3800 Supercharged Astre

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Re: 3800 Supercharged Astre

Postby vegastre » Thu Sep 08, 2016 7:23 pm

Where does this cool project stand at this point?


I got sidetracked with a couple of other projects and then the summer heat set in in Texas. I am building this car under a shade tree and even in the shade it's 100 F plus. That said, I have been working on it when time permits. As mentioned I have been going back and re-doing some stuff that I rushed. When I fire this car up I want to drive it and not have loose ends or poor workmanship come back to haunt me. As of now I'm re-checking my stand alone 3800 harness in preparation to start the car. All the hard work is done, now it's just making sure the knee bone is connected to the thigh bone on a mostly custom build. No easy task and you can't rush it. I'll try to have a complete update soon with pics.
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Re: 3800 Supercharged Astre

Postby 79440bird » Thu Sep 08, 2016 8:36 pm

I hear you. Where in the same water just different boat. Mine has been on hold for some time. I went to a forth July party when my buddy states he is selling g his 69 Dodge Dart. I always wanted this car. Well I got it, almost finished with the upgrades on the dart as of 2 years, plus family time. So my subird 3800 is not running yet. Needs header built, rad hoses, electric fans, A/C bracket fabrication made, plus wiring,an throttle body mounted and welded. Speed cable needs retrofitted,, fuel line made. I have been also very busy making fiberglass h-body parts. Kool. keep us posted. Can't wait to hear your feedback of the running beast.
79 sunbird 440 chrysler motor indy cyl heads12bolt leaf springs 80 sunbird 3800supercharged everything from a 99 bonneville 75 cosworth 350 dual quads 84 efi vette intake mod for carbs 78 Buick skyhawk 350 buick motor A/C &TA performance intake
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Re: 3800 Supercharged Astre

Postby vegastre » Sun Sep 11, 2016 3:49 pm

Same boat different city :th:
Right, I have seen your fiberglas stuff. very impressive. lately it's been my son's 2005 Corvette taking up my time doing tweaks and repairs. Once the SJSC starts and runs around the block I will send you a critique on the good mods and bad mods as well. The AC is going to be tough I tell you that. Good luck and don't have too much fun.
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Re: 3800 Supercharged Astre

Postby 79440bird » Sun Sep 11, 2016 8:07 pm

Thanks. A/C is going above the gearbox. Basically where the coil package use to be. Yes it's fun. I started fitting g it then got tie up with so much other stuff. I believe you got my phone number to text me too. But any way to keep in contact on the 3800 project. Nice on the corvette
79 sunbird 440 chrysler motor indy cyl heads12bolt leaf springs 80 sunbird 3800supercharged everything from a 99 bonneville 75 cosworth 350 dual quads 84 efi vette intake mod for carbs 78 Buick skyhawk 350 buick motor A/C &TA performance intake
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Re: 3800 Supercharged Astre

Postby vegastre » Fri Oct 13, 2017 12:56 am

For those who think I gave up on this project...

Looking at this car is like looking back on my life. I have owned this car for some forty years. Old man look at my life I'm a lot like you were. All those years ago I never dreamed I would still own this car but there it sits waiting to ride the roads once more. Time has not been kind to the SJ of late not by choice but the SJ has had to play second fiddle or even third fiddle to life's endeavors. Over the years I have driven this car coast to coast from deep in the Southern Cross to the outer reaches of Canada. Wore out so many parts it seems as though I have been around the world in this car several times looking for that elusive something that is never defined. I plan to make one more world trip in the SJ before it passes to someone else.

