I little bit rediculous

[master]

You ever wonder why a 3100 V6 from the Buick Century makes more horse power than the 3400 V6 from the Grand-Am? If our engines are 10% larger in displacement, wouldn't it have made sense for GM to crank some more power, say about 190 HP out of the 3400??

[lamonpat]

The 3,4L of the Aztek/Rendez-vous/Venture/Silhouette/Montana has 185 hp.

[RocketFast321]

They could at lese up the 3400 to have 200hp

[RyanB]

200 would be very nice to have

[Big Joe]

well i dont no if anyone ever noticed but in the 94 model the 2.3 L engine has 175 hp in the gt and in the se only 115hp and in the 95 model the gt and the se has 150Hp with the 2.3L engine so gm can do wat ever they want with these engines it all has to do with the computer. There are places that will modify your computer program and it will give you more hp without even touching the engine i guess with the buick centry gm figured it was a heavy car cause it is,my grand father has one with a 3.8 and my 3.1 ga will beat it cause i've driven it and its a lot slower so gm gave the buick more hp because they figure it will need it for the heavy weight it will be pulling and the ga witch is a pretty light car got not so much hp i mean the 3.4 is a real good engine very very fast they could have made that engine any where up to about 205 hp maybe 210 215 tops

[matts]

you want some irony? the older 3.8 (96) that came in my moms bonneville (family sedan) had more horsepower than the firebird 3.8 (sports car). actually it had 205 while all the others had 200. i know that 5 horses aint nothing, but still, that's what GM rated them at

[master]

The drop in power in the 2.3 Quad Four can be easily explained. That's because they installed balance shafts to make it more refined.

[Big Joe]

with a few mods without spending too too much money u could easily get the 3.4 up to 250 anyway but if u really wanna spend some money u could get over 300 with a lot of work

[p8ntman442]

the 2.3 with 115 hp is due to not haveing a second cam shaft, and nothing to do with computer programming. as well the 180 hp vs the 150 was cam profile, and compression ratio, also little to do with the computer. the differences in hp for a particular engine has a lot more to do with engine configuration and modification than it does with computer controlls. The drop in the Ho version of the quad 4 from 91-92-93 was solely based on the head design change to rectify the cracking cyl heads.

Gm did not build a sports car with the grand am, it is a sedan that has sufficient power at the right rpm, is quiet and a smooth ride. They only care about hp figures on these cars enough to keep them competative in todays market. They could get another 30 hp out of the 3.4 with different cam profiles and compression, and whatnot, but the car dosenot need that, and it would reduce reliability. this thinking is not ridiculous at all its called marketing, you will see a jump in hp numbers across the board with all manufacturers soon, due to popular demand, not because our grand ams were to slow to pick the kids up from soccer.

[Bouchie11982]

Originally posted by master
You ever wonder why a 3100 V6 from the Buick Century makes more horse power than the 3400 V6 from the Grand-Am? If our engines are 10% larger in displacement, wouldn't it have made sense for GM to crank some more power, say about 190 HP out of the 3400??
...my 1981 buick century wagon...3.4L...V8 engine..:shrug:

[tattooedcouple]

my sister has 99 buick century 3.1 v6 only makes 160 horse. a little less than my 3.4 what year are you talking about ?

[tattooedcouple]

my brother also has a ss monte carlo that has a gm 3.4 with 220 horse i think it is a overhaed cam version of the 3.4 looks nothing like th ga 3.4

[Night Wolf]

the 3800 in my 88 is 170hp and 220ft lbs of tourqe..... when they made the Series II, the NA engine was upped to 200hp and something aroundf 240ft lbs of tourqe..... stronge little engine though.....

I really think GM should have did something with the GA...... leave the trim and enigne offers the same as they are now, but instad of the SC/T package just being a few apearance upgrades, but a biiger engine in.... they coudl make any engine fit..... I was gonna say the NA 3800.... but then it would be wayyy too easy to swap in a s/c 3800 and then GM might get worried because it would interfear with the sales of the cars that already come with the s/c3800

really though, think aobut it, the SC/T with the sweet hood scopps..... they could be made real, and everything else, plus an engine in the 220hp range stock...... that would definitly bring the Grand Am up to higher status...... reliability? the 3800 is said by alot of people to be one of the best V6's around...even when beat on, so that wouldn't be a problem......

of course they are going to be stopping the Grand Am anyway, so none of this really matters...

[Night Wolf]

Originally posted by tattooedcouple
my brother also has a ss monte carlo that has a gm 3.4 with 220 horse i think it is a overhaed cam version of the 3.4 looks nothing like th ga 3.4

yeah in the early-mid 90's there was a DOHC 3.4......

....I heard there was reliability issues or something, but either way, I am sure GM, if they wanted could have fixed any of the problems and used that.....

