Ways to pep up a 3.8

[Captain Calais]

Not really any way of pepping up this motor without major work.

Test pipe, intake, 4bbl, ignition etc. does little to nothing, from my experience. Unless you were to get into the motor, change the cam, increase compression, port heads and so on, this motor isn't going to offer up much more than what it already has, which is why Buick decided to put turbos on them.

Changing the gears in the rear is a good choice. But the intake/exhaust and so on will offer you up pretty much nothing unless you upgrade some internals. This isn't much of a "bolt-on performance" engine unless it is turbocharged.

Yes, turbos complicate things, but if done correctly, can be just as reliable as the NA version.

 

[84dragcutlass]

Remember power is made in the top end, mainly heads. A good port and polish job as well as having them milled slightly for a higher compression ratio would help a whole lot. Then gasket match the intake and heads and install a 160 thermostat and good flowing exhaust. Not much left after that unless you get more displacement out of it

 

[King_V]

With the system being computer controlled, I would NOT put in a lower-temperature thermostat.