buick engine?

[patullose]

hey guys, just wondering what Buick did th Vr 3.8 L engine come out of .. does anyone know?

thanks guys

[TheForgotten]

quite a few I believe. but I think the grand national was the main offender

[Slow VR]

Wonder what year it was originally designed? 1960's??

[TheForgotten]

1953 actually. has been redesigned a few times since though
buick 3800 history

[Slow VR]

Isnt that pathetic! Holden couldnt source an engine with a little more refinement. Ford is just as bad with the bloody 250 cross flow. You would think that they would of gotten there act together after witnessing the potential of modern engineering of engines eg the RB30.

[hakhawk]

from what i know they were gonna put the rb30 in the vn, but in the end, due to increased import prices from japan, they decided to go with the buick, which isnt that bad, you make it sound like the v6 is a piece of crap. have a godo read of that link, they did a lot of work to make it better each time.

[EGG]

wikipedia has a pretty comprehensive list of variants and cars, the bloody engines been in everything from jeeps to turbo trans-am's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_3800_engine

[andy05]

Other than its a bit rough sounding on idle. But more or less, its powerful, reliable and pretty economical

[andy05]

Other than its a bit rough sounding on idle. But more or less, its powerful, reliable and pretty economical

[Slow VR]

Yeah but to think that after 50 years of use GM couldnt come up with a little bit more technically advanced engine? How bout they do some REAL Research and Development and piss the bloody pushrods off! Hows about DOHC? Hows about pissing off the bloody heavy cast iron? Even just Alloy heads? Hows about coil on plug? These are all advancements that have been around for quite some time, why couldnt GM have a look at what Europe or Japan was doing? We mite of ended up with a lighter, more powerful, smoother, MORE economical engine that wasnt prone to leaking oil a little sooner along the time line.

So the Holden/GM engineers needed 18years to figure out that these things may be benificial so they waited for the Alloytech to evolve....... Seriously thats like running the A Series engine in the new BMW Mini or the 1500cc air cooled boxer VW engine in the new beetle.

Hows about we put the 139 grey motor into the new Torana when/if it ever comes out.

[Anton]

i believe its all to do with $$$ wether it be saving or making, car companies do have a reason for doing it this way. Engines that run on water have been around for a long time but the reason why they dont change over is bcoz car companies are making too much off the sale of petrol and current petrol engines. Many things have been invented to make life easier that arent commercial simply because they cost too much money to produce or the profit margin was simply just too small.

[Joes_meat]

Yeah but to think that after 50 years of use GM couldnt come up with a little bit more technically advanced engine? How bout they do some REAL Research and Development and piss the bloody pushrods off! Hows about DOHC? Hows about pissing off the bloody heavy cast iron? Even just Alloy heads? Hows about coil on plug? These are all advancements that have been around for quite some time, why couldnt GM have a look at what Europe or Japan was doing? We mite of ended up with a lighter, more powerful, smoother, MORE economical engine that wasnt prone to leaking oil a little sooner along the time line.

However simple, outdated, etc the buick engine is. It's a pretty good one. Especially in ecotec form. It's reasonably smooth and torquey (not much power though.) But mostly it's bloody reliable. Look at the problems ford had when they changed from the iron head on the 250 to alloy head. Didn't get that sorted until the AU! They'd all blow head-gaskets every 100000km. Just leave the head iron, it's not that much extra weight but it works, and it doesn't corrode like alloy either. Either that, or make the whole engine alloy.

But yeah, I hate pushrods too.

[MBS206]

The alloy was the problem with the Gen3 when it came out

The alloy block is shit. Holden eventually fixed the problem by returning to the cast iron block. Yes a bit heavier, no where near the wear properties.
Pushrod is not old either, it's one of the newer forms of engine.
Helps keep the CG low and is cheaper to make.

All of the things like coil on plug, they're damn expensive. Have you priced those bits and pieces for things like the jap motors, They're not cheap!

[Slow VR]

Pushrod is not old either, it's one of the newer forms of engine.

