What I got Steve for Christmas

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Well, this is one way to spend your Christmas
bonus!

We used to have a little Chevy LUV that unfortunately was totaled when a lady ran a red light on Delridge and Steve t-boned her. We bought a Ford Ranger with the insurance money that Steve then spent 6 months working on and never did get it to run right. The third time we had to tow it I sent the tow truck back to the place where we bought it and had them leave it in the parking lot. It's been over 3 years since we had a working pickup, and we've made do with a utility trailer behind the MINI for two and a half years. But it's not the same as hopping behind the wheel of your own little pickup and going off to take something to the dump or haul something big home.

So with my MINI out of commission and myself staring at ridiculous rental bills for a car so I can work - and the miracle of a great boss and a nice Christmas bonus - I decided to find Steve a new little truck, but one that I could drive while I was waiting for my MINI to come back with a new engine. I estimate anywhere from 4-6 weeks on that, so rather than waste my money on car rentals, I spent the same (well, a little more actually, but close) on a little truck we will keep.


It's actually a pretty cute truck and I won't be embarrassed to be seen in it. It's a 1978 Chevy LUV body with a 1978 Buick Monza V-6 "Fireball" engine. Which means it has a lot of torque and you have to stand on the brakes to slow it down. I just think the air filter is the cutest little thing I have ever seen! (LUV means Light Utility Vehicle)

So, Merry Christmas honey! I hope you enjoy your new truck! After I get done driving it of course!

Buick V6 engine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from GM 3800 engine)

The Buick V6 engine family, sometimes called the Fireball, is a large V6 engine used by General Motors. The block is made of cast iron and all use two-valve-per-cylinder iron heads, actuated by pushrods.

The 3800 was on the Ward's 10 Best Engines of the 20th Century list, and is one of the most-produced engines in history. To date, over 25 million have been produced.

The most-surprising aspect of this engine is GM's 1967 decision to sell the design to Kaiser-Jeep. The muscle car era had taken hold, and GM no longer felt the need to produce a V6. The energy crisis a decade later prompted the company to buy the design back from American Motors (AMC), who had by that point bought Kaiser-Jeep, and the descendents of the early 231 continue to be the most-common GM V6.

Another oddity of this engine is that although it is a 90° V6 it has the GM 60° V6 bell housing pattern when it is used in FWD or RWD applications (pre-3800 series RWD cylinder blocks incorporated the BOP bellhousing pattern). For use in the RWD applications, the bellhousings on both the manual and automatic transmissions are altered.

The engine is produced at the Flint North plant in Flint, Michigan.