I finally got my donor car. I picked up a running '89 RS for $625. It was totaled car because the kid went off the road and ripped the lower A arm out of the cross member and push backed the passenger door in the process. The engine was only rebuilt 25,000 miles ago. Before I start, are there anythings I should be looking to do first or what order? I was going to pull the v6 driveline out first and then pull the v8 driveline and put it in the car. Only makes sense to me to do it in this order.

 

Just don't bolt the V8 one up quite yet. Pull both of those but now that I think about it, they should be the same length. Mine was from my V6. Next, pull out that V6 and tranny POS, then go buy some lower motor mounts for the V8 and put those on. They go on the front holes and only uses 3 of them and the corners hang over a bit. Not a fun job putting those on either.
Then carefully move the brake line cause it will be in the way of the mounts. Move that first. Oooops. Once that is done, pull out the V8 with the tranny and put it in. I'm not sure if the wiring is gonna work and I know the ECM won't work on the V8. I didn't use any of the wiring cause I went with a carb. Simplifies everything except emissions.

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1986 SC Camaro
Mods: Threw 2.8 in garbage, put in rebuilt
350 .060 over, XE268H Comp cam, Edlebrock
Performer Intake and Edlebrock 600 CFM Carb,
Pete Jackson noisy GearDrive (which sounded
cool for about 5 minutes, now I'm sick of it)
Rebuilt TH350, 3.42 Rear Gears. LCA RLB's.
B&M Mega Shifter.

 

You didn't say what year your V6 car is, or what type of induction your '89 is. Unless you are converting it to non-CC carb & distributor, you'll need all the wiring and controls from the '89. The differences in induction may mean there are other things you'll need from the donor car, but at least everything you need is ON the donor car.

I highly recommend taking pictures of both cars before you take anything apart. Then, label everything you disconnect as you take each car apart (you can't imagine how much trouble that will save you when you go to put it all back together). You are going to need to move those engine mounts on the frame like bhaas says, which is best done with the a-arms dropped which is best done with the engine weight in the car, which makes for a nice little catch-22.

When I did mine, I had both engines out when I swapped the wiring harnesses and AC (the AC can be pulled out and switched in one piece without breaking any lines). One thing I know for sure, you aren't going to be putting the V8 in your good car the same day you take out the V6.

Don't forget the tach is different. And front springs. And sway bar. And radiator. And throttle cables (another good thing to switch with the engine out).

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82 Berlinetta, orig V-6 car, now w/86 LG4/TH700R4. 2.93 limited slip. Cat-back from '91 GTA, ZZ3 intake, Accel HEI SuperCoil. AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Daily driver, work-in-progress (LG4 w/'87 LB9 block, ZZ3 cam, ported World 305 heads, Hooker headers & y-pipe, 3" Catco cat & 3" cat-back).
57 Bel Air, my 1st car. '66 396, 9.7 CR forged TRWs, Weiand Action+, Edelbrock 1901 Q-Jet, GK 270 cam, Magnum rockers, Jacobs Omnipack, 1-3/4" Hedders & 3" Warlocks, TH400 w/TCI Sat Night Special conv & Trans-Scat shift kit, MegaShifter, 3.08 8.2" 10-bolt w/Powertrax, AMSOIL syn lubes bumper-to-bumper. Idles smooth @ 600 RPM in D. Best 15.02/95.06 @ 5800' Bandimere (corrected 13.93/102.4 @ sea level).

 

heh. i thought i was gonna be driving my car the weekend i ripped the motor out...little did I know I wouldnt even start the motor for a month and a half...