Hi everyone,

In February I purchased a 94 camaro with a 3.4L v6 motor in it. The car was in rough shape but I could not say no for the price ($750). I bought it with the intention of putting a stroker motor in it, so after doing some research and saving up some money I was finally able to start my project in May.
This is my first project and I have been doing everything by myself and so far it has been a great experience.

While I was doing my research I found a lot of people that tried to discourage the project, saying it would be too expensive, too difficult, and overall not worth it. I found out this not true. My project is not finished yet but I am getting pretty close. I would be happy to share more details and pictures if anyone is interested.

 

Yes Please do. Their are a lot of people that would like to do that swap.

 

too expensive and too difficult are relative terms. It also comes down to what the expectations are for the end product. Again, each person has their own level of expectations. I don't take on a project where I'm investing my time and money unless I have the budget to make the interior and exterior updated as well. If the project vehicle has great interior and body/paint then your $thousands ahead of the game.

All projects should include photos so please do post away.

 

The paint was pretty bad. This is what the car looked like when I bought it minus the fenders that I removed because the guy that had it before me decided to trim them to make room for the 20" wheels...


This is a picture of the motor the day I picked it up View image: 20150328 103945

And this one is a picture of the new motor fitted in the car.


Motor and transmission were definitely the more expensive items on the list. Either way I budgeted roughly 12k to get the project finished. Which includes a 383 with 1000 miles on it, reman 700r4, new suspensions, exhaust system, swaybars, bmr k-member, 750cfm carburator, paint job and various other smaller things...

 

Think about this way, if you are almost done you know the work involved, I could buy a 3rd gen body for the same money you paid, I could go to just about any car swap meet and buy everything I needed for the conversion for about $200-$300 and be driving the car 3 days later. Just bolt it together and everything would work and you don't have to pull the motor just to change a 4 dollar rotor cap down the road. That is why we tell people it is not worth it.

Course the $200-$300 would not cover and trick parts but most people that want V6 to V8 swap want to do it to save money.

I think we have 3 members that have converted to gen1 engine maybe you help them with what they did wrong because it sure looked like a lot of work in those threads.

 

The swap would definitely be cheaper if a 3rd gen body was used, but money was not the reason why I decided to go this route. What I meant in my first post is that the swap is not as expensive and complicated as people try to make it sound. I think the biggest problem with this swap is that since is always discouraged and not very common there isn't a lot of material around to learn and figure out how to do it, so some stuff ends up being trial and error.

 

ok nice engine ,we know these swaps are easyer with a z28 then the base ,seems the ls7 is the better swap for base but also a very experienced mechanic ,I would follow ellsworth an what he is doing ,to better help you with yours ,having help is important ,hear an there on the job ,a guy with a very creative mind ,as far as cost ,its up to the person,but I think using new parts is important as possible .to me money is only an issue when you don't have it ,when we got it hey cool,guys are doing it ,but it takes a lot of knowledge an help an money,yes I could have bought a 1974 gen 2 pro street. that was a drag car sweet set up 7 gallon tank fresh 383 new paint great leather interior big tires ,$7000.00 with 58.000 miles .but I needed power steering a bigger tank ,serpentine set up ,but its not every day one find that kinda deal ,we like challenges right .

 

This past weekend I worked on the wiring. I was able to make almost everything work through the old harness. The only things that I need to finish wiring up are the starter, alternator and distributor and fan. The way I have it laid out is this:

When turning the key I am able to power fuel pump, lights power window, locks wipers and so on. Then I bought a panel with 3 toggle switches and a push button. Toggle switch #1 will power distributor and will have a lead for the other 3 switches (that way if the other switches are on or the push button is pressed while the main switch is off nothing will run, so no risk of draining the battery). Push button will be wired to the starter. Toggle switch #2 will be wired to the radiator fan. Toggle switch #3 will power the lights on my secondary gauges. I am still finishing up my diagrams ( i need to establish gauge of all the wire and right size of the fuses) but as soon as I get that suff done I will be posting a picture that shows all the details including necessary relays.

 

As I said in my first post, "difficult and expensive are relative terms"

Could Gorn who posted or I take on said project and complete it; absolutely.

On this forum from what I've read, the majority of posters would be over their heads.

Projects all come down to what you are looking to accomplish. Based upon what you've posted, this is not a vehicle which would be easily resold to the average person.

If you just love the 4th gens and wanted to go backward with respect to technology for whatever reason, then you're doing that and by the looks of the photos, are doing well.

If you are trying to make a car for the strip then there are a lot of other models which weigh less or the same, have equal or lower drag coefficient and more room under the hood.

I curse every time I have to raise the engine or remove front suspension pieces to get to something but for some reason, the car remains in my stable.

Please keep posting the photos and if you are going to restore the interior, it would be helpful to others if you could itemize the costs. I did not tabulate when I did the 95Z but when I did my 3rd gen, I found great deals but it was still crazy expensive.

 

well most 4th gens .wont have much value down the road other then ss an few others,an some guys don't care about matching #s ,to me life its to short to worry about that ,I am pretty sure most guys know there not making an investment car with these builds ,what I wonder is why your not hooking those .wires to your ..ignition switch to make it easyer ,,i seen a pace car 93 sell for 17.000 on barret jax..on ,some are asking way more it had like 210 miles on it to. .post some pictures ,? you can get power from many places under the dash ,like lights ,if you hook them up to something that comes on when you turn the key ,that's better then switches ,I don't have.any switches on mine ,only for the nos heater an..spray ,even my gauges are hooked up around the .cigerrette.lighter ,then when I turn the key .they come on an go off when I open the door ,stereo ,there many places you can tap in