I know about the Iron Duke but what other four bangers fit in the camaro? not necisarilly fit cuz obviously they all will haha but more so the easiest swap. Maybe an s10? just curious thanks all.

 

Why would you want to?

 

Meh for the novelty of it and gas mileage lol. Plus the fact that most of the modern 4 cylinders have as many ponies as these dated 6's have.

 

I've actually seen some threads in hear talking about dropping in a turbo'ed ecotech, and the projections on the hp rivaled that of the 5.7 these things came with. Most of the conclusions seemed to end up that dropping the 4 cyl. in the car was gonna cost as much as a 350, so they just went the V8 route. Would be a very interesting project if you decided to take it up though!

 

Yea I actually saw a couple threads about that. I am a muscle guy all the way, and love my car its just I don't know if I can afford the gas lmao. Who knows someone is bound to try out a 4 banger soon I'll wait for their results haha.

 

Only way I would ever do this is with a Subaru boxer, but then again, I don't think I ever would

Would be interesting to see though!

 

Thing is, with a heavy *** car like ours, a 4 banger really isn't going to get great gas mileage either. A properly built and tune EFI 350 can get great gas mileage coupled with a t56 and proper gears.

Novelty isn't something you want to pursue unless you have a lot of money and even more free time.

 

Thats why I mentioned the Subaru boxer. The first car I owned was a Subaru Legacy GT, had the same weight of a third gen with the 2.5L boxer 4cyl. It hauled *** and the gas mileage wasn't too bad (23mpg with very aggressive driving, I used to have a lot of fun).

edit: but yes, you can get similar gas mileage with a properly tuned 350 or even the 305.

 

There was someone on here who put a cummins 4BT in their car. Thats probably the only 4 cyl. I would ever consider swapping in a third gen.

 

I have always wanted to see a built supercharged ECOTEC engine in thirdgen. It would be pricey though. They are down on low rpm torqe but the engine is significantly lighter. A good 400 hp built ecotec coupled with a t56 in a road race car would be interesting.

I have personally wanted to do an old 4.9 litre truck motor with efi and an aluminum head, long tube header, turbo/supercharger, and overbore and stroked.

My father was an engine builder and street racer in the 60's and told me that until the v8s came up in displacement (327+) stroked balanced and blueprinted 330 cubic inch inline 6's regularly destroyed smallblocks on the street.

 

One thing to think about, is don't switch your firebird's motor to a 4 cyl. just for gas. Everyone gets really worked up about getting a smaller engine for gas efficiency, then never takes into account the price of their vehicle or motor swap. In many cases, its cheaper to stick it out at the pump for $3-4 per tank, rather then spending thousands on custom mods.

My DD is a 4 cyl bought for gas reasons, but my truck blew up just as gas started to get expensive, so it was cheaper that way. I wouldn't have traded in the truck if it still could have moved without catching fire, lol.

 

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/e...ons/index.html

just a thought.........

 

Not only that but smaller engines don't automatically get better gas mileage. My L98 got better gas mileage than my v6 camaro did (both with fresh tune ups) simply because the engine didn't have to work as hard to move the car down the road.

 

This is very true. You have to take in all the variables of your daily driving routine. For example I had a 1985 elcamino with a tbi 4.3l v6, 700r4 and 3.08 gears. With the v6 it got 22 mpg. This area in the mojave desert has very high winds in excess of 30mph every day. I installed a fresh roller 92 speed density tpi 350. Average gas mileage jumped to 26! I attribute most of it to the lack of torque on the v6. I was barely ever able to hold the engine in fourth gear because of the wind. speeds above 60 were not possible with out running in 3rd. with the 350 not only did it take less throttle to accelerate to cruising speed but the wind had little to no noticable affect on the vehicle.

 

I am not normally one to talk people out of "interesting" engine swaps, but doing this for economical reasons doesn't make sense.

I would say most people agree that 25mpg is pretty good gas mileage... one that I have never seen while I drove a thirdgen as a daily driver...
I would also say that my average was around 15mpg on a day of spirited driving.
Given that, I would say 10,000 miles a year is about average.

So, while getting 15mpg and spending $2.75 a gallon on gas over the course of 10,000 miles it would cost $1833.33
If I were able to get a "good" gas mileage of 25mpg (which is what I think you would expect to see out of a 4cyl with a heavy car,) over 10,000 miles at the same price of $2.75 it would cost you $1100

The difference between the two is $733 over the course of one year... doesnt seem to be worth it to me. Could you do the swap for that price? Arent there better things to be spending your money on with your thirdgen?
I vote not to do a 4cyl swap, too much work for not enough in return.

 

Just about the only reason to do it would be the weight savings. A 2600 lb third gen with a turbo ecotec would be a fun road racer.