Hey folks, I've been a member for a while, but never posted, always sat quietly and soaked in the information. I currently own a 1991 Firebird Base model and a 1992 Firebird Base model. I just bought the 92, and saw that is has a 3800 in it, instead of a 3.1. Can anyone give me some tips on determining the Series of this motor? I know there can be drastic differences between the 3 primary generations of the 3800. If i can confirm (or deny) that it is a worthwhile motor, I can look into slapin' a super charger on it instead of moving up to a 305 or 350... ( yeah i'm sure that got alot of people laughin). so, again... Any suggestions on how to tell what series the 3800 in there might be?

 

depends on what it is out of. alot of the series 3 came with plastic intakes. i know my 96 had a series 2 with an alum intake. not really sure bout the series 1 motors. thats about all i can think of. and my series 2 said it right on the intake

 

What supercharger do you plan on slapping on it?

Pics? I want to see a 3800 in a Thirdgen.

 

I really have no idea what kind of supercharger to put on it. I was thinking about snaking one off from a SC'd regal or similar buick. Any suggestions?
I'll get some pics up later today when I can find my camera battery charger heh.

The reason I believe it to be a 3.8 is the dramatic difference between it and my 91 birds motor. I have confirmed the 91 is a 3.4, it's cast-iron head sits way back near the firewall, with a much longer intake leading to it. The 92's head is much more of a rectangle and sits almost center of the motor. I could be talkin' outta my rear here, I am far from a mechanic, and what little i know about motors has been learned by trial, error, and lots of questions lol. Either way, I'll try and get a picture up asap.

 

The FWD SC's won't work. The intake will be pointed straight at the Firewall. That is why I asked as I don't believe there is a roots/twin screw style blower that you can just slap onto the 3800.

I think pics of both are needed... the 3.4 is the same externally as the 3.1 and 2.8, so you can't tell by just looking that it is is 3.4.

 

OK, so I havn't taken pictures yet, but a hot rod shop here in town claims it's a 3.4 , in which case, i'm sorry for the waste of time on you guys lol, but it does bring me to a different question... Seeing as how stock rebuilt 305's go for pretty cheap, would the best option for more power to simply put a 305 in? I've only a 1000$ budget for this car, as i just bought another 1991 trans am as well and have most of my money dedicated to that.

 

The best 3.8 sc motor you can buy is one out of a 89 thunderbid sc. Stock 15lbs of boost if its manual not auto. Get one call eaton buy the ported s-port modified blower about 1500 back in the day. Have them gouge the screws for you. Slap it on, all of these cars came with forged internals. You will safely be producing about 26 lbs of boost trust me i know . Car came stock with about 315lb of torque. With this new blower around 400 maybe more. Cut your emmissions in half, cut your gas mileage by about 6 but you can burn your tires through 3rd tho hehe. But then again its a ford so you might want to think about doing a headgasket,you would be putting a ford motor in a pontiac and who would do that. Pointless but if you do it right its FAST.

 

Ok, so I kind of skipped through the thread real quick, but as for the 3800 series II, it will be cast on the side of the block just above the motor mounts. I don't know if they did this with the serie I or III. And all the intake stuff off the fwd cars can be stripped off and replaced with the F-Body intake no problem. Don't know about the sc mounting up though.