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A new 3800 powered ride gets the LIM gasket/intake treatment.

KZOO3800

KZOO3800

New member
My brother and his girlfriend live right next door. She's selling her 1997 Buick LeSabre with 156K miles for $1200. It has the same Series II 3800 that my GP SE has. So, I'm 90% sure I'm going to pick this up. Tires are less than a year old and my buddy and I have done all the oil changes on it since it's been in the neighborhood. Also, today it just had every metal brake fluid line replaced since one popped yesterday (all new metal brake lines). It has recently had sub frame bushings of some sort replaced. It will need a pan drop and filter change. And, of course I'm going to give it the same exact LIM gasket treatment the GP got. I'll be throwing on the same GM Sure-Fix intake plenum too.

This time I'm also replacing the lifters.

This girl's father builds hovercrafts for a living, needless to say it's been well taken care of. So I'll have a 3800 GP and a 3800 Buick LeSabre pretty soon.

SWEET!
 


The rocker panels like to jump ship.

Other than that, they're epic daily drivers.

100000 times more comfortable than the GP in both seats and handling.
 
Not only is it the same motor.. LeSloppers had the 3.8 before the GP.

Some things to note while you are working on it.
1. There's so much room, you'll dislike doing things on the GP
2. Did I mentioned everything is easy to get to and you won't have to jack it up to get a catch pan under the rad hose?
3. It's senior citizen looking and you won't typically get any second looks from cops. It'll feel odd at first..then you'll smile.

Personally..i'd keep the UIM it has. Plug the coolant ports and open the turn around while the LIM is off. It's more effective and you can never again have an issue. I've seen replacement UIM's have trouble after enough miles.
 


Sounds promising. It kind of fell into my lap and I dont want to pass it up for the price.

I just dont like having to run my Grand Prix into the ground in its old age. Its going to be sweet being able to work on it without having to put it all back together before I have to go to work.

H body should be friendlier on my knuckles too lol. The gp is like doing surgery, everything barely fits lol.
 
Actually..barely fits is Grand Am. Grand Prix is nice in comparision. You just haven't worked on enough crappy crapboxes yet.
 
Well here she is '97 Buick LeSabre, parked right in front of a Benz turbo diesel where my master mechanic buddy and I work on all our cars.
Good: Obviously very clean, relatively low mileage, engine runs like a top, many new parts including a brand new subframe mounts and fuel pump. No coolant leaking into oil or oil into coolant. Came with 2 keys.
Bad: Smells like the girl that drove it for 2 years haha. Needs LIM gasket love. Doesn't cook breakfast or do my laundry...

Should have all kinds of fun fixing this thing up.

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Nice car. a buddy of mine has a 93 lesabre with the series 1 3800. It's the most comfortable car I've ever ridden in. So ridiculously easy to drive as well.
 




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