Any experience with gasket sets. Felpro is so expensive. $200. Zz performance $200. Any other options? Diamond power? $100. I read that I should have the aluminum intake gasket set. I understand the OM was garbage. Any help would be a plus. Budget is running thin but I need to do right the 1st time so I don't have to do a second time.

 

I have a lot of questions in a lot of different areas. I have looked around in this forum to find answers. I'm a newby and wondering if breaking rules by asking questions that are not truly relevant to the original thread. Turbo 3800. I'm now just doing a solid rebuild on a used motor. Should I have a new thread about everything that is relevant to this build?

 

i can change the name of it for you if you want. its your thread and i tend to let the op decide the path of the thread.

 

I've never had an issue with Fel-Pro gaskets and wouldn't second guess using them at all. Get new head bolts if you do the head gaskets. I don't know if coolant passes through the intake on the 3800 like it does on the 3100/3400 series, but if so, check them when the intake is off. The 3100/3400s were known for blowing intake gaskets because the coolant passage would get gummed up from people not changing their coolant.

 

ZZP is expensive, I get the part numbers off ZZP's website and then look on Amazon and Rockauto. about 90% of the time I can find stuff cheaper than what ZZP sells it for. I dont know a lot about N/A 3800's, but the supercharged versions are known for leaking coolant from the intake manifold gaskets. a lot of people will block off the coolant passages on the supercharged lower intake manifold, because all its doing is going up to the throttle body. The aluminium coolant elbows are much better than the plastic, and only cost 1 dollar more for the pair.

My father in law just bought a used 2006 Buick Lucerne with 110,000 miles, and we looked for evidence of coolant leaks, and it wasn't hard to see they were starting to fail.

 

I guess it don't really bother me. The few people that have responded know where I'm at. And they seem to have a pretty in depth knowledge of this engine. I'll just start a new thread on the rebuild end of it. Just didn't want to **** anyone off. So if you prefer I'm ok with that. You can call it what you want.