Буйк V6: История и эволюция легендарного двигателя.

The Buick V6 is an OHV V6 engine developed by the Buick division of General Motors and first introduced in 1962. The engine was originally and was marketed as the Fireball engine. GM continued to develop and refine the V6, eventually and commonly referred to simply as the 3800, through numerous iterations. The 3800 made the Ward's 10 Best Engines of the 20th Century list and made Ward's yearly 10 Best list numerous times. It is one of the most manufactured engines in automotive history, with over 25 million produced. The engine originally derived from Buick's aluminium V8 family, which also went on to become the Rover V8, manufactured from 1960–2006.

The 3800's block is cast iron and all variants use iron, two valve per cylinder OHV heads. The engine, originally designed and manufactured in the United States, was also produced in later versions in Australia. It was the first six cylinder engine designed exclusively for Buick products since the Buick straight six was discontinued in 1930. In 1967, GM sold the design to Kaiser Jeep since they no longer felt the need to produce a V6, considered an unusual engine configuration in North America at the time. The 1973 oil crisis prompted the company to re acquire the design from American Motors (AMC), who had purchased Kaiser Jeep in 1970, in early 1974. The descendants of the early 231 continue as the most common GM V6, as it developed into a very durable and reliable design. Though the pre 3800 rear wheel drive (RWD) V6 uses the Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac (BOP) bellhousing pattern, an oddity of both the front wheel drive (FWD) and RWD 3800 V6 is that although it is a 90° V6, it uses the GM 60° V6 bell housing (Metric Pattern). For use in the FWD applications, the bellhousings on the FWD transmissions are altered slightly. This engine has the cylinders numbered 1 3 5 on the left hand bank (front bank for FWD applications) and 2 4 6 on the right hand bank, the number 1 cylinder being the furthest from the flywheel end. The firing order is 1 6 5 4 3 2. The engine was produced at the Flint North plant in Flint, Michigan, with engine blocks and cylinder heads cast at the Grey Iron plant (now the GM Saginaw Metal Casting Operations plant) at 1629 N. Washington Avenue in Saginaw, Michigan.

The first engine in this family, RPO code 6I, was introduced in 1961 for the 1962 model year Buick Special with Buick's engine, the first V6 in an American car (the GMC V6 was used earlier in trucks). Because it was derived from Buick's aluminum V8, it has a 90° bank between cylinders and an uneven firing pattern due to the crankshaft having only three crank pins set at 120° apart, with opposing cylinders (1 2, 3 4, and 5 6) sharing a crank pin in, as do many V8 engines. The uneven firing pattern was often perceived as roughness, leading a former American Motors executive to describe it as "rougher than a cob." The off center design continued up until the 1988 LN3 version of the engine, when the left hand bank of cylinders was moved forward relative to the right hand bank. Although the actual bore spacing between cylinders on the same bank remained unchanged at , the LN3 and later engines became known to have "on center bore spacing".

The Buick Division, concerned about high manufacturing costs of their innovative aluminum 215 V8, sought to develop a cheaper, cast iron engine based on the same tooling. It was given the RPO code JL. They settled on an unusual 90° V6 layout that was essentially the architecture of the '215' less two cylinders. In initial form, it had a bore and stroke of , for an overall displacement of It weighed about more than the aluminum engine, but was far cheaper to produce. Dubbed the Fireball V6, it became the standard engine in the 1962 Buick Special. In their test that year, Road & Track was impressed with Buick's "practical" new V6, saying it "sounds and performs exactly like the aluminum V8 in most respects."

The bore was increased to , and stroke increased to , increasing displacement to Since the engine was similar to the popular small block Buick V8—now with a cast iron block and displacement of , the engine was made cheaply at the same factory with much of the same tooling. This engine carried the RPO code KH for the 1964 model year and LH for 1965. In 1966, the code was MH and was renamed the Wildcat V 6. For 1967, the code was NH. This engine was used in Buick's intermediate sized Special and Skylark models from 1964 to 1967 and Oldsmobile's mid sized F 85/Cutlass models for 1964 and 1965, including the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser and Buick Sport Wagon. 1964–1965 models featured a single barrel Rochester MonoJet, producing In 1966–1967, the 1 barrel was replaced with a 2 barrel Rochester 2GV, giving the engine a 5 horsepower boost to
The V6 was dropped after the 1967 model year in favor of a conventional inline six engine built by the Chevrolet division, and the tooling was sold to Kaiser Jeep.

A smaller version of this engine was produced in 1978 and 1979 for the Century, Regal, and Chevrolet Monza. The bore was reduced to , resulting in an engine of piston displacement. The RPO code was LC9. Initially this engine produced , but in 1979 it received the same improvements in the cylinder heads as did the LD5, and therefore power increased to .

Introduced in 1995, the Series II is quite a different engine. It is also by far the most popular of the 3800 family for its power, smoothness, fuel efficiency, and reliability, although the stroke for the 3.8 liter engine remained at , and the bore remained at That said, the engine architecture was vastly changed. The deck height is shorter than the Series I, reducing weight and total engine package size. This required that the piston connecting rods be shortened , and the crankshaft was also redesigned. A new intake manifold improved breathing while a redesigned cylinder head featured larger valves and a higher compression ratio. The result was and , better fuel economy, and lighter overall weight (to ). This 3800 weighs only more than the all aluminum High Feature V6 that currently dominates GM's six cylinder applications, despite being an all cast iron design. The new intake manifold greatly improved airflow. To meet emissions standards, an EGR tube was placed in the intake manifold to reduce combustion temperatures. The 3800 Series II was on the Ward's 10 Best Engines list for 1995 through 1997. GM recalled 1.5 million vehicles with this engine on April 14, 2009 due to risk of fire from engine oil leaking under the valve cover gaskets onto hot exhaust manifolds. The fire could spread to the nearby plastic spark plug wire retainers on the valve cover and then to the rest of the engine compartment. GM fitted the affected vehicles with redesigned spark plug wire retainers. These engines were noted for having problems with the plastic upper intake manifold cracking around the EGR passage. The engine would then hydrolock. The lower intake gaskets and upper intake manifolds were revised, correcting all these issues.

The Series III engines include many changes. The upper and lower intake manifold is now aluminum on the naturally aspirated models. Intake ports are mildy enlarged; intake valves (instead of as on Series II) and exhaust valves were introduced in 2003 engines, just before switching to Series III. Electronic throttle control is added to all versions, as is returnless fuel injection. Stronger powdered metal sinter forged connecting rods are used in 2004+ supercharged, and 2005+ naturally aspirated engines, instead of the cast iron style from Series II engines. Emissions are also reduced. In 2005, it was the first gasoline engine in the industry to attain SULEV (Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle) emissions certification. Also note that Series III engines are the base for any 3800 produced for the 2004 year and up. This means the same block, heads, and connecting rods apply to any remaining Series II engines made after 2004 also. The difference is that Series III engines received the new superchargers (Generation 5 – Eaton M90 – if equipped), intake manifolds, fuel systems, powdered connecting rods, as well as larger intake valves, drive by wire throttle body and electronics.