I currently have a 2000 Monte carlo ss Pace car and i know of a guy in my area that has a 3.8 supercharged motor out of a GTP and im looking at buying it from him to swap out the supercharger to my car, what all do i need besided just the supercharger, the motor he has like i said came out of a GTP and he blew the bottom end, i have read on some forums on here that u have to lower the compresion ratio of the stock 3.8 to do this, why is that? and if i just run the boost at 8psi while it really harm my transmission? some people have told me also that i have to put on the other heads cause the supercharger is different then the intake that will be replaced, is this true or will it bolt right up to the stock motor and heads, and do i need to get a new ecu that works with the supercharger? pritty much i need some one to let me know what needs to be done and what i need to get it done im not really a chevy guy i have worked on toyota's most my life so im sort of new when it comes to the whole supercharging thing.....

 

And if any one had done this before please give me ur feed back upon how your car is reacting to the mod and if its worth it or not...

 

This has been covered a good bit- try searching for more info.

On to your specific questions:

They are wrong. The stock L67 (supercharged 3800) is 8.5:1 compression. Your stock L36 (NA 3800) is 9.4:1 compression. This means that you will have to run less boost to make the same power, and also means you'll get knock sooner (when you go to dropping pulley sizes). It also means that you will have to do a few minor bolt on mods to allow you to run the supercharger knock free. It is not a requirement to lower your compression- many of the heavily modded L67 guys actually swap up to the L36 block for the higher compression because the M90 supercharger becomes very inefficient when you are spinning it much faster than stock.

Depends on the condition of your transmission. Your transmission is 99% the same as the trans in that GTP strength wise- the differential is the only difference. However, you have to realize that you're going to be adding 40-50 crank horsepower (about 25% more power), so if your trans is on its way out now, this is not going to help its life. But many people do top swaps and leave the stock 4t65e with no problems. You actually end up quicker due to thesteeper chain/sprocket ratio.

YouMUST use the L67 heads, lower intake manifold, fuel rails, etc etc. Here is a basic list of what needs to be changed:

http://www.wbodystore.com/grandprix/...kit-p-157.html

You will at least need your current pcm reflashed with the new information- or to use the other car's pcm (although the VIN and stuff in it will be wrong).

The reason for this is: after the swap, you will have larger injectors, a different MAF sensor, and a different MAP sensor- so your fueling will be totally messed up if you don't use the correct maps.

Its just like any other car, you're going to be pulling everything from the heads on up, as well as pulling off the crank balancer. You're gonna end up with a bare short block, transmission, and front cover being the only things left in the engine bay when you're done. This is a pretty labor intensive install. Its not particularly hard- its very straight forward mechanical stuff- but you really strip the engine down to nothing to do it.

Of course its worth it. All of the top swap parts can be had for $500 or less if you buy the parts yourself- that $900 for parts in the link above is high because they source all the parts for you.

But say with fluids and gaskets, and everything- you're $750 (pretty conservative estimate- it has been done WAY cheaper) for 25% more power- thats well worth it.

Plus, the other thing you have to consider is how many more mods you can do with the new supercharger. With your current engine setup, the horsepower records for even the most extreme heads/cam setups are around 240-250 wheel horsepower. With an M90 supercharger, the most extreme setups are up around 400-425 wheel horsepower- thats a really big difference.

Not to mention, you can follow the basic bolt on path for an L67- drop another $1000 or less, and get up to 290-300 crank horsepower (about 240 wheel horsepower)-which is pretty much untouchable by any NA 3800.

I think I covered most of it- if you have any questions, feel free to ask...

 

I've done a good amount of research on this, asking questions to zzp and such. I think i will probably end up doing this sometime mid next year to my NA. I've come to the conclusion that if your going to get the supercharger for free or really cheap and do all the labor yourself, go with the above route like bumpin96 said.

If you plan to have the work done by a mechanic do not go with the above route. you'll probably be looking about somewhere around 1200 for labor just because of swapping the heads...like he said to the bare block.

zzp has the m90 SS conversion kit to add the supercharger that doesnt require the heads to be swapped, only a machined intake swap and a ported m90.

i've done the pricing out, if your trying to buy an entire kit and comparing zzp vs wbodystorethe zzp one costs a slight bit more after cores are added in, except zzp's wouldnt take as long or wouldnt be as costly in labor. so your saving money.

im actually going to quote turbo tim from zzp when i asked him this question, just include the entire email he sent me:


i was just comparing your supercharger kit to the kit
at www.wbodystore.com

i just wanted to see why there was such a big
difference between what they give and what you give,
seeing as its the same supercharger.

