I was was considering buying a new engine for my 98' Z34.
Since the head gaskets are blown and it already has 190k+ miles on it and I want to mod it a lot.

Suppose I do go and buy a 'new' engine. What are some things I should do just in general? I was reading about that Supercharging L67 swap, it sounds great. But I don't know if it is for me.

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

If you don't want an L67, you could always buy a low mileage L36/L26 and buy a CSC or turbo kit for it. But beware, with 190k on your transmission, it won't take much for it to blow out too.

 

yea I was just discussing it with my Grandfather, he said if I'm serious about putting some serious money into this car that I should just have the mechanic order a brand new engine from the manufacturer and start from there.

Which I am going to do of course.
So say I have a brand new 3.8 Engine that the car came with.

I'll have about $2k to work with after that, what are some things I can do performance wise?

Of course I will have more money, but just for now.

 

look around for a '98 lumina with a 3.8 and pcm and swap that in and go bolt on its cheaper and less problematic than tampering with what has worked so well in soooo many gm cars its actually rated for less hp than a DOHC 3.4 but its a way more durable engine in all aspects. and a 4L60E and a 4L65E transmission is cheap from a wrecker so go ahead and blow it up if you know how to change an engine. a trans isn't much different than an engine just goes out through the bottom instead of top.

 

I don't know what is involved in dropping an L67 into your car, but I did quite a bit of reading when considering what to do with my 03 SS. The L67 with the matching HD trans is a nice package. While the NA 3800 (like the L36 I had) can do 200k miles, the 4t65e trans is known for having a few issues. This was the situation I was in. My L36 had 198k miles and at least had a bad pressure control solenoid, probably more since it was starting to slip a couple of months before I had it swapped. The HD trans sounds like it is far less susceptible to this issue, plus it's geared differently and should give better mileage. The supercharger isn't over the top either power-wise. In my opinion with the L67 my '03 SS now is a nicely powered car. I always found the stock L36 with a drop in K&N filter to be sluggish.

 

What do you mean you don't know if an L67 is for you? IMO swapping in an L67 & 4t65HD is almost as easy- you'd just need to make a custom passenger side axle, and add the L67 swap wiring (2 plugs), and a few other minor things. Otherwise, its just as much work as putting in a new L36 and 4t65.

If you mean its not for you meaning you don't know if you want more power- then just pick up a lower mileage L36 like you already have and swap it out.

Honestly, that is a terrible idea. A brand new engine is a TON of money. You could get a replacement L36 for $500 with 100k miles- I'm sure a brand new crate engine is probably $2k-3k+. Not to mention, the car itself is only worth maybe $2k-3k anyways, so is it really worth spending the entire value of the car just to have a new engine?

Not to mention, for the kind of money a brand new crate engine runs, you could do an L67, 4t65HD, the entire swap (usually runs $1500 or less), and still have money left over for mods. Granted you'll be starting off with a ~75k mile powertrain- but you could probably replace the bottom end 2 or 3 times with lightly used ones before you'd even break even with a new engine.

His car has a 4T65E- the L transmissions are for RWD cars. Also, the engine and trans can both come out the top or bottom together. If he's already replacing one, he may as well do both at the same time to save labor later.

There is a write up in the engine section- and honestly, he has THE easiest 5th gen monte to use (since he doesn't have to find the wiring harness for a 3800 / 5th gen that all the 3100 and 3.4 dohc guys do) for an L67 swap.

lol, yeah a 40hp difference will do that

 

sorry bumpin your right my mistake i meant 4T65E not 4L65E i change way more truck transmissions than i do cars at work. and the 4T65E are a solid transmission when you do actually service them regularly and a trick that a rebuilder told me is the 3 steel tubes inside the trans pan become loose and leak a little pressure back to the pan before it makes it to solenoids and gears which over heats the components, burns fluid and makes for soft shifts. you have to lightly tap the steel lines back into the pump and housing then use a couple strong zip ties around the lines holding them tight together and keeping them from sliding out or getting loose again. my fiance's 4T60E in an achieva failed because of this problem and chewed the final planetary gears up real bad. a torrington bearing also came apart and a gear set was rinding directly on the trans casing. yet she still thought nothing was wrong til i said hey your tranny is really loud to her.

 

hay bumpin so whats the difference between the 4t65 the 4t65e and the 4t65ehd? is it just different grades the reason why i am asking it just threw me threw a loop and say what are you huh

 

I'm sure someone will post more info, but off the top of my head - besides being a beefier trans supposedly - the 4t65e-hd is geared such that you may get better mileage at the cost of some off the line speed and top end (I believe that is how it works!) over the 4t65e. However the 4t65e-hd is found on the supercharged motors like the L67, so what you give up in gearing the SC makes up for off the line.

 

The differences between a 4t65e and a 4t65e-hd are the differential and the gear ratio.