I have a 1990 Camaro with a 3.1 motor in it right now in need of a rebuild but really thinking I won't be doing that. I have a family member giving me the Carbed 350 and tranny out of a 1989 Caprice (Police Interceptor).

I already know about changing out springs/shocks, motor mounts and other things to make the v-8 work with the v-6 camaro.

So my main question is would I be able to swap out the carb and intake and replace it with the TPI unit from a 5.7 IROC and just use the ecm and wiring harness out of the same IROC? or would I have to do a ton of other mods to make that motor work?

 

Welcome aboard.

If this '89 engine is still as it was when delivered from the factory, it won't have a carb on it. It will have a throttle body injection unit (TBI), that at first glance does look a lot like a carb.

You can, however, put that engine under a TPI system. But, the heads won't be as good as the IROC heads were, nor will the cam. If you changed those things out, no problems (just the normal V6 -> V8 swap headaches). If you don't change those things out, it will still run okay, just won't have as much power as it could.

 

Thanks for the quick response. It's greatly appreciated.

Yeah I thought it might be TBI but wasn't sure so just went with carbed. lol. Had a 50-50 shot of getting it right without looking.

I have a rebuild kit that has just been sitting in the box for years waiting for this moment just never came across the right deal on the motor and trans. Looks like i finally get to use it. If I come up with anymore questions Ill be sure to post.

Thanks again!

 

Ok, after thinking awhile I came across another portion of the swap I would like some advice on and that is the Caprice tranny is an automatic (same as camaro) but its on the column.

Would this fix be just finding linkage from another camaro with the v8 tranny or will the linkage work from the caprice?

 

the shifter cable from your tranny originally will work on it

 

But it won't have the torque arm mount type tailshaft housing. They can be swapped from the Camaro tranny assuming they're both 700's.

 

or a relocation kit can be bought thru summit or jegs

 

Thanks for the replys.

Another thing I came across is would I use the ecm and wiring harness from the caprice or find those from an IROC??

I wish i had a donor camaro to make it alittle easier but guess it's all a learning process.

 

If you use the TBI from the Caprice, then you would use the ECM and all associated wiring harnesses and sensors from the Caprice.

If you get a TPI system from an IROC, then you need the ECM and all associated wiring harnesses and sensors from the IROC.