Hi I Got a 88 camaro and i've decided to drop a 3.1l in it, I was wondering what kind of mods would be essential and major power gains to it,

 

pretty much if your budget allows you should turbo it cause that is where you will get the most significant gains...

if you are like me and cant afford that then you are outta luck lol

 

Why not drop in a 3.4 liter out of the 93-95 camaros and firebirds? There is plenty of information on these boards and even a tech article about how to do this. It is very straightforward, and will give you more gains stock than you are likely to get with a lightly modified 3.1 liter. The 3.4 liter was 160 HP and 200 ft-lbs of torque. The 3.1 stock was only 140, and I think the 2.8 was only 135.

 

If you already have a 2.8 please save yourself the time and money and dont put a 3.1 in, onces MAF onces MAP, which means ECM's need to be swapped, not to mention your talking 5hp 15ft/lbs, not even noticable, the 3.4 is the same block as the 2.8/3.1 which means if you can get a whole motor with ECM its pretty much a direct swap with minor modifications. If you decide to stay 2.8 then you can put a bigger cam in it, better exhaust, upper end port, you would be lucky to get in the ballpark of what a 3.4 makes stock. Like said before a turbo is the only way to make significant power. I was going to stay 2.8 and turbo it but the more and more I read a 3.4/3400 hybrid is the way to go. Just do some searching, use the search feature, it may not be the best but you will find info. James

 

The engine doesn't care if there's a MAF attached to the intake tract or not. The 3.1 can be installed using the 2.8 electronics without an issue.

I do agree however that the 3.4 would be a better platform to start with, if an engine swap is in mind.

 

Anybody have a good idea about how much gain you will get on the 3.1 with a performance cam setup, and a port and polish on the heads and intake?

 

ok so 3.4 would be the way to go but, would that still work with my ecm, do you think a 93 chip would hook into it alright?

 

Have you read the sticky Considering an engine swap? There is some good info in there about the 3.4 swap. you should check it out, thoses guys know what they are talking about.

 

ill check it out thanks

 

Ive got a 3.4 in mine. Definitely worth it!!! Easy to do too.

 

Why would you swap a whole 3.1 in when you can just switch the crank & pistons? Better yet just swap in a 3.4 short block. You don't need to change ecm's either, stock will work fine with a 3.4 or 3.1- although tuning is always a good idea.

 

Down time.

You need to remove the engine from the car anyway to swap the internals.

It would be much quicker and quite possibly cheaper to swap a complete long block.