Aluminum heads question.

[oh34v6]

With my recent promotion I decided to purchase a 94 Camaro as a project car. Right now the v6 has 150k miles on it and is still running great, but with winter coming im thinking about putting it in the garage and having some fun with it. I love the idea of building something special out of the 3.4, but quite simply i dont know that much about this engine. Thankfully i found this site. I've seen that many people are swapping the aluminum heads off of 3400's and I've already started looking for the parts I will need. The thing that has sparked my interest though is that people have said the pistons need changed also otherwise you would be running a compression ratio of around 12:1. Now i know that 12:1 is plain out of the question with gas, but what about alcohol? I know that E85 has an octane ration of 100, and I've been curious to whether or not this would be high enough to prevent detination at 12:1. Another thing I was wondering is if the block could even handle this? I'm going to be switching over to forged pistons either way, so i don't see that being too much of a problem. But with having a few E85 stations in my area, i would definately be interested in building an alcohol perfomance machine, considering its not my daily driver. I'm already aware that I am going to have to upgrade the fuel system if I do go this route. Oh, one last thing, is there any knowledge around as to how alcohol reacts with FI?

[UDLOSE98]

Re: Aluminum heads question.

12:1 is not out of the question for gas?

hell stock 350Z compression is 13:1, and what do you think happens to that number when you introduce FI, it goes WAAAAAY up and people still use gas.

[Arctc Wolf]

Re: Aluminum heads question.

350Z is designed differently than the 3.4. combustion chamber design, piston design, bore, cam design, head flow/design all affect detonation threshold.

[UDLOSE98]

Re: Aluminum heads question.

so you dont think that 93 octane will support 12:1 in a 3.4?

let alone find a good enough tune for a 3.4 that will support it

[vanbibber]

Re: Aluminum heads question.

i wouldnt suggest running that kind of compression on a 3.4. it wouldnt last very long.

before we get into all this... what are your plans for the car? FI? n/a? N20?

[Arctc Wolf]

Re: Aluminum heads question.

I think u need a balance between timing, a/f, and compression. It probably would, but would need 2 be planned out.

[UDLOSE98]

Re: Aluminum heads question.

agreed

[camaroman1181]

Re: Aluminum heads question.

greetings fellow 3.4 owner... to answer your questions..

at the top of the advnaced tech forum, there is a sticky all about the 3.4. it is quite long and has a lot of info in there about the AL head swap for the 3.4. read into that and then go from there with your questions..

ethanol (E85) should support that kind of C/R if you are running N/A (naturally aspirated). However, E85 cannot be run at the same fuel/air ratio as gas. that being said, you would need to tune your car to run on E85. However, heres the catch... there is no tuning options for a 3.4L... the exceptions being using a custom standalone (Fast system, or Megasquirt). Some guys have converted to megasquirt and I believe White95 is working on a Fast system. either way, thats prolly your only option if you wish to run E85. Also consider that other things need to be converted as well (O2 sensors are factory narrow band and wont be able to read in the acceptable air/fuel ratio range)..

all of this is possible, is being worked on by others, and has been completed by others still.. so you wont be alone if you decide to try..

whatever you do, good luck and congrats on your new car