ok, my engine has about 500 miles left on it, the kid that had it before me ran nitrous on it for about 60k miles, and my cousin recently totaled his 03 sonoma. I was wondering about the computer, his truck is an auto, and my camaro is a manual. also, I was wondering if I'm gonna need to change my bell housing, or anything else for that matter. any help is greatly appreciated. I really need an engine, and I figure this one has more performance parts available anyway.

 

well, I dont know where to start...

Nitrous shouldnt have put that car out of commision. There are MANY Nitrous 3.8 camaros out there that are running 12s and still being used as daily drivers.

Switching from a 3.8 to a 3.4 is a big down grade. Your loosing 40 HP from just the stock engine, then the 3800 respondes to mods well and you would loose "potential" power there.

The 3.8 is a more reliable engine & won the 10 best engine of the year award 3 times.

And the 3800 has a much bigger aftermarket than the 3.4.

Im not hating on the 3.4, they are good engines too. But I wouldnt consider downgrading. If I were you I would find another 3800 or maybe even an LT1. They arnt the exspensive and it would be worth the extra money.

 

not 3.4 lmao 4.3 vortec. and this kid would go get his nitrous filled and be out by the time he got home. he sprayed the sh** out of that car. One more question, will I need a more high performance clutch, or will the factory one do?

 

Thats what I get for not reading things more clearly[&:]

Dunno, if your tranny would hook up or not. Good luck with the swap.

 

Is your engine running like crap? You will need his computer, engine wiring harness, and I imagine you will need to fabricate up some motor mounts, also I imagine exhaust manifolds will end up in different places, which means a little more custom work. If you were wanting to keepyour manual transmisson, you would need to get aflywheel balanced for the newer engine along with new clutch. Maybe a different length driveshaft.I hope you know this will take a little more work than you think.

 

OK THEN!!! I was under the impression that it would be a bit easier. and yes, I've got a compression leak, blown intake manifold gasket, bad rear main seal, bad front seal, and of course, fried clutch. but if it's gonna take that much I won't even bother. I'll just buy a new 3.8 and a clutch.

 

The bellhousing pattern on the 4.3 is identical to the V-8.The 4.3won't bolt up to your smaller V-6 bellhousing.

 

ive all ways wanted to see a 4.3 ina camaro kinda thought it'd be different. But if your not infor the hassel just geta new(er) 3800 and mod it. (get stroker kit for it.)

 

That will get you very close. 4.2 www.3800stroked.com

 

well the engine is already an 01. I'm just worried that this engine won't make it through the school year. the engine has somewhere around 100k on it, it's just been beat on so hard that I don't really know if it would be worth it. I've already had to replace the oil pan because it was ground into every speed bump it came across. I mean, if you guys think it would be worth it to go ahead and do a complete tear down and rebuild then I'll do it, but I really don't have the time right now.