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FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Converting a non-supercharged 3800 into a Supercharged 3800 - can it be done?

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1.  Can I bolt a blower on my normally aspirated L36 GT and convert my GT to a      GTP? Can I bolt a blower on my 3800 F car?

No.  You cannot simply bolt on an Eaton M90 blower onto a L36 and make it work.  Most importantly, the heads are different.  The fuel injectors on a L67 are placed into the heads, while on a L36, they go into the intake manifold.  While the supercharged L67 heads and the L36 normally aspirated heads were identical in 97-98, the injector bosses are not machined out to accept the injectors.  In '99 and newer, the L36 heads went to a different casting, and these injector bosses no longer exist

Other differences between the L67 and L36 engine are the pistons and rods.  The pistons are stronger on the L67 (but obviously not strong enough for our 370 HP engine!  Click here to check out the damage a piston can do when it shatters during a run!), and height is different, making the L36 have a 9.5:1 compression ratio vs. 8.5:1 on the L67.  This means even if you could get the lighter rods and pistons to live under boost, you wouldn't be able to run nearly as much.  The cam, crank and block are the same, but the cam gear is different to allow the cam to be installed advanced in the L67.

The differences in the transmission are noted in the answers below.  As for the F car, besides changing the heads and lower engine internals, the installation of the blower will probably require an Australian blower housing which has a tight radius bend at the throttle body end to allow clearance for the firewall.  Same M90 blower, just in a different housing.  For photos of this Australian unit, check out our Commodore Holdens page here.

2.  I want more power out of my GT!  Can I run a GTP engine computer
          in my GT?

No!  Definitely not!  You can do this, the car will run, and most likely, nothing will be harmed, but your car will perform like an absolute slug!  Well, we take that back about the "nothing will be harmed" point, the car may run lean.  Differences?  Let's see, the MAF (Mass Air Flow) meter is different, so it's calibration will be different.  The fuel injectors differ (the L67 flow much more), so a PCM (Power train Control Module - the engine/trans computer) calibrated for the L67 will cause a L36 to run lean.  The final drive ratio, as mentioned above, differ between the two cars, so the shift points will be wrong.  And for power, most importantly, the spark advance is very different!  Blown engines can never run as much spark advance a a normally aspirated engine!  So a calibration (computer) made for a blown engine will have much reduced spark advance, as much as 15 degrees less than what a normally aspirated engine requires!  This simply means if you run a L36 with spark advance intended for a L67, the spark will be around 15 degrees less than optimal, reducing your performance to that of a typical rice burner.

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