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Im on my way to my motor swap, but im going a little farther........
If your a grand am person, or a third gen camaro, fire bird, trans am owner, or any other vehicle that has a 3.4 RWD block and the 3400 FWD blocks, you may have heard of the 3x00 top swap. The third and fourth gen camaro guys are taking their iron heads off and swapping over the aluminum heads and intakes from the front wheel drive cars like the malibu, impala, uplander, g6, etc.
My block is a 93 firebird 3.4. These cars came with DIS, no distributer. The lower intake manifold covers the distributer hole, so im going to modify the wiring from dizzy to DIS. Each system is triggered about the same way, I just need to study the wiring schematic or find the thread on thirdgen.org and see how that guy did it.
This also means im going MPFI.
I'll use 3400 pistons from the impala, 3400 head gaskets from the impala for about 9:1 with my 3500 heads from an uplander.
Im currently tearing down the 2.8 right now, im getting snagged on the passenger side exhuast manifold. i cant quite reach one of the bolts at the downpipe connection, or "y" if you will. theres also 2 snapped bolts in the head. I need 2 more jack stands to get it up a bit higher so i can be under it with a bit more room to work.
Ive got more stuff to get as far as parts, and the machine shop has just started their work on the block.

Its obviously going to be a massive overhaul, im talking a lift kit since i need upper and lower control arm bushings, new ball joints, sway bar bushings, maybe body mount bushings......bushings bushings bushings. new leaf springs too. new power steering pump, A/C retro'd to R134a, new condenser, alternator rebuild (or upgrade?), it is the gm cs130 right? anyway, new fuel pump, either an impala unit or some external mounted pump. what else am i doing here.... refirb the injectors....
Were talking 340,000 plus miles on this mofo...... its an overhaul.

 

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92 v6 dist. motor to coil packs - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards

DFI and ECM - 92 v6 dist. motor to coil packs - can anyone tell me how to change my 92 v6 camaro from distributor to coil packs? I have changed the 3.1 to a 3.4 which has a crank sensor.

www.thirdgen.org

am i allowed to post this link??

 

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well i got the drivers side exhuast manifold off and disconnected from the down pipe portion. the passenger side is a bit more cluttered, i may have to disconnect that front drive shaft from the transfer case. its just a super greasy mess down there so im letting it soak in some purple power, when i get more brake part cleaner I'll spray it again.

I cant tell where the starter positive is held on.... it crosses from passenger to driver side. trifles.
My next move is to remove valve covers and intake to see if I can get to the bell housing bolts a bit easier. It's really too bad its winter already, I cant be rolling this thing to the driveway to hose everything down. That should have been a summer thing.

 

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I see the loom for the starter wiring now, it’s just kind of stuck in there.
I am wondering if I try to replace the motor mounts or not. Right now it’s soaking in some degreaser and pb blaster, I’m going to have a drink and get after it in a bit.
I can see the big bolts to drop the front diff, I see a bolt I missed to remove the exhaust manifold on the passenger side.....
All that exhaust from the cat back is pretty new, so I’m thinking I’ll have to fab up everything forward of that.
I’ll start throwing pics around when I get the new motor painted and put together

 

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It looks like he welded it up to an existing flange, so maybe 2.5”. The muffler is a 2.5” flo pro.

 

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Now looking at the cat you have Ed, I think I may have to get something like that... you posted a link in another thread. Here in Idaho they don’t really check for the catalytic converters..... but I’m planet friendly wink

 

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Ok I’m trying to make progress.....

this bolt here is holding some kind of ground to the head, I can’t get to it, I thought I could remove this pesky heater hose but it’s also wedged between the firewall and head. Poop.

 

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I started rigging up the chain to hold the weight while I undo my motor mounts.....
The front lift point isn’t quite big enough for the hook I’ve got.....

 

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So I grabbed the lift point from the firebird engine and swapped em. I’m thinking of getting the hook through both of those holes.

 

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I just picked up a 3.4 out of a 94 Camaro in Logan, Utah and brought it back to Salt Lake. It's sitting in my garage on a stand, I'm considering the 3x00 swap while I have it out and everything. Thanks for sharing, looking forward to hearing about how your project goes.

Yeah the aluminum heads are great. I’m excited to see this through, I was worried about the dizzy to DIS wiring but it’s no big deal, and now that I know the equinox has its own unique manifold, I’m not concerned with the throttle body hitting the radiator

 

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Oh and the ecm can probably be hacked/modded, or you could megasquirt the ignition and fuel, or you could do the EBL flash 2 from dynamic efi.

