Building up GM 3800 II

[Transamsfast]

id say gears would wake it up a lil...i saw a grand prix gtp camed, roller rockered, headers, full catback, engine dogbones, and small computer work make 298 at wheels id guess with the right tuning like 310 at wheels? but id say headers and catback first. or some rear end gears

[97rs4life]

headers on our cars should be one of the last bolt ons because we hardly gain anything from them unless we have power adders or a lot of other bolt ons before them.

[wezeles]

ya i would say a decent exhaust let it breath better... and intake.. if you can find the rear end that would be great... gears make a huge differance but that should keep you in about the 500 dollar range if you find some deals

[pman]

I put my FWD 3.8 to 14.5 with minimal mods. 2.5 exhaust (stock manifolds) no cat. cold air intake,water pump underdrive pulley, high ratio rocker arms and some minor tuning done with a MAFT+. Few of my friends still have theres but with power adders,GTP with the stock SC on it making 307 to the wheels, another with a Paxton SC making 360 and one with a turbo making 380. these are all daily driven cars with stock bottom end. Try ZZPs website from some good mods and how toos. The stroker kit would be a nice add
http://www.zzperformance.com/grand_p...ts1.php?id=230

[97rs4life]

The stroker kit would be a nice add
http://www.zzperformance.com/grand_p...ts1.php?id=230

Stroker kit won't work with a power adder car. It is for a NA car.

[81DaytonaPaceCar]

Stroker kit won't work with a power adder car. It is for a NA car.

Eh? That makes no sense.

The bigger the air pump, the more opportunity for horsepower. If speed and ETs are your goals, the bigger the better.

Just plan ahead for what future mods you want to do and compensate accordingly. You're probably into some serious head work now, but you'd have to do that in any case to get into the 9s.

Thumbs up on the stroker kit.

Oh, yeah, and I'd start with gears first. But be prepared to replace EVERYTHING when you get the motor the way you want it (i.e. rear diff, axles, driveshaft, etc.).

Gettin' to the 9s is neither easy nor cheap, regardless of if you do it with 6 or 8 cylinders.

[97rs4life]

they tried it with the power adder and the stroker didn't last too long.

[97rs4life]

From their website:

"We tested in a boosted application and raised power until the motor failed. The engine ended up making ~375WHP and well over 400ft/lbs to the wheels before the crank snapped in half! This was done with 14 pounds of boost. The kits we are shipping now have some minor strength improvements from the original design but we do not recommend using more than a 50 shot of nitrous or more than 9 pounds of boost. The kit was optimized for NA applications and therefore the parts are of minimal weight to maximize HP."

So yea it could be done, but don't crank up the power to much with the power adder.

[81DaytonaPaceCar]

From their website:

"We tested in a boosted application and raised power until the motor failed. The engine ended up making ~375WHP and well over 400ft/lbs to the wheels before the crank snapped in half! This was done with 14 pounds of boost. The kits we are shipping now have some minor strength improvements from the original design but we do not recommend using more than a 50 shot of nitrous or more than 9 pounds of boost. The kit was optimized for NA applications and therefore the parts are of minimal weight to maximize HP."

So yea it could be done, but don't crank up the power to much with the power adder.

Interesting.

Did they use the Series II NA, the Series II SC, or the Series III SC crank (the S2 and S3 SC may be the same)?

That would make a significant difference.

[97rs4life]

they used the series II crank and it is the same between the l36 and l67 engines. only difference between the l36 and l67 is the pistons/rods and of course a supercharger on top

[DETROITMUSCLE]

You can make anything fast, just depends on how much you wanna spend. Start with basic bolt-ons like everyone said intake, exhaust, gears. It'll take a stroker or power adder probably to run with LS1s seeing as they can run mid 13s stock but you will get there.

[thursday12889]

with my 3.1, would i need to lower the compression to run a turbo with around 7 lbs boost?

[phoenix_rising]

whats a stroker?

[wezeles]

with my 3.1, would i need to lower the compression to run a turbo with around 7 lbs boost?

no you wouldnt factory they run 9.1 to 9.5 depending on the year and gen thats gonna run fine with 7psi just gonna need to run premium gas.. compression isnt going to matter as much as you think with turbos unless you plan on really high boost in the future... good idea though is to invest in some better pistons and rods. you can find a nice factory forged set looking through other 3.1 engines that will handle more power

whats a stroker?

a stroker.. is an engine that has the stroke legthend... think of the bottom of your motor the pistons spinning around the crank... with a stroke added you acctually pull the pistons further down the cylinder walls making the engines combustion chamber physically bigger.. thats what i have a 350 5.7 block with a stroker crank which makes it a 383 block and around 6.2 litre engine... depending on the engine and popularity of it,it can be pricey or cheep but if you can snatch one up it will pretty much turn your 3.8 to a 4.2 i believe it is.. so you get a bigger engine... lotsa fun

[81DaytonaPaceCar]

no you wouldnt factory they run 9.1 to 9.5 depending on the year and gen thats gonna run fine with 7psi just gonna need to run premium gas.. compression isnt going to matter as much as you think with turbos unless you plan on really high boost in the future... good idea though is to invest in some better pistons and rods. you can find a nice factory forged set looking through other 3.1 engines that will handle more power

Yep, agreed. Also find a good set of head gaskets.