WHAT.... Are u an idiot....??? Pushrods have been around since the dawn of time. The A Series thats in Morris Minors/Minis/A40 dates back to the 40's or 50's.... Guess wat?? Its got pushrods. Think about just about any old boat anchor V8 and guess wat.... Its go pushrods. What about a side valve engine? What century were they made?

[patullose]

haha thanks for your help guys, looks like ive started a whole new debit here...
I thought the 3800 had alloy heads??? am i wrong

thanks guys

[patullose]

Does anyone know if the engine is called a Buick L36 3800 ??

if so it is in the worlds top 10 best engines and is the longest enigne to be made in history

[hakhawk]

yup, its the equivalent of our ecotec v6, which is still basically just a majorly revised and updated vn block.

[patullose]

Whats the Vr got in it?

[Pub247]

The buick 3800 is cast iron head 1 head weighs as much as 2 gen3 heads put together. I believe it is the L36. Its not a bad motor they do crack a bit and i've spent a bit of time repairing them and it's damn hard work drilling and fixing these cracks.

[patullose]

The buick 3800 is cast iron head 1 head weighs as much as 2 gen3 heads put together. I believe it is the L36. Its not a bad motor they do crack a bit and i've spent a bit of time repairing them and it's damn hard work drilling and fixing these cracks.

Lol yeah i havent had too much troubble with me engine ive got to admit, i used to dislike the fact that it was a L36 non ecotec, But after some of the torubbles my mates have had with the ecotec engine...im glad i got what i got...thats untill i F*cked my rings that is ...OUCH....$$$$

[Pub247]

Look at the problems ford had when they changed from the iron head on the 250 to alloy head. Didn't get that sorted until the AU! They'd all blow head-gaskets every 100000km. Just leave the head iron, it's not that much extra weight but it works, and it doesn't corrode like alloy either. Either that, or make the whole engine alloy.

The E series heads are shit, we do on avg about 100 a week at our work and i probably throw 25% out because they get way too soft the quality of the alloy is shit even in the au though you're right by then the majority of problems were sorted out. Still they crack heaps and corrode bad aswell. We do quite a few x-flows and i'll be lucky to get one or two that don't need work.
I think alloy heads are heaps lighters at work they "say" that 2 people should lift the 250 cast iron heads.

[hakhawk]

ok, just a quick clarification, the L36 is the ecotec, not the vn-vr v6. the vn-vr v6 is referred to as a LN3 or L27.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_3800_engine

[Pub247]

Lol yeah i havent had too much troubble with me engine ive got to admit, i used to dislike the fact that it was a L36 non ecotec, But after some of the torubbles my mates have had with the ecotec engine...im glad i got what i got...thats untill i F*cked my rings that is ...OUCH....$$$$

They're a pretty simple engine if you had the right tools and know enough you can do it yourself.

[ssute57l]

Yeah but to think that after 50 years of use GM couldnt come up with a little bit more technically advanced engine? How bout they do some REAL Research and Development and piss the bloody pushrods off! Hows about DOHC? Hows about pissing off the bloody heavy cast iron? Even just Alloy heads? Hows about coil on plug? These are all advancements that have been around for quite some time, why couldnt GM have a look at what Europe or Japan was doing? We mite of ended up with a lighter, more powerful, smoother, MORE economical engine that wasnt prone to leaking oil a little sooner along the time line.

So the Holden/GM engineers needed 18years to figure out that these things may be benificial so they waited for the Alloytech to evolve....... Seriously thats like running the A Series engine in the new BMW Mini or the 1500cc air cooled boxer VW engine in the new beetle.

Hows about we put the 139 grey motor into the new Torana when/if it ever comes out.

In the 50's they didn't have the technology of today, efi has only become comman in the mid 80's and is getting better every year, if you have better ideas on building an engine maybe you should contact GM yourself and explain to them how its done seeing that you got all the solutions.
How many engines had coil/plug in 80's

If you don't like youe engine go get youself a toyota or honda etc

[patullose]

ok, just a quick clarification, the L36 is the ecotec, not the vn-vr v6. the vn-vr v6 is referred to as a LN3 or L27.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_3800_engine

thanks mate, thats what i was after