Ok so here is the deal I have a 1984 s10 2.8 motor with a carb, and a 1986 camaro 2.8 with mpfi. How hard is it going to be for me to swap the camaro's mpfi over to the s10? I understand they are both the same engine the 173 yada yada. But I need this carb gone asap it is driving me crazy. I intend to block off all of the stupid emissions crap and do the swap. Any input would be greatly appreciated thanks!

 

Easy, just swap the intake manifolds from the camaro onto it, might have to do the oil pan as well, could also swap heads over, they have slightly bigger valves, and I think the mpfi cam is slightly better too.
Edit: didn't realize he wants to put it on the s10...

 

Is there a lot of wiring that I am going to have to do? Also I am not looking for power I will be building the camaro's 2.8 while I drive this one into the ground. An older gentleman owned it before me and it only has 70k on it lol. Big plans for the other 2.8 when I pull it out just time an money wise its going to take me a while. So far everything seems like it is going to be fairly simple except vacuum lines. That is the main reason I am going to do an emissions delete trying to keep the engine as simple and easy to work on as possible.

 

Short answer to that is yes, there is a LOT of wiring to do. If you're not looking to do the swap, just get a plain-jane 2SE carb and get rid of the electronics if MA laws permit. The problem with the S10 wiring is that it has fewer power provisions than the F-body system does, and needs to be retrofitted with a couple extra relays.

 

:sigh:

It's not hard, but is more than "just adding a couple relays". :facepalm:

Your best bet is to get a complete EFI harness, MPFI would likely be a better choice to start with, you could use an F-body harness, or other similar harness. I used an '88 Cavalier harness in my Jimmy conversion.

Pop a hole through the firewall on the driverside below the heater box, feed the harness through and run it either way, to the engine and to the ECM, which you'll have to find a place to mount. You'll want to get a VSS from an '86 to '90 I believe S-series, there are other vehciles but there are usually plenty of these in the wreckers. It is installed in the back of the speedo head. This should fit right into your '84 speedo, I know it did on my '85 which is the same dash and cluster.

There are other details, like which ECM you will be using, whether you need to tune the ECM, or some small variables, which I would do anyway, because it really does help.

I would hawever keep the emmisions parts, especially the EGR, since this does help with a cooler running engine, better milage and just better for the environment.

Is there anything specific you'r worried about?

 

^ What he said! Especially regarding the emissions. Why would you want to pull off the emissions? It's not like it's a 70's smog motor (and most of that was because of the inefficient catalytic convertor designs).

And worse, if your state does a visual inspection, you'd fail emissions.

Do you own both the S10 and the camaro? If so then yes just swap everything over. Otherwise you'll need a full engine wiring harness from a junkyard 2.8 MPFI car along with the computers and sensors and etc. Probably best to find a cheap 2.8 car with a blown engine and use it for its parts.

 

Yep, easiest is definatly have a complete parts car.

If you're like most of us, you have to piece it together, and is why I haven't posted many of the samll details, because depending on the ECM and engine harness you get, some details are different.

 

Yea I have the camaro too that's what I meant by wiring in the ecu. Getting a sticker isn't the problem that is easy I have connects. I just want as few parts on this thing that are not necessary as possible. I am totally fed up with vaccuum leaks times ten. But like I said I have the whole car so I just need to know what to pull before I get rid of it. Also out of curiosity what other parts would be beneficial to take other than the motor. Can I possibly use the tranny and rear end as well?

 

Oh ok if you have both then it's easier; the main engine harness goes across the back of the firewall, over the front passenger side strut tower, and connects right to the ECM behind the front passenger fender.

The trans will have a different length tailshaft; if you swapped the tailshafts it would fit; not sure how well it'd work on a truck though. Don't forget to hook up the transmissions Throttle-Valve cable (its not a kickdown cable) and Torque Convertor Clutch wiring.

