So I've got an 81 2nd gen. donor car with a 2.8 and I was curious what the differences would be in the engines from my 83 2.8 third gen. If there are very few differences, if any, I wouldn't mind slapping a turbo on the third gen. I was told the 2nd gen ran good when it was parked several years ago, by a reliable source. Also, the t5 is in need of a rebuild in my third gen, and I was wondering how hard it would be to throw the auto (th200) from the 2nd gen in there?

 

the 200c is a crappy trans, find another t5 or have the one u have now rebuilt.

as far as the engines niether engine will hold upto a turbo install and both will have the carbed heads which have smaller valves and worse ports then the heads off a fuel injected engine. if u need to swpa the motor out of the 83 i would go find a 3.1 or 3.4 out of the junkyard and swap the fuel injection intake with the carbed intake off ur motor and run it that way

 

the second gen is a 3.8 90*v6 could be a buick or chevy motor, the third gen is a 2.8 60* v6 chevy motor, nothing interchanges between the two and both are pretty slow carbed motors, you dont want to turbo eaither if your going to turbo you want a fuel injected car

 

No, both engines are 2.8 v6's, maybe someone swapped it in there at some point? There is nothing wrong with the engine in my thirdgen, but if I have a spare engine I wouldn't mind playing with a turbo until it blew. I will rebuild the t5 myself, but I was hoping that the auto would be worth swapping in to save me some time/trouble of rebuilding the t5.

 

well if someone swaped the 3.8 for a 2.8 then im pretty sure its not a 200 trany, atleast i dont think so as im pretty sure all 200 trannys were for 90* blocks, and in order to "play" with a turbo on a carbed motor get ready to buy a blow threw carb, those are very expensive, post pics of the motor in the 81 and ill be able to ID the motor for you. but for your original question since your saying its not the original motor in the 81 we cant tell you if its better then yours as it could kind of be anything

 

Whoops, I forgot about the blow through carbs... Well I guess I can scratch that idea.. Are there any other parts I can rob off of the 2nd gen before it becomes a terrace-jumper? I already got the near-perfect seats out of it and put them in my third gen.

 

Could you post a pic of the 2nd gen and the engine under the hood?

I'd like to see what the engine looks like. No 2nd gen ever came with a 2.8. I've seen the Camaro with the 200 V6 and the 229V6, which were the first chevy 90* V6 engines. I'd just like to see what we are dealing with.

How hard was it to mount those 2nd gen seats?

 

The 2nd gen is at our farm, about 25 miles away. I will snap a picture the next time I am out there. The seats were really easy to put into my thirdgen. I remember I had to drill a couple of holes in the seat rails at the front of them, so that the floor studs would be able to pass through it, but with a drillpress it took a matter of minutes.

 

If its true, I bet theres alot of room in that 2nd gen engine compartment!

 

If you can hang around for a few days I'll show you just how much