I pulled my plugs and all of them were covered in oil. I have had nothing but trouble with this engine so I think it's time for it to go. What engine should I be looking at. I don't want to spend an arm and a leg, but I want the swap to be worth it. How much am I looking at spending?




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1988 Camaro RS
2.8L five speed
Money pit from hell!!

1988 Camaro
2.8L automatic
t-tops
160* THERMO
Rapid fire plugs

 

From what I've read on the board, the best swap for price/performance is the 3.4l V6, from 93-94 fbods. Check out this post: https://www.thirdgen.org/messgboard/...ML/000747.html

 

Thanks Canadian Camaro. Anyone know where I should look for an engine?

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1988 Camaro RS
2.8L five speed
Money pit from hell!!

1988 Camaro
2.8L automatic
t-tops
160* THERMO
Rapid fire plugs

 

Call around junkyards to find a 93-95 v6 camaro, find one for a good price and lower milage. I paid $550 for mine with 30,000mi.
-pods

 

I am all for the traditional rebuild bored .30 over and a crane 2030 cam adn 1.6 rollers and ported heads and shave them 1000th...

 

Rebuilding the 2.8 with some speed parts will be the easiest/most cost-effective solution.

 

The best deal i've found so far is a 95 3.4L with less than 42,000 miles for $1,267 including shiping and a three year warranty. Does anyone know of any where on the web to look?

------------------
1988 Camaro RS
2.8L five speed
Money pit from hell!!

1988 Camaro
2.8L automatic
t-tops
160* THERMO
Rapid fire plugs

 

Try this http://www.tacreationsusa.com/v6.htm
I know my 3.4 is coming from them pretty soon and regardless of what you see here e-mail them because sometimes the ptices are lower than what they have posted

 

go look at my response to you oily plugs, valve cover gaskets are cheaper than engines.

 

tacreations will only ship 1400 miles from them in florida now for legal issues on engines...everything else they will. If u buy from them be within 1400 miles

------------------
89 Firebird (AKA "Money")
2.8 V6 w/ t5 tranny (383 tpi t56 12/01)
Flowmaster 80 series, 3" Intermediate, SS Tips, Random Tech Cat, Msd Coil, MSD 6a, Accel 8.8 wires, Cold Air Intake w/ K&N, Lakewood LCA's, Brushed aluminum Hood pins ETC...
Next:
Spohn Torque Arm, Lakewood Panhard bar, BMR Fabrication Sub Frame connectors...
-------------------------
My Site:
www.geocities.com/firebird89white

" I'd rather run last in a full out race, than to NOT run at all ".

 

There's one more possibility- what heat range are the plugs? Using plugs that are too "cold" will cause them to become oil-soaked & fouled.

Going to one heat range higher than stock might even cause the oil-soaking problem to disappear.


------------------
-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

 

I don't know the heat range. They are NGK plugs if that helps.

------------------
1988 Camaro RS
2.8L five speed
Money pit from hell!!

1988 Camaro
2.8L automatic
t-tops
160* THERMO
Rapid fire plugs

 

COUGH406V8COUGH LOL SERIOUSLY you would love the setup im runnin right now i did the whole thing for around 1700 bucks.with edelbrock performer rpm heads its fast ashell

 

You need the part # of the plug, hopefully NGK writes them on there! Be prepared for some tech & background:

A heat range describes how "hot" the plug's tip gets. A plug with a "cold" range means that the plug has a short path of heat conduction inside. A short path means a quick path, so the plug leaks all of it's heat into the engine's head quickly.

A hot plug has a longer heat path. The heat in the plug takes a while to get to the head, so the plug stays hot.

A hot plug reaches (and stays at) it's self-cleaning temperature longer. This means your plug can burn off deposits (such as oil). However, running with too hot of a plug can cause engine ping & detonation! A plug that's too hot will ignite the air/fuel mix on it's own, without a spark.

A colder plug will not cause ping or detonation; however, too cold, and your plugs will get covered in oil/deposits. Cold plugs are used for stuff like nitrous, where you want more of a controlled explosion. For a normally aspirated engine (no nitrous/supercharger/turbocharger), the rule of thumb for changing plug heat ranges is to "go as hot as you can without causing ping/detonation."

Starting in 1988, GM decided to use a "hotter" plug with a "special design" for the 2.8 f-body motors. I don't know what the special design means, and I don't think it's important. The key idea is that the heat range went up! Your correct "AC/Delco" (original stock) plug part # is R43TSK.

R43TSK
R = resistor
4 = 14mm thread
3 = heat range (coldest = 1, hottest = 9)
T = tapered seat
S = extended tip
K = special design (no idea about this)

Here's what I think's up: The 1987 2.8 "stock" AC plug number is R42TS. It could be the guy that handed you your NGK's gave you plugs for an 82-87 2.8l motor, and not 88-92! You should be able to get a cross reference somewhere; if not, try going "up" a heat range with the same plugs.

Oh- by the way: Make sure your gap is set to stock spec, 0.045".

------------------
-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

[This message has been edited by TomP (edited January 18, 2001).]

 

Damn. I was pulling the plugs to replace them so I just chucked 'em. I got AC delcs to replace them. R43TSK.

------------------
1988 Camaro RS
2.8L five speed
Money pit from hell!!

1988 Camaro
2.8L automatic
t-tops
160* THERMO
Rapid fire plugs

[This message has been edited by HIX5000 (edited January 18, 2001).]

 

How are these new plugs doing?

For kicks I checked the Splitfire web site for 2.8 plug info. (I run Splitfires- no problems.) Anyway, they list the SF2C (my plug) for 85-88! They list the SF2D for 89-92. Splitfire runs their plug part #'s a bit differently than GM. Instead of AC/Delco's 1cold to 9hot range, Splitfire uses A to F, where A=coldest, F=hottest. Splitfire should've made the change to an SF2D for 1988.. instead, they recommend the old SF2C.

All this means that if Splitfire could make this mistake, then maybe other companies (like NGK) could.

And it just might be the argument for those splitfire owners that suddenly complained of "oh my god! my splitfires were ruining my engine! the car was misfiring; I pulled them and they were oil soaked! I threw them out and I suggest everyone do the same because they're bad!" Heh. I bet they just had the wrong heat range. I'll have to remember to bring that up next time someone blasts me for using Splitfires.

------------------
-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

[This message has been edited by TomP (edited January 19, 2001).]

 

I haven't put the plugs in yet. It's been kinda chilly here lately.

------------------
1988 Camaro RS
2.8L five speed
Money pit from hell!!

1988 Camaro
2.8L automatic
t-tops
160* THERMO
Rapid fire plugs

 

Huh.. maybe that's why my #1 cyl was getting oil soaked.. running SF2Cs.. Thanks.. I'll remember to ask for '89 plugs next time I change them =P (ya learn something new every day...)

------------------
'86 Camaro SC, black /w silver racing stripes
2.8l MPFI/700r4
In search of new v8 engine & transmission
MSD coil, Accel 8mm wires, SplitFire plugs, Gabriel hijackers

 

Plugs? hermmm short of pulling the damn engine HOW do ya get the plug on the passenger side firewall? I have yet to be able to get it... thats why i built another engine.... honest... seriously tho how do ya get to it?



------------------
91 Firebird
3.1 w/
K&N filter, 160 stat, No TB heat, Direct Cold air, DynoMax CatBack, B&M MegaShifter, Performance Shift Kit,
Bosch platinum plugs,
7mm "stock" wires, Jensen CD330X Head unit, Jensen 120watt rear speakers
Stock front speakers,

0-30mph 4.25 Best 4.09
0-60mph 9.16 Best 9.09