im thinking of pulling a 3800 out of an olds and putting in my sunfire is there something out there like a how to? and how hard is it what would i have to change over it will be going in a 2000 sunfire 2.2l with an automatic tranny. thanks i tried looking but couldnt find a how to. i know its been done thanks..

no how to alot of work . ill sell you mine it has a bad trans

Im going to make this simple as I can without giving you the search lecture...

Custom EVERYTHING.

The end.

If you can't weld it can get expensive

no idea if the stock 4T65E will mount the same in a J never looked??? i know they use a rubber hockey puck like mount on the bottom. you can use a 4t40E from a J but who long will it hold thats a different question

if your doin an auto get a 4t65HD better trans



JBO since July 30, 2001

how much you want for the car??
well i have a rebuilt tranny in the car the motor is starting to knock and i wanna upgrade i can weld but didnt know if the tranny in my sunfire would bolt up to the 3800 or not..

if its a 2.2 or 2200 it will but not recommended, you can but you will want more thats for sure i'm using the F23 trans and 1st is pointless

do a search cause theres lots of info around but keep in mind you can do an eco and do the saab turbo cheaper then a 3800 swap

3800s are money pits cause your never done theres so much aftermarket that it keeps you wanting more you have to do this in order to use this trust me i'm there right now



JBO since July 30, 2001

i wanna get another j to start from so if you can find a z cav or sunfire gt with a bad motor i would trade depending on shape mine is a series 1 3800 and i want to start over with a manual car and a series 2 but i would probably sell it for 1000 cash if i can find a new car to start from first


Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Tuesday, November 25, 2008 7:10 PM

no sh*t blair nebraska i live in sioux city IA lol that would work perfect i also do work out of my garage ive done a few swaps if you want to pay somone to do a swap the car still runs and drives the trans just slips under heavy loads (burnouts ect.....) i drove it to onawa from my house(35 or so miles) it got 24 mpgs with the 3 speed

it bolts in.

seriously.


(are these threads on a 2 for 1 sale or something? awful lot of these things lately..)

DaFlyinSkwir(LS61) /PJ/ OEM+ wrote:it bolts in.

seriously.


(are these threads on a 2 for 1 sale or something? awful lot of these things lately..)

i know ive noticed that also

i have to think about the price some work some numbers what tranny would work in there with no problems???search craigs list omaha nebraska i saw like 4 gts for around a grand or 2.

im cheap anything over 500 is too much i only paid 150 for my car lol .... its a 125C now but if you changed the a few things anything would work i was gonna put a 5 speed in this winter when i swapped the series 2 supercgarged motor in but i would rather start from scratch again just a few things i would do diffrent i want to try to run 2 ecm's so my gauges will all work and still look stock i also would rather start with a 5 speed car it would just make it easier but if you really wanna do a swap and you were going to do all the work yourself i would recomend a 3400 swap its alot easier

the reason theres so many is cause its winter and people want to work on there cars over the winter it seems every year around this time this or the 3400 topic comes up like crazy then once they realize the work and fabrication needed most people just buy an intake for the 2.4L

i would do an eco with a saab turbo setup to be honest the torque the 3800 puts out kills your 60ft time since your traction is horrible what are the 2.2eco with saab turbo running 1/4 mile there what low 14s



JBO since July 30, 2001

@#$! the 3800... supercharged or not its not really worth it... 3400 eco or 2.4 would be the best bets... at least they would be easier...

i didnt think the 3800 swap was to badi mean yeah the subframe the motor mounts and what not but everyone says its alot of work but if you have to buy everything it cost about 2000 or better just to have a running car thats why i figured hell 1000 is a hell of a deal i thought somone would jump on it the wiring and subframe are worth about that

Sunb1rd(missed teh org) wrote:@#$! the 3800... supercharged or not its not really worth it... 3400 eco or 2.4 would be the best bets... at least they would be easier...

