My son has a 1998 with a 3.8L V6 and he wants more power out of it. Just wondering what would be some easy mods to do to the V6 to get more power without having to rebuild the entire motor.

Thanks,
Russell

 

cold air intake, throttle body, new heads, exhaust put a turbo on it. turbo won't be as easy but. you can always put a new exhaust system on it and headers. all of which can be done by yourself but sometimes its better for someone else to do it. Hope this was helpful

 

hrmmm..... he asked without rebuilding the motor and you start rifling off heads and turbos?

gears - no power added but make the car pull a lot harder - best mod for the money. 3:73's or 4:10's depends how high he wants to go.

wouldnt waste money on a CAI, just get a K+N air filter.

open up the exhaust, longtubes may or may not be worth the investment for you but going with a true dual setup will free a few hp.

then you can look at the other basic boltons (UDP's, TB's, etc...)

 

you wouldn't necessarily be rebuilding it, just changing them. when I think of rebuilding I think of boring, all new internals, everything

 

what part of ms you from

 

I live in Pearl,Ms just outside of Jackson. Thanks forall the replies I appreciate it. My son wanted to drop a V8 in it but I told him that would probably be more trouble than it was worth

 

it is. you have to swap the GT ecu, wiring harness, motor, radiator, front suspension, rear end (the v6 rear end isnt strong enuff), tranny or atleast the bellhousing for a GT, and driveshaft.

the only cheap way to do a v8 swap into a v6 is to look for a parts car. if you can find a GT that has been wrecked and totalled but still has a usable drivetrain, the swap can be done pretty cheap (and you can sell your v6 drivetrain parts to recoup a decent portion of the cost of the wrecked GT). what will get REALLY expensive is if you can't do the labor yourself. your looking at another couple grand if you have to pay a shop to do all this labor.

 

best V8 swap is buying a GT IMO... lol

 

Don't follow this.

First off if you buy a cold air intake, you'll toss it when you do turbo. If you do full exhaust, you'll toss it for the turbo.... it's repeating fail.
Throttle body also a WASTE OF TIME in the 3.8L car. It's oversized for the most part, and not a weak point in the air flow.
Headers - also a waste of time. The stock 3.8L manifolds are great flowing and won't become a restriction in airflow until right around 350 hp.

For fun mods (from a Dad stand point), cold air intake will look nice and add a couple of ponies. Run a dual exhaust after the factory catted Y pipe. (At low power levels, it's best to leave that in place.) A T lok or some type up upgraded rear to get rid of the open diff is nice as well. Then look at suspension, brake upgrades. You don't need big power to have a fun car.