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I have a 1996 SE with the 3.8L V6. It has been showing signs of the LIM/UIM gaskets failing for over a year now. Oil pressure is getting harder and harder to stay up above 40psi. Changing the oil filter and adding coolant has prolong getting this fix. Now I think its time to remove the whole engine and do a complete rebuild, gaskets, main rod bearings etc. But wanted to know if the engine can come out top side or the bottom side?

Thought is to remove the engine and have the heads milled and put a cam in with rockers. But wanted a little insight on how the engine comes out. Car has only 102K miles on it. Was my grandmothers car and she only drove it to chruch and back home. I would like to keep it for my kids to drive since it is paid for. Also looking at the possiblity of adding a turbo.

If your kids are going to drive I might steer clear of the turbo...lol

The engine can come out through the top or the bottom... I guess it really depends on what you want to do.. If you want to deal with the trans too then you could drop the cradle with the whole drivetrain.. I have pulled the motor out through the top on mine in the past.. Always a blast...

This time around, I will drop everything out through the bottom as I am going to rebuild the trans with some performance parts, and add a few goodies to the engine... This will make everything easier for me to deal with...

My opinion is also that you will be far better off finding a low mileage Series II or III engine (your car has a Series II, FWIW) to swap in. It's not worth it to try and rebuild your engine with all the low mileage units sitting in junkyards across the country.

In your garage at home I'd recommend going out the top. That will be fewer headaches and will just require an engine hoist and wrenches.

As well the series III has slightly better flowing heads, Molly coated rings and Pistons as well as Forged connecting rods... So there are some improvements to the newer L26 series III as compared to the L36...

It has the series III motor in it now. Which I think is better than the others. My main issue is I'll have to remove the motor in my drive way or carport. Droping the craddle would be diffitcult to do. How far up does the car have to be off the ground in order to drop the craddle? I would like to rebuild the trans since it is slipping in/out of overdrive.

How would it have the Series III in it? Did your grandma have it swapped in? The Series III didn't come out until 2004.

I would rather spend 300-500 on performance upgrades instead of just another junk yard motor. Becuase I'll still have to spend money on performance parts onto of the junk yard motor. At least I know what is wrong with my motor and know the maintenance history.

A full rebuild of your engine will be well over $1k once you figure machining, new rings, bearings, gaskets, getting the upgraded UIM, etc. I strongly urge you to look in your local junkyards and see if there are any Series III engines with low miles. You can then swap on your LIM, a sleeved UIM and your stock accessories and have some money leftover for some mods. www.car-part.com is a good place to look, and you will be looking for an engine for a 04-08 Grand Prix, Buick Lucerne/LaCrosse, Chev. Impala, etc.

We are just trying to find a cost effective avenue for you.... This is not like a Chevy motor where you spend $1200 and have a very strong motor...

You can easily spend $1200 on the L36 just trying to freshen it up, and then throw you performance parts at it.. The cheapest set of pistons you'll find will be in the $250 range... Piston rings will vary from $100 to $250... Then you have to have a complete gasket set... Bearings among any machine work you need... Make sure the crank retains the stock index too.. Have the rods checked and resized.. And to remove the Main caps you need the cap removal tool.. Heads will need to be dealt with... Its not a cheap motor..

If you want to build it thats cool... Also keep in mind when you start making more power the Trans will quickly become the weak link..

Just talking about the trans-I had the slipping in/out of OD and it turned out to be cracked vacuum lines. Lots of them. I would also use the red or black or both Lubegard products (w/a fresh filter & fluid change) before rebuilding a trans.

threshold wrote:Just talking about the trans-I had the slipping in/out of OD and it turned out to be cracked vacuum lines. Lots of them. I would also use the red or black or both Lubegard products (w/a fresh filter & fluid change) before rebuilding a trans.

I was thinking of the same thing of just replacing the fluids/filter change before pulling it out. There are so many vaccum lines don't know where to begin to look.

Jrs3800 wrote:We are just trying to find a cost effective avenue for you.... This is not like a Chevy motor where you spend $1200 and have a very strong motor...

