny front engine mount as ours, and they made them until '04, didn't they?

Total time for my swap was about 18 hours. Would have been less but for a few hours spent cleaning stuff I didn't need to... but it looks better clean!! I'm sure with some practice it could have been done in less than 12 hours. I think it was pretty easy as engine swaps go.

I needed to get a gasket for the oil filter housing - the grand prix's has the filter come out at a different angle. That was the only engine part I had to swap over. Otherwise it was all bracketry that bolted right on.

Derek,
How's the tuning coming along on the new engine?

For reference, the Series III's use the Series II block. When I say it's the same block, it's the exact same block and still bears the "Series II" on it. LOL GM didn't bother to change the molds.

That doesn't surprise me really - pretty hard to improve the 3800 block, and they knew it wouldn't be in production after another year or so anyway.

Well, not such good news. Fixed my brake problem yesterday, went to start it up, it started, sputtered and died. It hasn't started since. I pulled the spark plugs and they were dripping wet. Put in some dry plugs and it still wouldn't start. Pulled the plugs again today, and blew the cylinders out with a vacuum hose attached to the end of my air nozzle. That's where things get ugly - what came out was not gas, but mostly water. I could cry.

oh f..k! hope it aint that bad?

The more I think about it, the more I think it's the supercharger gasket, not the head gasket, as it's in more than one cylinders and not just one bank. I'll pull the S/C off and see what I find...

deekster_caddy wrote:

The more I think about it, the more I think it's the supercharger gasket, not the head gasket, as it's in more than one cylinders and not just one bank. I'll pull the S/C off and see what I find...

good luck Deek... You need to inspire me... A little birdie tells me that i might have a video of a low 13 second pass in the riv early august.. high 12's on a 75 shot... Just what the little birdie was tellin me...

Derek,
How have you made out troubleshooting this issue?

Rickw wrote:

Derek,
How have you made out troubleshooting this issue?

Rick,

I'm flat outta time right now. I might get a few hours on Tuesday night to take the supercharger off.

That's too bad. Must be driving you crazy not to get it done and tweeked.

you got that right.

Derek.. I'd be plugging the LIM coolant ports if they aren't already., Two dimes works great. Just file the edge a little to start them. I goop RTV under them, tap them in and it's all good.

If you leave the alt, pull the two bolts and one nut for the map/EGR rail, fuel rail then your charger ir ready to come off with slightly lower than the lim coolant level in the rad.

(Oddly sounds like I practiced that 5-6 times this past weekend eh?..lol)

Bill,
Is it just that simple to block off the LIM coolant ports.
Is it generally recommended to do this.?
The reason i ask is I'm going to put on a Gen 5 and L32 LIM soon and was wondering if there is any advantage to blocking coolant flow and what was required to do it.?

BillBoost37 wrote:

Derek.. I'd be plugging the LIM coolant ports if they aren't already., Two dimes works great. Just file the edge a little to start them. I goop RTV under them, tap them in and it's all good.

not for me. I'll use a 1/4 npt pipe tap, thread sealant and real pipe plugs thank you very much. The dimes are probably what's leaking now. I'll be taking it apart tonight to find out.

Rickw wrote:

Bill,
Is it just that simple to block off the LIM coolant ports.
Is it generally recommended to do this.?
The reason i ask is I'm going to put on a Gen 5 and L32 LIM soon and was wondering if there is any advantage to blocking coolant flow and what was required to do it.?

So people say. I know a lot of people have used dimes but I don't trust it. Every gen v conversion I've worked on I tap and pipe plug them.

You block the coolant passages because only the stock throttle body uses the coolant passages. If you change throttle body you have to block off the coolant somewhere.

Thanks.
So it is necessary to block the coolant passages on the L32 LIM before installing GenV and Northstar TB.?
It's a good thing I found out now, I don't know how I didn't pick up on this sooner with all the reading I've done.

I've been successful on about 10 manifolds so far with the dimes. And I see the point you make with plugs. At the same time, the area is thin where the plugs would be and I've heard some guys fear they could back out.

One other way I've done this is to fill the coolant passages on the SC with JB weld. With that said. one could easily have enough material to plug the SC with a tap and NPT plug. Only down side is if you pull the charger, you'd have to drain coolant.

With plugging the LIM, you can pull the charger w/o draining coolant.

I blocked when some guys were talking about the question of if the TB would heat up more in the summer with the coolant running through it. Never once did I notice a difference in plugging it. After the fact I found out guys remove the plate under the EGR hole of the LIM and open the coolant passage there a bit. I've since done that and it seems to keep the rear head cooler.

Do you by any chance remember what size NPT tap I need to buy.?