Holden/ Buick V6, 3800 Supercharged  

8r3n0

I couldnt see why not. The bore is the same I think? I think you would be better off hunting down a decent set of new pistons and rods though.

mongrel_cae71

You can't use the S/C pistons on the buick as the S/C runs floating gudgeon and the buick runs a pressed gudgeon.
don't see any reason why you couldn't run S/C rods and pistons in the buick block.

the whole idea is pointless for a force inducted motor though as the S/C pistons have slightly less crown height but slightly less bowl, meaning the effective compression in a buick block and heads would be only marginally less than standard.

wrench

From what i have researched the old VN block is 8.5:1 comp ratio which is low to begin with, but the S/C motor is 7.5:1... so even lower again. Just figure less compression means more boost in the long run. Yeah I would install brand new S/C pistons, not 2nd hand . The question only comes of rebuilding it with the S/C pistons as the block in question has been pulled down already so i just figure why not slap new pistons in it while i'm going. The supercharged pistons don't seem all that much more expensive than the stock ones so i figure why the hell not? Unless they don't fit. So i'd have to use the S/C conrods to fit the pistons coz of different gudgeon pins??? or are the pins the same size?

mongrel_cae71

true, but you won't get 7.5:1 fitting them in a buick block/head as the head chamber is much smaller in a buick head than a S/C head. but then again anything below 8.5:1 should be fine.


you would have to use the S/C rods as the pins are different(buick press into the rod, S/C float with retaining clips).

moorfields

bloke check out the street commodores website man. especially in the v6 section man. a wealth of knowledge in there. should be able to give ya heaps of advice

but my understanding is you cant without douing near a full on internal conversion. but i could be wrong and to be honest man. why bother? the good old buick can with stand a fuckload of boost on just stock internals man. the yanks with the same motor are running 20+ psi day in day out on stock internals. dont believe me? check out 3800 performance forums.

seriously unless you plan on running an absolute assload of boost id just fit her up with either stock parts or get my hands on either an acl race rebuild kit or a stroker kit. stroke her out to 4.2 and turbo or supercharge her. these motors can get some big numbers.

these babies will take an absolute beating. run to 500+ thou kays without a rebuild so strong motor man. what are the plans for this car anyway? drags? drift pig? skid pig? daily? just curious mate.

wrench

Very good! Do the supercharged heads fit the old buick block? I can only imagine they would be expensive. Well from what i read the BA XR6 turbo runs 8.9:1 comp ratio from the factroy, so i figure most engines running under 8.9:1 should be good for at least 5 PSI. It would be nice to get it down to 7.5:1 but 8.5:1 will do for now i guess.

Next question though... are the buick v6 reknown for blowing head gaskets? I got a spare v6 aswell but its got a BHG so i don't know wether it be good for parts or not or its had a real hard life.
I asked a fitter machinist mate of mine about the buick v6, and he reckons people cook them a lot due to the v6 having a very lack luster cooling system from factory. Saving grace is he reckons is that the iron heads on the old girls can take a lot of abuse before they are ruined. Any thoughts???

mongrel_cae71

It's very rare for them to blow headgaskets(as in burst combustion chamber ring). Iron block and head(matched thermal expansion rates) and the fact that the heads are that small and restrained well. Like your machinist friend said ,usually they only pop when severely overheated and that's usually accompanied by cracked heads.

that's why there so good for boost