LUVTruck.com

Why do people choose to swap in the 3.8L buick v6? Is there any specific reason or benefit. Just curious..

-Brandon

_________________
1980 Shortbed Mikado 4x4
1977 Chevy K20, a little more than mild 350, sm465, np205, 2.5" suspension lift, 37" tires
1995 Ford F150, 300 I-6, ZF-5, bw1356, 6" suspension lift, 3" body lift, 36" tires

Price,small, good power/mileage,dist in front where it belongs (OK that's that my preference),and still allot of them out there.

_________________
1978 pro street step/side 455Buick, 4sp,4.11s, 31/18.5s

When I did mine, the 4.3 didnt exist and there were kits available through companies for the buick.

_________________
Click on C.M. logo to go to my webpage


RIP R.J.B.

Does the 3.8L buick bolt up to any 4x4 transmissions?

_________________
1980 Shortbed Mikado 4x4
1977 Chevy K20, a little more than mild 350, sm465, np205, 2.5" suspension lift, 37" tires
1995 Ford F150, 300 I-6, ZF-5, bw1356, 6" suspension lift, 3" body lift, 36" tires

jeep used them for a while so i would guess that it should

_________________
My old but now gone Luv...

I've been doing a little reading on buick v6 swap mounts as well as Chevy motor swaps. But all the mounts I find are for 2wd LUVs 72-80. Are the 4x4 motor mounts different?

_________________
1980 Shortbed Mikado 4x4
1977 Chevy K20, a little more than mild 350, sm465, np205, 2.5" suspension lift, 37" tires
1995 Ford F150, 300 I-6, ZF-5, bw1356, 6" suspension lift, 3" body lift, 36" tires

love the buick.

is very light...... parts are fairly easy to find.... the block layout is almost ideal for a luv.... short and wide, and they can make huge power. more than a 4.3 can offer before block and crank integrity is an issue. Turbos bolt right up.

big cons of the buick? no matter how much you soup it up --- its still going to sounds like a singer sewing machine on steroids. Getting serious performance on them is not cheap. trust me I know. and nobody is going to want to be your friend. V8 guys hate em..... especially when there reputation is on there line.

As for transmissions, and GM auto and standard can be bolted to the engine provided you use a chevy to BOP adapter plate. but then again, if your running a GM 350 or 400, just have the trans case swapped out for a BOP unit during rebuild.

As far as I knew, nobody was still making mounts for the buick V6 drop into with the luv.

I run all buicks in all of my Luvs..... have had small blocks before.... and after the buick, I will never look back.

A.j.

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykgDNjeTa0g

The Buick's have there advantages but in the 4X4 you will have to probably modify the oil pan for clearance but would be worth it for the light weight and low speed torq. These little power plants still have a good following and plenty of parts available

Don't get me wrong as the 4.3 is a good power plant as well and will make more low end power then the Buick (4.3 vs 3.8 ) but the Buick is quite a bit lighter.

As for trans options you can go either manual or auto as the after market has both covered.

If you are building a daily driver i would suggest the Buick for it's power to weight ratio but if you are looking into a some what serious off road er then i say the 4.3 would be the better but remember that the stock front diff. will only handle so much power.

_________________
1978 pro street step/side 455Buick, 4sp,4.11s, 31/18.5s

dont forget theres always the buick 4.1 ........... and with some boring and stroking.... 5.0 is possible from a V6 Block.

A.j.

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykgDNjeTa0g

The distributor is at the front of the engine.

_________________
75 Luv, 350 V8, TH350, Camaro rearend. New 1975 Luv Step side. Stock for now.
Grandmaster of the "Shade Tree" way.. I can't see the yard for all the cars. Come on down and we will sit on the porch and watch the grass grow.

Yup all the good motors have the dist. up front

_________________
1978 pro street step/side 455Buick, 4sp,4.11s, 31/18.5s

saw a 78 buick v-6 turbo motor for 300$ here recently. no money though.

_________________
76 mikado project,mean green

LS1 motors have no dist, all alum. making it lite, lots of power in stock form. Prices are comming down on used and new motors and kits. A favorite for offroad buggies. I see this as the next popular swap motor due to power per cost ratio.

Just like most guys, you use what you got. Since a lot of Buick V6 still around for cheap it makes for a great swap engine in a light car or truck. Here is an example of it, the whole car with a Buick V6 for $99 on craigslist-

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/pt ... 84433.html

_________________

This was a very popular swap when I first bought my LUV, especially in 4x4 conversions like mine, since they started as 2wd- no oil pan clearance problems . There were kits available with everythiing needed to install but the motor & tranny. They weigh the same as the LUV 4cyl, have twice the cubes, HP & torque with a very low rpm for peak torque, which is another plus for 4x4's. I started to do this swap years ago, never did, somewhere under a buch of junk in a storage garage I still have an odd-fire engine with an Offy aluminum 4-barrel intake attached.

_________________
'78 Chevy LUV,1.9,4sp,headers,31's,SAS Dana 30,Dana 20,SOA rear w/Aussie Locker, rough body, bought new 12/4/78.
'87 Trooper,2.3,5sp,headers,31's,ball joint flip & spacer,Aussie Locker rear,Superwinch hubs,brush guard w/5.5K winch,more to come.

I have several turbo systems for the buick V6 in stock if you want to go this route.

im always willing to wheel and deal!

A.j.

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykgDNjeTa0g

I'm not into go fast as much as I'm into offroading. But maybe, some day... lol

_________________
1980 Shortbed Mikado 4x4
1977 Chevy K20, a little more than mild 350, sm465, np205, 2.5" suspension lift, 37" tires
1995 Ford F150, 300 I-6, ZF-5, bw1356, 6" suspension lift, 3" body lift, 36" tires

Get a Late buick V6, the early ones didn't like high RPM driving.... Ask me how I know

dist. goes in back silly v6 guys ahahahahaha

_________________
77-luv-stock (Selling or Parting out motor blew up)

75-luv mikado-V8 350 soon

Not on the early V-6. My Vortec is in the rear, my 231 is in the front.

_________________
Certified pilots, looking down on people since 1903.