You can easily spend $1200 on the L36 just trying to freshen it up, and then throw you performance parts at it.. The cheapest set of pistons you'll find will be in the $250 range... Piston rings will vary from $100 to $250... Then you have to have a complete gasket set... Bearings among any machine work you need... Make sure the crank retains the stock index too.. Have the rods checked and resized.. And to remove the Main caps you need the cap removal tool.. Heads will need to be dealt with... Its not a cheap motor..

If you want to build it thats cool... Also keep in mind when you start making more power the Trans will quickly become the weak link..

Thanks for all the input. I know what you mean about this is not a cheap motor to rebuild. Seems all the aftermarket parts for these engines are High$$. Even a good cam is over $300. I can get a good small block V8 cam for $120.
I Love this car and this year (1996) It has plenty of room and seems more room than the 2000 and up models. I call it my Poor Man's BMW. I just want to upgrade the motor to make it stronger and to get a more low end torque. But a 10 second car would be nice.

Easy to pull the motor right out the top with the hood on.I pulled my toasted L67(intake removed) with chains,4x4 and few friends easy..And I have looked at recyclers any 3800 L26,L32,L67 they are all dime a dozen at any given one and good prices,

Dads Toy wrote:

Jrs3800 wrote:We are just trying to find a cost effective avenue for you.... This is not like a Chevy motor where you spend $1200 and have a very strong motor...

You can easily spend $1200 on the L36 just trying to freshen it up, and then throw you performance parts at it.. The cheapest set of pistons you'll find will be in the $250 range... Piston rings will vary from $100 to $250... Then you have to have a complete gasket set... Bearings among any machine work you need... Make sure the crank retains the stock index too.. Have the rods checked and resized.. And to remove the Main caps you need the cap removal tool.. Heads will need to be dealt with... Its not a cheap motor..

If you want to build it thats cool... Also keep in mind when you start making more power the Trans will quickly become the weak link..

Thanks for all the input. I know what you mean about this is not a cheap motor to rebuild. Seems all the aftermarket parts for these engines are High$$. Even a good cam is over $300. I can get a good small block V8 cam for $120.
I Love this car and this year (1996) It has plenty of room and seems more room than the 2000 and up models. I call it my Poor Man's BMW. I just want to upgrade the motor to make it stronger and to get a more low end torque. But a 10 second car would be nice.

In that case you could get L67 Rods, and 9.5 : 1 pistons and have the assembly balanced... There are a few cams out there for the NA motor... I got a good deal on my NA Performance cam( Comp Cam )... They had an upgrade to the stock cam, more torque and more high end power over stock... The cam I got was designed for better throttle response, still retains a pretty good strong torque curve but can make power into the high 5000 to low 6000 range... Knows how to burn a little fuel too... I only bought that can as it fell in my lap for $180 New In Box... Hard to say no...

One of these days when I have more time, I will keep an L36 block and stuff L67 rods and 9.5 : pistons in it and have it balanced...

My van has a handfull of goodies... If I can get 250-260 Hp out of that motor than I am happy...


If you Mod you are going to have to tune... the 96 PCM is a funky beast and is a one off PCM... 97 is a lot like it, just smarter... But its also a 1 year only... I have not tried to hard but I am wanting to see if I can turn off the 96 PCM security with my tuner... With the 97 PCM this is no issue... The good thing is that the 96-97 PCM's are wired the same so with the security turned off in the PCM you could use a 97 PCM...

at the current my 95 Bonneville is wired as a 97 and the 97 PCM thinks its moving a GP GT around.. There is a good bit you can do..

WOW thats a lot of information. Tuning would be a hard thing to get done around here. I just wonder how hard it would be to just get a Supercharged 3800 serise II. I found a 2000 Supercharged series II for 750+150 core. This doesn't include the PCM. Would the 2000 PCM be a plug and play or would some wiring be needed? I could just cam out the replacement motor while its out and save the old 96' for somthing to play with later. Just want to melt asphalt...LOL I have only a 5-10 mile drive to work, so gas mileage is not important.