Buick V-6 Swap?

[quivvy]

Ive seen quite a few people do these buick v-6 swaps. are they good motors? what sort of power do they put out. i seem them mated with the th350 auto trans? good set up? thanks for the info guys.

[yota-n-theworks]

there is a lot of guys around my area that have them and to tell you the truth
i dont like them.one of the guys I wheel with has one in his 87' and he has blown it up 2 times.the other down fall is you have to do a 3" body lift just to get it to fit.To me its not worth it. but that is my $0.02 worth

[quivvy]

well i should have specified why i was asking. im lookin at buying one that has already had the swap done. howd they blow em up?

[Oatmeal]

They're good motors (some guys can blow up anything) there are thousands of early CJ5s that left the assembly line with them under their hoods. There are two versions of 3.8 V6s, however, the earlier "odd fire" and the later "even fire" versions. The odd fire versions have stonger cranks as the left and right side pistons share a common crank pin where as, the even fire motors have offset crank pins and have been known to break there when tweeked beyond the capabilities of the stock cranks. Now the turbo charged Grand Nationals :yes: ..........Hans

[quivvy]

thanks for the input. are these motors efi or carbed?

[ToyRunner1]

Now the turbo charged Grand Nationals :yes: ..........Hans
I love the power, but hate the complexity of the GN when swapped in. I would put a 4.3 in before going back to a 3.8. If it's already done, have it checked out by a reliable mechanic. I've seen more swaps with no problems than I've seen problem ones. Nothing beats more power... :yes:

[Oatmeal]

Here's a good write up on performing a swap: http://www.off-road.com/toyota/buick_v6_swap.html There's tons of info about that motor. I found that write up by just doing a Google search.......Hans

[quivvy]

I've seen more swaps with no problems than I've seen problem ones. Nothing beats more power... :yes:


wait im not following you, are you saying they have problems or DO NOT have problems?

[Yota4runner]

wait im not following you, are you saying they have problems or DO NOT have problems?

He's saying he's seen more swaps that didn't have problems. Then he has seen swaps that have had problems. In other words, in this instance the good outweighs the bad.

[quivvy]

thats what i wanted to hear ;) thanks for all the input guys. hopin this guy will get back to me on his truck, its lookin nice and i wanan go check it out.

[fourwd1]

I've had no problem with mine, and it's been in there for 20 yrs.

[quivvy]

anyone else have an comments or input? thad be great thanks? any issues getting it to pass smog?

[ToyRunner1]

We took mine down to the local smog office, not a place that does the smog test. They went over the swap and made sure they could pull codes and whatever the requirements were. They then gave us a certificate that says it is smog legal. I have to show the certificate to the station actually doing the test. All they have to do is the snif test. Most places will do the visual as well though to make sure I haven't removed anything since getting the certificate. I don't remember having to pay for the certificate, but it has been about 8 or 9 years ago now.