Honestly, it's going to be an uphill battle. Unfortunately, the 3800s are way behind the technology of new cars. Talking about v8 mustangs, the new 5.0 is 435 hp, roughly 200 hp more than you'll have with a stock swap. You could definitely match them power wise, but it would take a lot of mods, and you're still going to be at a huge disadvantage launching due to being fwd.

Best bet IMO to keep up with modern v8 pony cars like that is a turbo setup. You'll still have a tough time out of the hole, but at least you'll have the power once you get rolling.

 

I'm reading this thread and a couple of things I want to throw out as food for thought:
1. - In cars, you can typically only have two of the following items:

• Performance
• Reliability
• Good MPG

So as you embark into modding a car, if all three of these are important, keep them in mind as you roll forward. Granted, the 3800 is a pretty solid platform and you can get a good balance on all three, but still, keep it in mind.

2. - When it comes to cars and power, it all comes to how wide you can open your wallet and there is always someone who can open there wallet wider.
A lesson I learned from a friend long ago, he has a car that he got into a competition with a friend of his years ago (probably close to 20 years ago). He wanted to prove something with this guy, tore the car down, did a ton of mods, built it up, to this day the car still doesn't run right, he lost that competition (and the guy he was trying to prove something to has out modded his car that started this and has been helping figure out how to make my friend's car run right again).
Moral of the story - Be careful what you do and why you are doing it.

I cut my teeth on a few cool DIY projects with my Monte. Everything I did was for me, I had nothing to prove to anyone. None of my mods are anything extreme or crazy.

All that aside, KingWord, you are doing the best thing right now. Research and get some input from guys who have input to share. When it comes to money into a mod project, Bumpin and Zippy02, they have a lot of time and money into their cars.
Plus you mentioned taking things a step at a time, not trying to bite off more then you can chew at once. Your just trying to set extra goals/milestones.

If you have not seen this yet, Bumpin has a good thread on common mod set ups for the 3800. Here's the link:
https://montecarloforum.com/forum/fw...n-3800s-10942/

Looking forward to what you get your L67 swap done. I am certain you will be a lot happier with that.

 

Thanks for the support and all the info guys,id love to go with a turbo set up but like you said it takes money and that's something i don't have a lot of right now,a couple hundred dollars here and there is attainable but a turbo is much more than a few hundred bucks and by the time i do have money like that il already have the engine up and running (hopefully) and ive never even touched a turbo before lol,i might end up going all out with the monte but only time and money can tell

 

Since I have some knowledgeable people reviewing this thread I was also wanting more info on an intercooler,i looked at ZZP's short stack intercooler and it says it might need fuel rail modification and custom holes drilled for the hex bolts,they are the only place where I can find a good intercooler and a small one,does anybody have experience with these? or another place to find them,id like to keep my car running cool,it gets up to 100 degrees around here sometimes and a simple CAI probably wouldn't lower the temp enough to satisfy me,i want to go with a new hood too so il have more ventilation for the engine bay

 

You really aren't too far off from the cost of a turbo though with what you are supposedly planning to do:
SS IC core - $700 w/ modded rails
Nitrous - $500-$1000+
Rockers - $300
Hood - $500++
Pulley - $50

Those $2500 could easily buy a used turbo kit. Plus then you could get an NA 3800 and not have to pay the L67 premium. L36s are a dime a dozen in almost any junkyard. Heck, the base price for a brand new zzp z3 kit is $2500 (granted you'd be closer to $3k by the time you got done with add ons).

 

ZZP is the only place that sells a short intercooler. IMO, I'd skip that and go straight for a full size IC. You've got basically the same work to install (remove blower, mount core, mount pump, run lines, mount HE, etc etc), but you'll make less power in the end. A lot of people that went with the short stack want to upgrade, but find it difficult. They have to upgrade their pump, line size, heat exchanger, etc - basically change out the whole kit when you could do it all up front. If you're going to add all of the potential problems of an ic kit (fluid leaks, pump burning up, core getting clogged, etc) - I'd rather make the gains as worthwhile as possible.

