Hi all,
I have a 2005 Monte Carlo LT which is bone stock with the exception of a K&N Intake with box.
My question is this: A friend of mine told me the LT is the SS motor minus the Eaton M90 supercharger. I see a lot of people on here talking about an engine swap. Is this necessary for the LT model? Can I just add the Eaton? I know I would obviously need gaskets and stuff but is it pretty straight-forward and easy to do? Is it easier to just find a shop willing to do it for me? Currently, I have only 1 car and 1 motorcycle. Since the "summer" weather is not quite there yet, if it is possible, I would need to do this on a weekend.
Please let me know.

Thanks in advance.
-Pete

 

for the eaton m90 you will need to modify the pcm also, it will be a complete top swap. you may be better off finding an already supercharged engine and swapping that

 

By top, you mean the top head, right? Forgive my ignorance.
-P

 

You can't just place an M90 on top of your 3800. In order to make an M90 work you'll have to do what's called a top swap. A top swap is where you take the heads on up off of your L36 and replace it with the heads on up off of an L67 or L32 plus swapping the balancer. The reason is because the fuel injectors go into the LIM on your engine, but with an L67 the injectors go in the heads. That means that the heads, LIM, UIM, fuel rail, throttle body, and balancer are all completely different.

Many people have done a successful top swap, however Enzo on here has been having problems with his. You should see what his problems are so that you can try to avoid them. Also, I doubt that many shops will do the work for you because many places are not familiar with doing a top swap and they won't be able to guarantee the work. The places that will do the work will charge you an arm and a leg to do it. If you're going to do the top swap yourself, then do it over a weekend, if not a whole week (depends on how mechanical you are).

There is also a kit that is produced by ZZP called the SSM90 kit that will allow you to only have to swap the LIM on up without replacing the balancer, but it costs more then a top swap and you won't have as much potential for making hp.

So, do some more research on "top swap" and if I were you I would even consider getting a turbo kit from ZZP.

 

See the thing that I am having trouble with is that the motor has 30k original miles on it. I would hate to dismantle the entire motor to make 100 more hp. On another note, the motor I have now feels so restricted.
I am pretty mechanically inclinded and to quote Jeff Spicolli, have a "killer" set of tools. I could probably get it done over a weekend being blessed with decent weather if I only knew EXACTLY what it entailed. There is nothing worse than getting 80% through a job and not having what I needed or it being too late to get to the auto-parts store.
I would really have an issue taking a perfectly good, low miles motor out of this car. So an engine swap would be almost entirely out of the question (unless, of course, I could find a place to keep the original motor).
Thanks for all your help.
-Pete

 

With your kind of mileage then, I would much rather see you do a top swap. 3800's are pretty rock solid and as long as you bought heads that were off of a 98 or newer L67 and they weren't warped and the valves and guides looked good, then I wouldn't be afraid of it. Also, after you've done a top swap you have the potential for making MUCH more then 100 more hp. A stock L36 will put down around 150-160whp, and I've seen top swapped 3800's make over 400whp. You will make that much hp though and more for a cheaper price if you go with a turbo.

It all depends on your goals and budget.

 

If your engine is low mileage and you want the power then get the ZZP Z3 turbo.

 

Realistically, what's that going to give me in terms of horsepower and 1/4 mile times? The Z3 turbo unit.
-P

 

ZZ Performance

Can take you from 200HP to 400HP

 

Start to finish time for a guy with somewhat decent mechanical skills?
Also, will I have to change anything else on the car? Fuel pump? Fuel injectors? Transmission? Axles? I don't want to get too crazy. After talking to a guy at work, he said I should be more than happy with around 8psi in the car and it will be plenty fast. Is that true?
At say 300hp, what should my average 1/4 mile and 0-60 times be? Approx?
-P