Hi all, this is my first post here. Right now I have a 1988 Camaro with a 2.8 V6 5 speed in it and are considering some different options for a swap and haven't seen exactly what I need to know in previous threads. Right now the 2.8 is fully rebuilt but when it was installed the fuel pump in the tank no longer kicks on. I have access to a chevy 20 van with a 4.3 carb with an auto trans, and also some various sized mercruiser engines, 5.0, 5.7, and 7.4. The wiring is messed up right now, I had to wire in a separate button to crank over the engine because the key switch turned with no key but didnt actually crank it over. I really would love to have a carb setup over any kind of injection but if its going to cost a good chunk of money I may have to put off the build for a while. I was wondering if it would be easiest to try and fix what I have, yank the 4.3 and harness and try and wire it together, or just drop a V8 in. The fuel lines were completely rotted also, so for temporary line I am using PVC hydraulic steering lines and was wondering about a permanent fix because all I have seen at autozone and other places are 1 foot sections of line to repair broken lines.

 

A 4.3 is going to be just as hard to drop in as a V8. Best to get a complete engine/harness/ECM out of a car and swap the whole thing in.

 

4.3 swap isn't bad. some later versions are 200 HP, some later versions are ULEV, and it's basically a bolt-in. You would need the '87 Monte Carlo 4.3 oilpan and exhaust manifolds, you would need the Trans-Dapt 4626 mounting brackets, you would need SBC FEAD and transmission and radiator, and you're on your own for throttle linkage, but if this is your first ever attempt at this, and you don't have adequate help, tools, and other resources, then start with a 305 or a 350. If you get buried trying that, you can revert to a 3.4L which is the same engine family as your 2.8L.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...formation.html

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engi...st-non-v6.html

 

Update, after browsing a few local junkyards I found an older el Camino that seems like the best candidate for a swap. It has a 267 v8 and a four speed auto tranny. This isn't my first time working with engines, I've rebuilt a few marine engines (mercruiser uses gm blocks so they're basically the same) and my bike engine and the 2.8 that's currently in my camaro. Trying to sort through the wiring is really the only problem I'm not sure what to do with, I would like to rip all the wiring out and use the harness from the 267 and wire the switches for lights and blinkers directly to the switches because half of them dont work. Also the key cylinder just spins with no key but it doesn't crank the engine over so I had to wire in a push button straight to the starter. Does anyone have experience with the wiring side of the swap? As far as the other aspects go my dad has rebuilt many engines and knows pretty much all the systems for automotive aspects but not really specifically for each vehicle. I bought the car two years ago and am trying to get it road worthy but right now I don't have much money yo put towards the build so I'm trying to do as much as possible myself. Thanks for any input

 

Seems like you could find a much better engine. Although I'm not very knowledgeable about the 267 I did do some quick googling and found it shares the same stroke as a 350 but has a much smaller bore. The problem with the bore size being soo small is that you can't fit very larger valves, so it sounds to me like it would have the same limitations as the 305, which gets a lot of hate, but worse. 350's aren't that hard to find, if your gonna spend money to buy an engine why not get a larger displacement motor that can probably be had for a similar price.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/ltx-...p-3rd-gen.html

 

You'd be better off finding a 350, thats 83 less cubic inches less to start with. Taking a wiring harness from an El Camino is not going to just make the lights in your Camaro work, the harnesses are way different. It sounds like you want to swap an engine for the wiring fiasco you have going on, at least partially. I'd say fix the body wiring (lights, etc) because you're going to have to redo that anyway if you swap the harness, and that will be worse b/c now you're going between 2 vehicle wiring diagrams. Once you get that all set, then look into a swap. If you go carbed, all you have to do is cut out the engine harness and hook a handful of wires back up.

 

Dr. Dave, I am not doing the swap for the harness other than the keyswitch, I said I was going to try and wire all lights etc directly to the switches. The reason for the 267 was because I have a very low budget and the local yard is willing to take in some old cars as trade. I'm not doing this build for displacement right now, I hope to have it on the road in a year or two while I build a seperate engine assembly to drop in. I wouldn't put a 350 in it because if I'm going to put a gas hog in its going to be a 7.4 so I can make it worth it. The 267 is a smaller motor than the 305 but as a commuter I don't care too much about total horses, just something a bit bigger than a 2.8 so its not sluggish as hell. Eventually when the planets align and I have enough money kicking around to actually get this thing built for speed I will, but right now I drive a 2.2 sunfire with 234000 miles so I need to be prepared to have it go down on me within the next year or so, although I wont be using it during the summer to keep the miles down.

