3.8 internals compatibility
 

I have a 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix 3.8 non supercharged does anybody know offhand if the rod bearings, main cap, main cap bearings and all that stuff are interchangeable from a 97 Camaro with a 3.8 cuz I have all the parts for a 97 Camaro 3.8 and I got to redo all the bearings in my Grand Prix so does anybody know offhand if I should be able to use those or should I just do what I was going to do and look up all the part numbers

I'm not sure I understand. You want to use what out of what for what?

08 Grand Prix
 

As long as they are BOTH L36 N/A engines.

Alright I'll check I have and the be part numbers for the stuff that's new so I'll have to prolly just cross check then for the Pontiac

If you have them apart you can see if the bearings fit and have the oil hole in the right place and you'll be good. If the bearings are still in the 'newer' condition (bearings that have not been broken into a different crank), less than 150 miles on them, otherwise I suggest replace with new. They are to low cost to do a shabby job.

Well I haven't taken the Pontiac apart yet is one of the rods or multiple is knocking but a buddy of mine used to have a 97 Camaro with the 3.8 and he bought all new rod bearings main shaft bearings billet caps ARP rod studs everything so it's all still new in the packaging I was just trying to see if anybody knew for sure before I started cross reference and everything and getting into all that if those would work on it since the parts were for a 97 Camaro 3.8

All Series 2 engines manufactured between 1995 and 2005 are all the same internals and blocks.

Yeah I was looking online last night apparently the Pontiac it's the series 3 I was looking up the rod bearings last night and the main bearings on Rock Auto and they are all the same part number between the 97 Camaro and my 2008 Grand Prix

I wasn't sure about the Series 3 engines, other than some of the accessories are different.

I think that's your best bet: If you were to order the correct parts for your 2008 3.8 and that parts kit is manufacturer stock number 12345-67-89.0 and the parts kit that you have in-hand is 12345-67-89.0 then you're probably good.

I'm curious: Do you know what caused this fairly-young 3800 to have a major problem like this?

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Well we originally bought the car because the dude was moving and he couldn't take it with him he said he had just rebuilt the transmission and drove it to Phoenix and flag a couple times in Arizona and started knocking so I figured for the price which we paid $400 wasn't a bad deal even if it was a rod bearing and I figured it could possibly be the flexplate if he didn't know what he was doing when he put the tranny in but after I inspected it the tranny seems to be fine and it definitely seems more like a rod knock but I think it was caught just in time before it got bad cuz the car starts up perfectly fine and the knocks really not that bad but it's bad enough to where I would want to drive it and my buddy ended up having ARP head studs rod bolts main bearings rod bearings billet main caps so pretty much all I had to do was order head gaskets and I order new rings figured we might as well just go through it all since are going to have it apart anyway but I figured for $400 car a hundred forty thousand miles on it that's actually a really nice car it's pretty clean figure I could put some money into it

That makes sense. Looks like a good car.

Anyone taking journal wear/damage from knocking into account?

Pulling motor this weekend so we shall see

Motor out
 

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Well motors out cylinder 6 bearing was shot I think crank might need to be replaced too

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I would either turn the crank or replace with new.

I'm looking at cranks online right now found one on Rock Auto from crankshaft supply but it says it's for the series 2 motor but it's what popped up when I put my year and motor info in

Call a machine shop. They'll know.

Well Rock Auto is no helpI got off and emailed them cuz the only thing that pops up is a series 2 Crank that they have and the guy said something that fit my series 3 so does anybody know I would imagine that the bore and stroke and stuff like that was all the same for those engines the kranks be the same cuz they change the series 3 in like 06

I believe it is the same. The changes for the Series 3 were top-end.

The RockAuto part (Crankshaft Supply 14034) appears to have the "Series II engine" tag applied to differentiate between the crankshaft they were already supplying for the Series 1 (which is a 14032). It appears this tag was added back when the 1995 Series II got onto their books within the same model year as the Series 1 was still being installed.

Worst case, you have to send it back at a nominal cost.

If you want to be extra super super sure, call or email them: http://crankshaftsupply.com/

Crankshaft
 

Well I ordered a crankshaft supply series 2 crank after all the feed back and a call to zzperformance the said all series 2 and 3 cranks are the same just that series 2 are more common. So I have. New crank, main bearings, rod bearings, oil pump, gaskets for everything, aluminum coolant elbows , and God only knows what else I ordered lol so just waiting right now I'll post pics when it all gets here thanks for all the feed back guys really appreciate it

What is going on here anyone know
 

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That don't look normal?
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Looks like the water jacket is clogged. Interesting.

I cleaned it all out it was pretty thick but where those holes are on the lower intake manifold there's no holes there anyway it's just that solid aluminum wall that runs into I thought that was weird that it clogged up right there in the blockage was right there cuz there's nowhere for the water to go through that passageway on the intake

Connecting rods
 

So this is my first complete tear down the rod that spun Im pretty sure got damaged to is there anyway I can go get a good rod at a yard and use it?

You should be able to. Personally, I'd grab a matching set.

Yeah that's what I was thinking too I was going to at least weigh them make sure that the same weight but I got a couple of buddies that have built a couple 3.8 and both of them said I should be good cuz I'm not really putting any power to it was pretty much putting it back stock eventually I'm going to get another motor probably build it with the supercharger I just made me want to get this 1 running so it's a decent little car cuz I daily drive a V8 Chevy so ya lol.

Makes sense. The issue would come up if you get one rod and it is different because someone else has been through the donor engine and changed stuff. While you're in there, it's not much more work or expense to pull all six.

With the prices of engines at a lot of the lots, it might be easier and better to just buy a whole donor engine and yank parts as-needed.

Yeah that's what I was thinking about 2 one of my friends actually has a 2006 Grand Prix and I guess his dad got it and it doesn't have a title but the motors has like 30000 original miles and he wants like $600 because there's no title but I wanted to get that motor and put a supercharger on it

A NA 3800 won't last too long with a SC slapped on top. You'd need to swap rods, heads, injectors, PCM tune, and some other stuff to make one that would last.

Yeah I'm not just going to throw the supercharger on it Alpine do forged internals and then going to swap like the harness the PCM injectors and whatever else yeah Im definitely not just throw it on a stock motor

I don't remember but I know somebody was telling me that if you do all the stuff right to the na motor and put a supercharger on it it's actually a little bit faster than like the GTP

The block and crank are the same between NA and SC. The heads are the same except the SC heads have ports machined onto them for the injectors where the NA heads have blank spaces that are perfect for machining in injector ports. Just about all of the other major pieces are different until you get out to the timing chain, water pump, pulleys, etc.

"Somebody" is technically correct in that they can be built faster etc. than a standard L67, however, there is nothing inherent in the L36/L67 common parts (block/crank/etc. listed above) than makes them better or faster than the same L67 part.

Yeah cuz when I was looking crank zzperformance told me pretty much that the crank all that stuff is all the same between like series 2 and all that stuff I wasn't sure about the supercharged models