Hi all, its been a while. can you answer a couple of questions for me?
first off i have recently sold my firebird to a friend and he let it get really low on oil and while it was cold he did a big smokey burnout and now the big ends ( maybe only 1) are/is knocking, so first question, Can i get the oil pan off and change the big ends with the engine in the car? would you recomend doing the mains while im in there? does this mean taking off the gearbox(t5).
secondly (or should i say second set of questions lol)
he has located a 3.8 out of a 99 forthgen... would this be a good swap and more importantly and easy one? ie is it a direct bolt in if i use all the 3.1 intake/exhaust/sensors etc etc???

thanks in advance and happy new year to you all (better late than never lol)
Nick (uk)

 

well first off, if he ran it low on oil and now has a knock, id say theres probably damage to all the bearings, as well as possibly cam and bearings, etc. theres probably lil particles floating through the oil and causing damage to everything. so youre going to want to do all the bearings, as well as have the crank reground. i dont know how easy it is to find an engine across the pond, but if you can id find another to drop in, because this isnt gonna be cheap to do the right way.

a 3.8 is nowhere near easy, you need pretty much everything from the 3.8- ecm, manifolds, all the accys, wire harness, etc. its easier to drop in a 350 than that swap. if you can find a 3.4 out of a 93 to 95 camaro or firebird, thats basically a direct swap. if you find one, go to the tech boards and find the 3.4 swap boogie, and do a search. thats the easiest swap and get a lot more power. good luck

 

^^^^ isnt it a 3.4???

 

wow, lol yeah, how did i do that not once, but twice??!!! its corrected.