Boreing
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 58
Boreing
Hey guys i was just curious as to how why no-one has talked about boreing. I read about a 3400 engine that had come out of a GM van that was bored .020 over. I did a search on here to see if there were any other threads about it but i didnt see one. Maybe im just so clueless that everyone else knows it cant be done but me lol.
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 6,433
Two main reasons:
A) Very few people rebuild these engines. The stock bottom end on most modern GM V6's have proven to be more potent than what people can throw at them horsepower wise. So, when something goes bad- or a bottom end simply wears out; most people go to a junkyard or find someone online and buys a lower mileage bottom end to replace theirs. These things are common as dirt in junkyards and such- so its not like they're that expensive, and you get stock reliability instead of the crap shoot with some rebuilds.
B) Over-boring produces practically no additional horsepower considering the huge cost. Adding .010, .020 etc adds very little displacement to the engine, and thus also makes for very little power gain. What I mean by that is- there is no sense in tearing down a perfectly good engine- buying new pistons, and all the rebuild stuff, and paying a shop to do the machine work for a rebuild to add a couple of cubic inches and a couple horsepower. If you want to make a big increase in cubic inches- you need to go for a longer stroke- the 3800s have a couple available, but I don't know if the 60* engines do or not.
The bad thing is, the horespower gain per dollar is pretty bad that way too. It tends to be much cheaper per horsepower to just stick with the displacement you have and add boost.
A) Very few people rebuild these engines. The stock bottom end on most modern GM V6's have proven to be more potent than what people can throw at them horsepower wise. So, when something goes bad- or a bottom end simply wears out; most people go to a junkyard or find someone online and buys a lower mileage bottom end to replace theirs. These things are common as dirt in junkyards and such- so its not like they're that expensive, and you get stock reliability instead of the crap shoot with some rebuilds.
B) Over-boring produces practically no additional horsepower considering the huge cost. Adding .010, .020 etc adds very little displacement to the engine, and thus also makes for very little power gain. What I mean by that is- there is no sense in tearing down a perfectly good engine- buying new pistons, and all the rebuild stuff, and paying a shop to do the machine work for a rebuild to add a couple of cubic inches and a couple horsepower. If you want to make a big increase in cubic inches- you need to go for a longer stroke- the 3800s have a couple available, but I don't know if the 60* engines do or not.
The bad thing is, the horespower gain per dollar is pretty bad that way too. It tends to be much cheaper per horsepower to just stick with the displacement you have and add boost.