has anyone done this type of conversion. And lets not flame the V-6 here or the conversion, I drove a 4th generation with this motor and liked it's power and fuel economy. and with todays gas prices seem the only route to enjoy my car again on a daily basis. So if anyone has done this or knows of inks to post them

I'm doing a smog legal swap so need info on all electrical problems involved, this motor has a 5 speed just like my car has now so that should make the swap easier. lets hear everything involved with this swap.

 

Project: 85 2.8 Bird, time to respond!! You've gotta search the engine swap forum, its been done and done well! I think you'll be impressed by what you see. Try typing Buick in the search part for the engine swap forum, It'll come up.

 

thanks guy

 

Believe me when I tell you, I'm always willing to encourage the extraction of a small block ch**y in favor of a Buick engine! No matter what the size!!

 

my ears are BURNING!!!!

ok, first, how much of the dash harness do you have? My main issue (95 3800) was all those wonderful vats/passkey bypass modules not working. THe car did run w/the 3800 but decided to stop. I could burn off the fuel by manualy priming the injectors & turn the key, but there was a pcm/bcm issue. hpTuners or digital horse power cain take care of that, or mail off to intense for pcm reprogramming. I didn't have the funds for such , but thru selling off the 3800 parts, I was able to get a vee-ate conversion going. ALso get a VSS gauage cluster towork w/your VSS tranny & pcm. I still have my motor brackets and also found that the tubular exhaust manifolds will not fit w/o some mods.

somelinks to the 3800 in the car:

Firebirdv6.com

Dayton F-body right click & cut & paste those links

You will have sooo much more room in the engien bay it's unreal!!!!! ANd having a stick hooked up soo much bettert oo.

 

well my car is already setup for electronic speedometer & VATS I don't have the 4th gen harness my car is however wired up for fuel injection and currently has TPI, I used a 92 TBI dash/ecm/engine electrical harness. This is sounding like more of a hassle more and more.

I see guys running the LT-1's without electronic issues, what makes the V-6 so much different. Doesnt the ecm only require a source of power or is the much more that it needs from the original dash harness.

 

it's no more hassel than the Elle T. Juan swap, as most buy the programmer to delete out emissions/vats peramitors too.

They also use the engine harness, which you'll need either way. If the car is already set up for the VSS issues, then your many steps ahead of what I had. fuel pressure won't be an issue either. ONly possible tranny issue could be where the tranny mount is located, which really isn't an issue.
The pcm is gonna need a power source, and the fuel enable signal, which your car might already have. And moduels can be bought off e-bay, or get a programmetr & do soooooo much more w/the setup.

 

what kind of mounts did you use for the motor, my car already has a T-5 with hydraulic clutch setup ... will my stock driveshaft be a problem ... what were the issues with the headers ... I have to keep full emmisions so have to keep as much of the stuff on the motor as possible .... how do I get around the tach issue, just put a 6 banger tach in it .... I've heard the gauges are fed signals from the pcm is this true

 

1. I used the 2.8 mouns. I just had brackets made for block to mount.

2. reuse your driveshaft. I actually scored an 89 )IIRC) shaft w/the dampner onit. fit no ptob.

3. the 2000+ tubular exhaust manifolds stick out from teh block too far. pace setter headers might not. OTherwise they 'll hit the rear lower control arm mount. factory manifolds will clear no prob.

4. the 3800 will probably run cleaner than any 3rd gen engine. and all it hass to do is run cleaner than thte origonal engine being replaced.\

5. I have a 3rd gen v6 ralley gauge cluster w/the full vss deal. speedo goes to 120 to. make me an offer (an 88iirc)

6. the tach & speedo are fed through the pcm, which is fed by the VSS