Help me please! (I'm Australian, forgive me!)

[geoffinbc]

The 3800 is a different engine family all together. It has no relation to a 3100 or 3400

[manicmechanix]

Thanks Guys, very cool.

It's not a race car, more a sporty Sunday mountain car although theres nothing stopping you taking to the track in it.

Mid engined.

Well if it's mid engine, it might make the most sense to pattern it after the Fiero. It came available with the 2.8 style mounting so a 3.1 would mount too, or you could change the engine mounting but maintain other key Fiero demensions/parts.

I have to say though your plan doesn't make much sense if this isn't going to be a track car only. I don't know the laws about a kit car, but I'd think there would be a lot involved in getting a car certified to be street legal in the U.S.

[cheapracer]

I have to say though your plan doesn't make much sense if this isn't going to be a track car only. I don't know the laws about a kit car, but I'd think there would be a lot involved in getting a car certified to be street legal in the U.S.

You may be suprised how many kit cars there are in the States and how many people are willing to go through the pain of it all! he laws are a little easier than for a production car, one reason reverse trikes (3 wheelers) such as the T-Rex are becoming popular is that they are considered motorcycles which are much easier to licence.

[cheapracer]

The 3800 is a different engine family all together. It has no relation to a 3100 or 3400

Which is good news considering how popular and for how long they were made.

By the way, in Australia we have the belief that the RWD bellhousing pattern is different to the FWD, is that true or false? Wiki doesn't mention it so I'm guessing it's not true.

Thanks again Guys.

[geoffinbc]

The 3.8L Which was used in Buick and Oldsmobile cars used the BOP Bellhousing pattern. When the 3800 Series I was released it changed over to the Small Corporate pattern which is the same as the 60 Degree V6. It was used in FWD and RWD applications.

[cheapracer]

Wow, you are better then me!

Thanks again Guys, great stuff, nice crowd

[cheapracer]

I got to look at the second engine today in the Chev Lumina APV and couldn't find the engine ID at all (front crash makes life hard) but can tell you it had cast iron heads, black plastic intake manifold and tubular steel exhaust manifolds rather than cast.

vin number GNDUO6L7PT146706 on the dash.

Any ideas?

[geoffinbc]

What kind of fuel injection system does it have? In North America it is throttle body injection with an aluminum manifold. No plastic.

[manicmechanix]

I got to look at the second engine today in the Chev Lumina APV and couldn't find the engine ID at all (front crash makes life hard) but can tell you it had cast iron heads, black plastic intake manifold and tubular steel exhaust manifolds rather than cast.

vin number GNDUO6L7PT146706 on the dash.

Any ideas?

This sounds like the 3.8L 90 degree V6.

[geoffinbc]

Yea it does for sure. Where was the oil filter? If you were able to tell.

[cheapracer]

Try to get back on Monday to see, thanks again :-)

[no_doz]

this is an excellent idea as it gives the user a wide variety of engine choices (2.8-3.1-3.4 dohc-3100-3400-3500-3.5vvt etc...) if you want to capture all markets, also offer mounts/accommodation for the sbc v8's & the 90* v6s-you cant go wrong there-youd be able to accommodate most any gm engine the user might want

[Driver_10]

Sorry Guys, you just don't get it, maybe I explained it badly, sorry.

Summary;

I want to sell a kit car with no motor or transmission.

I can only get the motors from the 2 vans at hand - I CAN NOT get any other motor, I am not in the USA, there are no other motors to choose from here. I want to use one of those motors to make the mounts for the chassis.

Those mounts will then hopefully accept the V6 that YOU CHOOSE to fit to the kit ("you" being a purchaser of a kit).

Example; If I make mounts to accept the 3100 V6 and transmission from the van, will people be able to put their own 3400 from a sedan onto those mounts?

Thanks for the effort though

Ohhh ok. You want to sell a roller.

Well, GM seems to have a fetish for changing up thier motor mount design between most of the 60 motors. The 3400 mount bosses are different from the 3500 and the 3500 are different from the 3.1, 3.4l and 2.8l.

Just make a basic mount flange that can be fitted with an erray of different mounts. (lets say a 3/8 inch metal plate with 4-holes drilled in it and welded to the engine support structure.) There are some lunatics that will enevitably stick northstars and LS1's in it sooner or later.

If you want a good base v6 motor mount design to go with. Use the 3500 (lx9) motor mount as a basic template. They are not nearly as complicated as the DOCH 3.6l or vvt motors. They already have a good support base and readily found.

If you want my opinion on an engine option, use the ecotech and manual tranny. (no autos, yuck!)

[Brad7410]

What about the Vectra zc. I know it comes in with a 3.2 dohc but the chassis it is the same as a G6 and the malibu over here . I don't know much about the 3.2 but it is a 60degree v6 and it is in the same family as all the new 60 degree dohc's that are sold over here so one would assume that the mounting is similar if not the same. One of the other guys on here should be able to tell you if the the mounting points and the bellhouse pattern on the North American dohc blocks are the same as our pushrod blocks (3100,3400 & 3500's). I don't know, i've only dealt with 3.1s.

P.S Don't get confused with the term ecotec. Over here its a family of dohc 4 cylinders. Over there I popped the hood of the company's ute to look at the "ecotec v6" and had a f**king 3800 staring back at me.

Brad