I was very curious about complete Engine swapouts for my 89 Deville. This is primarily due to the availability of my friend's wrecked 2000 Monte. Can a modern 3800 series engine, and tranny be transplanted in to my caddy's body. Of course I understand this would mean also mean transplanting everything else that is engine related of the monte into the caddy body, but I fell this is the only real meaningfull preformance upgrade possible due to the pathetic nature of the Ht4*00 series when compared to other engines of even their time period. I love my Caddy, but the performace and fear I have for the logevity of engine and tranny due to the previous owner's neglect have convinced that in the future this might be a very cool endevor. I just want some thoughts.:stirpot:

It is my understanding that the FWD Buick 3800 found in the Monte Carlo shares a common bolt pattern with the Caddy FWD V8s (4.1-4.9) I'm pretty sure this is the same bolt pattern as the GM 60 degree V6, which means your buddies motor just might bolt right onto your current transmission. You'd have to figure how to mount the engine to the rest of the car, though. As for swapping the tranny, well, I have no idea. Never thought of doing anything like that. Hope this helps.

P.S. Did you know that some GM cars were built with the 3800 with a supercharger? Might be interesting to bolt a factory blower to that V6 after you perform the transplant.

Well, that certainly is an interesting bit of info. If I want to reuse the tranny it would help, but I am looking for a tranny upgrade prefrebly. Is the stock tranny decent enough to keep, and can it put up with 200+ Hp?

You could also PM illumina or look up his 4.xx engine mods. He has done upgrades to all of the 4.x engines(4100,4.5, and 4.9) he will point you in the right direction regarding those engines. BTW Welcome to the Forums johnplara and 78 coupe deville.

I greatly appreciate the warm welcome, and I must admit, this is going to be my primary source of information on my car now since unfortunately there is a glut of site on the net that are caddy related.

why woulduwant to put a v6 in a car made with a v8? less power!

I would only really want to put the V6 in because looking at the specs of the 4.5 in my caddy and what a current 3.8 v6 has, it is obvious that the more modern engine, though smaller, is a better unit. The other thing as well is also the glut of aftermarket components for the cadillac ht4*00 series engines. There is a lot more out there for the 3800 guys. Finally, I am assuming that it is a lot easier to stuff a v6 into the front of my car a opposed to a northstar 4.6 for example.

Northstar would be near impossible to put in a 4.x car..... there would be no point, for a fraction of the cost you could buy a 4.x car

more then "some" 3800's came with superchargers, alot did. If I was doing ANY 3800 swap, it would be a s/c 3800.

a s/c 3800 stock, also makes more power/torque then any 4.x engine.

the s/c 3800 also came with the HD 4T65E, which is stronger then the 4T60E found on 4.9 cars, 4.5 cars got the 440T4 (4T60)

the s/c 3800 swap is doable... but cost is a major concer... unless you want a fun toy to mess around with and be a sleeper, don't do it, simple as that, if you want the Caddy to be a daily driver, do not swap the engine.

if you want a nice, reliable, cheap to run, cheap to maintain, and decently build car, go for *any* 3800-powered GM car, even the NA is fine if you aren't interested in being plastered to the back of the seat from 0-100.

I have a 3800 in my Oldsmobile, granted it's a NA Series I, I still can't say enough good things about it, amazing engines.

There was a thread not long ago by a guy that transplanted something into a Bonneville. I didn't save it but you might search for it.

Yea, that is good info. Cost does not seem to be too much of an issue because I can get a whole wreck on E-bay for less than a grand if I look hard enough. for example, the monte my friend picked up was dirt cheap. A good wreck with no damage to the engine compartment would provide all the necessary hardware for me. After all, I am thinking of turning my Caddy into a Street toy and I'll get myself a lower miliage one for a daily commuter, perhaps a nice used v6 cts. Also, after doing a junkyard survey with a tape measure, nightwolf is right, trying to stuf in a northstar would also require some shaving into the wheel wells, so, ugh, no, not going to happen. Of course What I did not check to see was if the engine cradle of any of those other GMs would bolt right on to the Frame of my Deville becasue that would greatly simplify the process.

Oh yea, and I forgot to mention how my buddy came accross the wrecked monte, he bought the wreck a year ago in a vain attempt to ressurect the ex police interceptor impala he had purchased the year before with like somethin akin to 120k. I drove into a pillar at a parking lot and tried to repair the front end, radiator, etc, but with a monte? Hence why he has been stuck with the wreck and was itching to get rid of it.