I've had my Bu for six years now. Love it! Since I drove it home the first time I though 'they should have made an SS option.' Then they brought the badge back for the following generation. My 3.1 runs well, however I have been finding metal shavings when I change the oil. I am now at the point where I am able to replace the motor and I want to make the SS GM should have made. I have found that the 3.8 is also a 60 degree motor and I believe that the Series II is the more sound and better designed motor. I in no way intend to let my Bu go in the future so I don't mind throwing money at it to create what I want. From motor to brakes and suspension please give me any feedback you may have. Has anyone seen this conversion completed successfully? Thanx! Hope this isn't too much for an initial post to the community lol.

First off, welcome. I don't know of any swaps that have been done like this. You will be going from a 60 degree 3.1 V6 to a 90 degree 3800. You would need to make mounts to work for the new engine, a new engine harness, and more modifications to make the engine fit properly. I am not saying it is impossible, but it would take a good amount of money, time, and ingenuity. It may be cheaper to search for ways to modify the 3.1 or look into a 3400 swap which is supposed to be much easier.

Thanks for your response. I considered the 3400. I'm not sure how much power I can get out of that motor. I'm not the most mechanically knowledgable person, so I don't know all of the performance parts available for build up. With the 3400, I assume I would still need to swap tranny's and the main harness?

From what I have seen it is a fairly easy swap that has been done many times. Do a google search for 3100 to 3400 swap and it brings up a lot of topics that may help you out. As for performance there are a decent amount of modifications that can be done to have noticeable gains and go overboard on price. Here is an example of one site I foundhttp://wot-tech.com/shop/la1-3400-performance-parts/cat_55.html. You may be able to build up the 3100 decently too, but not sure. Grand Am sites are good for finding modification ideas for the 3100 and 3400.


Edit: 3100 performance parts on the same site http://wot-tech.com/shop/sort-by-engine/3100/cat_32.html Also, you do have the better of the 3100's being a 2000 malibu when the engine was redesigned.

Just my .02 but if you want to swap a 3.8 series II (i have had 3 of them) I would say for power go for the 3800 series II S/C just look into it the 3.8 s/c is beast of a motor with a huge after market. i believe it was the L67 motor for the code

The 3400 is the big brother of the 3100, and will bolt in using the same mounts. You can probably use the same transmission too I believe. There are lots of people doing top end swaps with 3400 and/or 3500 top ends onto a 3100 bottom end. Using a combination of those parts will get you some pretty good gains and also give you some reliability. You'll still have the gasket issues that those motors are known for, but if you are swapping the motors, I would assume you'd replace the gaskets while they were out to make it 100 times easier. Also, I believe the 00 or 02 and newer 3400 is the one you want, as it has a better upper intake design. You can find out more info on these swaps on 60degv6.com and w-body.com among others.

The 3.8L is a great motor with a lot of aftermarket. You want a Series 2 or Series 3 motor, 97 or newer if you choose to go this route, as those are the ones with the aftermarket. You'll want the transmission, axles and wiring too, since this is a much larger swap, and the transmission is the HD version if you go with the supercharged. The series 2 has two variations, the L36 which is Naturally aspirated and most common, and the L67, which is the Supercharged version. Series 3 got the L26 (NA) and L32 (Supercharged), and have improved designs, and more HP. Parts from both gens can be swapped to give you a lot of possibilities. The downside to this, is that it isn't as simple as pull the engine out and put the new one in. Wiring will have to be custom done, axles may have to be built, and mount possibly fabricated.

Based on your description of your mechanical knowledge, I would think the 3400 would allow you to do more and get more out of the car with less hassle and less money in the end. Although, I am very partial to the 3.8L Supercharged...