Anyone mess w/ GM 3800 engine w/ stock eaton s/c?

Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives

I am thinking of doing some cheap mods for the riv. Its a series II 3800 s/c.

Wanted to see if anyone else on this forum dabbles in this area also.

Yeah i have. First smaller 3.0 inch pulley. Good guys headers. Mass airmeter. Then computer upgrade and slp catback!!

Those are the start mods to do!!

Also this belongs in the general section not CI.

thermostat is a cheap/easy mod to.

Oops, sorry. Oh well
Thats a small pulley. I dont think I am going to go that small yet as I do not want to spend all that money to upgrade other things like exhaust and computer. And the problem with my riviera is there is no cold air intake available, I will have to custom build a fender well intake. I was thinking of starting with a 3.4in pulley for a little boost and not to expensive. Prolly just get colder autolite 104 plugs. Already gutted my airbox. That blower sounds nice after an airbox gut!

Originally posted by NO 4 EVR:
I am thinking of doing some cheap mods for the riv. Its a series II 3800 s/c.

Wanted to see if anyone else on this forum dabbles in this area also.

As someone else mentioned above the pulley mod is very cost effective. The 3800 has an Eaton M90 blower on it. The same thing that is on my '89 Thunderbird Super Coupe. I can't speak for the GM 3800 but with the T bird 5% is okay without any other mods. The 10% however requires a more freely flowing exhaust or you will blow a head gasket. :O

Have fun.

Also a better intercooller may be worth some power as well.

Originally posted by elraido:
thermostat is a cheap/easy mod to.

ah, I have read about that. This site (post 14 near the bottom) provides useful info about colder thermostats but it has a warning about how some think it may be damaging to the car. Anyone else find this to be true?

Originally posted by giddyup306:

Originally posted by NO 4 EVR:
I am thinking of doing some cheap mods for the riv. Its a series II 3800 s/c.

Wanted to see if anyone else on this forum dabbles in this area also.

As someone else mentioned above the pulley mod is very cost effective. The 3800 has an Eaton M90 blower on it. The same thing that is on my '89 Thunderbird Super Coupe. I can't speak for the GM 3800 but with the T bird 5% is okay without any other mods. The 10% however requires a more freely flowing exhaust or you will blow a head gasket. :O

Have fun.

Yeah, thats why I had 3.4 in mind. Is that 5%?

Originally posted by Harrry:
Also this belongs in the general section not CI.

No it does not, it stays right here, since it is not Contique related.

General
-General Contour, Mystique, and Mondeo discussions

Common Interests
-Common interests among CEG members -- Cars, computers, careers, etc. For topics not directly Contour/Mystique related. Some topics are not appropriate and will be removed.

www.3800pro.com seems to be pretty popular.
Clubgp.com is a great Grand Prix site for a W body also.

I just recently found these sites as I am the owner of a 2006 Grand Prix. Base Model, no supercharged goodies

Originally posted by NO 4 EVR:

Originally posted by elraido:
thermostat is a cheap/easy mod to.

ah, I have read about that. This site (post 14 near the bottom) provides useful info about colder thermostats but it has a warning about how some think it may be damaging to the car. Anyone else find this to be true?

Colder but not cold is good. What is stock? You go to low and the car won't always see it's best operating temp and that's not good for gas mileage or longevity.

Originally posted by Kremithefrog:

Originally posted by NO 4 EVR:

Originally posted by elraido:
thermostat is a cheap/easy mod to.

ah, I have read about that. This site (post 14 near the bottom) provides useful info about colder thermostats but it has a warning about how some think it may be damaging to the car. Anyone else find this to be true?

Colder but not cold is good. What is stock? You go to low and the car won't always see it's best operating temp and that's not good for gas mileage or longevity.

Problem Solved

Why bother to mod a Riveria? Its a big heavy car that will never be a sports car, despite your best efforts. The Riv was designed to be a highway cruiser, and the supercharged version was developed to give some degree of power to a car that really should have had a V-8 put in it in the first place. The 3800 Supercharged engine is probably pushed to limits just the way it is, without doing any "mods" to it. The Riv was designed for the country club set, not to race the ricers with.

Alot of GTP's are running 13's....What was the last time on your Mystique?

Originally posted by Beachboy:
Why bother to mod a Riveria? Its a big heavy car that will never be a sports car, despite your best efforts. The Riv was designed to be a highway cruiser, and the supercharged version was developed to give some degree of power to a car that really should have had a V-8 put in it in the first place. The 3800 Supercharged engine is probably pushed to limits just the way it is, without doing any "mods" to it. The Riv was designed for the country club set, not to race the ricers with.

faster then you car will ever be. And can be faster than 90% of the tours out there.

I have a 2000 GTP with the series II 3.8 and it's not stock.

First off, whoever says modding is stupid just because it's a heavy boat of a car with no handling is ignorant. Why not take advantage of one of the best engines ever made when it has a roots blower on it?

Definitely don't put a 3.0" pulley on the car stock, or even with decent exhaust work. You will chip a piston, and there goes your engine. Contrary to popular belief, even a 3.4" pulley on a stock car can easily chip a piston.

My mods are a 180 degree t-stat (stock is 195, and 160 is too cold since the car will never fully warm up), autolite 104s (yes ford plugs in a pontiac lol), a 3" downpipe (versus about 2.25 stock), a wizaired cold air intake with 9" k&n cone, a DHP v.1 pcm (raised shift points to 6k, firmer shifts, a few more degrees of timiing, etc. and a very proven pcm for the 3.8s), 1.84 ratio roller rockers, and a 3.4" supercharger pulley (stock is 3.8). Stock I ran a 14.9 @ 93.5. With the mods it hits 13.5s with absolutely no prep, in full street trim. Drag radials and a little tuning of the fuel with a MAF translator would net me low 13s easy, with a tiny $700 in mods.

If you wanted an easy 11-second car, they make turbo kits. If you want easy and inexpensive 12s, they make full size intercoolers and there are very nice cam grinds available.

For more info, visit clubgp.com. Stay clear of 3800pro, it's a crooked company (Intense Interprises). For mods, visit zzperformance.com. They are active in the GP community and back their products.

Have fun with it man, it might not handle like a contour, but it can easily have tons of horsepower.

The motors are very nice for power, I looked into GTP's before I got both svt's.

There was a guy in a buick at milan running consistant 12.9's, very sweet.

My only gripes are:
- No manual
- The motor sounds like ass, I have NEVER heard a good sounding 3800

Quote:

My only gripes are:
- No manual
- The motor sounds like ass, I have NEVER heard a good sounding 3800

I agree on both. I think the GTO would have been a killer car, if they didn't call it a GTO. It's basically a grand prix with what everyone wanted...RWD and manual, but they tried calling it a GTO.

The 3800 sounds awesome at idle and cruise, but it definitely sounds like ass no matter what at wide open throttle. The commodore (australian rwd 3800 version) sounds hotttt.

Originally posted by dredwingz03:

The 3800 sounds awesome at idle and cruise, but it definitely sounds like ass no matter what at wide open throttle. The commodore (australian rwd 3800 version) sounds hotttt.

I like the sound of the 3800 in general. I have to say the series II in the buick sounds better than the series I N/A in my 92 Bonneville tho. And with minor tuning and modding I can now hear the s/c whine and it sounds good.

With my current mods is it safe to install autolite 104s (2 heat ranges cooler) now or should I use 605s (1 heat range cooler) for now until I get more mods?