Its a Firebird lol. 1995 base model, has a 3.4L in it and i wanted to swap to a 5.0L TPI i can get. the motor came out of a 92 firebird but has no wiring harness, what have i got myself into lol. what do i need to make this happen? anyone done such a swap?

 

Check out the V6 to V8 swap sticky. It will be a long road. Look at the engine in your firebird and picture trying to change your rotor cap on a SBC motor. I am not even sure the back of the TPI would fit under the windshield. Not to mention all the other problems you are going to be facing.

 

Probably would work best to notch the windshield and come down through the dash pad with the distributor.
Sure would make setting the timing "on the fly" a breeze though.

 

The TPI engine will not fit in the 4th gen. The intake and runners are too tall. The TPI would look really nice into a 2nd gen.

Massey

 

id go to a yard and find a car with he 5.0 if it were me... then i would pull the harness. but I believe Massey is right, the tpi is to tall...

 

Just about everything electric in this 95 somehow connects to PCM or body control module. Retrofitting a Pre-OBD computer controlled engine into the car is a pain but doable but when you are done with the motor nothing will work. No heat/AC, lights, radio, gages. You would have to rewire the entire car. But if you buy a wrecked 95 Z28/transam then you will have all the parts you need for the conversion. A lot of guy come here after then have bought the base model that needs the motor thinking they got a great deal. Had they come here before the purchase they would have found out they did step two before step one. For these conversions the donor V8 car with a good low miles drive line is the hard part to find. The V6 shells are a dime a dozen. The only way these projects are worth doing is if A) if you have an emotional attachment to the car and don’t’ care about money or time. B) You have a wrecked V8 car with a known good drive line. C) Your goal is not the car but process of building a custom car. (It would be easier to put a TPI 305 in a 74 pinto then it would be to put it in a 4th gen)

All you have to do is search the 4th gen threads for the word conversions. There are dozens of threads from guys that bought 4th gen V6’s based on converting it to a v8 only to give up on the project once they realized how much work and money the project was going to cost. To date I think one member has completed the conversion to a SBC. For a cost of 5K. One of the big problems is the donor cars themselves are worth a lot of money because guys seek them out for other “hot rod” project. 300hp and 27MPG is a pretty nice upgrade to your 72 pickup.

The cheapest way to get into a 4th gen V8 is to buy a V8 car that needs engine work. V8 bodies can be bought for about a grand, if the motor is not repairable lower miles used LT1s can be found for around $500. Figure another $600 in gaskets, tune up and wear items and you will have a little over 2K and a dependable car.

Joe is a long time member and we will help in any way we can but step one in any project is a plan. The cost for custom made motor mounts and the custom exhaust by itself is enough to derail a lot of these projects.

 

enough said lol, thanks guys very much. i am not going to do the swap, that sounds way too complicated for something i am just going to sell, i thought i got a good deal and my cousin had this tpi motor so i was wondering about the swap but wow lol, thats way too much. im glad i asked first before trying, thanks again guys. Firebird only has 125K on the v6, very clean so i dont see it hard for me to get rid of it to a teenage girl or an old lady lol. But it would be nice to keep it but nit with that v6 lol, if i could find a good deal on 5.7L from a gta or z28 then maybe ill keep it but i doubt i would find anything like that around here that i would want to rip apart. But thanks again for all the advice guys, very much appreciated.

Joe