drunkenwhippet

hello everyone, im gonna be doin a swap soon and figure i could use some input. im buying a bird off of a kid in my class, im pretty sure its an 89, but im not sure caus ive been lookin at a few and its all a big blur. it has a v6 in it, and the motor locked up on him, thats about all i know right now. ive found a carbed 350 from a 77 camaro i plan to swap into it, ill have to put the motor back together once i get it.

basically i need to know what im diving into, ive done stuff like head gaskets and i like to think im pretty mechanically inclined, but ive never dived into anything like this before. im goin to school for precision machining, would like to persue engine machining at some point in the future and im workin at a local machine shop (not engine related) so im familiar with precise work and thats not an issue. im assuming i'll probably need to get new motor mounts and such, ive toyed with the idea of milling them out of a solid piece of steel but im obviously gonna have to see what im up against first. oh, i might also mention im decently experienced with electronics, all the basic stuff but not too heavily into logic and that stuff yet, but i know enough to be able to use my scope and meters and such, and basic circuitry isnt a problem for me.

i know i dont have squat for info as of yet, i should be getting the car here in the next week (its in another town and still lookin for provisions to move it) once i get it i can get stuff like casting numbers and such, but im tryin to get an idea of what ill need to do. will i be able to keep the tranny, or will i have to get a new one? bein a relatively inexperienced driver im not looking for tons of power, im lookin to have something to get me to work (12 miles each way) every day and of course school (btw, high school senior, graduate in june ) and hopefully not kill myself in. then i can get somethin else i can have all tore down and workin on for a decent length of time building up the bottom end, block crank rods pistons and maybe cam, then swap that in for a start then work on heads intake exhaust and then have something decent eventually, in a couple years, if i even still have this car to put it in. but im not lookin at wicked power, im lookin for cheapest possible that i wont have to worry about and have it reliable.

after i have all the cash dropped for the car (400, be a few weeks of pay assuming i spend a lil on other stuff) ill be gettin the motor, only problem is our engine stand is locked up in storage, bills not paid . i do have a cherry picker and im gonna see about building a stand, cut the pieces of steel and turn a piece for the head stock if youll call it that, then drill and tap holes on the front of that so different mounting positions can be used, a grid of holes pretty muc hand then i can mill out parts to accomodate any mounting i might need and turn down spacers without a problem. after i have all of the parts made up i can have it welded by the welding class at school, the kid i have in mind the instructor has claimed himself that the students welds are just as good as his if not better, and i plan to build the stand to be nice and strong assuming i can get the metal for a decent price (i'll likely have to buy the tube stock)

i hope my ramblings are gettin me somewhere, its late haha. but yeah if anyone has any warnings or advice, fire away. and speedy if you see this, i finally came and posted here lol.

cool84

why not just go buy an engine stand, there like 30 bucks and take 2 seconds to assemble. i thought about building one for a while too but i decided its not really worth it unless you wanna make it diffrent somehow from a generic stand.

as far as the v6 to 350 swap i dont really know much about but i would assume that you would probably need another wireing harness to make it work. it would probably be really simple to just to a carb'ed setup but your gonna have to check what stuff you need. also as far as the trans goes it just depends on what kinda trans it is, i know a v6 t5 has a diffrent bolt pattern than the v8's but if its auto i would thinkit would work but i cant be positive.

as far as doing the whole swap, its not as complicated ad some people think but it is tedious theres a lot to do for a complete swap you just have to take your time and lable everything, and take lots of pictures too, they com in very handy later. i did my swap mostly by myself with pretty basic knowlage, i had worked on cars plenty of times and i plan on becomeing a technician but had never done a whole swap before. just get a friend or sombody else who knows what their doing to help you along, and be very very very organized with your parts nothing is worse than sorting through a huge pile of bolts and trying to figure out which ones go where lol

and heres some helpful reading for ya too
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engi...swap-read.html

talover111

i am in the proess of doing an engine swap and ill post if i can about wether (i cant spell worth a hoot)i can find a bell housing that will bolt up to the ve and use the v6 5 speed tranny

DodgeTech

engine swaps are a big deal no matter what your swapping... engine mounts out of a piece of steel? you need the rubber in there dude... your gonna have a hell of a noise inside the car if not... you do realize you need to get a tranny for the 350 too... if you go 700r4 you'll need a way to controll the lockup 4th gear if you want to use it... you may need to do a new fuel pump as well. carbs only run 8-12 PSI normaly, where as multiport systems use 40+ and average TBI systems use about 12-15. you may want to consider emissions as well if that applies to where you live. carbed systems are getting harder to pass in the state i live in and if you get a state inspector that knows what hes looking for they may fail you on a visual inspection and not even let you take the dyno...that is if you exceed the year they stopped putting carbs under the hood. a lot of people think as long as you have cats on your exaust, the swap is legal which is so wrong in this state. your only allowed to swap an engine in IF it was an option in that vehicle so most v6-v8 swapps are ok. anyways, your going to have a bunch of kinks you'll come across in the process so i hope you have some extra cash laying around.