you my friend have no clue what your talkin about

2.2 Eco is the easy one
3400 would come in 2nd for dificult level
3800 would obviously be the hard one of the 3 but not that difficult if you have the tools, can weld, have an idea how to fabricate.

if you are looking to buy your mounts then the 3800 is not for you
Motor, wiring, PCM, Hoses was about 800 after buying a couple new things
Transmission sold the 2.4 one for 250 but the one i needed for 300 so 50 bucks with linkages
850 so far
clutch 500
flywheel 200 shipped and machined
1550 so far
200 for a tune
300 for misc things liek heat wrap for hoses and my engine mount bushings
2550
then 500 for the car
3050

so for 3050 you don't think a 3800SUPER is worth it. if you are paying someone to do it probably not you can get good numbers from an eco with a saab turbo. mine was built by smcavalier and I took us 1 month we worked friday and saturday and 1 day through the week for a month and completed it. look at his car you will see why it was done so fast



JBO since July 30, 2001

Sunb1rd(missed teh org) wrote:@#$! the 3800... supercharged or not its not really worth it... 3400 eco or 2.4 would be the best bets... at least they would be easier...

Well... I guess I give up then, seeing how the 3800SC isn't worth it compared to a 3400 or eco................................. lol.

yeah issak just give up not worth it at all i think i'm gonna sell my car and downgrade my power to an eco.

ps i will have your spindles and things this week the should be done this weekend they look pretty sweet



JBO since July 30, 2001

3800 are worthless a guess i wasted somuch of my time im gonna have to give up also and i just spent 600 on a clutch just curios has anyone tried to piggy back the j's ecm to work the guages? im going to try it and i wanted to know if it works well or not



Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Saturday, November 29, 2008 8:18 AM

If you were to keep it automatic, go with the regular 4T65E trans (The GT one). It has better gears than the 4T65E (3.29s compared to 2.XX on the HD). If you're concerned about the differential, you can swap the axles, differential, output shaft, and differential cover from a 4T65E-HD to the regular 4T65E. The only reason this is beneficial is because the HD trans has a beefier differential which will stand up to one wheel peels a hell of a lot longer than a 4T65Es. My original non-HD differential stood up to around 40 passes of improper one wheel burnouts before it exploded. Both of them are open style differentials, and if your suspension is set up correctly & trans isn't a beat ass slipping POS you can use the 4T65E for true two wheel burnouts just fine. There are top swapped L36s that run low 12s on GT differentials all day. The weak parts in that trans are the input shaft and drive chains. If you upgrade your input shaft and drive chains to a single chain, that trans will take a decent beating.

Series II and III 3800s are the candidates most ideal for a swap, as the series I engines have very minimal aftermarket. You're pretty much limited to individual pulleys (not an MPS set up.) and rockers on the series I M62. Not to mention the series II engines received an M90 as an upgrade, and the series IIIs have a higher efficiency gen V M90. Series III 3800s also have drive by wire throttle bodies. The series II and III components will interchange, whereas series I will not.

NOTa2_4 wrote:yeah issak just give up not worth it at all i think i'm gonna sell my car and downgrade my power to an eco.

ps i will have your spindles and things this week the should be done this weekend they look pretty sweet

Excellent, thanks Matt, hope Jeffy appreciates the cheap big brakes

He better

i have an account now at the other machine shop this could be bad told me anything i need just drop it off they can bill me later i was like oh @!#$




JBO since July 30, 2001

So... who else needs big brakes?

KIDDING...... not going to get into that

ok, so, obviously, you guys are not too happy with your swap to 3800...what are some of the main bad points(other than cost, and need of custom parts)

if going eco-tec, which engine would be best? 2.2, or 2.4?(or any other engines?)(i have a 2000 cavi 2.2 auto...i'm guessing i don't have to tell ya why i wanna upgrade...)

Dave De Stefano wrote:ok, so, obviously, you guys are not too happy with your swap to 3800...what are some of the main bad points(other than cost, and need of custom parts)

I dont understand... you just answered your own question... theres not much more to it... It will break more... gas milage will suck... lots of labor...