I tried posting my question in the 3rd gen forum but did not get any replies so I'd like to try in here:

I've read the sticky above and as I understand it, my little 2.8 is the same 60 deg. engine family as the 3.1 and the 3.4 right? I first tried to search at local salvage yards for a 350 tpi or even a 305 but salvage yards are scarce here in Hawaii. So my next opt. was to look for a bigger V6 like a 3.1 or 3.4 because then it would bolt to my type of trans I think.

To help expand my search, my question is what other vehicles and years (besides other camaros and firebirds) make good donors which have the intake facing the correct way? thanks in advance .

 

I'm not really sure if this would work but the newer Grand Am Gt 's with the 3400 SFI are a 60 degree v6 but i dunno about motor mounts and all that. my third gen had a 400 small block out of a 79 c10 pickup... any carbed small block chevy or (most)big blocks will fit in a third gen
plus you don't have to deal with wiring the engine to the computer.

 

So maybe you could find an old beater truck that has a good donor engine in it for a few hundred bucks

 

The engines used in the W body cars are better designed engines, but the blocks are designed for front drive and are very difficult to install in a rear drive car. That leaves you with the 3.4 used in F body cars, and S10 series trucks & suv's. Gm also makes a 3.4 crate engine that will fit.

 

Pete which are the W body cars? When you mentioned difficult, did you mean acc. drives and intake system? Will I be able to transfer my acc drives and/or intake sytem over? thanks for the reply.

Mike

 

The W cars are the front drive midsize GM cars, such as Pontiac GP, Olds Cutlass supreme, etc... The engines are difficult to mount on rear drive cars because the blocks are not provided with pads to attach the motor mounts needed for rear drive cars. These engines are mounted sideways, use a large mount under the front of the engine, a smaller mount at the rear, and dog bone mounts on top of the engine to keep the engine block from spinning around.

The accessory drives are totally different and I doubt that they can be interchanged. What is useable on your engine are the heads and intake manifold form the W car engines (3400 & 3500). The heads are aluminum and use canted valves with roller rockers which breathe much better than the 3.4 cast iron heads.

The camshafts are also of a better design, using roller lifters, but cannot be used in your block, because due to poor oiling system design it cannot support roller lifters.

Be aware that if you want to use the haeds and manifold, your car needs to have multi point fuel injection and DIS ignition, as the intake manifold covers the spot where the distributor normally mounts, and cannot be adapted to TBI or carburator.