Supercharged or Not?

[Guest Ranger]

Need some help.

I'm looking at a last generation Riv. with low miles. The engine is supercharged. Were all supercharged cars badged as such on the right rear? Is there a way to find out if this was a factory supercharged engine from the factory by the VIN? Would a supercharger bolt onto a non S.C. engine?

Thanks,

Jim

[dkbuick75]

Jim,

What year are you looking at? Early production 95'S were all supercharged-- somewhere in the 95 year model run Buick/GM decided to make the supercharger an option and installed the gen II 3.8 non supercharged version. The supercharger became standard on all 98 and 99 models-- I believe toward the end of the 97 run the supercharger became standard. The "supercharged" emblem should be located on the left side of the deck lid as installed from the factory. Also all early 95's had buckets and floor shift-- again somewhere in the model run they decided to make a full bench w/column located shift standard- I think this lasted also somewhere into the 97 model run. Usually from the exterior-- a standard Gen II 3800 riv will have a gray colored full wheel cover. The supercharged cars had the 12 spoke silver alloy wheel. There was also a chrome style version of the "Reatta" wheel that was an optional wheel also. Not sure of the first offering of this wheel. That was the way to easily spot and tell the difference in the early Riv,95-96, being supercharged or not-- not, if it had the wheel covers, charged if it had the silver alloy. Gm uses the 8th digit in the VIN for engine id, so if there is a difference in the engine listings, this would be the digit where it would show up. I have a 98 w/supercharger and show a 1 (one) in the 8th digit space. Maybe someone else can help with the engine id- someone who has a normal non- charged GenII 3800 in theirs. What does your 8th digit read?

[Guest Ranger]

Thanks for your expertise Don,

The Riv is a '97, the 8th character in the VIN is a "1", I did look at a non S.C. '97, the 8th character is a "K". Also, the car I'm looking at was built "0207". So, now I need to assume the badge on the trunk deck fell off or there was a body repair to the rear, do you know how the "Supercharged" was attached, glued or fasteners?

Jim

[JohnD1956]

When I painted the trunk lid on my 95 I never did put the supercharged emblem back on. It is only glued there so you may find supercharged cars without the emblem at this point.

Also the supercharger may just bolt onto a non supercharged engine as long as you swap it in with it's manifold, however if you really have a low milage car I would tend to doubt this has been done. I believe that this would also require a Computer Chip change at a minimum and maybe more if it is a 95 since the S charged engines were Series one motors and the non s charged were series 2 engines.

A few weeks ago a fellow told me his moms 1998 Olds 88 was super quick with the 3800 supercharged engine. I told him I ddidn't think they put the S charged engine in those cars. Bbut he insisted. So I asked him to open the hood and low and behold it was not supercharged at all. It just had that high plastic intake manifold which delinieates the ports so well. He was very disappointed but I told him the car was still fast.

[tim63riv]

Jim,

The emblem is retained with double stick tape!

Tim

[tim63riv]

John,

Most of the Oldsmobiles did use the normally aspirated 3800. The Olds 88 LSS's were indeed available with a supercharged 3800, but they are rare as hen's teeth, I have only seen two of these cars in Minnesota. Also, some of the transmissions had different chain/sprocket and final drive ratios that will change the way the car accelerates. And some 3800's just plain pulled harder than others!

Tim

[dkbuick75]

As a quick note to all-- if anyone is looking for interior, exterior trim and moulding pieces for replacement on their 95-99 Riv's - I would strongly urge and suggest you get to your GM or Buick dealer ASAP and order what you need--- These pieces are dropping out of the parts ctalog, almost as fast as you blink your eyes-- and some of the prices on some of these remaining trim pieces are out of sight- Just under $150 for 1 (one) wheel open mldg-- but if you need them - now is the time to move on them--Remember, this last generation Riv is now already 10+ years old. Interior trim pieces for the Bourdeux Red interiors (mine) is just about nil. And it will only get worse as time passes. Just some thoughts.

[NTX5467]

The SC3800 V-6s typically had a little "deeper" gear ratio than the normal 3800s did. Something like 3.27 vs 3.03? Whether this ratio change was done with the sprockets in the transaxle or in the actual "gears", I'm not sure.

I saw a kit to add the supercharger to normally-aspirated Buick 3800s . . . it was in a Pontiac GrandPrix enthusiast magazine a few years ago. Seems like it included appropriate items to upgrade the trans electronics and such, too.

From my observations in the DFW area, there are more Olds 88 LSSs down here than some other places. Other then the LSS emblem, they look like normal Olds sedans . . . which makes them kind of "invisible".

Probably the bulk of the full-size supercharged cars were either Park Avenue Ultras (not the first year of the Ultra, though) or Pontiac Bonneville SSEi cars. Other than, of course, the Regal GS and Pontiac GrandPrix GTP cars.

For "mods", you might check out the www.RegalGS.org website, which probably has links to some of the GrandPrix "hot rod parts" websites. LOTS of info at RegalGS.org.

Enjoy!

NTX5467