After a long time of waiting I finally got the money up for my L26 engine. I bought the motor yesterday. They said t has 1,000 miles on it. Its out of a 2006 pontiac grand prix.










valve cover needs to be replaced






I got the engine torn down quite a bit, when I took off the back heads I found some water in one of the cylinder. There was also water in the oil. Im hoping its nothing major.


More to come

 

Looks like that engine sat for some time. Be careful building it back up when you tear it down

 

I will. I think it would be best that I replace all the seals. I will try to tear it down some more today so I can check the bearings.

 

what are you planning on doing with the build performance wise? top swap??? turbo???

 

An interesting start. L26 from'05 up is a good motor to work with. Virtually identical to the L36, but better connecting rods and the UIM is not plastic.

What is the final goal for this one??

 

Looks nice, especially if they are telling the truth on mileage!

L26 rods are arguably the worst rods for a 3800 s2/s3. Smaller wrist pin than the L32/67- and PM instead of cast. Not that it'll matter that much unless you're planning on making crazy power though.

 

I ran into a problem the other day. I broke about 2 inches off of the puller bolts in the HB, its not flush. I tried to get it out with easy outs, and bolt/ screw extractors but no dice. Now half ofthe bolt is messing. Is there another way to get the broken bolt out, or another way toget the HB off.




Turbo monte- I am already turbo'd So I was thinking of a bigger one, STG 4 cam, double roller timeing chain, eletric water pump, maybe some lifter rollers, Stg 4 heads or do these heads PnP #130 springs modified retainers, and other things.



Maniac- Thats what I hear to. Im lookin to hit close to 500 with this build




EDIT!!!!!

Heres some pics



Back side of engine






Closer look of front side





Inside the cylinder.





Front side

 

watch how much boost you push on that bottom end, i shattered a con rod on a l36 block with boost, no knock at all ever and i was only on 10psi. also the compression is a little high for a turbo car on the N/A blocks IMO. im now running a l32 bottom end on 13psi and only like 13 degrees of timing at WOT. im running the basic cartuning turbo kit and my engine is bored out, PNP heads with 130# springs and oversized manley valves, titanium retainers, yella terra 1.6 roller rockers, comp cams oer lifters, st5 turbo cam, ewp, double roller, balance shaft delete, and all arp fasteners. trans is built only thing i need left for the trans is a GMR torsen diff which im looking for and stage 2 axles. i made 384whp and 352ft lb torque. im tuned in open loop as well VIA hp tuners. im planning a turbo upgrade and a few other little upgrades to go with it and i should make 550-600whp..... good luck with your build!!!

 

what i would do is if it was me is strip it down more and just take the block to a machine shop. to have them clean it and get all of the bolts out that were stuck in there. then when you have it back clean and bolts out that broke off. start building it back up from the ground up. getting every thing that you would want on the bottom end better conecting rods and pistons and put in the cam at the same time. i would look up the type of pistons for a 3800 supercharged to see if you could get the pistons so that the boost would take from a turbo. also get a set of good valves and springs to match a port and polish on the heads. it is just me on what i would do on a build. the 3500 i got back from the machine shop can take boost from a turbo a small one takes 12. the one from anouther member here his about 8-10. if i have a really good blow off valve for it. i havent put it in my monte yet because i want to pay it off first. i have it on a engine perch the thing that looks like a square i bolted it to there and put on a radiator so it wouldent cause and problems when it is sitting.

 

I was going to replace alot of the stock parts
this is the only bolt that has broke so far, its not even a bolt for the block. Im at a stand still till I get the HB off. I may just take it to a machine shop and see it they can get the bolt and HB off.