Spirits now push me to drive this car once again. I have again been working on it off and on for the past month or so and with any luck good or bad I will give updates even on those winter days if need be.
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Re: 3800 Supercharged Astre

Postby vegastre » Mon Oct 23, 2017 10:19 pm

Update: 10-23-2017

Today was a Banner Day,
After what has seemed like forever I finally started the Pontiac Supercharged SJ today for the first time. To my surprise after filling the motor full of fluids I simply hit the key and the Supercharged 3800 roared to life almost instantly like I had just went to Wal-Mart. Idled beautifully and reved like a Hot Rod. I'll post a video in the next day or so. I'm still in shock because my stand alone wiring harness was not an easy job to build. My notes held up and of course a lot of checking and double checking. I got lucky with the P{CM as the factory unit didn't need any tuning done to it. As I have stayed basically stock except for under driven Supercharger ZZPerformance pulley kit.

Big bonus was no water leaks as this took a fair amount of fab work. A lot of the custom fab work will be tested when I actually drive the car. This possibly will happen in the next few weeks. As winter approaches is a good motivator but I really want to dive the SJ and soon. Not to brag 8) but every fab item line by line as noted in this journal seems to be working as specified. Sill, I won't lie there are some weak links I'm not to proud of and will need to be addressed at some point.

The great part is your looking at a 42 year old car with the basic build parts not older than 1998 give or take a year or two. I tried my best to keep it old and I think I succeeded except for the budget. I blew my original budget estimate four fold which originally started out to be stickily a low buck deal, the longer I took the higher the parts got and harder to find. Over all, a very satisfying endeavor so far.
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Re: 3800 Supercharged Astre

Postby RobR » Mon Oct 23, 2017 10:29 pm

Congrats!
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Re: 3800 Supercharged Astre

Postby Monza Harry » Tue Oct 24, 2017 1:00 am

Phil wrote: I blew my original budget estimate four fold which originally started out to be stickily a low buck deal, the longer I took the higher the parts got and harder to find. Over all, a very satisfying endeavor so far.

Well you must have "cheaped out" somewhere I surpassed that 4X figure in the eighties! :lol: That wasn't too bad as these things go and your drivable now, SWEET! Keep us posted Please! Harry
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Re: 3800 Supercharged Astre

Postby vegastre » Thu Oct 26, 2017 1:06 am

That wasn't too bad as these things go and your drivable now


The sad part is Harry,
I counted up seventeen months overall in stages that the project set idle. The minor excuse I have is life got in the way but then everyone does. In a very real and objective way time has a way of both helping and hurting a project like this. On the hurt side I ruined my paint job by letting it sit under a cover which over time moisture took it's toll, oh well, the car sits outside under a shade tree. The upside was worth the extra wait. The truth is I'm in a hurry to drive this car but we shall see.

Today I spent most of the day coming up with a blue print for the exhausts system which I have given little thought to. As it stands now, 2/1-2 leads into a 3" single aluminized pipe exhaust coupled to a single muffler one in, two out, mounted in the stock location with original H-Body hangers. The rest of the day I spent buffing out the paint on my black LTZ Silverado 8) Time, Time, Time.
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Re: 3800 Supercharged Astre

Postby vegastre » Thu Oct 26, 2017 9:42 am

Throttle Body Placement/Location:

I remember one of the members asking about the TB noise. After some time and starting the engine I have decided to totally redesign the air induction for the throttle body with a much simpler design and one which seals the TB to the engine bay and eliminates all the ducting and more important TB noise and related fumes, etc. In retrospect the original design was poor. This will be the first major revision to the original design. Not to worry though this will be done after I drive the car and most likely a mini winter project as the fab work will be extensive. My major objective now is to get the car mobile so I can put it in the driveway on cement and get off the dirt which I'm fed up with.

I talk about Texas weather especially this time of year. Get this, A record 90 degrees today and A high of 46 tomorrow. I remind you the car sits outside under a shade tree so no working on this until it warms back up in a few days.

