My buddy uses this race shop in our hometown. We took the engine down to the shop and found out we had two small cracks in the head. Was told where the crack occur is common in the 3800. The difference is for two new improved aftermarkets heads. They say that this engine was not balanced very well at factory specs so part of the cost is in the balancing of the engine. There will be a new cam that is set up for higher low end torque. 0-60 mph New rebuild kit for the 3800 is like $800. This will have new pistons, timing chain, basically all new except the block.
I called two wholesalers for a 3800 engine. Both places had engines in the 100,000 range that were $1600 -$1800 including the computers. Parts Planet has a 3800 Supercharger engine with 180,000 for $2200 in Sacramento. Never found a deal like $400 for a 3800 with 16,000 miles. Even the engine I bought was $1000 with computer from a guy that had bought the engine back in 2005. I felt that was a great deal. I like to post everything I can about my build including pricing. I feel the race shop that is rebuilding my engine is fair and honest with me. I could actually get my engine rebuilt by another engine shop for $1800 with original specs. But this engine should hover around 400 Hp when we are done. I will actually dyno the car when I'm done. I do want to post the build sheet provided by the speed shop. I still have to rebuild the supercharger so your probably going to have some more to say about that. There's a shop out of state that specializes in these Eaton Series II superchargers.
