Hi I've got an old 88 Camaro I'm trying to revive that I used to drive when I was in highschool. I have a complete 95 car 5speed 3.4 and the original Camaro is an 88 2.8 5speed.
WHat I'm mainly curious about is if I can run DIS off the 2.8 ecm and what is required to run that setup, like which timing chain is necessary and what harness modifications will be needed. Also as a side note alot of the Camaros accessories are pretty rough can the 2.8 run the 3.4s as a lot of them are new including the 3.4 radiator. Any and all help would be great. Just trying to use as much of what I have to save money without swapping the ecm because I'd prefer to keep the 2.8 ecm for later tuning. So if I can run the 3.4 accessories and radiator off the 2.8 ecm, extending the harness connections isn't an issue as I've got a good amount of soldering and wiring experience. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

 

Hey bud, getting around to doing a swap in your old car is always an exciting time. The 3.4 swap from a 2.8 is EXTENSIVELY documented on this forum, and almost every question you could ask has been documented in the sticky threads at the top of the V6 tech board. The direct link to your subject is available HERE. You'll find a generally warmer response from the forum if you have already dug through the stickies and used the existing knowledge at your disposal. For what it's worth, everything you've mentioned so far is possible, and is documented through multiple successfully completed builds in the link provided. Start a build thread if you haven't already, and share the fun!

 

I've dug through these forums for several months and I feel confident In doing the basic swap using the 2.8 accessories and distributor but I'm not finding a lot on running the 3.4 dis with the 2.8 ecm except people running like 3x00 heads with those dis systems from those cars. A lot of what I'm needing information on seems like vague mentions at best. Having a hard time peeling through the threads to find what I need.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the 3.4 used in the Camaro used a conventional distributor. Should be all Ignition control module and coil packs by then, right? If that's the case, I think you're going to be spinning your wheels trying to get those two systems to communicate. Especially when you could just borrow the conventional distributor setup off of the 2.8 to get the 3.4 running. Likely not mentioned because there isn't a 3.4 dis to discuss.

 

I had read an off hand reply in a thread somewhere that the ecm could run dis but I really don't know much about the dis setup so i was just reaching out to see if it was possible but the idea is mute anyway, just took the heads off the 3.4 engine n the blocks cracked so I'm pretty well effed in the aye on my project rn anyway...

 

Anything wrong with the 2.8?

I rebuilt one of those in my first Thirdgen and put about 50k miles on it before I sold the car. Always ran pretty good.

 

Well it came from a firebird that I bought for the harness but the engine itself runs but I don't know much about it, it's from a donor car that was bought from a highschool kid , who didn't latch the hood n smacked his windshield n destroyed his fenders, so there's no telling if there is anything wrong with it outside of the several stripped bolt holes and exhaust manifold studs that are broken off flush to the head that's I've found.
For reference the Camaro I'm rebuilding had an engine fire a long time ago, the harness has since been fully swapped