BTW i just say your question about the tranny, ditch it. get a 5 speed from a v8. its not worth the hastle of making it fit and im pretty sure the v6 torque rating is far less than the v8 model. the input shaft is what isnt going to fit...

drunkenwhippet

when i mentioned makin a mount of steel, i meant just enough to adapt the cheap mounts you get at autozone or wherever, that consisto f the rubber and that lil bit, to attach to the frame and such. just as an effort to avoid expense, caus if it'll work and i can do it for free.. why not? i would think a single piece of steel would be better than multiple pieces welded together.

i was thinkin that i read that the auto trannys will bolt up, if that was the case it would make it a quicker swap, not having to worry about the tranny too. like i said, im not goin for a monster right now, im goin for osmething that runs and can get me to work every day. no emissions testing to worry about.

and trannys, i really dont want to switch to a manual right now, adding a clutch pedal and doing all the other stuff involved. thats more time, work, and money. as for havin cash on hand, i aint got squat haha. im dumpin all i got as i get it into this, or will be once i actually get the car. like i said im just anticipating till i get it, tryin to get everything that i should expect so i can plan it. and maybe ill be lucky enough to be able to get the motor turnin again and it'll run so i can save up some $ so i can get everything taken care of at once. hell i might find a v6 block i can swap in and just do that for now so i dont have to worry about makin stuff work after the conversion. then be able to get everything covered and maybe even do some work to the motor before puttin it in. still gotta get the car into town before i can do anything tho.

thanks for the input so far guys, hopefully i'll be able ot get pics up, caus i know everyone likes pics.

88KARRV6

iTrader: (1)

I'm doing the same swap, and I can tell you it's alot of work.

First of all, if you have a V6 automatic transmission it won't bolt up, there's no way of making it work, bolt pattern is different. if you go carb'ed it's much easier than if you go with F.I (it's cheaper too), and you can just adapt your existing harness, you can even get rid of the one on the passenger side all together, since it just controls the injectors, computer, and sensors.
plus you are gonna need V8 sway bars and springs, the V6 ones are too soft, and you'll bottom out all the time if you don't change them.


You should check this thread, lots of useful info:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engi...swap-read.html

I know it gave me alot of info I needed to make the decision to finally do the swap.

DodgeTech

for some reason i thought you said it was a manual trans. sorruy. and i just assumed you ment fab the whole mount from steel. listen, the autozone brand mounts are cheap, but making your own isnt worth it... i think i paied 41 dollars for my mounts and they work great. do you really want to spend a half a day making brackets? and the thing about the trans. even though your not looking to make a monster, the v8 naturaly has more torque than a v6, thats why they make 2 different transmissions... save yourself the headache and just get a used 700r4 you can get them for cheap in a scrap yard but then your buying something that someone else may have beat on remember. ive seen them all over the web from small transmission shops across the US for 500-2000 dollars depending on what you want. i actually just bought a 700r4 (4x4) transmission for my truck a few months back and paied 750 for it WITH a converter blocked accumulators ECT... i was going to rebuild it but the kit alone was 480 bucks and since i work i na dodge dealership we obviously dont have any of the GM specific tools to take them apart. im sure they are ways around that but i couldnt see me putting the effort into it when 200 dollars more gets me a far superior trans. with a warranty

drunkenwhippet

well today i decided im gettin a different car for basic transportation, then gettin the firebird then buyin a motor and such, doin the swap and havin a nice car. and since ill have the other car to drive, i wont be pressed for time so i can put some more work into the motor and everything before stickin it in. probably work out for the best.

DodgeTech

thats the smartest thing you could do man. your gonna find that during your swap, little things will go wrong you didnt plan for and your going to need that extra time and money and if its your basic means of transportation, your going to be POed that you cant drive it. trust me on this, im in that boat right now with my truck. its going to a tuner next week to get it all tuned right (ratios, air/fuel mixtures) with a few dyno passes. i wrench for a living and theres just some things i cant do without the proper equipment such as burners and a dyno and its the most frustrating thing in the world when you do it all day long for other people but cant seem to get your own ride right

drunkenwhippet