3.3 Build

[nfarnham2001]

Well, I google'd the 3300 and found this. Hope it helps everyone

dodgedynasty.50megs.com/3.3/build3.html

[CieraSL92]

That would be fantastic. Except, its referring to a Dodge 3.3 V6. Totally different motor.

The engine we have is a 3300 GENERAL MOTORS

[nfarnham2001]

Oh....lol...and here I was about to take a scalpal to my motor.....whew that was close. Thanks man.

[Jr's3800]

Yes the Buick 3300 is the little Brother to the 3800..

The 3300 is A bit destroked and deboared as compared to the 3800.... The 3300 also does not have a Balance shaft..

[CieraSL92]

Yeah, I'd say our 3300 is just as reliable as the 3800 though. The 3800 WAS a Buick Motor, but the 3300 wasn't so I thought?

Didn't we stop referring to them as individual company motors back in the 70's when people started seeing Pontiac parts in 'Chevy' 350s? Thought I read after that they just referred to
them as GM engines.

nfarnham, I saw somebody build-up a 3300. He made a short list, but it wasn't detailed at all. The amount of money you put into it breaks even with the amount for a 3800 swap.

If your really desperate, for now you could open up the exhaust, maybe a Cold Air intake would help.. There aren't many performance parts for the a-body's. They make decent torque and horsepower, but compared to today's engines they are weak because they didn't have the technology back then (Variable valve-lift, etc)

Having said that, you can go to hell and back and it will keep rolling along.

[LordDurock]

yea that stoped inthe 70's but danm buick motor in my mind are 2nd only serpased buy cadys.........danm they have balls.......

yea a good intake and nice eshaust will do wounder. exspealy when there tuned to each other.

you could try doing something like makeing the crossover tube ling right in to the pipe and trhe the rear xhaust manny

[Jr's3800]

Let me add.. Yes the 3300 is a Buick 90* V6, its simply a smaller version of the 3800, or a larger version of the 3.0... How ever you want to look at it... The 3.0, 3300 and 3800 are all Buick 90* engines..

In the Past I have heard of people using 3800 Heads, Intake and the like on the 3300 Block.. I have not been there to witness this myself so its hard to say for certain..

But if you shave a Tad off the heads, you can increase the compression a bit... Maybe enough for 9.4-9.5 : 1... Then you can do some port matching on the heads and intake... Take the stock Manifolds and have them welded on the outside and clean them up on the inside.... As well you can do some minor porting with the exhaust ports, Keeping the original port shape intact...

I am not 100%, you'd have to research this... But if you were to use the Vin L Tuned Port 3800 Heads( 93-95 Tuned Port ) you would be able to use 1.8 Rockers on this motor for roughly .480 lift at the valve... But again I am not 100%, and even then you'd want to check the clearance between the valves and the Piston.. But on the heads you would have to plug the PCV Ports..

And as for the exhaust I would say 2.25" all the way back should do the trick...

So there are options out there... But you'll have to do a lot of research to get there:)

* Edit *
Gotta add this in here.. After all of the things you would have to do it may be easier to swap to a 3800 Motor...

But for what its worth, the 3300 is a good motor, and will hold its own.. When you see an N or A body that Can smoke em from a Dig with that 3300, you do become impressed:)

[dcjredline]

Cant imagine an N or A "Smoking Em" You might get a puff of smoke but smoking em is a little exaggerated dont you think?

[skalor]

Cant imagine an N or A "Smoking Em" You might get a puff of smoke but smoking em is a little exaggerated dont you think?

I spin from a 60 mph roll on dry roads. ;)

[Jr's3800]

Cant imagine an N or A "Smoking Em" You might get a puff of smoke but smoking em is a little exaggerated dont you think?


Not a smoke show by any means... But yes they can spin.. and with low miles and good tune I have seen them do this from a dead stop..

But again, exaggerated a little yes... Not a smoke show like an L67:D

[Jr's3800]

I spin from a 60 mph roll on dry roads. ;)


LOL.... Drove a Buddies Modded L67 in his SSEi Bonneville.... Its neat to be able to spin through 2nd gear on the onramp:)

[LordDurock]

spining just comes down ot havei ng the horse power to break them. skalor your cars a beast. but it should have been a buick........jk

[dcjredline]

I spin from a 60 mph roll on dry roads. ;)

Should have been more clear. I dont see a 3.3 A smokin em.

[nfarnham2001]

Yah, I will try to do some exhaust and intake work. but then again, like I posted a few days ago, I might just get that 90's model delta 88. I mean, I love our cars, and the 2800 is amazing, I just cant afford all these new 2000 and up cars. I am in college, with my own house and such to pay for as well, I dont need a car note lol. And the most I am looking for is around 200 on hp and tq. but more so, reliability. I would love to rebuild this thing.

[notsoslimshady76]

My 3300 is in horrible tune but still runs fairly well. Its slow to respond, but after a couple second it takes off fairly fast. Can't beat that torque though compared to 60 degree engines

[Jr's3800]

Yah, I will try to do some exhaust and intake work. but then again, like I posted a few days ago, I might just get that 90's model delta 88. I mean, I love our cars, and the 2800 is amazing, I just cant afford all these new 2000 and up cars. I am in college, with my own house and such to pay for as well, I dont need a car note lol. And the most I am looking for is around 200 on hp and tq. but more so, reliability. I would love to rebuild this thing.

It may take a bit to get to 200 Hp on the 3300... As far as a Stock Cam goes, these are good for what they were intended..

If you were to do the intake gaskets( and I recommend this if they have never been done ), This would give you the chance to pull the Intake off and Do some cleaning and smoothing of the Ports as well as open them up a bit... Keeping in mind you do not want to open the Ports on the Intake wider then the ports on the head..

