So I'm pretty sure I spun a bearing, and since I need to pull the motor anyway my question is am I better off just putting a motor in my car or should I rip this thing out just send the crankshaft out to have the bearings replaced? What is the average cost of each? The supercharged motors seem pretty expensive. Is there a difference between the SC and non SC other than the intake and the blower? I was told the rocker arms are also different in the SC model. There is a place out by me that replaces the bearings for a couple hundred dollars. My main thing about not wanting to put a motor in it is because I've replaced all the gaskets on my motor, so I know they are all good and I don't want to have to buy a motor that needs all that work done to it again. Any input is greatly appreciated.

I think you need to understand what caused the bearing to spin before making that decision. Is the engine sludged up? Did you run it low on oil? If you replace the bearings without addressing the underlying issue, you will end up doing it again.

Typically the easiest/cheapest route is a nother motor. When reassembling our motors they want to align bore and be checked in every direction by a machine shop. Also the rod ends tend to cause issues when they are torqued because they distort shape. Which makes it nearly impossible to just stuff a set of bearings in and head down the road.

I've lost 2 engines, one from a bad cam bearing, the other was a bad rod bearing. In both cases I found my best option was to get a short block and rebuild. Figure about $250 in gaskets, plus a good short block, then move all the parts over, drop it in and your set. I don't suggest playing with the crank bearings. The NA engine has a 9.5:1 compression, the SC engine has 8.5:1

Man this really sucks. I can't find a SC engine anywhere locally for cheap, and I'm definitely not made of money. I'm already missing work just so I can pull the dam thing. The only thing I can think of why it spun would be because the LM gaskets let loose and I didn''t have the money/time to do the job until a couple weeks later. But I did those like 3 months ago and all of a sudden now this happens. I changed the oild and didnt see any metal or anything in it. Another quick question I can't seem to get this last tranny bolt, do I need to remove the rear exhaust manifold to get to it? I think that is the only thing left holding the motor in.

Talk to Erik at Morad Parts Company. Mention that BillBoost sent ya.

To get that last bolt, make sure the diff to engine bracket is off. Remove the passanger side tire. Look threw there and you will see the bolt. Put a bunch of extensions together with a 18mm socket. And off it will come, nothing to it.

my boss told me he has a 3800 sc at home he would sell me but he doesn't remember what year it is from. As long as it is a series 2 will it fit in any year? or did they use a different transmission for some of the years? or anything else that may be different? can I just match the tags on the back of the motor to be sure? if this motor will work and I buy it, should I just go ahead and replace a manifold gaskets with the new steel ones since it will already be out of the car?

also is it possible to just buy a regular 3800 and put my top end on it? I was told the transmissions might be different? I was also told to supercharged version uses of upgraded rocker arms?

My boss said he is 90% sure that motor is a series 2 out of a buick. So this should just drop right in correct? Erik from Morad told me if the motor I get isn't from a bonneville, (I'm assuming he just means H body cars?), that I will need to swap the oil filter adapter bracket, a couple motor mounts and the oil pan. Anyone have any experience with this? Is there anything else involved with this that I should know about? Will I know just by looking at the new motor if I need to do this?

Ok, so I picked up this motor and this thing is super clean. It only has 2000 miles on it and I got it for 500 bucks, clearly my boss hooked me up on this one. I just need to swap over a bunch of the things from my motor to it. Tensioner, SC tensioner, oil filter bracket, ac compressor, oil pan, fly wheel, fuel injectors and rail, the rear exhaust manifold, starter, coil pack and replace some gaskets. Other than that this should be ready to rock. I even got the computer with it so I can hopefully make some money back from that. If all goes well I'll have the beast up and running again by Thursday.