Editing Buick V6 engine (section)

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The [[1973 oil crisis]] prompted GM to look for more economical engines than the V8s of 350, 400, and 454/455 cubic inches that powered most General Motors cars and trucks during that time. At that time, the only "small" engines generally offered by GM were built by the Chevrolet division including the {{cvt|140|cuin|L|1}} [[OHC]] aluminum [[inline-four engine]] used in the subcompact [[Chevrolet Vega]] and a [[Chevrolet Turbo-Thrift engine#250|{{cvt|250|cuin|L|1}} straight-6]] used in smaller Chevy, Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac models, whose design roots dated back to the 1962 Chevy II (Nova). '''LD5''' was the RPO for engines with chassis code "A", '''LD7''' was used for the 1977-only VIN code "C" engines.

One quick idea was tried by Buick engineers—taking an old Fireball V6 picked up at a junkyard and installing it into a 1974 Buick Apollo. The solution worked so well that GM wanted AMC to put the engine back into production. However, AMC's cost per unit was deemed as too high. Instead of buying completed engines, GM made an offer to buy back the tooling and manufacturing line from AMC in April 1974, and began building the engines on August 12.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ward's Automotive Yearbook 1975 |year=1975 |publisher=Ward's Communications, Inc.}}</ref> With production back within GM, Buick re-introduced the V6 that fall in certain 1975 models—a move made possible by the fact that foundations for the old V6 machinery were still intact at Buick's engine assembly plant in Flint, Michigan, so it was easy to put the old tooling back in place and begin production at least two years ahead of the normal schedule that would have been required to create new tooling. The bore was enlarged to {{cvt|3.8|in|mm}}, identical to the [[Buick V8 engine#350|Buick 350]] and [[Oldsmobile V8 engine#307|Olds 307]] V8s, yielding {{cvt|3791.3|cc|CID L cc|1|adj=ri0|order=out}} displacement. 78,349 units were installed in Buicks for 1975.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ward's Automotive Yearbook 1976 |year=1976 |publisher=Ward's Communications, Inc.}}</ref>

Due to difficulties with the new fuel economy and emissions standards, the engine produced just {{cvt|105|or|110|hp|kW|0}}, depending on fitment and year.

In 1977, Buick redesigned the crankshaft to a "split-pin" configuration to create an "even-firing" version. The crank pins associated with the opposing cylinders were offset from each other by 30°. The relatively small offset did not require flying arms to be incorporated, however a {{cvt|3|mm}} thick flange was built in between the offset crank pins to prevent the connecting rod big-ends from "walking" off the crank pin bearing journal and interfering with the adjacent big end. The {{cvt|3|mm}} thick flange effectively caused the connecting rods on the left-hand bank of cylinders (forward bank for FWD applications) to move {{cvt|1.5|mm}} forward and the right-hand bank to move {{cvt|1.5|mm}} rearward, but the engine block remained unchanged compared to the odd-fire engine. Since the cylinders center-lines were no longer centralized over the crank pin bearing journals, the connecting rods were re-designed with the big-ends offset from the piston pin ends by {{cvt|1.5|mm}}. The engine in this configuration became known to have "off-center bore spacing".

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* 1975      [[Buick Apollo]]
* 1975–1980 [[Buick Skyhawk]]
* 1975–1977 [[Buick Century]]
* 1975–1977 [[Buick Regal]]
* 1975–1976 [[Buick LeSabre]]
* 1975–1979 [[Buick Skylark]]
* 1975–1982 [[Oldsmobile Cutlass]]
* 1978–1981 [[Chevrolet Camaro]]
* 1978–1987 [[Chevrolet El Camino]]
* 1978–1983 [[Chevrolet Malibu]] Both the {{cvt|229|CID|L|1}} engine used in the Malibu starting in 1980 and the {{cvt|200|CID|L|1}} version first used in 1978 were NOT versions of the Buick 3800 Engine, but a different Chevy-built engine. Both the Buick V6 and the {{cvt|229|cid|L|1}} Chevrolet V6 are 90-degree V6 engines, and both are often referred to as being a 3.8 L V6. These engines should not be confused as being the same, and are unique engine designs. The {{cvt|229|CID|L|1}} Chevrolet V6 was essentially a small block Chevy V8 missing two cylinders. 
* 1978–1987 [[Chevrolet Monte Carlo]] This is very confusing, as Monte Carlo at various times used both the V6 from the Buick engine as well as the V6 engine derived from the Chevrolet V8.
* 1978–1980 [[Chevrolet Monza]]
* 1978–1987 [[Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme]]
* 1975–1980 [[Oldsmobile Starfire]]
* 1977–1979 [[Oldsmobile Omega]]
* 1978–1987 [[Pontiac Grand Prix]]
* 1976–1980 [[Pontiac Sunbird]]
* 1976–1981 [[Pontiac Firebird]]
* 1978–1981 [[Pontiac LeMans]]
* 1977–1979 [[Pontiac Ventura]]
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