UPDATE: 3800 sunfire swap

[IsaacCarlson]

I don't think a supercharger would do much unless you were doing 100+ because the tires would just spin. The olds would do 0-60 in less than 6 seconds while spinning the tires and the sunfire weighs 800 lbs less. I don't think I am going to keep the tires from spinning as it is.

If I do put forced induction on it, I will likely go the turbo route to save drag on the motor. Maybe a supercharger, but probably not.

I will keep posting pics and vids. The only thing holding me back right now is funds to replace engine gaskets.

[IsaacCarlson]

Good news and bad news. I tried to put the shafts in today and the driver side didn't fit. The spline count is wrong, so I have to get a shaft from a 94 grand am with a 3100 and hope it fits. The specs say it should fit, so we will see.

[Christ]

Ah, axle troubles... I used to have a book that someone made up [unpublished] that hadall the PN's from nearly every mfg of axles and had a bunch of interchange info for all kinds of ends, spline counts, part lengths [so you can calculate OAL with different parts] etc.

Wish I could find it, among other things..

[Xist]

When I bought my first car in 2,000 I learned about entry-level cars and never cared about anything that I did not expect to ever afford. In thirteen years, I am still looking at the same cars.

I used to know plenty of girls that drove Cavaliers and some that had Sunfires, but I just talked to women more than men. My first car was a 1987 Prelude with 110 HP and the Civics and competitors were around there. I would ask people why they chose a Cavalier. To be honest, many of the girls said that it was cute, but I often heard them talk about the horsepower--they said that it had the highest in its class.

As I recall, the Civic and Corolla did 0-60 in about ten seconds, depending on the model.

The Cavalier was twelve.

My 1987 Honda did 9.1.

I would comment on how the Cavalier had the same engine from 1990 to 2,002 and people always told me that it was so good that they did not need to change anything. As I recall, the Ecotec engine was completely new.

In the end, the owners seemed happy and they got around until they realized that their lives were incomplete without SUVs with shiny rims.

I am glad that you like the parts of your Sunfire that are not the engine. I hope that this swap works for you. Welcome to the site and good luck.

[Miller88]

Originally Posted by Smurf

Just the other day, I was telling the girlfriend about people taking the 3.8L Supercharged out of my Regal GS and putting it in the 1996-98 Grand Ams. But in a SUNFIRE?! If you were a speed racer kind of guy, you'd be on to something pretty fun there.

I know yours isn't the Supercharged variety, but you could consider it later. I routinely got 33-35MPG in my Regal with five adults in the car. Minus their 800 pounds, and all the luxuries (power leather, dual climate, etc) I'd imagine a Sunfire would achieve great MPG with the 3800.

Looking forward to pic and video updates!

Everyone that owned a 3800 powered car always said how it got 30+ MPG on the highway at 65 loaded with people and cargo. Surprised for it being a big V6.

It's too bad that GM got rid of them ... I'm not sure why, really. They had decent power, were reliable (except for GM's poor gaskets), got good gas mileage and were simple.

[Smurf]

Never saw an import I couldn't keep up with, outran an upgraded Mazda RX8 and a Kompressor Benz, kept up with a Porsche til he hit 4th gear. Take off the traction control, it'll roast the front tires for a block.

Most times, the boost was never on. Going up bigger hills at 70-75MPH, it'd kick in about 6psi and float up the hill. Stomping it down from a standing start, I remember getting 13.5psi boost. So it's really not much, but the extra power sure was nice when necessary. I saved myself from more accidents with the Go pedal than the Whoa pedal.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by miller88

it's too bad that gm got rid of them ... I'm not sure why, really...

...got good gas mileage...

bingo.

[RobertISaar]

i'd consider the series 2 and in some cases, the series 3 engine's tendacy to self-ignite may have had something to do with it... even after the recalls were done, which effected engines from 1995 to ~2009, they're still going up in flames.

[IsaacCarlson]

I picked up a new driver side CV shaft because the sunfire shaft did not fit the 4t60. The new shaft is from a 1994 grand am with a 3100. It dropped right in! Now all I need to do is replace the output seals, and input seal and it will be good to go. I can change the filter/fluid later this summer. Things are coming together.

[IsaacCarlson]

Originally Posted by Christ

Ah, axle troubles... I used to have a book that someone made up [unpublished] that hadall the PN's from nearly every mfg of axles and had a bunch of interchange info for all kinds of ends, spline counts, part lengths [so you can calculate OAL with different parts] etc.

Wish I could find it, among other things..

If you ever find it, I would LOVE to get a copy.