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How to supercharge a NA 3800?
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 2:58 pm
by epic_pwn_95
How do you supercharge the naturally aspirated 3800? Is it difficult? My buddy bought a 2001 Monte Carlo SS and wants to supercharge it, I told him I know where to find the answers. Would it be cheaper or more reasonable to buy a used SC 3800, as his has 190k+ on the clock?
Re: How to supercharge a NA 3800?
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 6:37 pm
by In_da_boondocks
There is info on that here somewhere. But if the car is an SS it should already be supercharged. If it's not, you can put in an L67. But it would be far easier to buy a stock supercharged car.
Re: How to supercharge a NA 3800?
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 6:47 pm
by 01bonneSC
In_da_boondocks wrote:There is info on that here somewhere. But if the car is an SS it should already be supercharged. If it's not, you can put in an L67. But it would be far easier to buy a stock supercharged car.
SS was just an appearance package, AFAIK.
Re: How to supercharge a NA 3800?
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 6:48 pm
by 00Beast
SS Supercharged's didn't appear until 03 or 04, IIRC. Even then SS was just an apperance pkg, you had to get the SS Supercharged to get the L67.
Re: How to supercharge a NA 3800?
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 6:56 pm
by willwren
The best way to do it is sell the car and buy a supercharged model.
The second best way is to swap in the entire drivetrain....engine, trans, axles, wiring harness, PCM, etc.
The third best (worst IMO) is to top-swap, which is cylinder heads, LIM, TB, supercharger, fuel rail, injectors, then get a custom tune and pray the bottom end holds.
Re: How to supercharge a NA 3800?
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 7:07 pm
by 01bonneSC
Or if you want to avoid actually swapping anything and he can swing it, just get buy a Monte that has a factory supercharger. L32 right?
Re: How to supercharge a NA 3800?
Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2011 7:34 pm
by dpcookson
In_da_boondocks wrote:... But it would be far easier to buy a stock supercharged car.
willwren wrote:The best way to do it is sell the car and buy a supercharged model.
01bonneSC wrote:Or if you want to avoid actually swapping anything and he can swing it, just get buy a Monte that has a factory supercharger.
Not sure if anyone else has thought of this but maybe just sell the car and buy a supercharged one.LOL

Re: How to supercharge a NA 3800?
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 4:09 pm
by Ghosthawk
You can probably get a used L67 engine /trans combo for less than the cost of another car. If the car you have is in otherwise good shape (aside from high miles) or he just wants to keep it for whatever reason, but like willren said, you'll need the PCM, harness and axles as well.
Check with Morad Parts company as he has a wide selection of engine/trans to pick from. His prices can be on the high side, but I've had good experience with his staff on answering questions. ZZ Performance can also be a good source as well as the guys over at 3800pro.com
Good luck!
Re: How to supercharge a NA 3800?
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 5:50 pm
by 01bonneSC
dpcookson wrote:In_da_boondocks wrote:... But it would be far easier to buy a stock supercharged car.
willwren wrote:The best way to do it is sell the car and buy a supercharged model.
01bonneSC wrote:Or if you want to avoid actually swapping anything and he can swing it, just get buy a Monte that has a factory supercharger.
Not sure if anyone else has thought of this but maybe just sell the car and buy a supercharged one.LOL

We were just making sure the point got acrossed lol
OP, are you and your buddy very mechanically handy?
Re: How to supercharge a NA 3800?
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 7:43 pm
by willwren
And are you prepared to make the resale value of the car nearly zero?
Re: How to supercharge a NA 3800?
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 7:46 pm
by 01bonneSC
willwren wrote:And are you prepared to make the resale value of the car nearly zero?

Re: How to supercharge a NA 3800?
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:05 pm
by dpcookson
I totally agree, it's not worth while, unless there's some kind of self gratification to be had it can't be stressed enough to avoid swapping anything and to just find a car with what you want.
Re: How to supercharge a NA 3800?
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 2:17 pm
by Jrs3800
Gonna make a couple of comments here...
A lot of people out there have supercharged the L36 Bottom end... But most of them have the ability or knows someone that had the ability and knowledge to tune... If you run lean on the L36 Bottom end you will quickly have an expensive paper weight... I am not saying you can't do this, but you must become very well versed in tuning to help the engine survive, and even then it may not live as long as you would like..
The 2 simplest ways to go are either find a supercharged car or get a complete L67 Drop out...
My .02