Hello,

I am looking at a 1999 3.8 car that had a blown head gasket. The owner has replaced the motor, but never finished the job. Is there anything in particular with this motor I should look for? I have other Camaros, so I know what to look for with the rest of it, just wondering if theres any tips for the 3.8.

Thanks,

 

check the water pump and some of that other kind of stuff. I bought my camaro at the end of january last year and in mid march had to replace my water pump. Overall though the 3.8 is a very solid engine, arguably one of the best V6s ever made. As long as you can finish the job properly, you should be fine.

 

The 3.8 is a great platform. The only thing that would have me worried is that the engine is halfway completed. It is hard to assess what kind of previous damage it had and the quality of work that has been done on it so far.

 

The motor was apparently bought out of a 2000 Firebird with 80k on it. This chassis has 100k on it. The other motor is still there, so I should hopefully have all the pieces/acc's. That's the one thing that bothers me is will I have all the parts, pieces etc to put it back together... the small stuff can nickel and dime a guy to death.

Thanks for the info guys, I was pretty sure it was a good platform, just was wondering if there's obvious things to look for.

 

Nothing major to look out for, with a 100K though, I'm sure suspension parts are starting to wear out and the tranny may be starting to show its age.

 

thanks for the tips. I ended up buying the car. Previous owner broke the windshield trying to get the motor in. It certainly was tight trying to get the motor back in with the tranny on, we eventually got it in.

The fuel rail looks like it was squashed though before we got there. Is that an expensive piece? The pressure regulator looks like it's integral to the lines as well and that looks like it was squashed at the cowl trying to force the motor in.

I had to leave the car there until I clear the paperwork to get it home, so I am sure I'll have a bunch more questions as I get into reassembing it.

 

Check out the classifieds on here or Ebay, it is not a very expensive part if you can find one used from someone parting out a car.