are 3.1 blocks aluminum? 3.1 aluminum block?

[no_doz]

im sure this sounds like the dumbest damn question ever but ive always been under the impression that 90+ fwd 3.1 blocks are aluminum, & now people on j-body are claiming that they are all iron blocks like the boat anchor 3.8's.

is this true or just people's stupidity? ive been searching but havent found out 100% so i figured id see what you guys think & i titled it so itll be easy for anyone else to search.

[no_doz]

i just went on wikipedia & they say that the 60* engine are all iron, if this is so why does everyone around here refer to the 3.8's as boat anchors-the heads being aluminum couldnt make THAT much of a weight difference could it?

[walterdude]

When I make boat anchors I use JUNK!!!
3.8/3800=JUNK
Tom...

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

to me it depends on the use of the motor to call it junk, if i was going to make a choice between a car i was going to drive hard and one i was going to do my normal cruising in, i would take my 3.4 to shit bag, and my 3800 to drive nice. mind you i dont have any mods on my engine and didnt have any on the 3.8. but theres things about the buick that i miss that this motor just doesnt do. but i really like how it goes when i push it.

if someone could get a 3800 up to a 8k redline i would love it!!

[no_doz]

but why the term boat anchor if it doesnt indicate a big difference in weight between the 2 engines?

[ForcedFirebird]

The L67 weighs a few hundred lbs more than a 3500. Where do you get "not a big weight difference"?

Even the L36 is 100lbs heavier or better.

[LeftVentricle]

There's a lot of hate for the 3.8 Buick engine here. It's being used as a derisive term, meaning that the engine isn't good for anything more than being thrown into the ocean or as a paperweight to keep the ass of your truck in line in the snow. Personally I have a lot of respect for them. They're based on a 40+ year old design, largely unchanged aside from addition of modern fuel delivery and head design. They're durable as hell, last forever even with poor maintenance, and with tall gearing can get excellent fuel economy. Whereas the 60 degree engines have a pretty bad reputation for puking intake gaskets all over the place, the fix for which is not using GM parts.

As for the heads, I'm wondering just how much heavier the iron ones are. I have a couple aluminum ones sitting around, and they ain't light.

[asylummotorsports]

There's a lot of hate for the 3.8 Buick engine here. It's being used as a derisive term, meaning that the engine isn't good for anything more than being thrown into the ocean or as a paperweight to keep the ass of your truck in line in the snow. Personally I have a lot of respect for them. They're based on a 40+ year old design, largely unchanged aside from addition of modern fuel delivery and head design. They're durable as hell, last forever even with poor maintenance, and with tall gearing can get excellent fuel economy. Whereas the 60 degree engines have a pretty bad reputation for puking intake gaskets all over the place, the fix for which is not using GM parts.

As for the heads, I'm wondering just how much heavier the iron ones are. I have a couple aluminum ones sitting around, and they ain't light.

So Endeth the Lesson from a guy who's car couldn't beat a City Bus on a downhill slope!

[LeftVentricle]

So Endeth the Lesson from a guy who's car couldn't beat a City Bus on a downhill slope!

That's a low blow.

[asylummotorsports]

Hey I would love to put my 3500 and 3.73 trans in a wagon and reap havoc on the locals at the track.

As it is there are guys in '60 and '70 muscle cars still shaking their heads when a lowly Beretta gets them by five lengths through the mufflers.

Just havin' fun!!

[Superdave]

Iron '660 heads are way heavier than the aluminum heads..

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

i went from driving a 91 buick regal limited (3800) to driving my 91 Lumina Z34 with the (obviously) 3.4 DOHC. even in the rain the front end of that buick was too heavy to light up the tires, but it could get off the line faster than my z34 *with no mods. BUT my Lumi can burn the tires all the way through a traffic light in the rain, and can even light em up a tiny bit on dry pavement.

i agree 100% with the out of the box reliability of the 3800. those things go forever!! you can beat the shit out of em and not change the oil for 20000k and its fine. trust me. HAHAHA

[asylummotorsports]

Rain burnouts FTMFL!!

[geldartb]

so to sum it all up if your lazy and dont like to maintain your car go buy a 3800N/A equipped car.

Rain Burn-outs FTMFL.

[SHOoff]

Little bit of cliffsnotes with the OP from over on J-body.org:

OP asks about putting a 3.1 in a 96 Sunfire.
OP is informed that it's probably not worth his time to swap to the old 3.1 and that he should go with an ECOTEC.
OP is given a link to a post on JBO that is specifically about swapping a 60 degree into a third gen j-body. Then ignores the post.
OP declares that he is going to swap the whole engine/cradle/subframe out of a lumina onto the j-body, but doesn't know how to compensate for the extra width, still ignoring the linked post.
OP attacks members of JBO because they have a 3800 swap because he saw the word "boat anchor" over here and uses that term exclusively.
OP tells me that the 3400 i swapped in is not a 60 degree.
OP declares his 60 degree dominance because he's owned a lot of them, yet fails to be able to back himself up with facts.
- A few pages of shit talking in both directions.
OP finally tells me that the 3.1 is aluminium block, so I told him to tell everyone here that so he can get laughed at (like he tried to tell me to do on things that I was right about anyway)
OP posted here asking if the 3.1 was aluminium block