Below is a discussing of doing the swap of a Supercharged Series One 3800 engine into the Buick Reatta.
D-a-n-i-e-l Member |
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First off I do not have all the pictures I would like to add to this post, and I will not bee going over step by step engine swapping. This post is to provide an insight to the issues I encountered while swapping a Series one supercharged 3.8 into my Reatta.
OK let’s talk about the weakest link, the transmission. The two major enemies of transmissions are heat and dirt. I suggest adding two things to help with improving the life of our transmission. Add an aftermarket tranny cooler, bigger the better. Second, an add-on tranny filter. These are not too hard to find and can be changed just like an oil filter and at the same time. They can be added by removing the steel lines and replacing them with 5/16” rubber tranny hose and 5/16” nipple to hose fitting (my favorite are the Hayden brand). Start the swap with a complete supercharged engine to include all accessories. This is a must to keep cost down. You will be using all the supercharged accessory mounts and accessories. The only accessory you can reuse is the AC pump. I would suggest using the pump from the supercharged engine, if the engine is 94’ or newer. The reason for this is the pump is designed to run on r134a. This means that the pump is much more efficient while running on the newer refrigerant. Now I will begin to lay out as much info on modifications as I can recall. The one and only Reatta accessory mount to be used is the AC pump mount. The reason for this is the front engine mount is bolted to the bracket. The steel power steering hose must be modified. I did this by cutting the hose just below wear it screws into the power steering pump. Use a tube cutter to cut the tubing. Clean out the burrs and use a piece of 5/16” trany hose and hose clamps to reroute the hose to just under the passenger side of the engine compartment to were the hose originally ran. (this is for the power steering cooler) While in that area, you must swap in the Reatta’s oil pressure switch. This is a simple screw in and out affair. If you do not do this your IC will read “electrical problem” and the oil pressure will read 255psi (running). You must remove and not reinstall the little motor strut. Heater hoses must be modified. This can be done by using four heater hose elbows (found in the Help parts section) or you may use a straight hose connector and Goodyear hose springs (they allow you to bend a hose how you like and not have to worry about collapsing the houses). I prefer the second option. Throttle linkage and down shift cable bracket from the Reatta must be used (the SC model had an electronic tranny so there is no spot for the down shift cable). The Reatta downshift cable attachment from the throttle body must be used (just one bolt) The Reatta injector wire harness may and should be used, but it must be extended a couple inches to reach up and over the supercharger. The Reatta fuel pump must be swapped with one out of a 93’ S-10 Blazer with Vin W (mean Vortec engine) Partsamarica part # P74074 Connecting the fuel rails to the existing fuel lines may be one of the most adventurous parts of this swap. The reason I say this is that I have seen a couple different rail assemblies. The rail assembly I used is from the Park Avenue Ultra. Using this rail I switched to a fuel filter out of a 95’ S-10 Blazer, and found a plastic fuel line out of a gm car that was roughly the length I needed. This mans I did not have to splice the supply line (less likely to fail). I did splice the return line to a from the metal Reatta return line to a plastic line from the Park Avenue Ultra (I figured there is not ass much pressure to deal with for the return path). I suggest using the Series one engine because many of the components are directly compatible with our systems. If the series two engine will be used you will be looking to modify a lot of wiring, and a few other issues. You would get more power out of the series two, but this also means more likely to blow your tranny. Also power is no good if you can not put it to the ground. The series one gave me just what I was looking for, a little kick when passing on the freeway. Picking your engine: look for a 94/95’. These have a bigger intake and the supercharger was redesigned and epoxy coated. This mean more power and less wear on the supercharged. If there are any other questions or comments fell free to ask or state. The ECM has to be reprogrammed for the fuel delivery, but Ryan from Sinisterperformance (gmtuners.com) should have a tune that works well in a couple weeks, once mine is done. I have not checked his prices lately, but he is very qualified and cheap. My setup with the the memcal (chip) adapter and programming was under one-hundred dollars. Also he is very willing to work with you, I started my swap almost a year ago and trip to Iraq and he has worked with me the whole time. Edited by nx2000t99 (Sat Jan 05 2008 01:35 AM) Edit Reason: fuel delivery _________________________
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Thanks to members of the Reatta forums for this information.
