Modifications 3.8L 3800 supercharged

[Andy Andrews]

What performance mods are available for this engine in a 08 buick

Topic

[zero]

There’s only 2 things you can really do. Put an underdrive pulley on the blower to increase the effective output. Get a tune. It varies what you have to do from vehicle to vehicle. There are probably services to mail out your PCM (or whatever you want to call it) but the best results would be from a guy sitting on a dyno tuning it over the course of a few hours. Exhaust might help a bit, but until you completely purpose build the engine, most “mods” are just spending money.

[Brandon Driskill]

for more info you can go to a few forums that are dedicated to that engine setup:
http://www.regalgs.org/
http://www.3800performance.com/
http://www.clubgp.com/

[Brian]

Many people are shocked at how well something runs when a full round of basic maintenance is done. Hop up parts are not always needed.
You could have custom high flow headers made, but it’s my experience that those have a pretty free flowing exhaust from the factory.
MSD makes aftermarket ignition coils for it, accell might also. You could put iridium plugs in it and a higher flow air filter.
Lots of additives available, but I’ve had consistent great results from zmaxx, that alone makes things better.
The bearings in the nose cone will eventually go out, and then there are companies that have a swap out program for rebuilt ones. There are ceramic based bearings available for that nose cone.
If you ever need to replace a wheel bearing, don’t put cheap crap in, use either Timkin or Moog. That will make sure you have less rolling resistance.
Also change out the oil in the SC cone, use recommended oil with some zmaxx mixed in. The underdrive pulley as mentioned previously is a good idea.
Remember, if basic maintenance has been lacking, just do all the basics, like a tune up, fresh air and fuel filters with fresh plugs and an oil change will make noticeable improvements.

Also, I believe the manual on all SC 3800 engines calls for higher octane fuel, like 93 or close, but do not ever use any form of ethanol. That stuff has a small following in some other countries that are new to it, but those who have lived with it for decades know it’s complete garbage. It goes bad, like a food product and will clog and contaminate the injectors, it’s intensely hygroscopic so it sucks atmospheric moisture into the intake and fuel system, even when the car is off, that shortens the lifespan of the engine. It also contains less kilowats of energy per gallon than regular fuel, so your mileage goes down at least 30 percent.

I’ve noticed that GM cars don’t seem to like Bosch brand parts either. I’ve had consistently bad luck with them in GM cars and trucks, bit they work great in VW’s and other similar German cars.

[Ian Williams]

Under drive pulley , an CAI and exhaust , get the PCM tuned , inter cooler would help too . Depends how much you wish to spend . There is an Australian company called Mace Engineering who do performance parts for them [URL]maceengineering.com.au[/URL]

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