I am seriously thinking of buying a cheap 4th gen and swapping all my parts from my 91 over to it. I just dont know if my engine is going to fit under the cowl panel of the 4th gen. Im looking for any info pertaining to a swap like like this. I am running the HSR which I know will be a huge issue so I am willing to part with it if need be for a smaller intake setup.

The reason for this is the fact that my car is showing signs of its age with rot underneath and cancer on the body panels. The 4th gen offers antilock brakes, rack and pinion steering, airbags, better A/C setup, a lot more wheel options, and a lot less chance of rust on the body due to it being plastic.

 

This is going to get locked / deleted pretty fast, but your idea is a poor one.

1st. The 4th gen body isnt plastic, the only things that arent metal just like a thirdgen are the doors and fenders. Rust free thirdgen doors / fenders arent exactly scarce.

2. Unless you are using a miniram, a gen 1 engine is going to have trouble fitting, a converted carb intake could fit with a cowl hood.

3. You will need an aftermarket K member to install a gen 1 engine, while the LT1 block is cast with the mount locations for older mounts allowing easy install into a thirdgen, the older blocks do not have the mount locations for LT1 mounts.

4. Yes you gain r&p steering, you also gain a few hundred lbs. I wouldnt call ABS much for a gain, its a lot more crap in the way in the engine bay, not to mention the cowl is going to cause you hell running a distributor.
The a/c setup isnt any better, its just all the thirdgens you've been in have been poorly maintained and the 4th gens just not old enough to have been neglected yet.

 

Buy an LS1 car. Gen I motors are inferior to the LSx stuff.

 

your gaining alot more then a couple hundred pounds. my 84 camaro with a 2.8 and 5 speed wieghed in just over 3200 lbs dry(i think 3226 is what the sticker said) my 2000 3.8 with a 5 speed wieghed in at 4038 lbs dry(both stick on the door and when i ran the vehicle build to make sure it wasnt a miss print. you can switch rack and pinion steering into a third gen, abs actually decreases your breaking ability it just keeps you straight in the event of a slide. if you know how to drive abs is nothing but a hinderance, oh yah and if your running ac doing a tune up if a pain even with a rack(i found it easyer to get to spark plugs from the bottom) i know a couple gm techs that would drill big holes in the inner fenderwells or just not change one bank of them