At the same time you could take the time and smooth the edges of the intake ports on the heads to achieve smoother flow into the head, this way there will be no step creating turbulence... You should be able to increase velocity a bit here and gain a little happiness..

An Intake may also help you some in terms of Cooler air into the intake.. You will want to keep the MAF screen tho as these engines are touchy at best if the MAF can't get the proper reading or flow of air by the MAF..

You already have the Delco Type 2 system on the 3300, that is a plus as well..


The Exhaust manifolds might be a strange story in terms of what you may or may not find.. In the past I have seen the Rear Manifold to Down pipe connection to have a poor cut ... This poor cut would impeded or slow the flow out of the manifold, Other were pretty clean cut.. But in the end they all can use a little help..

There are little things that you can do to get these to run a bit better... Another good thing about the 3300 as compared to the 3.0 V6 is that the 3300 has a bit more of a Stroke than a 3.0.... The 3300 had a 3.70 Bore and a 3.16 Stroke... This would give the 3300 the ability to be a Torquer for a Small V6..

Lets also look at it this way... The Vin C 3800 was rated at 165 Hp.... The Vin N 3300 was Rated at 160 Hp:)

[nfarnham2001]

Yes, as You all may have read before. If I keep this car. (as compared to buying the 90 model delta 88 3800 with 80k miles on it in good shape)...

New CV Axles
Full new exhaust,
Aftermarket headers (if I can find any)
CAI
Clean injectors
New platinum plugs
High spark coils
MSD ignition system
New Wires
Fix missing vaccuum lines
Flush out motor, put in synthetic oil
K & N filters
New fuel pump and filter, drop and clean out tank
New struts and springs
New brakes, rotors, hubs, and what nots on chassis

The above mentioned ideas with the intake and ports i will also do.

I have estimated this would be a 2500-3500 project over a 13 month period. I could be wrong. I work at advanced auto parts, so it helps. Also if anyone is anywhere close to Mississippi, I would appreciate any help with advice.

[skalor]

I've owned a bunch of GM FWD cars and I have never had a bad axle. I don't think I've ever even ripped a boot. Do not use any kind of platinum plug other than AC Delcos. The factory ignition is a waste spark system and single platinum plugs do not hold up. Also, I would not use MSD coils as there are no gains to be had over the stock coils. Some people will tell you to upgrade your ignition, but they do not know about modern GM coils. The stock coils have been proven to over 800 HP. The rest of the list looks good though. ;)

[nfarnham2001]

I've owned a bunch of GM FWD cars and I have never had a bad axle. I don't think I've ever even ripped a boot. Do not use any kind of platinum plug other than AC Delcos. The factory ignition is a waste spark system and single platinum plugs do not hold up. Also, I would not use MSD coils as there are no gains to be had over the stock coils. Some people will tell you to upgrade your ignition, but they do not know about modern GM coils. The stock coils have been proven to over 800 HP. The rest of the list looks good though. ;)


Anything else you can think of? I am looking to rebuild and restore this thing. I want it to drive like it used to lol.

Also, any tips on getting wide tires on FWD (CV Axles are a pain I heard)
And Also, I wish to lighten this led sled up. Any advice?

[Jr's3800]

I've owned a bunch of GM FWD cars and I have never had a bad axle. I don't think I've ever even ripped a boot. Do not use any kind of platinum plug other than AC Delcos. The factory ignition is a waste spark system and single platinum plugs do not hold up. Also, I would not use MSD coils as there are no gains to be had over the stock coils. Some people will tell you to upgrade your ignition, but they do not know about modern GM coils. The stock coils have been proven to over 800 HP. The rest of the list looks good though. ;)


I agree for the most part...

The Coils on these Cars are really good.. we tend to use the 97+ GM coils, blue underneath.. I have seen gray ans yellow... Supposedly the Blues fire a tad hotter... The ones you currently have I would not touch unless one was about to fail.. So I do agree... MSD coils will look good but won't get you anything..

You can use Platinum plugs on these cars, But you absolutely need to steer clear Of Bosch Platinums... I would honestly Recommend a Good Copper Plug... NGK TR55 would be an example... I actually have the NGK TR55 Plats and love them..

In an SC'd application I would say strictly Copper or Iridium


On the shafts and Hubs.... I wouldn't bother with either unless they were known bad.. save the $$$ where you can..

If you keep the a body you'll get great info... If you get the H Body you'll still have great info... Its always amazing what you can do with these GM cars:)

[nfarnham2001]

K so.. . go copper, stray away from fixing it, unless its broken, and stay with the A or H body? kk...still welcoming any advice from all.

[BBrip84Oatsie95]

My old 84 6000's cv joints were bad. So bad, in fact, I didn't like driving it too much there towards the end...I guess there is no telling how long the boots were torn before I got it :rolleyes:


I've owned a bunch of GM FWD cars and I have never had a bad axle. I don't think I've ever even ripped a boot. Do not use any kind of platinum plug other than AC Delcos. The factory ignition is a waste spark system and single platinum plugs do not hold up. Also, I would not use MSD coils as there are no gains to be had over the stock coils. Some people will tell you to upgrade your ignition, but they do not know about modern GM coils. The stock coils have been proven to over 800 HP. The rest of the list looks good though. ;)

[CieraSL92]

Mine was slow to respond too even after a tuneup. Cleaned teh MAF and its good.

[CieraSL92]

Oh! My regal (3800) IIRC Had like 190hp, 210lb ft of torque? Right out of the box too. I dont remember feeling a huge difference though. Maybe the weight of the two offset any difference you'd feel..

[Jr's3800]

Oh! My regal (3800) IIRC Had like 190hp, 210lb ft of torque? Right out of the box too. I dont remember feeling a huge difference though. Maybe the weight of the two offset any difference you'd feel..

What year was your regal?