Buick 3.8l

[Garth]

boy's and girls, its a sad day in commodore history, it has been finaly told to me, and i had to come to terms with it, my mighty vn is suffering, i have to put the donk down.

well, what im gonna do is get the 3.8 s2 motor rebuilt, it's getting done by beenleigh engine centre in the new year, they close down end of next week, wont be able to do it untill they open, (1st week jan) i could take it else where, but these guy's worked wonder's with the old man's toyota and a mates nissan, so they are getting my money. what i wanna know is what type of stuff should i keep my eye out for when i pick it up? and do you recoment replacing any parts on the car now (non mechanical) e.g. cooling system? stuff like that, and what type of performance can i expect from the old girl when she comes back all nice and new? unfortunatly, the vsv8 conversion ran into one hell of a snag for me, it's never gonna get done to the vn, ever i just cant secure any insurance from anyone, it's to risky to drive without insurance.

thanks people, any info would be nice, by the way, nothing special is going into the motor when it's rebuilt. ofcourse a few things will be made stronger, e.g. crank beargings, pushrods and valve guides, just stuff like that, no performance parts', going to the girlfriend as a "run around car" im gonna see if i can get the vl up and running again as my "out run people car"


cheers
garth,

one very sad commodore owner at the moment

oh, i forgot to say, reason for this is the pick up was blocked for months' and months and months, previouse owner's didnt tell anyone when they sold it, and ofcourse i cant tell, reason it was found out, is cause a mechanic picked it up on a dyno the other day, serious lack of power, did a diag test with the scan tool, and sure enough, i have had no oil presure for quite some while, (turnes out the bloody oil presure light was blown on dash, talk about a double whammie)

 

[MaNiac_VP]

No ****! I'd be going back the previous owners and giving them a piece of my mind.

Performance won't be too much better than it was before i'd say. but it'd be smoother, quieter and use less fuel.

See if u can somehow sneak a stroker kit in the rebuild

Goodluck with it all.


Cheers,
Paul.

 

[Grantis1976]

Damm, bad luck mate, just take it easy when you get her back whilst running in.
In regaurds to replacment of other equipment, just get it ALL checked properly.
If the radiator etc all tests ok, why replace. Extra $$$ comeing out of your 304 fund!
Also, after your bad luck with the gauges, get them ALL tested too, and replace the bulbs, at 50 cents each, its cheap insurance.
Last thing, on the topic of insurance, my better half and I have saved just over $1100 per year by going to AAMI instead of another large company. Full comprehensive on a 3.0L VL for $ 400 per year.
Good Luck , and a happy new year!