[95-GT]

The 3400 in the grand am is the same 3400 thats in the vans/suv's. What gives it the extra power is all in the computer tuning.

[Bouchie11982]

Originally posted by tattooedcouple
my sister has 99 buick century 3.1 v6 only makes 160 horse. a little less than my 3.4 what year are you talking about ?
me? i had an 81 wagon...but now i thnk about it im not sure if it was 3.1 L or 3.4L but i know forsure it had a v8 in it

[BBT]

Other things factor into the HP ratings as well. How is the air coming in and being pumped out? Some cars can be built with their intakes and exhaust more open and less restricive than others, so they make better HP with the same given engine.

[p8ntman442]

quote: yeah in the early-mid 90's there was a DOHC 3.4......

....I heard there was reliability issues or something, but either way, I am sure GM, if they wanted could have fixed any of the problems and used that.....
end quote


that is actually a twin dual overhead cam v6, 3.4 liters and produced 200 hp, it made 285 hp but was limited bny the computer due to the fact that Gm could not come up with a transmission to hold the power in the time limit they needed. It was an option on the lumina euro, standard in the z34 lumina, and grand prix's had them and so did camaros. Nothing at all like the pushrod 3400. They were shitty f0r reliability, the timing belts broke around 60k miles and were possibly the worst job to do of any timing system in histiory. (according to the gm tech that worked for my father).

edited cause i cant quote right.

[BBT]

You have it right. Everything I have heard about those engines was that they produced good power, but were a nightmare for GM as to durability, warranty issues and servicing.

[p8ntman442]

the guy that worked for my dad said that the techs would go to their bosses and ask what they did wrong when they saw a 3.4 tdc on thier to do list, the thing was a punishment to work on.

[master]

Originally posted by tattooedcouple
my sister has 99 buick century 3.1 v6 only makes 160 horse. a little less than my 3.4 what year are you talking about ?

I'm talking about starting with the 2003 model. The 3100 V6 produces 175 hp, while the 3400 V6 produces 170 hp in non-GT form.

My beef is not with what the engine COULD produce, we all know this is an awesome engine and very reliable. I just don't understand why GM didn't give it more power in the first place for the N-Body cars, at least more power than the 3100 V6. The same engine in any other GM vehicle makes more power than in the Grand-Am, example in the Impala, minivans, Rendevue, Aztek, etc.

[gagt98driver]

i guess with the buick centry gm figured it was a heavy car cause it is
Its not that much heavier. Its certainly not a "boat" even compared against the GA in terms of curb weight.
03' Century = 3368 lbs
03 GA GT = 3091 lbs
Difference of 277lbs
Century 175hp @ 5200RPM
GA 175hp @ 4800RPM
Both 195ftlbs @4000RPM

[BBT]

Originally posted by gagt98driver
Its not that much heavier. Its certainly not a "boat" even compared against the GA in terms of curb weight.
03' Century = 3368 lbs
03 GA GT = 3091 lbs
Difference of 277lbs
Century 175hp @ 5200RPM
GA 175hp @ 4800RPM
Both 195ftlbs @4000RPM

Century 175hp@5200 rpm vs GA 175hp@4800 rpm.

Same hp, but GA develops it at a lower peak rpm. Makes for easier driving, full power comes on sooner. I'd like to see the torque and hp graphed out for both, just to compare. I think that 277 lbs would make a pretty noticeable difference in the performance of the two cars.

[matts]

yeah, but it wouldn't be like comparing a vette to a hummer.

i agree with what someone already stated. the factory isn't really concerned with hp ratings so to speak. they build a vehicle to be quiet and have a smooth ride. that's why the air intake and exhaust is usually so restrictive. and they spend years developing motors to hold up, not get you 0-60 in 4 sec. for example. my stock engine/tranny in my truck has over 208,000 miles on it. i've done things to it here and there, but never so much as lifted a valve cover. it's still running strong everyday. and go talk to someone that has completely redone their engine. they USUALLY have reliability problems. it may be something minor or it could be something catastrophic.

[Grandam02chick]

it depends on the car and the torque they make for it on the 3.4 liters.if u noticed the grandam's and the century's,monte carlo's etc with the 3.4 liters also look at their torque that changes the horsepower on the cars as well.

[master]

Originally posted by matts
i agree with what someone already stated. the factory isn't really concerned with hp ratings so to speak. they build a vehicle to be quiet and have a smooth ride. that's why the air intake and exhaust is usually so restrictive.

But that still doesn't explain why GM decided to make the bigger 3400 engine produce less power than the smaller 3100 engine. Are you saying that the 3100 is less reliable and noisier because it has higher output? NO!! Of course not.

My point is that if GM can make the 3100 produce 175 hp, then the 3400 *should* produce 185-190 hp in the GA, like in the Impala and other cars. It's the marketing strategy I'm questioning, not the engineering.