Engine Swap

[V6Maniac]

When I bought my Hawk I sold my Camaro to my little sister, it was a 1996 V6 auto. She's buying a new car now and I'm going to be getting the Camaro back for basically nothing. I was planning on turning it into a daily driver since my tow/farm vehicle gets horrible gas mileage and I'd like to keep miles off the Hawk.

Now for the tech part:

The Camaro has 99k miles on it now and the engine is nearly blown. She took it to a local performance shop to get a set of headers and a nitrous kit installed on it. The only problem is the shop tricked her into buying headers for her car that don't fit the 96 V6's. She took it to a shop to have them install them anyways and they didn't fit at all, they hacked up the headers and beat on them and they leaked horribley. She drove the car like that for nearly 6 months and the engine is burned up now.

I'm wanting to buy a new(used) engine for it and swap it out along with a used stock exhaust system. I planned on puting my stock cat-back off the Hawk on it to keep it quiet but still flow semi-decent. My question is, how big of an undertaking is this? I've done my own cam/head swap so I'm not afraid to take the engine apart but I've never actually pulled an engine out before. I also would like to know where the best place to find a replacement engine is and if I have to get a 3.8L from another 96 or if I can use any 3.8L from 96-02? Help and tips would greatly be appretiated.

[Fbody3400]

Since its the same engine, its gonna be fairly simple (in context). Its just pull and plug for the most part. But i'm nowhere near as knowledgable about this stuff as some on this site, so i'd wait for more replies. Also, i believe any '95 1/2 to '02 3.8 will fit without problems.

[V6Maniac]

I'm pretty sure the throttle bodies are different on the 98-02 3.8L's but I've got the old engine still so I can always just put the old throttle body on the new engine.

[97rs4life]

96-98 engines will work with your car as plug and play. 99+ have the straight tb and lid so it won't work without some work. You could buy a 99+ engine though and like you said, just swap the intakes and tb.

['94firebirdv6]

just wondering..,but if ur going to the troulbe of an engine swap, why would you not put a v8 in?

[V6Maniac]

Originally posted by '94firebirdv6:
just wondering..,but if ur going to the troulbe of an engine swap, why would you not put a v8 in?

Because I already have 2 V8's and another one would completely defeat the purpose of making this my daily driver? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I've got a heads/cam LS1, puting an LT1 in my Camaro will just make it get bad gas mileage and be difficult to drive in the winter months. Plus it's much easier to swap a V6 for a V6 than to switch to the V8.

[wasjo6431]

bad gas milage? if its a stick u can see upwards of 35 highway. what u talking about bad gas milage with an lt1. please. the average is around 28 mpg with the sticks. my 358 carbed gets about 13 highway/city and at 70 im at 3000rpms with a 3 speed auto and a 3.08 rear end. a 6 speed would put u around 1000-1400 rpms at that speed thus earning its mad gass milage. but im sure hte car was an auto before hand which means go wiht a 700r4 cuz the 4L60E's dont match up nicely with the v6 to v8s but the older 1993 4L60 does match to both. along with the 700r4, if its auto. if it was a stick try to find a decent 6 speed trans good luck on not spending more then 1400 on one. even if u can bolt the T5 to it its better then nothing.

[V6Maniac]

Originally posted by wasjo6431:
bad gas milage? if its a stick u can see upwards of 35 highway. what u talking about bad gas milage with an lt1. please. the average is around 28 mpg with the sticks. my 358 carbed gets about 13 highway/city and at 70 im at 3000rpms with a 3 speed auto and a 3.08 rear end. a 6 speed would put u around 1000-1400 rpms at that speed thus earning its mad gass milage. but im sure hte car was an auto before hand which means go wiht a 700r4 cuz the 4L60E's dont match up nicely with the v6 to v8s but the older 1993 4L60 does match to both. along with the 700r4, if its auto. if it was a stick try to find a decent 6 speed trans good luck on not spending more then 1400 on one. even if u can bolt the T5 to it its better then nothing.

It's still beside the point. I've already got 2 V8's and I don't want another one. I just want a fresh engine in my V6. It's just going to be a daily driver, it doesn't need to be fast.

I'm going to talk to some junk yards today and see if I can find one cheaper locally than what I can from tacrations. TAC only wants $350 for a 64k mile '96 engine which would be great but the truck/freight shipping will make that not such a great deal anymore. Anyone have any idea how much I can expect to pay at a junk yard for a V6?

['94firebirdv6]

id say a low mileage 3.8 with everything prolly 500-600

[Jason McCallister]

Originally posted by V6Maniac:
Anyone have any idea how much I can expect to pay at a junk yard for a V6?

About $400+

http://www.car-part.com

This is how I found my $300 tranny at an *Import* salvage yard. :D