Editing Buick V6 engine (section)

==Overview==
The 3800's block is cast iron and all variants use iron, two-valve-per-cylinder [[Overhead valve engine|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-6 engine|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 [[List of GM bellhousing patterns#Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac (BOP) V8 pattern|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 [[List of GM bellhousing patterns#GM metric pattern|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 [[Saginaw Metal Casting Operations|GM Saginaw Metal Casting Operations]] plant) at 1629 N. Washington Avenue in [[Saginaw, Michigan]].