I’m not a mechanic just a car guy who’s trying to learn things. My 95 v6 Camaro has been a fun beater but lately it’s gotten dangerous to drive. I want it to be faster and I know there really isn’t much you can do to the 3.4l, so I figured if I didn’t want to sell it I might as well learn about swapping it. My friend kept telling me “just drop a junkyard 350 in it and call it good”, but I already figured it was nowhere near that simple. Doing some research I eventually learned about the 5.3s being super cheap and able to handle lots of power. I’m trying to go as cheap as possible as far as buying parts, a buddy of mine asked if I wanted to buy his Cateye Silverado seeing as it would have the LM7 plus transmission, mounts, wiring and all. Wondering what else I would look for in terms of drivetrain, rear end, and suspension? Currently the goal is to get the v8 in the car and have it be driveable, but eventually I want to reach about 450-500 hp to hang with my friends built 5.0 foxbody. He’s somewhat helping me because he’s done his own swap before but I just want to learn a bit more from others.

 

Not as easy to just "drop a 350 in". You have power windows? Power mirrors? Power seats? All electronics go the the ECM. Including the dash. Unless you change out the V6 harness and install a V8 harness and a modern 350 your gonna have to learn to be an electrical engineer. Most have said your better off just buying z28. But if you want to work on your car, you can go and get a donor car and swap out the K member and use all the hardware from it.

There are mods to be had with the V6's...non of wich will get you to 500hp. Unless you want to Nox it.

Why is your car dangerous?

 

I know it’s not that simple. That’s why I’m looking to buy an old truck so I’d have a motor, mounts, wiring harness/ECU, fuel pump, and a 4l60e all for around $1500. I’ll even take the gauge cluster and stick it into my dash if I have to. I’ve been told the LT1s suck that’s why most people swap them for LS1s. The cars motor runs like ***, and the rear ends about ready to give out. I’ll have fab work done to get the LM7 motor mounts onto a z28 k member and I’m looking into what I’d have to do to fit a Ford 9 inch in the rear. I’m not worried about windows or power seats right now it’s a beater, if anything I’ll switch to crank windows. After the swap is done later on I’ll go in and do cams, forged internals, and have a turbo system installed but that might be over the next couple years or so. For now I just want to make sure I have a decent suspension and strong drivetrain that can handle the power I eventually want

 

Old truck is not the way to go. I do not think the 95 has a BCM but you do have to deal with the PCM. It is connected to sub systems "ABS and security" minimum. The truck motor mounts are not what you need. You need V8 subframe with the proper oil pan and mounts. You will also need the LS1 intake or a aftermarket hood .with more room. Where things really get murky is the OBD 1.5 PCM is going to be very different from anything LS based and installing newer computers in older cars and getting them to work with the older sub systems is a huge pain.

You are better off selling your car and buying a LS1 car with a blown motor and putting the LM7 in that. Once you have that running upgrade the heads and cam. You could hit 450 HP. NA with the right bolt on mods.
Your friend was right if he was talking about the early to mid 3rd gens. GM use to pride itself on being able to swap juat about any motor in to any car. IMO, That ended for the camaro in 1993. Seem to me that the car is designed around the engine.

The below may give you a better idea of what you are up against. This is not an exact road map since the thread is about an OBD2 car not a OBD1.5. You could have more work then this.
https://camaroforums.com/forum/93-02...v8-swap-78734/

 

Any body know what it takes to do the swap from 3.4 to 355 chevy V8. What I read so far the 3.4 suspension needs to be upgrade. Do I gotta change the k Fram to? Any info would be appreciated thank you.

 

355 Chevy? You mean a 350 as in the old style small block Chevy?
Swapping these V-6 cars IMHO is not worth the hassle,anything can be done but it's far from a simple swap and yes the K-member has to be changed to one made for whatever V-8 swap you want to do.
You'll be money ahead and headache free to just off the V-6 car and buy a V-8 car even if you have to buy a V-8 car with a bad motor or trans and get a new motor and or trans because it will all be plug and play bolt in stuff.

 

Just wanted to update everyone, my 3.4 sat dead for a year and a half and I decided it wasn’t worth fixing, so about a month ago I picked up this 95 Z28. It came with long tube headers and a Flowmaster exhaust, 100k miles and never seen winter. I’m very happy I decided to wait for a decent deal ($5k)

 

wow is that paint as good as it looks?

 

Almost 😅 there’s some real hard dry sap spots I can’t really get off, plus I just had a bubble of I believe clearcoat on the top of the sail panel that came off in a big flake. Other than that it’s pretty clean though