From what i've seen the 3800 II */C can take a beating. But honestly for all of you that drive them hard or mod them how many repairs do you do? I just feel like if i'm hard on my car bad things are going to happen. My friend keeps on telling me that i'll ruin my car by driving it hard. He says it doesn't matter what car you have the engine will have problems or you will have it in the shop every week if you drive it hard. Is this true? If it is what repairs have all you done due to modding and hard driving? I don't want to ruin my car due too my led foot.

The SSEi has been driven moderately hard its enitre life. (going on a little over 4 years now) It has over 120k on it and still running strong. It has been in the shop twice ever...once to fix one of the stupid rear windows, the other time to fix a intake manifold gasket. Other than that just normal maintenance. If you REALLY drive the car hard then it probably will cost you a lot in maintenance, but getting on it a lot from stoplights or whatever isn't gonna hurt it too much. The GTP gets the **** beat out of it and the only thing it has ever broken is a halfshaft and a couple differentials. (knock on wood) We put bulletproof halfshafts in it and seem to be having good luck with this differential, so its looking good right now. But you do have to remember the GTP only has 28k on it.

Shawn

My guess is, most of your repairs will be suspension related (tires, hubs, tie-rods, engine mounts, etc...). If you take care of the engine with regular maintenance and don't mod it stupidly (Ie 3.0 pulley as the only mod) these blocks are tanks and should last you a long time. I've probably beaten mine quite a bit harder then most here and it keeps begging for more. Granted I only have 50k on it but half of its life it has been modded (mildly if not extensively).

Be smart about your mods, and don't try and drive in the winter like you do in the summer and you should be ok. As for the SC itself, there really isnt anything in it your going to destroy to the point where less then 100.00 wont fix it (coupler, gears).

I drive my car hard.. but I don't do it while the engine is warming up [big mistake]. DON'T drive the car before the engine has reached operating temp, otherwise you WILL cause damage. If you take care of your engine, transmission, and all the other essentials, you will be fine.


-justin

I drive hard rarely.

But since I just got this car, there are minor problems.

The only thing with the engine, is there is a pinhole leak in the rear valve cover gasket. I just found out. So a slight amount of oil leaks. I am getting that fixed soon though.

I'd definately have to agree with justin on this one, i see this way too many times and it makes me cringe when people start up their car and its barely started and they have it in gear and as soon as its out of the parking lot they stomp on it. When it gets cold i definately make sure i start my car ahead of time and let it warm up.

if you drive really hard you will likely eventually experiance fraggedtrannyitis....especially if you mod....the only real weak point om these cars is the tranny. Also if you get a smaller pulley get a smaller belt LOL or sometimes they can slip off......uh I dont know how I know this I just do Trust me driving an L67 w/o its SC is frighteningly slow!!!

Agreed. The 3800 should take anything you throw at it, but watch out for its other companion under the hood.

i think ever topic has been taken care of