 

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What kind of power are people getting out of this motor?

I believe the stock 3400 makes like 180 I can’t remember. I’m sure the stock 3500 make 200 minimum. I think the 3.4 made 160? I have heard the 3.4 with 3400 heads can do about 190 or so on a mild build, on some 3.4’s with 3500 were expecting 250-300, depending on how wild the build. It’s one hell of a v6. Gm is doing amazing things with the 60 degree these days. There’s a version of the equinox that has a 3.6L, and it makes 285hp NA, but it’s VVT. The rest of the VVT is impressive as well, such as the 3500 VVT, and the 3.9L (impala?)....

Honestly for me, my block just needed a hone, my heads will not be ported or polished, I’m going to use the comp cams 26986 springs( I think that’s the part#), a torque cam from wot-tech.com, and I will probably polish the intake manifolds a bit along with port matching those to each other since I will use 3500 heads with the 3500 lower intake, and I might have to use the 3400 equinox upper intake like the picture I posted. I do have the 3500 upper but it could point the throttle body at the radiator.
I also have the 65mm throttle body from an 02 olds aurora.
In short I plan on having 190-200 at least and that’s all I want which is plenty more than the trooper needs.
This won’t be an easy swap, plan on having some kind of header or ex manifold built. The exhaust ports are D shaped, they are a little bigger too. Your stock manifolds will not work.

How familiar are you with the head swap? Read up on the other forums if you need more info or I’ll send you some links to threads I’ve been following that are more than a decade old!

 

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Am I supposed to remove the tie rods just to access the bolts that hold the axle into the frame? Maybe I’m looking at the wrong ones...... I’ll try to snag a picture

 

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Definitely in the way, just enough to not be able to get a socket and extension on there.

 

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I do have just enough room to get the top bell housing bolts, I just don’t have enough *** to bust em loose

 

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Alright I got the 4 of (6?) bell housing bolts from the top without dropping the front axle.
I turned the passenger side idler arm just enough to fit a socket and extension on the axle to frame mounting bolts and broke it loose.
Tomorrow is another day.

 

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I’m also trying to replace all my tie rods, about an hr of hammering I moved on....
I don’t have a regular 17mm box end wrench, just the ratcheting type and it didn’t want to fit, and my breaker bar does not slide over that geared end. I ended up using a craftsman “max access” ratchet and socket to clear the firewall a bit and give a good purchase on that bolt. Then slid the breaker bar over that. Uuummfff!

 

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Gotta have some open/box end wrenches, man! Hard to do much without.

Check on Slickdeals.net for the best deals on all kinds of stuff. I have a search saved for "wrench" so lots of sales pop up in my mailbox. This is a great time of year for that, too.

The reason why you want a basic set of combination (open and box ends) wrenches is that they may get into a tighter spot than a Gearwrench, and you can use a "persuader" (i.e. hammer) on them to loosen cranky bolts.

You don't want to beat on the ratcheting Gearwrench, but they do have a great purpose in being able to ratchet in tight spots.

This Kobalt set on sale at Lowes is less than $11.00 and should give you adequate service for what you're doing.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-7-Piece-12-Point-Metric-Standard-Combination-Wrench-Set/3408248

Maybe Santa will drop some wrenches in your Christmas Stocking! Of course, a lump of Coal is gaining in value daily!! Harrr! 😼

Regarding breaking-loose tie rod ends, I worked on a Honda Element early Fall and this tool easily busted loose ball joints and the tie rod ends:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YVWHOE

Gearwrench ball joint separator, I was worried that it might not be strong enough for the Element ball joints (they were NASTY), but it popped them like nobody's business. A very well-made tool. It made short work of the tie rod ends as well. Its design is such that it won't damage the grease boots when you're breaking a joint. Which is a nice feature if you've got to bust a joint that was recently replaced, and you don't want to damage anything.

Cheers...........ed

Thanks Ed.
As far as the wrenches I actually have everything BUT the 16&17mm wrenches, my kit didn’t come with them, or I probably bought individually as needed I don’t remember. I wrote that down on the whiteboard as a “need this”. I’ll do the same with that ball joint separator, my pitman arm tool wasn’t cutting it.

 

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My passenger side motor mount is torn. I suppose it’s time to replace the set.....
The Isuzu part is about $65
The rock auto aftermarket is under $15

 

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Found a clutch for the 3.1 pickup at $130 on eBay. It’s the Sachs. Actually $136. Good deal compared to rock auto.