can the motor from a 90 lumina 3.1 v6 fwd be used to replace my dying 2.8 rwd in my 88' camaro... the car is a wonder in its life of slow rebuild but the motor is tired and rather than do a full v6-v8 swap out id rather deal with a small bump in engine power ... the 3.1 has tons of guts compared to the tired 2.8.. i have heard that i can use the 2.8 topend assembly and still use the 3.1... true false or what would you suggest?
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SixShooter will be able to give you the complete low-down, but I believe it needs a lot of custom work done.
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I will have to join the rest of the crew here and advice on a 3.4 swap instead. I rebuilt my 2.8 and did the 3.4 swap out of a 4th gen and wished I had done it first. I am having much more fun driving it now and have made it my everyday car now. The blazer just sits in the yard but I do think thats your best bet. YOu can notice the power difference with the 3.4, I can tell you that for sure. Originally Posted by JohnSjr
can the motor from a 90 lumina 3.1 v6 fwd be used to replace my dying 2.8 rwd in my 88' camaro... the car is a wonder in its life of slow rebuild but the motor is tired and rather than do a full v6-v8 swap out id rather deal with a small bump in engine power ... the 3.1 has tons of guts compared to the tired 2.8.. i have heard that i can use the 2.8 topend assembly and still use the 3.1... true false or what would you suggest? 
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Originally Posted by noahTHEpurdy
SixShooter will be able to give you the complete low-down, but I believe it needs a lot of custom work done. Yes, more custom work than it sounds like you want to do.
Such as welding a small wedge to the block on the passenger side ear, for the starter mount, which also needs to be redrilled to move the starter from teh drievr side position to the passenegr side position. The lower tranny to engine bolt on the passenger side will also need to be bolted using a bolt and nut, since the FWD block is drilled out due to the bolt being passed throuhg the engine block and threads into the tranny case.
The driver side engine mount will need to be a custom unit since the block does not have the same bolt bosses as the RWD. The passenger side isn't proper either, but two of the bolt holes are in the proper location.
The top end will require some work as well. The intake can be rotated 180*, but the trhotlle cable will not bolt up, the fuel lines will be different. Then the swap to DIS ignition, which isn't overly difficult but requires some changes to the wiring, the FWD block will have the crank sensor location, so no need for a custom crank trigger there.
You'll be best off using headers, that can be sourced as 2.8 headers for your current engine, but the bolt holes will need to be elongated, due to the bolt holes being spaced farther from the port on the genII than the genI.
If you were to go through all this trouble though I would suggest starting with a genIII (3100 or 3400), they are newer make more power, but will require more work, such as flange changes to those headers due to teh genIII using D shaped exhaust ports. The hardest part to get around will be the oil pan, it's an aluminium pan, that is no where near the same shape as the genI (RWD) pan, and also is the only pan that will fit the block, due to the bolt pattern on the block, and the cross bolted mains.
That's all I'm going to post for now, if you have any more question on this specific swap ask away.
For the mean time I would suggest the 3.4 swap from the '93 to '96 F-body.
It will bolt right in and you can use your existing intake and electronics, along with teh dizzy, simplifying the swap quite a bit.
a thank you to the gracious members that have helped resolve my issues... the specs given were a 3.4 from 93'-96' f body .. transplant.. being most specific i appreciate that.
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Such as welding a small wedge to the block on the passenger side ear, for the starter mount, which also needs to be redrilled to move the starter from teh drievr side position to the passenegr side position. The lower tranny to engine bolt on the passenger side will also need to be bolted using a bolt and nut, since the FWD block is drilled out due to the bolt being passed throuhg the engine block and threads into the tranny case.
The driver side engine mount will need to be a custom unit since the block does not have the same bolt bosses as the RWD. The passenger side isn't proper either, but two of the bolt holes are in the proper location.
The top end will require some work as well. The intake can be rotated 180*, but the trhotlle cable will not bolt up, the fuel lines will be different. Then the swap to DIS ignition, which isn't overly difficult but requires some changes to the wiring, the FWD block will have the crank sensor location, so no need for a custom crank trigger there.
You'll be best off using headers, that can be sourced as 2.8 headers for your current engine, but the bolt holes will need to be elongated, due to the bolt holes being spaced farther from the port on the genII than the genI.
If you were to go through all this trouble though I would suggest starting with a genIII (3100 or 3400), they are newer make more power, but will require more work, such as flange changes to those headers due to teh genIII using D shaped exhaust ports. The hardest part to get around will be the oil pan, it's an aluminium pan, that is no where near the same shape as the genI (RWD) pan, and also is the only pan that will fit the block, due to the bolt pattern on the block, and the cross bolted mains.
That's all I'm going to post for now, if you have any more question on this specific swap ask away.
For the mean time I would suggest the 3.4 swap from the '93 to '96 F-body.
It will bolt right in and you can use your existing intake and electronics, along with teh dizzy, simplifying the swap quite a bit.
Six_Shooter, you could just copy/paste this and cut out some typing Originally Posted by Six_Shooter
Yes, more custom work than it sounds like you want to do.Such as welding a small wedge to the block on the passenger side ear, for the starter mount, which also needs to be redrilled to move the starter from teh drievr side position to the passenegr side position. The lower tranny to engine bolt on the passenger side will also need to be bolted using a bolt and nut, since the FWD block is drilled out due to the bolt being passed throuhg the engine block and threads into the tranny case.
The driver side engine mount will need to be a custom unit since the block does not have the same bolt bosses as the RWD. The passenger side isn't proper either, but two of the bolt holes are in the proper location.
The top end will require some work as well. The intake can be rotated 180*, but the trhotlle cable will not bolt up, the fuel lines will be different. Then the swap to DIS ignition, which isn't overly difficult but requires some changes to the wiring, the FWD block will have the crank sensor location, so no need for a custom crank trigger there.
You'll be best off using headers, that can be sourced as 2.8 headers for your current engine, but the bolt holes will need to be elongated, due to the bolt holes being spaced farther from the port on the genII than the genI.
If you were to go through all this trouble though I would suggest starting with a genIII (3100 or 3400), they are newer make more power, but will require more work, such as flange changes to those headers due to teh genIII using D shaped exhaust ports. The hardest part to get around will be the oil pan, it's an aluminium pan, that is no where near the same shape as the genI (RWD) pan, and also is the only pan that will fit the block, due to the bolt pattern on the block, and the cross bolted mains.
That's all I'm going to post for now, if you have any more question on this specific swap ask away.
For the mean time I would suggest the 3.4 swap from the '93 to '96 F-body.
It will bolt right in and you can use your existing intake and electronics, along with teh dizzy, simplifying the swap quite a bit.
John welcome to the site! Use the search function to help eliminate redundancy
.