engine swap 93 buick park ave. 3.8 into a 97 buick park ave.

[oldsman71]

will I have to chang intakes? blew the engine in the
church car yesterday and trying to figure out best way to fix it, I have a 93 donor car but its a 97.
any ideas?? both are 3.8's

[Mater]

they are not the same engine. a 93 is a tall deck series 1 more related to a grand national engine a 97 is a short deck series 2 the blocks do not even have the same mounting hole locations

GM made millions series 2 and series 3 3800 engines (series 2 and 3 are interchangeable only changes where intake design and the addition of returnless fuel system) you can probably find one cheap in a junk yard

[oldsman71]

wow that sucks I just paid a thousand bucks for the blown up engine car. and the 93 doesnt do me any good now.
the 93 lost the trans. I got a 250$ offer for the 93 thats a long ways from a new motor, well poop

[oldsman71]

thanks Mator!!

[CTX-SLPR]

$250 should cover a 3800 Series II at a you pull it considering it's generally an intake or trans issue that sends them to the yard. If your 97 still has a good plastic intake, strip the stuff you don't need to pay for off of the yard motor (starter, alternator, AC compressor... etc) and snag the best looking one you can find. While its out I'd put new valve cover gaskets on it as well since they do like to leak.

[DanStokes]

That intake is a PITA. Dorman is now making one and it's a bunch cheaper than the factory unit. No idea if it's more durable.

Dan

[Mater]

it is it's thicker int he area next to the EGR that gets warped form heat. the coolant passages also are thicker to prevent cracking


dorman also makes new aluminum coolant elbows now for the alt bracket coolant cross over to replace the junk plastic ones

[oldsman71]

been calling the yards around here havnt found one thats under $500 havnt even found one on c list, what was the 1st
year for the series 2?

[Mater]

some 1996 bonnies and other H-bodies all 1996 v-6 f-bodies then 1997 for every thing else

and cali 1995 v-6 f-bodies the federal 1995s where still the 3.4


that's another thing the RWD 3800 is the exact same engine just different front brackets and intake.

[tardis454]

Series 2 & 3 motors suck ass. They're plagued with weak bottom ends, & shitty intakes.
At the junkyard we get $500-$600 out of those motors no matter what the mileage is.
They came both ways in 1995 (1 or 2), mostly in Lesabres/Park Aves.
Series 1's are better motors(not by much)with a real intake & decent bottom ends.

97 is the cut-off year for Park Aves, there's a lot 97 only parts in them.
Control arms, engine cradles, gas tanks & struts are 97 only & are worth some coin in rustbelt states.

You might be able to swap the series 1 into the series 2 car if you use everything, cradle, motor, trans, wiring etc.
I can't vouch for that 100%, but it'd be something to look into..

[Mater]

you are the first person ever to say the 3800 has a weak bottom end. there are 100s of modded 3800s with no failure at all with the bottom ends and they are not driven nicely (and yes i am talking about the N/A L36/L26) not to mention the millions GM made that are stock with no issues

the plastic intake yes the series 3 aluminum intake is good GM also switched to aluminum intake gaskets with the series 3 and work on the series

[tardis454]

you are the first person ever to say the 3800 has a weak bottom end.

We get a lot of calls for series 2 motors.
The ones I see come in with rod knocks, some under 100k.
The ones with tall miles run ok, but are usually wooped.
Never been a fan of 3.8's. Grand National motor sure but 3.8's in general no.

[Mater]

sounds like most of those are form user error and abuse if the 3800 can not make it to 150k the maintenance schedule needs to be looked at

and every 3800 i have owned has had over 120k the one i got into the 12's had 130k+ and there is a local guy running a stock N/A bottom end with 320,000 miles my current car has 157,000 miles on the engine

[oldsman71]

Series 2 & 3 motors suck ass. They're plagued with weak bottom ends, & shitty intakes.
At the junkyard we get $500-$600 out of those motors no matter what the mileage is.
They came both ways in 1995 (1 or 2), mostly in Lesabres/Park Aves.
Series 1's are better motors(not by much)with a real intake & decent bottom ends.

97 is the cut-off year for Park Aves, there's a lot 97 only parts in them.
Control arms, engine cradles, gas tanks & struts are 97 only & are worth some coin in rustbelt states.

You might be able to swap the series 1 into the series 2 car if you use everything, cradle, motor, trans, wiring etc.
I can't vouch for that 100%, but it'd be something to look into..

the 93 has a bad trans

[SpiderGearsMan]

timing cover leaks are a killer on 3800