TPI on a 6cyl

[Frederic Breitwieser]

Greetings,

I have a Buick 3.8L engine bagged from a FWD Buick LeSabre, which has the
same ECM and basic wiring harness as the Buick GN.  I have confirmed this
with someone who works for Buick, and take him at his word explicitly.

There are minor emission-hose differences according to the Chilton's
manuals I have, however they are very minor.  Most of the differences are
internal to the engine, such as cam-lobe sizing, bearing sizes, bolt
pattern on the back of the block (The GN uses a RWD style block, and the
LeSabre uses a FWD style block), the heads are different, and of course,
the code within the ECM are different.

What's a little known fact is some of the internals are completely
swappable, according to what I've found from several machine shops in the
area as well as a local GM dealer.

I'm :at some point: going to take this little FWD 3.8L and replace some of
the internals with GN aftermarket parts, and build a high-performance
engine.

There are many, many sites on the web that talk about GN engines, and the
3.8L FWD upgrades (such as adding a turbo), as well as the new generation
3800II engine.  Search infoseek for 'Buick 3.8L' and you will receive a lot
of hits... I'd pass along my Internet Explorer "favorites" list, however my
machine at work was recently "upgraded" to the corporate standard desktop,
which required the LAN guys to reformat my disk without asking.

Best of luck!


Frederic J. Breitwieser Jr.
Homebrew Automotive Mailing List
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/4605/index.html
Bridgeport, Connecticut USA


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> Are you saying that the GN system is the same as other buick 6cyl FI
> systems of the same time period with just a different EPROM?I don't know
> much about different GM systems and the years and models during which
> things changed. I just know a little about TPI systems since there is so
> much on the web and in catalogs for those things.  I have also seen
> numerous sites on Buick turbos, but figured it was a special system for
> GN.
> Is the MAF different between GNs and non turbo buicks?  Do non turbo
> buicks have the distributorless ignitions?
> I am interested in something REALLY common, so that I can get it from
> the local junkyard CHEAP!