ok i have an 88 2.8, and i am working on buying a 91 3.1

where as my cars body is nice but has many issues of wiring and what not. long story short i got it from a guy who was bypassing everything and left me with a non-working mess. tires all flat and no steering wheel but for $200.

the car i am looking at has a dent between the back tire and the door (looks like including the door)

i was wondering what my options would be here. this will be my only car so the work i would want to do would be minimal on the time side.

this might get confusing but i will try to explain the best i can.
old 2.8
new 3.1

i was wondering if i could get the old car running with the new cars parts. then i can take the 3.1 from the new car and rebuild (maybe hybrid build) it to get get some power. then do an engine swap later on.
or should i deal with the dent on the new car (since it is currently working) and rebuild the old engine and then swap the things i need (like tires and such) when i am done and sell off the new car?

i know that the 3.1 is a better engine, but when it gets down to rebuilding it, or hybrid-ing the engine does it make a difference on what engine you start with?

any and all information is appreciated. blast as much info my was as you can on this thank you, i will be continually looking for more info on the forums since i am off today from work.

i posted here because i know anywhere else people would say drop a 350 in.

 

If he hacked into the wiring, it will take a while to get it going given another car but it can be done. I would recommend dealing with the dent problem or just leave it until you can get another daily so you can swap everything over. If you stayed at it, it would probably take a week or two to swap all the stuff from the car with the bad body into the car with the good body. And even then you might have some bugs you need to work out.

 

The 2.8 car and 3.1 cars are totally different when it comes to the engine wiring. The 2.8 is MAF where the 3.1 is Speed Density. All different ECMs, wiring, sensors, etc. You would have to swap EVERYTHING from the 3.1 car. Going from a 2.8 to a 3.1 isn't really going to gain you much at all either, so I wouldn't recommend it.
I would agree with just dealing with the dent, drive that car and make the 2.8 car a project to work on on the side or something.

 

fix the dent? may be a good project to start learning a new skill. doesnt sound that bad

 

when it comes to the hybrid deal.... 3.1 vs 2.8l, it really doesnt matter. Its what ever you want. But tuning the 3.1L is so much easier. Anyone can do it with a little bit of reading up and such. Speed density is so much simpler and the 7730 ecm is a nice ecm and easy to switch over to the dis for the hybrid set up.