whats the differance between supercharged 3800 and a NA

I have a 95 Buick park aveanue ultra it recently lost oil pressure and started knocking now my question is whats the difference internally between the supercharged series 1 and a naturally aspirated series 1 basicly i have an NA engine and am wondering what I would have to do to make the NA engine supercharged whats interchangable and what needs to be changed to run boost?

The heads, block & crank are the same; however, the pistons & rods are different. The L67 S/C version has a larger diameter piston-pin and is a “floating-pin” design to help reduce cylinder & piston skirt scuffing. The L67 S/C piston also has a deeper & larger diameter dish to reduce compression. In addition, the top compression ring is set slightly lower from the top piston. If your rods & pistons are still in good shape in the S/C motor, they will fit the cylinder bore & crank in the N/A motor. A new set of rod & main bearings should be installed if you do this. IIRC, 1995 was the year that the rods were improved to a much stronger “powdered metal” design in the L67. BTW, the harmonic balancer on the S/C engine has two belt grooves, as opposed to one on the N/A engine. Of course, that would have to be changed. Finally, if you do decide to install the S/C on an N/A L27 without changing the piston & rods, engine longevity would be the main issue! :crying:

Just like stated above there are differences in the motors..

We actually tried using an L27 NA 3800 and parked all of the induction items onto the NA Block.. Ran great... Pistons, Wrist pins and everything came out in great shape.... But the Bearings did not take the abuse, We found that the weaker rods actually side loaded and hurt the bearings...

Like stated the Block, heads and Cranks are the same between the engines.. But the Pistons, Rods and Wrist pins are of a beefier design that you will want for the supercharged engine...

I would consider one of several things in this situation( I'm sort of in this situation myself )

I would

Do a full rebuild

Look for a Reman Motor

Pull the motor and get a crank kit( if the rod with the bad bearing has not been damaged, May be able to have it resized )

Look for a low mileage wrecker motor( risky )

I am also at this place where I know my engine will not last for a long period... I have excessive rod bearing clearance, you only hear it after changing the oil at this point, but its a sign of things to come.. After having this much bad luck with 2 Low Mileage wrecker motors I may just pull the motor and trans( we are going to rebuild the trans anyhow ) and I will at that point pull the crank, have it turned making sure they retain the stock Index.... Then have them order the gaskets and bearings for me..

So there are different paths you can take... Good Luck:)