High Performance Rebuild on 3.8

**Smittro** · 01-13-2011, 11:05 PM

Originally Posted by Intrepidman

Wow, anywhere near 75lbs is a LOT of weight...I wouldn't have guessed that much with the V6 being iron and the V8 being aluminum.

As for the wheels, springs and sway bars, the difference in factory pieces is irrelevant. I'll probably be running Strano parts all around, hopefully his springs won't drop the car too low...I might have to consider 1/2" spacers to keep the car closer to stock height. (just to clear pot holes and such)

Similarly for tires, I'll be upgrading to at least 17" if not 18". 17" is about minimum to put on any kind of serious brake kit, that I have found, and some require 18".
But I wonder if going 18" I might be hurting myself by having to low and too stiff of a sidewall. On the otherhand, my WS6 absolutely chews the outsides off its front tires when autoXing, so perhaps 18s are a better choice, but I think I'll experiment with a more aggressive alignment first.

When the 3.8 was redesigned (between 1988-1990) the 3800 series-I was born. Taking what was learned from the problems with the 3.8 BOP engine and started over. Starting with the block it is smaller, lighter and stronger than the BOP engine block and was changed to the 60* v6 bell pattern..

Lower deck hieght gave it a shorter stroke too but a 231 cid was maintained.. The factory heads are'nt the greatest flowing but were cast in a "space saving" fasion with "heart" shaped combustion chambers..

"Space saving" This means the heads are mostly hollow and very light considering what they are made of.. A complete head off a stock LS1 weights more dressed in aluminum than the 3800-II iron head.. If it had one more cylinder per head it would be heavier in iron..

10-bolt rear is also a weak unit behind a stock 3800 just as when it's behind an LS1, so beware when adding power.. just my .02