2003 3.8L needs new engine
 

Hello all, i have been on here for a long time but never post. My mother has a 3.8L monte carlo non supercharged, has 202k miles on it. Engine is needing rebuilt, and transmission junk also. I am wondering where i can get crate engines and if it would be easy to get crate one with supercharger on it, what would i need to do to the car to use it? anything electrical or nothing just drop it in. and where could i get an automatic that could hold that power. thanks for the help!

ZZP sells N/A 3.8 crate motors.

ZZPerformance - ZZP Performance Crate Engine #ZZ-PCRTENG-38

thank you for that, i dont really understand all the aftermarket parts. whats it take to throw a supercharger on them?

buy a low mile junk yard engine/ trans combo. get it sc if you want and drop it in. it will bolt exactly the same but you will need a tune and some other parts of the harness. zzp sells the harness you would need.

second choice, buy a junkyard N/A engine and then buy a top swap off the forum for cheap and top swap the engine and then install it (this will put new gaskets from the heads up doing this)

do you guys think itll be pointless to throw a SC on there?

:wave&point:
Top Swap Info and Faqs, Also lots of 3800 Info

Top swapping a NA engine gives you more power. It would be Cheaper to buy the stock rebuilt tranny in the for sale section rebuild the current 3.8 and top swap it with a can tune. It would give you about 260 horse and wont cost as much as a crate motor. Plus if you got the crate motor you would still need the tranny.

I would just replace the motor and trans with a replacement from a salvage yard. If you can do the work yourself it will save you a bunch of money.

we are pulling the engine and all that ourselves. we dont really need performance or anything. we just want an engine that will last. are these known for blowing head gaskets?

Well just rebuild the one you got and buy the already rebuilt tranny off the for sale section of out forum total cost $1300. Way better then buying a crate motor and you would still need a tranny.