Opinions: 2002 3800 Supercharge or Pontiac manifold ?
 

As most of you who will respond know my 2002 Monte SS DE/LE suffered a Intake manifold explosion which shattered the intake and caused a fire !
I'm not really thrilled on the idea of replacing the plastic intake with another plastic intake. ( As my Dad would say, " built in Self-Destruct" ) I noticed while parts shopping
that Pontiacs/Buicks use an Aluminum intake on this engine that looks very similar to the plastic one, however it is shown as "incompatible". Since I do not work on cars professionally, I'm sure one of you who does could tell me why its not compatible, or what changes I would have to make to make it work. Different LIM ? different wiring ? different electronics? different fuel lines?
The other option I was thinking was to just put a supercharger on it. I read on the Chevy forum that it can be done, that its actually done fairly often with a variety of recommendations. Basically whats required is the SC, the matching LIM, the matching injectors/fuel rail, and the Donor ECU. I'm not really sold on the idea of needing a ground up rebuild, with lower compression pistons, new push rods, etc. Yeah if I was going to race it at the drag strip maybe. But as I said in my other thread I'm not looking to do a ground up rebuild on it yet, mostly just get it to work and move under its own power, and do the rebuild later.
My thought was to get the used parts, play around see if I can make it work on the cheap, before I go all out. Its about 40 more HP with the 4 inch pulley and about 75 with the 3 inch. I'm not really sold that its going to be a lot more strain on the current mechanical parts, however perhaps someone can better advise me ?

IMO I'd just go with another plastic intake. It's not normal for them to just explode and there are a zillion out there with lots of miles and no issues. It's the easiest choice as it's a bolt on.

It isn't a bolt on but it's not a huge deal to make it work. You will need a TB adapter and a few other fairly minor mods. Searching for L36 to L26 intake manifold should get you some decent results.

That list is missing a few major components. It needs the supercharged heads, throttle body, and also the belt drive components (balancer, tensioner, etc). It's a fairly involved install. The other option is the ZZP SSM90 kit, but thats a lot more money and has its own limitations.

Then I'd just get another plastic intake. It's like $150 new or you could probably snag a used one for $25. That'll get you back on the road as cheap and easy as possible. Just make sure you fix whatever caused it to backfire in the first place.

You're not going to run a 3" pulley without a ton more mods, especially on 9.4:1 compression. Unless you plan on running race gas or E85 or something.

I am not the right guy to talk about a SuperCharger swap/top swap. I know they have been done and can be done. Lots of info out there.


The plastic intake is for the most part fine. You have two common situations:
1. - As you learned, they explode. But you need to find the "why". The only reason I am aware of that they have ever exploded is due to a failed Fuel Pressure Regulator (GM actually has a Technical Service Bulletin somewhere for certain years as they learned the supplier at the time had production problems resulting in high failure). When it fails, it allows gas fumes to enter the intake. Once you have enough fumes built up, start the car, that first spark ignites the fumes and well you know the rest.
2. - The next failure is around the EGR "stove pipe". The heat from this pipe makes the coolant passages around it brittle. Eventually allowing coolant to enter the air intake. You can actually fix this for very little money without replacing the intake. With the upper intake off, you can tap the coolant ports on the LIM and then plug them. You could go the extra mile and file the coolant ports on the upper intake with JB Weld. This has no noticeable effect on performance, MPG or temp.


Now, if you still want to go with the aluminum upper intake, this ins also known as an L26 upper intake. It's not quite, but is almost a direct bolt on. I did it on my Monte because I liked the look of it. Here's a thread I created with pics and a lot of explanation of what I did to make it happen:
https://montecarloforum.com/forum/fw...c-heavy-48949/


I hope this helps as you get you Monte road worthy again.

Not sure where you are located but here's a sample of what is available on Craigslist near me: https://newhaven.craigslist.org/pts/...631191689.html

Thanks for the input guys, I'm going to stay away from the Supercharge idea, and probably go with the L26 conversion . I've been a Copy machine repairman for 30
years before I became a Highway Road Striper ( paint the lines on the road ). Anyway as a Copy machine repairman I totally loath "Black Plastic" its the worst of all plastics, it easily breaks, gets brittle, you cant glue it, you cant do s*** with it.