I have a 91 camaro with a 3.1L six, it isnt fast, and gets ****ty gas mileage. I was wondering what kind of swaps i could do using newer gm v8's. I live in california and the smog regulations are rediculous so dont mention some crazy swap that isnt gona be legal. So what are possible and fast with some what good mpg? Also i had questions about the wiring,I know in doing this ill need a different ecu and wiring harness, how difficult is it to get all the lights to work, only really need the necessities. What do i have to do to the suspension, driveshaft, rear end.. etc. Any info would be great. thanks

 

well no matter what v8 you swap in, you will need a beefier rear end and trans to support it, you could upgrade the suspension but its not as important as the trans and rear.

Did you want to go carb or EFI ?

yes you will need a new wiring harness and cpu

 

suspension, driveshaft and rearend will be the same so you wont have to mess with that. as for the swap, well youll have to do more digging into the emissions laws. im not sure about california or other areas but i think they may follow a rule something like you can swap a newer more emissions friendly power plant into and older chassis but not an older power plant into a newer chassis. as for figuring out whats older than the other i think they use what was available for that particular vehicles production year.

anything is possible if you have the money to do it. however realisticly unless this is the first and only car you ever got laid in its generally not very cost effective and will end up with more into it than just buying a newer car. is there a cool factor to this type of swap.... sure but be prepared to spend some money and deal with possibly older technology than what a newer chassis may have provided. having some real cool buddies with a good knowledge and skill base doesnt hurt cause if you have to pay someone to do this type of work it becomes ridiculously expensive. a wrecked donor car with with everything you need is the easiest way to go kurt

 

You could swap a 5.7 TPI from a 91-92 Camaro. (you could also go earlier TPI since they will be just about the same,just dont tell ) Since that motor was availible in that year F body all you will have to do is take it to get smogged as usual. The harness and computer will fit in the original location also. You can do this with any engine that was availible in these cars for the model year you are installing it in.

Lets say you were going to install an LT1 or LS1 (OBDII). You would have to go with all the emission equipment found for that engine. The computer and of course the wiring. Added O2 sensors, OBDII cat,yada yada. Then for the initial inspection and smog test you take it to a referee station. They inspect and make sure you have all the proper equipment, test the emissions and once it all passes they put a sticker in the door jamb and after that you can take it to any smog station for the test.

I just got done with something like this not too long ago. I installed a 97 4.3 Vortec in my mom's 84 S10. I went as far as installing the proper fuel tank for a 96+ S10 along with the fuel pump. Its not as bad as you may think and the guys at the referee station were impressed with the job I did and how I used all the poper items.

Keeps in mind also with a V8 swap you will need a tranny or bell house that will bolt to a V8 as the 60 degree V6 is smaller.

 

Unless you already have the knowledge, and as stated above, some cool friends with knowledge, you might be better off selling it and buying what you already want.

Too many times have friends called me with the old 'hey, I need this for work on monday......where does this line go? and how much fuel pressure do I need?'

 

I have had customers call me saying "I cut the wires on [this part], where do they go?"
I think the sadest one was though when a young guy's, I know, wife made him change the timing cover seal on their Olds with the V6. He had many "friends" to help him take it apart (and drink his beer) but they all disappeared when it came time to put it back together (and the beer was gone). He calls me and says "Mike I need some help. We could not get the dizzy in so we cranked the motor over until it dropped in but now it wont fire up". To cut the story short, I pulled the dizzy out (its in the front cover) and looked down the hole and for some stupid reason one of his helpers pulled the bolts out of the timing gear. [&o]