As for keeping your car running cool, an intercooler and Cai won't help with that. Actually, an intercooler makes it worse because now you're pre-heating the air before it gets to the engine's main radiator. I wouldn't be particularly concerned with heat- these cars were tested to be able to be sold in Phoenix, Vegas, etc where it gets way over 100. I get that you're swapping engines, but under normal driving, the extra heat put into the radiator won't be that different.

If you're serious about the engine running cooler and being able to maintain temperature on practically any water cooled engine, change the thermostat to a lower temperature one and install a thicker radiator. Also tune the pcm so the fan turn on temps correspond to the new thermostat.

 

so all I would need to make it run cooler is lower temp stat and the oversized radiator? would the hood help the engine bay any? I figured it would to keep fresh air in and get all that hot air out that's in the engine bay

as far as the turbo how hard would it be to install on the l67 with the supercharger? how much of the internals would have to be ugraded? and since I am swapping the l67 engine in could I hook up the gauge cluster with the boost gauge in it?or I could simply get a gauge pillar pod and add a few custom gauges in it

 

The temperature of the engine is mostly controlled by the thermostat. That (and pcm tuning for fan turn on points) is how you set the desired engine temperature on a water cooled engine. However, the radiator plays an important role as well because you are limited in how much energy it can dissipate. It is possible that the stock radiator will support your new desired temperature with no issues. However, it is also possible that it may not be able to keep up and the temperature will creep well past your set point (say if you're doing a track day with lots of WOT, very hot day out, air conditioning running, etc). The engineers are able to calculate all of this ahead of time, but keep in mind that they oversize the system so a stock car could idle for hours in Phoenix grid lock in 120 degree weather with the air on full blast. Not having access to these numbers, simply buying a thicker radiator can give you more headroom for heat dissipation capacity.

A vented hood could reduce underhood temps, but IMO, that's not super important. Especially since it sounds like you're not initially planning on headers or a turbo, so you've got nothing dumping extra heat into the engine bay from stock. As long as the engine's air intake is sucking air from a cool location (ie sealed off from the engine bay), you're not going to make more power or make the engine run noticeably colder (assuming a properly sized radiator). At speed, the air forced through the radiator and into the engine bay is going to escape one way or another. The air isn't going to just compress inside the bay. Adding hood vents simply provides a different path.

Installong a turbo on an l67 isn't that hard as you have many options:
-Buy a block off plate for the m90 snout and remove the supercharger rotors
-Buy an l36/l26 lim/him and sell the blower.
-Buy an aftermarket intake manifold like the Stattama one and sell the blower.
-Install the turbo with the blower.

Any of them are good options. If you spec the turbo right, I'm not crazy about running both power adders. You won't be able to hook the power anyways, so there isn't much need for the 'instant boost' of the supercharger. It has been done before with success, I just don't see the need for extra complication when either power adder works fine on its own. I will say I've never rode in a twincharged car though.

As far as internals go, don't touch them - ever. Leave the entire stock bottom end sealed and bolted together. Modding the heads and cam are fine, but leave the rotating assembly alone. With proper tuning, you won't blow up the stock bottom end. If you do screw something up and blow it, go buy another cheap stocker and keep rolling.

 

that's why I wasn't too crazy about a turbo is because I still want the supercharger for acceleration reasons,id rather have the power faster than waiting on a turbo,id go for it if I could use both but like you said it wouldn't really matter because it wouldn't catch enough traction

since il probably go ahead do the cam over the rockers and installing new head and intake gaskets I might just get everything ported and polished

 

Honestly, you should try and find a local w body person with a turbo if you're interested in them at all. A properly set up turbo spools up pretty quick. Sure you won't get those crazy peak numbers like a huge turbo, but the response is really not bad.

A lot of it is in how you launch too. You can brake boost from a dead stop to get the turbo spooling, although this is obviously easier with a looser converter. Also, for a roll race, you can brake boost then too, it's just more stressful on the powertrain. That way you're that much closer to full boost.

I think you'd be surprised though at just how responsive some if these modern turbo setups really are.