hey whats goin on guys i am in the process of completly redoing my 86 cutlass ciera just finished with paint and stereo install pics comin soon

But on to my actual question i have the 4 tech 4 banger in this thing yes i know it has no power lol. Next summer i plan to do a 3800 swap with it but for the coming year i would like more power for the trek to and from campus. What can i do to this thing to at least try to pump more performance out of it?

All i have done so far is change plugs, cap, wires, and rotors, and i changed the oil and air filter. Then i commenced to take off the stock POS air box that was on there wow what a terrible design idea that thing was. It looked like a damn muffler on there, but i am gonna mold a hose down to my lower air dam with a wide exhaust tip attached to it to draw in true cold air.

There really isnt to much for the Iron Duke. You could get a K&N air filter but I dont know if you would even notice a difference. If your gonna drive the car with that engine for some time, check the vaccum lines for leaks, as that will make it run better (worked for me). Not really anything that can be done to make them go fast as its more of a economy/reliable engine then a fast one.
P.S Welcome to the site!

i figured as much considering the amount of research i have done so far i have found a whole lot of nothing lol. but hey it was worth a shot hell the car will at least look and sound good for this year of college and then next summer BAM! its time for a 3800 V6 i am gonna wait to post my pics of it until i get all my accessories shot with paint but i got some hardcore before and after pics of it and let me tell you no one on this site started with a car worse than mine lol. The sun had taken its toll of this vehicle it was parked in my neighbors yard for over a decade and the sun bleached through all the paint on the hood/roof/trunk/and drivers side, so bad that it caused what looked like a rust based flame job to appear. well it is good to know that someone else on this site has a cutlass that is sportin "the duke", if anything it does quite well on gas. thanks for the post man stay tuned for pics of THE RUST FLAME DDDDEEEEMMMMOOOONNNNNNNNN!!!

Welcome to the site!

will a 3800 drop right in? I'd think that there would be quite a bit involved with the swap. From what I've heard on this site and from other people, it's sometimes less work and much more cost effective to just go look for a car with the engine you want already in it.

not trying to discourage you, just my $.02 If the rest of your car is in great shape and you can get the stuff for the swap cheap, it may be worth it.

if it was a rare or classic car it's be another story, but cieras aren't very hard to come by. I'd look for one that got bashed up in the rear or something, if it's beat up beyond drivability usually you can buy a car like that for next to nothing. As opposed to buying a running engine by itself.

the effort and time involved is not a big deal my bro has a rod shop on the side and we do customization and fabrication and whatnot for people so the effort wont be completely in our hands alone with the proper types of tools most jobs are much easier. I know a guy who has dropped a 3800 series 1 in to a cutlass just like mine when his 3.3L blew up a couple years ago and it was minimal effort since it was actually an option on the car same as mine. There is some fabrication that needs to be done to the brackets to get the series 2 in there but her with the chain drop in place and no one havin to support a damn cherry picker i am quite confident that it could be switched over in a weekend at the most. until then i am on the lookout for a 3800 if you hear of one in a wrecked car someone send them my way and i would be most appreciative Thanks for the advice bro

sounds like you have it under control then. go for it!

I just meant that for your average Joe Blow with a basic set of tools and a buddy with an engine hoist it's probably more work than it's worth...but if you have access to a shop with all the tools and you know what you're doing already it's a whole different story.

yeah im tempted not to wait until next summer and forego a couple other things i wanted to do to my car so that i can get instant horsepower satisfaction out of the box lol. But im gonna take a couple days as i am reassembling my car and putting the final coat of polish then the wax on the car put my nifty new parts on it and take a long look at the car and feel it out one step at a time