ok....A dear friend of mine has a old 87 olds that has a 3.8 in it. Only has 130K on it and the sucker runs and purrs like a kitten. It has a 3 speed trans on it too. Well my boy is going to sell the engine/trans and everything else i want off of it for 600$

Are there any after market parts for these pre-series 1 LN3 engines...any other tranmission that will work for them....what will I have to do to make the sucker fit it my car. And since it's high miles...what type of rebuild would it require.

a rebuild would be a 100% waste of time, if you wanted to swap it, just toss it in and hope for the best.

There is no aftermarket that I am aware of for the tuned ports.... they get decent gas mileage and make more power than a 2.8, so its a valid swap. I would just spend the extra $200-300 and get a series2.....

If you have to pay $600 for the engine, then I agree with DH in that a series II might be a better choice.
I've looked at that 87 engine myself. If it is a VIN 3 then it has a roller cam set up, if VIN B, then it has flat lifters. Delta cams can custom re-grind the roller cam of a VIN 3, they have quite a few profiles for that. I do not know what Delta charges for a re-grind though. Sealed Power has re-ring & bearing kits for around $250 +/-. If you end up rebuilding DO NOT let the machine shop set up the engine bearing clearences like a SBC, they need to be kept tight to GM specs otherwise rod bearings will spin, yuck! Rebuilding the oil pump is a must as well. Finding a machine shop that knows the Buick GN Turbo Motor helps as this engine is a close relative. Speed Pro has hypereutectic pistons that will raise the compression ratio to about 9.7:1 if you want but I would then re-balance the engine ($$). Any automatic transmission that Fiero's can use should bolt up fine to this engine. For a manual transmission, I think you will probably need a custom flywheel?
Hope this helps!
Best Regards,
Mark

i guess I should say...it's 600$ for the whole car....I should have put that in there.... There's no way to supercharge this engine...I know you can turbo this engine...but yeah....

600 dollars... And you could be well on your way to having a supercharged 3800 in your car.

from where.....I need the whole setup! I have to be ready to go back to school in august.

What is the model of the car? Is the 3.8 efi, mpfi, carb? I take it the "dear friend" is a female driver, car lightly used?

On balance, a 3.8 with 130k Kms is not nearly over its life but 130k Miles is alot more. If it was babied, with an auto, and maintained it might be just fine. If you know the history of the engine and it is a good history, it is worth more than a wrecking yard guy's version of the history of an engine.

I'd say take the engine, tranny, wiring harness, ECM out of it and tow it to a wrecking yard.

Arn

sounds good....I might want a different tranny....but that's about it...BUT personally.....do I need the same brackets and things that the series II uses.

I'd keep the brackets and mounts on principle. That said, I haven't done that swap so I can't say for certain.

Arn

Can anyone else Chime in on this one...

What trans does your current car have in it? If an automatic (125), then its similar to the trans on the 3.8 if you say its has a three speed now. The final drive ratio on the Olds trans might be a little lazy compared to a Fiero 125. If a three speed is what's going in or staying in, then you only need a front engine mount and a dog bone set up. The front conversion mount from a series I or II might just work fine, I think the VIN 3 engine was used in some 88 cars along with the Series I.
Mark

ok....Does anyone know for sure...I will stick with the fiero tranny....I would like a manual tranny though...but a custom flywheel sounds like some money. Does anyone know whether or not what I read of the buick forum correct. That the M90 off of the L27/L67 will fit the LN3

I have done this swap 2 times. the 3.8 is a good gas mileage motor. its down, way down on power comparid to a 3800 any thing. with a 4t40 that came with the 3.8 (overdrive) I got 35 miles per gallon on the highway ( at speeds we won't talk about) with out the OD its not to great. Now the 3.8 has a different exhast manafold than a 3800. I used a bracket from a 3.0 buick in a "x" car at the front of the motor, and a stock fiero 2.5 motor mount with a spacer to keach the 2nd bolt. I connected a stock v6 fiero exhaust using the bottom of the v6 crossover pipe connected to the 3.8 crossover pipe. put a freeze plug in the rearout let. simple and cheap. this motor makes 200 lb/ft @ 2000 rpm. I pulled it out after the oil pump went. I used all the hand make parts to put one in the 85 gt for my son. he wanted run it at the drag strip. I didn't want him to race his high milage Q-4 grand am before he drove it off to college. we had $400 in the hole thing. fiero and doner car with all my spares. He made 13 runs with a plug wire off ( wasn't the slowest car that night) ran it out of gas with no water in it in the front yard, killed a lot of grass but not the 3.8. he was 17. this was his last freebe, but I saved his grand am. you can see it run on youtube in "chevy v8 fiero-3". he has posted some drag runs with this car. I have pictures of every thing. now all I have to do is post them. I havent got a lot of time on pennock's, but you can leave me a message on Utube

I'm putting a 3.8 MPFI Buick into a Fiero and using the 4:10 4 speed Muncie. Should be a fun light to light kinda car. Anyway I had to do up a custom flywheel. Cost came to $350 to balance, tap and drill new bolt holes and make a spacer. See picks below:

[This message has been edited by fieroall (edited 02-01-2009).]

quote Originally posted by deathangel: ok....Does anyone know for sure...I will stick with the fiero tranny....I would like a manual tranny though...but a custom flywheel sounds like some money. Does anyone know whether or not what I read of the buick forum correct. That the M90 off of the L27/L67 will fit the LN3

Its just an opinion but think about what you really want this car to be. So many times people,including me, try to do things the quickest and cheapest way possible. While you might be able to get it done a couple month quicker and save $200-$300, the end result might not be what you want or expected. As Madcurl mentioned to me in another thread, If there is something you want or a certin way, just do it or you will regret it later.

With a 3.8 im sure you will need a custom mount for the front of the engine but it will bolt up to any of the Fiero transmission.

As far as using the 3.8 and putting on a series II or III supercharger, it would cost you more and might not even hold up too long.
A used supercharger is going to cost you a few hundred dollars ($300 would be a good deal) and the 3.8 with transmission being another $600, You are now at $900. My guess is that for that price or a little more, you could get a 3800 SC series III and the auto transmission that came with it and not need to worry about tearing up the transmission.

Also the SC engines use better Rods,pistons and wrist pins that were designed to withstand the stress of boost from the supercharger which the old 3.8 does not have therefore you would be asking for trouble.

Using the auto that comes with the 3800,you will need a custom axle and if you want a standard, you will need to change over the pedal assemblies and get a custom flywheel made.

If you are just looking for a bit more power, I would go with a 3.4 pushrod which would drop right in( just need to drill holes for the starter to move it) and even if you needed to have it rebuilt, might be cheaper.

Sorry if this didnt make much sense, worked all day and im tired lol.

Good luck, Steve