"This is what you would need for a full kit:

Machined Intake
>
<https://www.zzperformance.com/grand_prix/products1.php?id=235>
>
>
> Engine:Gen 3 blower (L67)
> Model:SS intake for L36 M90 conversion
> Core charge:Refundable core
> Option 1:Add Intake Gasket
>
> $325.00
>
> L36 SS M90 Install Kit
>
<https://www.zzperformance.com/grand_prix/products1.php?id=382>
>
> Year of your car:2000
> Model:Monte Carlo
> Option 1:Regulator & iron bracket
> Option 2:Send me a PCM first $100 deposit
> Option 3:I am going to run GTP injectors
>
> $355.00
>
> Ported M90 Supercharger
>
<https://www.zzperformance.com/grand_prix/products1.php?id=162>
>
> Year of your car:98+
> Core charge:Complete blower core
> Option 1:Mod'd for use on SS L36 kit
> Option 2:none selected
>
> $600.00
>
> ZZP BILLET FUEL LOGS
>
<https://www.zzperformance.com/grand_prix/products1.php?id=259>
>
> Model:L36 SS M90
>
> $379.99
>
> GM 33# injectors
>
<https://www.zzperformance.com/grand_prix/products1.php?id=323>
>
> Option 1:Add injector connectors
>
> $199.99
>
> Total
>
> 1859.98
>
> This is a complete list of what is needed, cores
> included.
> Highly recommended:
ZZP downpipe.
> * Alt voltage booster
> * Fuel Pump rewire
> * Ported L67 throttlebody.
> * 180 thermostat
> * Possibly even a L67 fuel pump"

 

There are two things that I really hate about the zzp kit (and also why I don't usually even mention it in top swap threads).

A) lack of pulley choices/belt wrap. Because the s/c pullies are custom made for this specific setup, you are limited to onlya couple pulley choices- and even at that, belt slip will become an issue much quicker than with even a stock L67 setup.

B) price, price, price. $1900 for that setup is insane. Assuming you have the mechanical ability to do your own work- you could pull off 2-3 complete top swaps for that price. Or you could do a full top swap, and all the basic L67 bolt ons, and still have money leftover. Many of the top swap parts are usually practically given away due to low demand- only the heads, supercharger, and injectors seem to sell for any decent amount of money.

The other reason I bring up price is that you're starting to get close to turbo price, especially used. On clubgp right now, there is a CSC kit for ~$2k, and in the past few weeks there have been at least 2 used, base turbo kits for sale around that price range. Since you're getting used parts anyways with either the zzp ss kit or with a top swap- you're still comparing apples to apples.

 

Well said Bumpin, well said.

I hate that your right. The only reason for that is because im a guy who wants a supercharger, but lack the engine smarts to install it myself. I'd love to dig into this supercharger project myself, but on my own, i know i'd screw it up. Thats why its better for me to buy the kit. For the guys who have the L36 that want some basic supercharger performance and lack mechanical ability, we gotta shell out the money unless you want to come to S.F. and help me install it??! you bring the wrenches, i'll bring the beers!

i would like to go with wbodyperformance.com supercharger setup or even part my own up, but the top swap idea sends me to the poor house and puts dollar signs in my mechanics eyes. wish i knew a mechanic!

as far as the turbo's go....i know they will outperform the m90 supercharger, but there is so much extra you need to think about on an aging car....tranny mainly. i think the turbo would be great if i could afford a new tranny, i'd feel sooo much better that way.

maybe the turbo idea will be better after i get my career going soon, when i can actually afford to put money into my car haha. i would like to hang on to this car for a while. it grew on me.

 

Exactly- thats honestly the only reason that those kits sell. Some people are reallyintimidated of going deep into an engine, and this gives them an easy way out- at a price.

One other thing I'd consider is that CSC kit up on clubgp right now for like $2k. If you were looking at spending ~$2k on that SS kit anyways, the install of the CSC should be much easier- you leave your stock intake manifold, stock TB, etc in place and just bolt it on with brackets to the outside of the engine. Just something to think about.

 

cost wise i wouldnt buy the ss kit from zzp i bought mine from a clubgp member and i only have about 600 total in my whole set up
and furter more all u have to buy from them is the intake the rest is so easy to modify your self its rediculous and adn if u are worried about it u can just convers to the 2 belt set up use zzps intake then u dont have to worry about belt wrap u have all the pully sizes and u get to keept eh higher compression which i would rather have

 

So if I get the supercharger and all the other stuff and just buy the intake it makes it much easier?????i can get all my parts off of grand prix Saturday and want this on my car asap

 

this topic is over 3 years old search around, the subject has been discussed many times