So I need to fix a few things in my car, I got quote by a shop today that they would fix whats wrong with my car for $900 which is ( bad lower intake gasket, water pump, leaking front valve cover). Now I also asked him how much they'd charge to do a swap and he qote me $1100 for the labor. I am interested in doing a 3.8 SC swap and wanted to know if its just as easy as pulling the old motor out and dropping the new one in, or do I need a different tranny and other parts? seeing as I could buy a 3.8 SC for around $800 in good shape, it would run me about $1900 total for the swap.
Input please, should I just fix the parts, rebuild it, or do the swap?

 

IMO I would just fix the problem. Doing a full engine swap is going to require correct years, correct transmission connections, PCM programming, etc. If a shop is not 100% on how the 3800 engines work it will be expensive.

If you really wanted, you know you have to replace the LIM gasket and valve covers, I would change the UIM gasket as well. You could buy a gasket set for your engine for about $110 and do the work in one weekend.

If your shop really thinks they can do the swap, then they can go for it.

Here is a read about the swap: https://montecarloforum.com/forum/en...67-swap-14610/

 

reason why we want to do a swap is because the original motor has over 200k miles. no telling what will go wrong next.

 

Might be better to drop another L36 in though, already have the PCM and transmission for it, etc.

 

True. Very true. So If I go with the L67 I need different trans? I knew the gearing was different..

 

New Trans, New wiring harness, new PCM etc.

 

you sure i need a different trans? lol reason why i ask is i've read several people have apparently used the same trans, gearing is just different. which i could change over time. wiring is not really a problem for me, i'll get that situated along with a tune

 

Go for it if you are ready. You didn't seem like you had any of the tools to do it yourself to get it running.

 

i dont think a swap would be all that difficult. if your going to swap the motor anyway why not swap to the sc motor? the bottom ends are practically the same. how much can a donor car run? not for nothing this might seem dumb, but i dont really get why the top swap or motor swap. the l67 was offered in multiple w bodies. why not just buy one with it in it already? just seems kind of silly to me. i can understand swapping the 305 for a 350 in the older gen montes, the 350 wasnt an option, but why bother on a car that can be purchased with the drivetrain you want in it already? just seems like those guys that buy a v6 monte, and want to swap the ls4, or the 3800 guys with camaros that want to swap an ls1 in it. just get what you have going, and save up for the one that has what you want in it already. im all for being a do it yourselfer, but at some point you have to say,hey this is dumb, let me just buy one thats done.

 

Well here's what I ended up doing. I went to a salvage yard today to buy a 3800 II N/A for $600. They were asking $800 but he dropped down to $600. It only has 81k miles on it, AND they are installing it for $500. Has a 6-Month warranty also. They said they will be flushing all the fluids and putting Castrol Full Synthetic in.