Not really sure why I'm mentioning this but I don't really live in Dallas. I live in Rowlett,Texas a suburb of Dallas which was voted the number "1" small town in the USA. I listed Dallas originally because everyone knows where that is and Rowlett sounds like some Texas hick town which I assure you it is not.
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Re: 3800 Supercharged Astre

Postby vegastre » Fri Nov 17, 2017 12:36 am

THE SHADE TREE

Hey! H-Body Enthusiast,
Going forward I'll be downloading Videos of the 3800 SJ Supercharged project. First I wanted to document the shade tree that I have built this car under. I have featured it in the journal at various stages. The SJ over the years has sat inside and out. In fact it sat inside my warehouse untouched for over 12 years but after the sale of the warehouse footage it once again embraced the elements and all the acid rain that humanity could heap on it. It has survived and had a marvelous time watching me age. Rust on it and wrinkles on me but somehow we both arrived here under this shade tree featured in the first video on the SJ, which is all but fitting a tribute to this Wagon. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMZO4mOL4r0
Last edited by vegastre on Mon Nov 20, 2017 3:49 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: 3800 Supercharged Astre

Postby zeke » Fri Nov 17, 2017 8:37 am

Beauty tree you have there Phil! I had a lot of little containers too but there numbers are dwindling. :lol: :th:

Get rid of this code from the end of your link, it adds a time index "&t=27s" :wink:
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Re: 3800 Supercharged Astre

Postby vegastre » Fri Nov 17, 2017 10:56 pm

As promised I will be uploading videos when I see a unique or unusual feature for the SJ Astre. The other reason you will be seeing videos I have found that its a whole lot easier to post a Video on my U-Tube Channel than taking a bunch of pictures I have to explain with words and a bit difficult to deal with the sizing and such. Just a note, I know the video quality is lacking and this is because I broke my Phone with a Kick-Ass HD camera and having to revert for now to my old phone and video cam. Please be aware I'm making these for myself as well as any interested H-Body members, so I'm not sure I will always have a rhyme and a reason for each video and I'm not interested in building up a library of videos but more come what come may. I assure you their is no obligation to watch them.


Fan Wiring

Featured in this Video is a 2-Speed fan out of a 740 Volvo with the associated rather unique factory relay setup. I know over the years I have read many threads and posts on cooling. As of now I am using an old four core antique radiator that I had built back in the day so we will se how that goes. I'm sure it will cool and in the future if it pops a leak I will go with an Aluminum radiator since they are very reasonably priced these days. Anyway, it's All about the cooling with these cars. :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke7v0xCum3o
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Re: 3800 Supercharged Astre

Postby vegastre » Fri Nov 17, 2017 11:08 pm

Zeke,
I appreciate the tip. Ya, I need to get the tree trimmed way back but my estimates have been coming in at over a grand. I have been letting the city utilities trim it but they skipped this year, boo. BTW, I have been reading your journal for awhile now, and like me your in no hurry or at least it seams so. Instead of yapping here I will leave you a post on your journal as I have a number of observations on your project.
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Re: 3800 Supercharged Astre

Postby vegastre » Sun Nov 19, 2017 9:43 am

4-Wheel Disc brakes

Historically with H-Body cars I owned have had a less than desirable brake set up. For years I have just been amazed how Hot Rodders have swapped in v8 engines of all varieties and then relied on these stock brakes to well...stop them. If your being honest with yourself they were a gamble at best but with the folly of youth throwing caution to the wind and full steam ahead and damn the torpedoes I'm still alive. I have been wanting to upgrade the brakes on the SJ for years with a Blazer four wheel setup. In fact this did happen even before I decided to do the 3800 swap.

At this juncture I wanted to post a video and brag on this upgrade which by no small means is a life saver. I picked up the entire four wheel package as well as an 8" rear for the paltry sum of $200. One of my more better deals for the SJ. Spending another $100 or so installing it in the SJ. It was a fairly involved designing, measuring, cutting, welding, grinding, smoothing, and so on and so forth to come up with what is a pretty sweet out come. I won't go into to detail because it has been documented here at H-Body extensively and no I can't do the searching for you because the Q & A is better than I can explain has been done if you will take the time to investigate which I feel is a mandatory swap for any serious performance up grade over the stock four banger.

Anyway, I posted this video so I could brag a little and remind myself I'm not as stooped as I used to be or at least think :lol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iUvaVT-9wM
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