yeah... we never got a good baseline because we couldn't get hte gear ratio to set right... i don't know, its hard to say what the car has.... this guy primarily tuned Corvette's and LS1 Firebirds and the such... said he VERY rarelly did Monte Carlo's....

 

I remember you telling us that after you got the dyno. I think when money permits, you should try again somewhere else. I think you should be getting more than 150-something horses.

 

WHERE??? i'm assuming you mean used motors. i think i might take a gander around a local scrap yard. lol the GMPP motor i was looking at is $4000 and turn-key. (once again cost +10%, the list is closer to 5k) and comes with a warranty. but with the NA mods i plan on doing it would be a useless warranty anyway.

 

Exactly. Warranty only applies if you keep it stock. Look on ebay, and also email GTPED@msn.com. His name is Ed Morad. he is the KING of salvage stuff for the L67. I would go used. Bore it over .10", put new forged pistons and ported heads, and away you go. =)

 

my mouth watered when i thought of that thanks for the info dude.

 

Like you said- its an older engine, and is probably one of many reasons it was phased out. Back when the series 2 3800 first came out, 200 bhp was just about right as far as V6 midsize cars go. When you figure the series 2 3800s have been out since the mid 90s, and its 2009 (almost 15 years old)- its pretty obvious why it seems behind on technology and such. The other thing is once GM decided to consolidate its V6's to the 60* global engines, it stopped putting resources into 3800 development.

The other thing is, you have to consider what the engine was designed to do. Having a high revving, high peak HP engine is not really the goal in an engine that is destined for police/taxi/fleet use. I'm sure they were more than content with achieving mediocre power in return of an extremely reliable engine (which the 3800 has proven itself to be).

Also, you have to consider the price range of the cars that these HO V6's are going in- a 350Z, caddy cts, etc are in a higher price bracket than the cars the 3800s were going in.

Honestly, for the power, they aren't that crazy fast. A top swap and some cheap bolt ons would've at least made the race even. I beat one of the ~280hp, older 350z's by about a car with my basic bolt on GTP.

IMO, you really just need some engine mods. Sure its not cutting edge technology, but its cheap to mod- and if you want to keep up with the more technologically advanced vehicles- you're either going to have to buy one, or mod yours. A lot of people swap in the 3800 (even NA) from all kinds of various GM V6's and I4's just because of the huge aftermarket for it- you just need to exploit that.

If you actually put your car on a scale- even in street trim- I'd bet you'd find it in mid-upper 3000s. A lot of wbodys that have basic track prep are landing in the 3600lb area, so I imagine a street car with full gas and no weight reduction shouldnt be more than maybe 3700-3800 lbs.

Actually, with how cheap used turbo/csc kits have become, and with how cheap it is to do an L67 top swap- they're nearly as well off as someone who started supercharged to begin with.

The crate engines are way overpriced. x2 on going used. Actually- it looks like you've got an L36- 3800 NA as it is, why don't you just mod that?

That sounds about right- most L36s seem to do on average 160whp. Add in variances in engine wear & tear- and weather conditions at the time, and you can see some difference there. Plus, engine dynos like the mustang always dyno a good deal lower than dynos like a dynojet- thats why its hard to compare dyno numbers, unless you're doing changes and back to back runs.

You mean rated engine HP is not the WHP (wheel horsepower)? The rated HP on the window sticker should approximate the car's engine's brake horsepower at the crank.

Thats nuts- has to be about what the car is worth. The 3800s are reliable enough that if you can find one with decent mileage (still see a lot pop up under 75k), that you can save thousands of dollars going used. Not to mention, you could buy a whole used GTP for that much.

Or save the money on a bottom end rebuild- stick with the stock bottom end, and put those thousands of dollars into making more power up top.