Personal opinion - no balance shafts and do not think they had roller lifters. The whole 3800/4spdO/D combo has just gotten better every year and still is around (what is a 3.9 ?). Currently have 3 - 88, 90, & 92 (and an 88 power module on a pallet)

Balance shaft is said to be a idle thing. I dont know it may help across the whole range. 60* V6 guys said 60* is naturally balanced for V6 anyhow and 90* V6 is folish design. We know Buick developed it by building it on assembly line with 225 &300 ci 90* V8'*. That was the basics of the old odd fire engine. When they bought the rights back they quickly changed to even fire but stayed with 90*. Well its worked out good anyhow.

Do you really think roller lifters are that big of a deal ? Im just not sure. It seems like they are a everylast fraction kind of performance gain. Im sure they are way better for durability.

My 86 3 litre with all its then modern electrical tec & 9.5:1 got 125 HP. My 1964 1725cc(when their that small every cc counts) Alpine engine was 100 hp (stock)with solid flat lifters, rocker shafts and nothing special in the "tech" department. 9.3:1 compression in Aluminum heads and factory tuned exhaust. 4 into 2 into 1.

On another note they both got nearly the same gas milage, but by then my engine was worked up to 140-150 range. It was strong but the cars weigh was 2330.

I once did go on a venture searchign aroudn the net for info to fix my tranny issue we (were) discussing. And i did glance over a "tv cable" thing.

What is the TV cable? Doing a quick search i see it'* the "Throttle Valve cable" which must mean it'* the 'other' braided steel cable that is hooked on to the throttle body on my car (the other 2 being the accelerator pedal'* and then the cruise control'* cables).

So anyone know how to adjust this? Any ideas? I also read that having it maladjusted can cause SERIOUS problems so I'd like to go into this knowing ahead wha ti 'm getting into

Throw whatever you got at me

Mike Diaz
'87 Bonneville:
Bonne Stock + home-brewed Intake / K&N Filter

On my 92, the cable is clipped to a flange that has a handful of mounting points for adjusting the cable. If it'* too tight, your throttle won't close.

With 85,000 on the clock, my wife decided to visit family in Indiana. Was right at the zero degree mark. One day she called me to say that the oil light was coming on at idle. Flew up with a new sender but same-same. Took to dealer and after a full day said was nothing wrong and the guage was off.

Drove home at Interstate speeds with a stop at Gatlinberg (was nice befre Dollyland). Put real gage on at home. 19 psi max & zilch at idle. Found the center cam bearings in somewhat mangled condition in bottom of pan. Never missed a beat. I like roller lifters.

Now this was a LN3-C ? Wonder why cam bearing went ? Wonder why dealer "techs" wanted you to ruin your engine ? You dont need to answer that one

I remember the old 60'* & 70'* Chevys had flat camshafts and shot lifters at 90,000 miles. Until mid 70'* Buick and Olds used much higher quality casting. Not sure about Pontiac. Must be rollers were the way around this expensive casting to get the endurance. Good idea.

Have heard of one other like instance on a '90 3800. Key seems to be a very cold start (before that trip car had been garaged in Florida and never experienced a real cold start).

I wrote to the dealer in Indiana with a copy of their report but never received a reply. Still have the block but at the time there were no oversized cam bearings available & would not trust stock ones after the originals spun, are there oversized ones avalable now ? Everything else showed no wear.

Did we ever find out how he got 250hp from the LG3? Didn't that stock only output 150hp?

I've got an LN3 in my 91, stock output 165hp, very curious if I can do similar stuff to it. A 100hp gain out of mine would be SOOO SWEET!

Merlin heres the only detailed LN3-C build I know of. Lots of reading, grab a cup of coffee. Im 86 2dr.ltd Steve on this forum and BCA without theSteve. LoType is the guy with the LG3-3 build

http://www.lesabret.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2663

Im a little sceptical about the 250 on that LG3-3 engine but I do have my fingers crossed. He still wants to find some rockers, injector and TB work, plus rear header. Maybe then but I think more compression would be needed. 10:1 or 10.5:1. Im just going by the L36 that only came up at 205. Frankly I think you would need 12.5:1 and race fuel to make 250 NA out of 231ci.