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Adding A Smooth Groove To 60 Degree V 6
Allow me to introduce myself to the forum. I'm Archie aka Musically Mr M. I'm an educator, professional musician, small studio owner and lifetime gear head. 53 years young and have always had some decent performance cars. Got a 1992 GTA that I drive till this day....bought it new, a 2006 Tahoe with the all aluminum 5300 with some interesting power enhancements and some other cool toys. But.........
.......what bought me here was the acquisition of a 1996 Oldsmobile Achieva SL w/3100 v6 in it. Bought this car in 07 as a first car for my daughter. Bought it from one of my church members for $250.00
It had suffered the usual 3100 malady......LIM failure and the elderly lady I bought from always took it to the local GM center here for service. She bought it in steaming and smoking and they really didn't look at the car. Told her that the motor was shot but they would take it in trade for an 04 Impala. (Yeah she was getting ready to give away a decent little commuter without question.) 
The car sat up under a shed from 04 until my purchasing it in 07. Short story (already long).........a fleet mechanic for the school system I work for (who owned a fleet of Malibus) was very familiar with the 3100 and replaced all the engine gaskets on the car (upper/lower manifold and head gasket sets) with the nice upgraded Felpro set and now she spins like a top now. It's got 220,000 miles on the "condemned engine" and the only other thing I've done to it was replaced a rocker arm that broke on it earlier this year. (3 hours and a beer) Fixed it in my back yard. This site has provided a wealth of knowledge about the 3x00 series of GM engines. I kind of like the look of the little old car. Used to follow the SCCA campaign back in the early 90's when they ran the Achievas in TC class. Handsome little car....but then I'm old. What do I know?
Anywho, glad to be a member of the forum to lend support to an otherwise excellent, smooth running GM product that seemed to be deliberately handicapped by faulty, cheaply made gaskets and Dex-Cool. If you find one that hasn't been destroyed, and replace the gaskets, it makes a reliable, fun to drive power plant for a lot of varied applications. Immediate plans for the car include a cold air box, a Magnaflow Muffler and a set of black, five spoke Katana 17 inch wheels just to spruce it up just a bit. I'll surely be perusing this site to see what other tips and trick there are to get a bit more oooomph out of this little power plant
Before the detailing.....
After the detailing
.......what bought me here was the acquisition of a 1996 Oldsmobile Achieva SL w/3100 v6 in it. Bought this car in 07 as a first car for my daughter. Bought it from one of my church members for $250.00
It had suffered the usual 3100 malady......LIM failure and the elderly lady I bought from always took it to the local GM center here for service. She bought it in steaming and smoking and they really didn't look at the car. Told her that the motor was shot but they would take it in trade for an 04 Impala. (Yeah she was getting ready to give away a decent little commuter without question.) The car sat up under a shed from 04 until my purchasing it in 07. Short story (already long).........a fleet mechanic for the school system I work for (who owned a fleet of Malibus) was very familiar with the 3100 and replaced all the engine gaskets on the car (upper/lower manifold and head gasket sets) with the nice upgraded Felpro set and now she spins like a top now. It's got 220,000 miles on the "condemned engine" and the only other thing I've done to it was replaced a rocker arm that broke on it earlier this year. (3 hours and a beer) Fixed it in my back yard. This site has provided a wealth of knowledge about the 3x00 series of GM engines. I kind of like the look of the little old car. Used to follow the SCCA campaign back in the early 90's when they ran the Achievas in TC class. Handsome little car....but then I'm old. What do I know?
Anywho, glad to be a member of the forum to lend support to an otherwise excellent, smooth running GM product that seemed to be deliberately handicapped by faulty, cheaply made gaskets and Dex-Cool. If you find one that hasn't been destroyed, and replace the gaskets, it makes a reliable, fun to drive power plant for a lot of varied applications. Immediate plans for the car include a cold air box, a Magnaflow Muffler and a set of black, five spoke Katana 17 inch wheels just to spruce it up just a bit. I'll surely be perusing this site to see what other tips and trick there are to get a bit more oooomph out of this little power plant
Before the detailing.....
After the detailing
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