Unusual question. I had been told before that the cyl heads from a MPFI 2.8 will bolt right onto a carb'd 2.8, the only real difference between the two supposedly being a larger sized set of valves on the MPFI heads.

So here's the question: Can I put, say, a 1988 MPFI setup (intake & up) onto a 1982-84 motor, keeping the 82-84 heads?

The deal is that I have a pretty wasted 1988 Camaro with a 2.8 in it, got it for $70 (mainly for the motor, cuz it's pretty built up I guess, ran smooth, didn't burn any oil). I'm pulling the motor but have the 1982 engine that was in the '83 that got wrecked. So what I want to do is to use the older motor with the car's existing FI stuff after I pull the nice engine, so I can sell the car as a running vehicle for whatever it's worth in its rough cosmetic condition.

 

if the 84 wasn't the H.O. version, swap the heads. Yeah, it may be a hassle, but also let you change the head gaskets & not have to worry about it for a long long time.

 

not to sound terribly ignorant, but there was an HO version of the carb'd 2.8??? I'd never heard of it.

The donor motor is actually an '82, but I had an extra set of used '84 heads that I was gonna use (since I burned a few valves on the '82 heads).

 

the H.O variant was the same ol' 84 engien w/the "bigger" valves in them. The heads are actually the standard mpfi head, so thus they were h.o. for carb

if you cain, get a 3.4 long block (i know, i know, 3.4 ) swap over your cab ste up & go. I think Karl's tech article might have been spared teh server dump, if not, well, i might have it somewhere or search in the forum under 2.8-3.4 swap boogie

 

Ahhh I see.....I'd love to do the 3.4 swap, but don't have the money for it. Maybe in a year, depending cashflow. College life. you know.

But the swap would certainly be worth it.

 

Here's what I once did.
I swapped 1985 MPFI heads on to my 1985 CARB'D BLAZER intake set up
Mated up perfectly!
Problem was I wasted time. I ended up pulling that dead 2.8 motor for a 3.4 install.
NOW SINCE ya selling the end project, go ahead, it'll "fit".
Then sell those MPFI Heads on ebay!
Lotta effort, see if ya can sell the project with all the parts to someone!
Let me point out one problem... the fuel pump on the carb'd engine block. I never installed a blocked fuel pump engine block in a MPFI engine bay. Ask what happens. I'm not sure, if just remove fuel pump then go forward or what. I do know that my 3.4 engine in the Blazer required me to run a electric pump set up.

 

The project car I'm doing this to started out as a parts car. It's a real heap, but could be serviceable again. I'd just rather see it drive away tha get scrapped, knowing that it's possible. I want to put the '82/'84 motor in there cuz the thing is laying in my yard doing nothing, and I have no use for it anymore.

I want the motor that came with the '88 because it was bored out a little and is solid. I may put the heads on my good car, the black '84, just because the valves are better. It's a good motor in a pretty junky car, and I just wanted to save it rather than let the whole thing go.

About the fuel pump block....I'd have to get an electric pump, like you did, if I put this MPFI block or a 3.4 in my black Camaro....as far as the 82 engine going in the '88, there is already a block-off plate over where the fuel pump mounted, so the block is sealed. No prob there, hopefully.

Any 3.4 swap made would be done with my black Camaro, not the rusty, dent-ridden '88. One look and you can see why the car isn't really worth a 3.4 swap....

 

and another...

 

That car doesn't look so bad! If I lived closer I would probably offer to buy it.
Man, you should have seen mine when I got it. Everybody I know took one look at it and thought it was scrap, but now it looks pretty good. Hopefully it will be ready for topcoat in a few weeks.

 

Haha....you're kidding, right? You can't see any of the dents in these pictures because of the flat paint, but there are large (body-sized) dents in each door, rear quarter, and the passenger's front fender.

You got any pictures of your car? What it looked like when you got it and where it's at now?

I redid my '84 over last summer. Started with a structurally solid car with rust around the rear lower edges and bottoms of the doors, and smoothed it out into what you see here. I doubt I can do the same kind of job with this '88 without having to spend a whole lot of money on new sheet metal.

 

this is what I started with. You can definitely see every spot there was once rust. Other side wasn't much better.

 

No kidding. I do have some before pics, but I don't have any after pics yet.

That black Camaro looks GREAT. What did you do about the rust? New metal, or rust treatment and body filler?

 

Yeah, I treated the rust with that converter fluid after sandblasting the hell out of it, and then used polyester filler and glaze. Seems to be holding up well. I'll likely weld in some new metal pieces when the rust starts poking back through again in a couple years, when I'll have more money to play with. Thanks for the compliment, too.