For the axle, I believe the pinion/ring gears for the rear are the same size, but I think the axle's a different width (and doesn't the S10 use leaf springs)?

 

hey, if you intend to junk the varajet2 carb can i buy the fuel inlet/filter nut from you? let me know.

Andrew
text: (760) six two two-8533

 

kk I will just pass on the trans then seems like to much work. I will just swap out the rear gears or something. Was thinking it would be geared better for what I am looking for. Ill just swap out the rear gears for more power at low speeds. The truck is only going to be driven 2 miles to work and back lol.


As for the poster asking about the fuel filter nut. I am probably going to sell the carb as whole considering its 400$ new and it has seen less than 10,000 miles. If you want the whole thing we could probably work out a deal.

 

Ok, I Just rebuilt the carb in my car for 50 bucks so I'm not really looking for the whole setup, thanks. LEt me know if it doesn't sell and then maybe you'll consider selling me the nut. Thanks for such a quick reply!

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but I have to ask, why are you cannibalizing a Camaro to salvage an s10?? Most people on here are going the other way with that, lol...

 

Because a truck is way more useful than an F-body.

I just bought a truck, because it was a good deal and I don't have the time to get my Jimmy back together. My Malibu just doesn't cut it in the payload carrying capicity department, even though I try. lol

 

For one a 2.8 doesn't belong in an f-body in my eyes, regardless of the bad *** ones on here. Second it simply needs to much work and having two jobs and being a full time student time is non existent. I love the car to death but got an awsome deal on this truck and its mint. I have always wanted a third gen camaro but maybe someday I will just be able to buy one fixed up. So im going to cut my losses and put all the sweet parts I have for the car into the truck. Basically trying to make something out of nothing but I most definitely do see your logical point.

But back to the subject having everything I need for the motor with the car. It seems to me I am really not going to have to mod anything into the truck itself? Is it really just going to be plug and play or what? I know I am going to need a fuel pump but what am I getting myself into other than that? Thank you guys for all your help I'm never not going to use this site lol!

 

Seriously, though, you're going to have to rewire half the engine harness to fit the S10 dash harness... It's not even close to being plug and play.

 

K with that being said is there a walk through anywhere on the wiring? Just trying to make it as easy as possible before I start the swap. I cannot really see there being to many changes and if I have to I will get all custom gauges for the car. I work at advance auto parts and get a significant discount on such things. Just looking for what problems I am going to run into, wiring really is not that difficult. I was hoping to have found someone that may have done this swap before. Unfortunately there really isnt much documentation on it so I am trying to find out what I can before I get started. I obviously expect to have to figure out a lot of things on my own. But every little bit of input is very appreciated and I thank you all for your help thus far!

 

OMG!!!

STOP WITH THE MISINFORMATION!!!!

The only rewiring of the F-body harness that will need to be done is either change the connectors of the harness near the ECM, that would connect to the dash harness, or change the dash harness connections.

Or...

In my case in my Jimmy, since it was originally carburated, I had to add like 3 wires to the dash, Ignition, CEL, since I wanted to use the factory location in the cluster, and VSS (VSS actually needed two additional wires, but I was able to grab them at the cluster itself).

Why do people exaggerate the difficulty of swapping in EFI?

 

It might not be exaggerating, depending on his skill. I bet it would take me a few days. You found the hybrid conversion easy. It would take me every weekend for months to get one running. It just depends on what ya know.
You complaining about this sounds like FireInMe's thread....

The above was typed in a neutral tone. No hostility intent or implied. jensen73110 approved of this posting.

 

hahahahahahahahahahah man i wish i had thought of that, thats amusing

 

LOL...

No I mean the exaggeration of needing to change far more than actually needed.

I bet a hybrid wouldn't take you as long as you think to get running.

It's no more difficult than getting a non-hybrid swap running. Now, if you mean tuned, that's a different ball of wax, and does take some time, but still less than people would have you believe.