Buick Grand National Motors...

[StainlessBullet]

Does anyone here have experience with Buick Grand National motors? A friend of mine has a zero mile 3.8L Buick Grand National crate engine that he bought new in the 1980's. The other day he metioned to me that he would sell it if I was interested.

I know nothing about these motors and have no idea if this is a rare find and what the value would be. He's willing to sell it to me for $1,500. Does this sound like a good deal?

I don't really know what I would do with the thing. I know there are a few DeLoreans running around with this swap. Not saying that's something I would do with it, but it's an idea. At $1,500 is there any room for profit?

Like I said, I know very little about these motors so any thoughts and opinions are welcome.

[Mike C.]

Definitely post this over on a grand national forum. Im sure u can resell it for a decent profit, especially if its a zero mile crate motor. Have u checked to make sure its not frozen? Its been sitting for a while..

[vwdmc16]

While I dont have any real experience with GN engines. Ive always been thinking, yeah that would be a cool period swap to to but in 2013, why?

The 3.8 is an iron block, you would be adding alot more weight over the rear of the car over stock for what? Even when they came out the basic push rod engine was old technology, the most interesting thing about it was that its larger displacement american v6 with a turbo and EFI, That was never done before the 80's. All im saying is if you really wanted to go through the enormous about of work and difficulty involved in an engine swap, why not use something more modern, lighter, efficient, powerful, etc. That said it still would be an neat vintage swap IMO

[StainlessBullet]

Definitely post this over on a grand national forum. Im sure u can resell it for a decent profit, especially if its a zero mile crate motor. Have u checked to make sure its not frozen? Its been sitting for a while..

Will do. I made sure to check and see if it was frozen and it wasn't.


While I dont have any real experience with GN engines. Ive always been thinking, yeah that would be a cool period swap to to but in 2013, why?

The 3.8 is an iron block, you would be adding alot more weight over the rear of the car over stock for what? Even when they came out the basic push rod engine was old technology, the most interesting thing about it was that its larger displacement american v6 with a turbo and EFI, That was never done before the 80's. All im saying is if you really wanted to go through the enormous about of work and difficulty involved in an engine swap, why not use something more modern, lighter, efficient, powerful, etc. That said it still would be an neat vintage swap IMO

I really have no interest in doing this swap to my car. I'm always buying / selling and trading stuff, so that's more what I had in mind for this engine too.

[DMCMW Dave]

I'm going to agree - if it is really a NOS Crate Buick GN engine, it will be worth a lot more to someone in the Buick GN crowd. It is a heavy cast iron beast.

[Josh]

If you bought this and flipped it, would he still be you friend? lol

[DashEight]

If you bought this and flipped it, would he still be you friend? lol

This is something I always think about. If a friend sells me a motor for $1000, and I dont use it and turn around and sell it unchanged for $2000, I figure I owe him another $500.00. -P

[StainlessBullet]

If you bought this and flipped it, would he still be you friend? lol


This is something I always think about. If a friend sells me a motor for $1000, and I dont use it and turn around and sell it unchanged for $2000, I figure I owe him another $500.00. -P

My friend knows that I buy and sell different things all the time for extra income. That's the reason he told me about this motor in the first place.