After many delays and a few glitches that kept us from finishing it up, the 3.4 is now running strong! We only used the shortblock from the 3.4, since we had already ported the 2.8 heads (they're no different than the 3.4 heads), intake, and exhaust manifolds. We pulled the 3.4 cam and replaced it with the Reed custom grind from the 2.8, along with the fresh timing set from the 2.8. We also used the 2.8's timing cover (no timing tab on the 3.4 cover) and all the other accessories. The injectors were replaced with the Cruizin Performance cleaned and flowed 19lb Ford injectors we had in the 2.8. We painted the motor and trans candyapple red, and added a few more chromed and polished pieces. We'll post pics (and dyno #s) soon. Headers and y-pipe are on order and should be here in late September!

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask!

BTW, we're still planning a 3.8 Turbo swap into this car in the future, but wanted to see how far we could push a 60 degree V6 first.

 

again,

 

i wanna hear some dyno numbers and track numbers. good job getting it in and good luck with it!

 

Hear hear for the dyno/track numbers!! At least ONE of the more 'radical' 60 degrees is coming together without any troubles.

 

It was a lot of work, but not quite as much as designing a turbo setup! Who knows, that may be next...Pull-A-Part is full of cheap turbos, and I have a Volvo intercooler that could work out pretty nice on it.
My TA will likely see boost first, though!
At least I won't have all the accessories in the way on that one...carbed 455, no PS, no AC, just an alternator and a pair of turbos or a large centrifugal!

 

We were hoping to make it to the dyno this week, but the stock, original rearend isn't too happy with the extra torque...it didn't break (yet), but backlash is now way out of whack and it sounds like its on its last leg. We have a 3.73 disc rear ready to go, painted, with new slotted and drilled rotors, and we're just waiting on the Earl's braided brake hoses to install it. Here's a few pics of the swapped in 3.4, with a few other changes: a BMR strut tower brace,and some extra chrome and aluminum goodies. We got the strut covers chromed too, but haven't installed them yet.

 

...

 

Is that a ram air setup you have there? BTW, that's one intensive but sweet paint job.

 

Doward here...

Gorgeous job!!

 

"Doward here..."

GET BACK TO WORK! We wanna see some #s.

 

rofl! DOH!!

Yes, yes... let me update my turbo page...

 

Yeah, its got the Suncoast Creations RA1 style hood with the airbox. Thanks!

 

Would it be too much to put up a pic of the hood? I have a ram air hood on my wishlist and I'd like to see some setups.

 

Your pictures show your wonderful accomplishemnts that were created.
Just the fact that it's up & running, solid & strong is impressive enough for me.
Don't give up on the street legal headers coming from PaceSetter Exhaust (fgerle@pacesetterexhaust.com to express interest)
Are subframe connectors also employed on this ride?
In the latest issue of Chevy High Performance, is a pic & pretty good description of installing a 4th Gen Disc rear into the 3rd Gen chassis.
An alternative? The notes are in the LS1 article into a 3rd Gen chassis.
What is the cost of the hood/airbox set up, too?
That air filter set up looks almost identical to "some" 4th Gen setups I've seen (in pics & one in person).
All air inlet wires "were cut & lengthened"?
On the hood (don't laugh) is there a "foul weather set up" included or no driving during the rain & snow with the Suncoast hood set up?

 

Check out her website; there are pictures of anything and everything regarding the car, except for the 3.4 swap and the new red and black PMDs. They're not uploaded yet.

http://www.cardomain.com/id/redraif

 

Thanks Ked! We appreciate the info from you, Dale, Raven, and everyone else.
We're going with the 304 stainless headers from Greg at PF&E, since our emissions testing isn't as strict here. He's building them without an EGR provision (we have had the EGR blocked anyway and passed with no problem), which will further clean up the engine bay and eliminate one of the main sources of exhaust leaks on this car.

The car has Spohn subframe connectors (the old style rect tubing ones), a BMR strut brace, and a factory Wonderbar as soon as we get around to installing it.
We're using a disc rear from an 84 TA that we got from Hawks. It already had 3.73s, which is what we were going to swap in anyway (into another disc brake housing we have). It does have the old Delco iron calipers, but we have the recall kit to fix them and we're going to see how they do. If we don't like them, we'll go to 4th gen brakes.
The hood and airbox was about $750 a little over two years ago. The box is of their own design, and not interchangable with any factory box I know of. It won't work with an ASCD TA500 (Ram AIr 1) hood either, since the scoop is not in the same place and the internal structure is completely different. I doubt there was any real performance gain over the open conical K&N setup she had, but it does look nice.Amazingly, the wires for the MAF and air temp sensor were plenty long enough; they were just bundled up in the wire loom.There is a baffle in the hood to block rain. You can still get this hood and airbox through ramairhoods.com.

 

You're quite the artist with all that detailing. I'm seriously impressed with the look of that car. The hood/ram air setup is nice. That hood looks great from the outside. Although it wouldn't work as well on my Maro since the Bird nose slopes more at the end. I've checked out the hoods at ramairhood.com, but I don't have any money to spend right now.

 

Thanks, but most of the detailing is Shannon's work, not mine. I did a good bit of the mechanical work, teaching her as I go, and a lot of the polishing. What always surprises people is that this car is a daily driver...when its not being upgraded or repaired, its driven to work.

 

Its nice to hear that the red one got a dose of more power. From what I read that old 2.8l that was in there seemed weaker than most others.

 

It was always somewhat of a mystery why, too, until Shannon started her new job as a service advisor at the dealership where the 2.8 was "rebuilt" a few years ago, before she knew me. One of the mechanics was telling her that the guy who handled the job went against everyone else's opinion when he chose to rebuild the motor (under warranty)when it threw a rod (didn't go through the block) instead of just replacing it with a 3.1 or 3.4. He replaced a couple rods/pistons, and very little else. It wasn't a "rebuild" at all, just a quick and dirty fix. They were all surprised that it was still running, esp as hard as the car is driven. The motor was so weak that it took all our performance parts to get it to essentially stock output!

 

That makes sense to me now. I remember a while back when the car ran at the track and came up with 20 second 1/4 mile times. I didn't understand why because I thought the engine was rebuilt.

 

Yeah, that time was really bad, even for a 2.8. The car was coding, and the alternator was on its way out (we had to replace it at the track to get the car home), reading around 11 volts on that run. For some reason that I have yet to figure out, that motor would barely run at stock timing settings (it was at 10 degrees that run), and would run great anywhere from 15-20 degrees! Thats on 87 octane, too! That was also before the distributor rebuild (endplay was about .030, 2.5 times what it should have been).

We're running 16 degrees in the 3.4, and have switched to premium gas...it likes it much better!