I have a 2005 MC with an anemic 3.4 engine. I also have the chance to buy, at a reasonable price, a 3.8 supercharged 2003 Buick Electra. I understand most of the things I would need, engine, trans, wiring, ECM and axles. What I need to know is what engine cradle do I need? Would the 3.4 cradle work? I'm sure the Buick cradle is out. Would I need to find a MC 3.8 cradle? What else should I grab off the car?

 

 

Unfortunately, I am not sure what engine cradle you need. I am not familiar with a 2003 Buick Electra (I assume that is a sub model of the Park Ave). If so, I think that is an H-body car, so the cradle from that is not going to fit the Monte. Something to keep in mind about the Monte/Impala, they have aluminum cradles. You can used a steel cradle from a Grand Prix/Regal. But again, you still need to know if the 3.8 cradle and 3.4 cradle are the same.

I am sure other w-body sites can also help with that answer (as this is a common swap).

 

Thanks for the reply. That conforms what I was thinking since the Buick is a bigger car.

 

I dont know anything about swapping on the two cars you're talking about, but for a point of reference- the 3800 L67 from a 2nd gen w body bolts directly in place of a 3100 (almost identical to the 3400) on a 1.5 gen w body.

I only mention this to show that it is possible that the new engine will drop right into your existing cradle as is. I'd think the worst case would be that youd need to swap the lower mounts to w body mounts which would be cheap to do. I would think it would be extremely unlikely that youd have to change cradles as the 60 and 90 degree v6s have shared the same lower points on previous vehicles, so I wouldn't think they'd purposely change that on the newer cars.