 

Soooo you don't want large displacement and you want fuel efficiency?

Your whole thought process on this is wrong on so many levels. You're saying you want fuel efficiency, but earlier in the thread you said you would rather use a carb than a fuel injection set up....

You just want to do a V8 swap so you can look cool and tell all your friends you drive a V8 car.

How about you forget about the V8 and fix the rest of the car first? Like the rotten *** fuel lines and faulty wiring.... If your fuel lines are that bad I can't imagine what the rest of the car looks like. How bout you sell/scrap this one and just buy a V8 car with less rot and less fubared wiring.

And if you did your homework on this 267 that you have this inexplicable lust for, you would find out that you will be spending a thousand dollars, if not more, to pick up 15 to 30 horsepower....

I don't mean to be mean or hurt your feelings Cbernier5007, but it sounded like you could use a dose of reality.


EDIT: Also worth noting, stock for stock the 3.4L V6s makes more power than the 267.

 

Formula350, I do want fuel efficiency, but if that was the only factor driving this build I would keep the 2.8 eh? The 267 would only be temporary until I could put a 7.4 in it once I have more money and time. Ive got a 7.4 that needs a rebuild but no tranny or bellhousing so its pretty useless without those. The reason for the 267 was the junkyard I was looking at it in offered me to trade some of my other shitboxes for this car, so I wouldn't be blowing 1000$ on it. If someone would trade me a car with a 350 set up all ready to go for some of my shitty cars I'd hop right on that, but that isn't realistic, I've got to work with what I've been offered. And on a side note I do want some fuel efficiency but I'd rather waste a little more gas and have a carb then save a little and use injection. I like being able to tear apart a carb and rebuild it in an hour, I don't like having to send injectors out to have them properly cleaned because I do not have the equipment to do it myself. When I got the 2.8 I tried to use an ultrasonic cleaner with a 9v battery to open and close the injectors but they still were only operating at about 60% so I had them sent out and cleaned professionally. If I had a carburetor it would've been off, cleaned out, rebuilt with new gaskets and installed in about 2 hours. I see where you are coming from telling me to be more realistic, but you don't know the whole situation. Not for nothing, not all of us have enough money to just scrap what we have and get a better car. So far I've re done all the brake lines, all the brakes and pads, patched a few holes in the body and got some bondo work done as well as rebuilding the 2.8. The floor pan isn't the biggest priority for me, as it would only take a few hours to cut out the rust and weld in a new patch. Also I don't want a v8 so I " can look cool and tell all your friends you drive a V8 car". If it was about showing off I'd just put it on the road with the 2.8 and tell all my friends I have a camaro because half of them don't know the difference between a 2.8 3.4 5.0 or 5.7. I appreciate your constructive criticism, but respectfully decline to follow any of your advice.

 

Even if you get the 267 for free, what are you going to do for a transmission? The V6 transmission will not bolt to a V8, and whatever transmission is in the El Co won't have the torque arm mount that the camaro needs. So even tho the motor will essentially cost you $0 you will still need parts that I don't think you've accounted for, like a transmission out of a V8 F-body. And then there is all the little things that add up, like fluids, filters, misc nuts and bolts, fuel pressure regulator that you will need for a carb. Soo I'd bet my left nut that even with your free junkyard motor, you'd be into this swap at least $500 before it was running and driving.

If you really want to do a big block swap you should just wait and do it, and skip the small block step in between because you would have to re-do everything anyway, big block's probably not going to fit on small block motor mounts, and a stock f-body transmission isn't going to appreciate all the torque a big block puts out, and both the 700R4 and T-5 were never known as being particularly strong, so sooner or later that would have to be replaced with the big block swap too.

In my experience if you think you have just enough money to complete a project, you don't. The general rule of thumb that I've discovered to go by is take whatever you think it will cost, and triple it, than take whatever time you think it will take to complete and double it. That way you aren't setting you're self up for failure, and then maybe when its all said & done you'll have some money left over for a celebratory beer and enough time left over to maybe work out the bugs that will appear once you start driving the car regularly.