How much does a v6 to v8 swap usually run I was thinking about it, but my insurance payment talked me out of it. But now that im 18. I would like to consider it again. I would like a pretty much stock 350 TPI. Rough estimate on cost?

 

forget the tpi swap go carb it much easier tpi is kool looking but the down fall is you will spend lots if you want alot of hp's under the hood plus you need to put in the harness,the ecm.and alot of other stuff carb is so much easieri let you know how my swap goes

 

Unless you have a third gen donor car for everything, prepare to double whatever budget you had planned.

Supposing you bought a long-block crate motor:

You have the cost of the motor, transmission, exhaust (This is a lot of money!), radiator (and hoses), accessory drive system, motor mounts, ignition, fuel delivery (fuel injection or carb), tachometer, starter, flexplate, you'll want new front springs... The list keeps growing. Little odds and ends will break it, things you didn't think about. Mucho $$$


--It's really hard to give you an estimate, you can save a lot of money if you get the major things from a junkyard. If you're like me and buy things new and shiny when you can't recondition a junkyard part to like-new condition, you can easily spend $2,000+ on things, NOT including the engine and transmission. I highly HIGHLY reccomend a donor car

 

Easiest, cheapest v6 to v8 swap: sell v6 car, buy v8 car. Done.

 

the VIN says v6...do they look under the hood?

and before we can give you a better price we need to now something.
1st you want stock 350 TPI from 173 TPI...well besides the motor (500 or so at junkyard) you will need the engine harness, the ECM, new fuel pump and regulator, and all the accesiors from the v8 donor car, also you will need all the v8 TPI.

now the trans, is it auto or manual? do you want auto or manual?

the exhaust, you can find some pretty cheap sets online bc i have yet to come accross a v8 exhaust system at a junkyard.

will need a new radiotor, ive seen some 2 core alunimum ones (i think 2 maybe 1 core) for like 100 bucks. should be fine for stock but if you upgrade the 350 you may want to upgrade the raditor.

front springs, junkyard like 50 bucks for the pair i think.

the rear end...will do OK but have higher rpms on the highway and you would want to replace the rear end.

the tach there is a converter for the signals, or just get a v8 cluster.

umm i think i covered everything, did i miss anything?

 

I am nearly done with my swap, but I have two vaccuum lines to deal with. One is slightly larger than the other. They both come through the firewall near the heater/AC. One headed toward the front of the V6, the other appears to have attached to a metal pipe that attached to the back of the V6 intake manifold area. The pipe rotates from left to right. Any idea what these are? What do I do with them? The car is a 1988 Camaro

 

yes my guess are they are the climate pod vaccum control lines, meaning your climate control is controlled tho vaccum. post another thread to make sure tho.

 

That's my guess as well. But why does one go to the front and one to the back. Also, why are they different sizes?

 

Probably won't be an issue until you have a claim. However, some insurance companies require an agent to see the car before they'll write a policy.

Most 3rd gen owners prefer the factory V6 gear ratio in their V8 car to the factory V8 ratios.

It would be cheaper to get a used V8 cluster.

 

arent v6 rears higher gear ratio menaing higher highway rpms? plus dont they break easier? anywas if im wrong sorry i was confused.

 

V6 rear ends have 3.42 gearing, which IMO is a great compromise between getting good acceleration and fuel economy. It's the same 10 bolt rear end, no weaker than the V8.

I've done this swap, and honestly I wouldn't do it again unless the car had real sentimental value to me. Buying a V8 car is a better option in my opinion

 

I thought this sounded like a great idea....three and a half years later, its still not running and I have thrown over 4 grand at it. If the car did not mean so much to me, I would have put a match to it and said to hell with it. I am so close - did end up finding a donor car and I would STRONGLY suggest that route - but if anyone tells you that it is easy, laugh out loud at them, its not.

 

Easiest thing is buy a running 350 TPI that was hit in the rear and swap EVERYTHING.. so it'd be the cost of that plus a few new stuff you wont want to reuse like fuel pump, plugs, wires.........


Don;t forget you'll need , suspension pieces, dash gauges / ECM...... etc... as well.lol

 

I didn;t see this lol


What issues are you having??

It should in theory be a simple swap of EVERYTHING. at least electronics wise...