3.8 Supercharger Questions!
 

Hi All,

I have a 98 V6 Camaro with Full Cat back and custom headers. My neighbor has a Buick with a supercharged GM 3.8 in it. We were talking and I found out he has an extra working superchanger he is willing to give me. I can work out the bracket, pulley, and belt, but I don't know any thing about changing fuel feed codes in the computer.

Any suggestions about programers would help.

George

Fuel feed codes? do you mean the tune? Installing that super charger is not worth the effort. Just do a search it has been covered 17,361 times.

Hey Gorn, don't discourage ambitious new project undertakers! Better to provide encouragement, and just let them know about the challenges...

Why would I encorage someone to spend a bunch of money and a ton of time so they can add 40 HP? If he searchs hopfully he will see its not worth the work. Slapping a super charger or a turbo charge on an engine that is not built for is a mistake even if it fits and it was a direct bolt on. We really should have a stick for the supercharger question. It comes up almost as much as the V6 to V8 question.

My problem with your answer is that I was given the super charger and the rest (belt, pulley, and bracket) are cheep and easy. I already have it at 230 HP with my modifications and I only expected a 40 to 60 HP gain. I would love to hear from a person that has already installed a SC on their V6 and find out what they did for their fuel feed codes rather that someone with your opinion.

You will not get a post from someone who has done it because there are only a few people in the world who have done it. I'll do the search for you. The problem is the location of the throttle body. It will be about where you radio is. We know of 2 people that have installed it. One had access to a complete proto type machine shop and the other was Merlin lol.

If you search through the below links you will find a post that linls to another forum. Search for the name Merlin in a link. I would post the direct link to Merlins thread but that would go against the forums rules.

This is a Sticky in the V6 Section
https://camaroforums.com/forum/93-02-v6-tech-14/3-8-v6-inititial-mod-guide-32868/

This is our most recent thread its 3 days old in the V6 section.
https://camaroforums.com/forum/93-02-v6-tech-14/few-about-gm-supercharger-guys-more-experience-52875/

230 at the wheels, or crank? What mods are done already?

Ya don't have to discourage folks, just present the facts. After all, we would ALL benefit from more people doing these kinds of mods -- there have to be trailblazers!

Really, a trailblazers for a mod that has been possible for almost 15 years? A rebuild like Musicman or Darling Reject is doing is much better use of resources. This whole add a turbo to supercharger to a stock motor with 100K on it is a mistake. Back in the day we put Turbos and Superchargers on cars with motors that where built for boost. Anyone doing otherwise was a joke and would be openly laugh at.

I hear all the time that these 3.8s are good for almost unlimited HP and 200K. It’s BS in their stock form. They are mass produced crap that was designed to make past the warranty. There is a ton of variation in manufacturing. How strong your motor is luck of the draw. These motors are only as strong as there weakest links. Many of the guys that race their cars run in excess of 5500 RPMs dozens of times but if everyone on this site did it I bet 5% would blow their motor first time. Since these motors stock can handle up to 9 Psi of boost and we see no boost engines fail all the time we can say these motors can handle between 0-9 pounds of boost. So the only real question is how much can yours handle? There is only one way to find out. Or you tear down that mass produced POS and rebuild it with some parts that fix the weak spots (like rod bolts) and you can make sure it is put together right and all the clearances are where they should be.
I bought my 96 with 131,000 miles on it. It was garages kept and dealer serviced it whole life and driven by a middle aged lady. The motor spun a main bearing. The motor was as clean as could be inside. It showed no signs of oil starvation and no metal leading into the main that spun. It was simply over loaded. The lady told me she let her boy friend drive it one night. So if one night of hard driving can wipe out a motor how would that same motor react to a supercharger?

But not all of us are going to care to try to race a 3.8L -- many just want more fun for a daily driver (this would be me) -- so it all depends...

Also, the middle aged lady may have been the culprit, as sadly, many women have no clue or interest in proper car maintenance -- simply taking it to a shop doesn't check the fluids in-between, nor does it ensure a shop has not missed something...

I would not call the 3800 "crap", The 3800 Series II was on the Ward's 10 Best Engines list for 1995 through 1997, and is one of the most-produced engines in history with over 25 million produced:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward%27s_10_Best_Engines