im new to this forum and jus wanted to know if building my 3800 was worth my time iv'e herd so many differnt things i jus would like to here some input from some people like me you know camaro owners lol not tha honda ricer kids witch is all my friends thats all i here when i ask someone about something all i get back is sell the camaro and buy a civic so someone please give me some real input and let me know whats up

 

It's not really a question of yes or no, it's more about what are your goals and budget. I'm a die-hard buick 3800 fan, so I say they're worth building.

 

personally i like the 3800 camaro. i have one too. id defiantly take one over a honda any day but thats me its really up to you. theres also alot things u can do with them.

 

If all you want is to go fast get a V-8. You do not want to go much over 280 HP with your stock drive line that came with your V-6. A LS1 can hit 400 hp without a huge expense.

Many of the guys that go all out with 3800 just want to see how far they can push it. When you look at the money, time and skill it would take to get to 400 hp with a 3800 it is a lot easier to get there in a LS1 but then again 400 hp LS1s are pretty common. 400 hp 3800 are not. So to each his own.

 

I've priced it out. To really push a 3800 out, new cams, rollers, headers, the works, you're easily talking $5000 in parts, not even labor. That's without touching the transmission. And when you start on that, you may as well earmark another $4000 in suspension and another $1500 in exhaust. It adds up fast. I've justified it this way: I can push a 3800 well past the 300 horsepower mark for roughly $12,000, without a new paintjob. Add that to the $7000 I paid for the Camaro in the first place, and I'm at $19,000 and change. To me, that's not so bad when I'm doing most of the work, and the car with regular maintenance should last 20 years, which is far better than anything on the parking lots right now, and makes for a hell of a conversation piece. The other way I justify it is I've got two projects on paper right now to do LS7's in a Camaro, family project, and everything I tweek, learn, break or screw up on the V6, I use to know what not to do with a $15,000 crate engine. So for me, the experience of doing the work on the 3800 isn't just for show or for money's sake, its a long term thing, knowing full well the nickels i put in will be pennies coming out, helps me towards the bigger pictures later on.

 

You just failed harder than the guy that poured sand in his intake to port the heads. Hell, you can make 300 horse for $3000 or less if you know what you're doing.

 

hell yea thanks ill look into it for my self now and see what i come up with thin ill let you in on what going on

 

300 horsepower mark for roughly $12,000

With a stock 2002 Z28 at 310 that really does not make any sense. Even if you hit 300 HP you would still have much lower torque and you would be beat in a race by a stock 7K car. If you are not married to the V-6 idea you should just drive that car and have fun with it. Find 98 LS1 6speed that has a bad motor ($2000?) and rebuild that. Do some mods and hit 400 hp. You will learn a lot more because there are so many ways to get there with the LS1. The 3800 has very few performance parts out there it really is not as good a platform to learn on. Besides if you are really looking at a LS7 down the road the LS1 is a very simular motor. The 3800 is pretty close to the motor that was in the 1986 Buick Grand Nash just less the turbo.

 

This... I've spent less than a grand in parts and tuning and I'm sitting at 250 to the crank lol... Then again I do all my own work... The only thing I really paid for was my headers, tune, and pipe/muffler :$ Which equates to around $500... I'll get a cam and set of heads when I get a new job... At that point, I'll be flirting with 300 hp and much less than 12 grand. I like the fact I have a V6 that would surprise the hell outta most V8 fans.

 

I didn't say the engine for $12000. I can do an LS7 and still have change for $12,000. I'm talking engine, exhaust, suspension, brakes, the entire running gear for $12,000. I was also using ballpark figures. I've looked around, and yes, for roughly $3000, depending on who and the day of the week, I can get everything I need for the engine for between $3000 and $3500. Exhaust for $500 to $1000 depending on what you go with. Suspension to me is not just the upper and lower A arms, it's the torque arms, engine cradle, subframe connectors, strut brace, driveshaft loop, everything under the car. I prefer being a little overzealous on budgeting for stuff. You never know who's going to shank you on shipping and what not. It's easier for me to mentally budget $12,000 to get stuff shipped out here to the desert and be wrong and have $2000 or $3000 left over then budget for $6000 and be halfway through ripping out the suspension or engine and going 'ooops'.