Engine swap/rebuild

[Dmcrmx]

New to the forum, checking out the site and had some questions. I have a 98 Camaro V6 I bought cheap with a bad engine with a rod knock, but perfect body and good interior. Looking for the best options for replacing the motor and doing upgrades. Would love to do an LS swap but not in my budget or skills. So was thinking either a crate 3.8, find a used one to rebuild and swap, or rebuild the current motor that has 155k miles.. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to meeting some new fellow Camaro enthusiasts!

[ssms5411]

I did a rebuild on mine at 120,000 miles, and did forged pistons and cam and few other things. Engine has lasted well , ive had a supercharger on it at 10 psi for a few years, then ditched that and had nitrous for a few years, then a turbo with 10 psi. Motor still up and running fine , just with a cam now. So you could get a L26 block and go that route which is cheaper, but if you want to mod it , I say rebuild it and make it your own. Good luck, let us know what you decide.

[Dmcrmx]

I did a rebuild on mine at 120,000 miles, and did forged pistons and cam and few other things. Engine has lasted well , ive had a supercharger on it at 10 psi for a few years, then ditched that and had nitrous for a few years, then a turbo with 10 psi. Motor still up and running fine , just with a cam now. So you could get a L26 block and go that route which is cheaper, but if you want to mod it , I say rebuild it and make it your own. Good luck, let us know what you decide.

Id love to do a supercharger but heard it's not an easy mod. I don't have the tools to do custom work and wouldn't be worth it to pay someone to do it. I found a guy selling a 3.8 that's been rebuilt that I may buy. What, sorta on a budget, mods do you suggest I do to it before putting it into the car?

[ssms5411]

Yeah, i had the powerdyne supercharger, not the roots blower off the L67, which is some work but it would be worth it. For budget depends on what you want to do, suspension, looks, or engine mods. It adds up quick.

[LETZRIDE]

If you are new to modding - get your feet wet. Don't jump straight into looking at superchargers/turbos/cam because that stuff requires a lot of knowledge and tuning to go along with it in order to make it reliable unless you want to pay a pretty penny to get it done.

Start off with the basics and learn your way through things...in the long run you may pay a little more as you shift through parts (not much more) but it will be over the course of many years versus dropping a ton of dough up front and still not necessarily being happy.

To start things off, I would do a budget build to get you back up and on the road. Pick up a Junkyard series II 3.8L engine out of any vehicle that it came with - front wheel or rwd. You can use this website here to search all the wrecking yards across North America- http://www.car-part.com/

When I replaced my motor I bought one from a 2005 Buick Lucerne that had 5k on it...if you buy from a fwd vehicle you will need to swap your oil pan and upper/lower intake manifolds on along with your exhaust. When I did mine, I bought the motor for $400 and sold off all the parts I didn't need (manifolds, oil pan, one of the sets of heads, etc) and literally broke even on the motor.

I would then look to start with basic bolt ons to get you going...stuff you don't "really" need a tune for just yet...headers, exhaust, intake, aluminum driveshaft... that right there will wake your car up and won't break the bank too bad when all is said and done...plus she'll have a good sound to her.

[Dmcrmx]

Thanks for the tips. I have a guy locally that has a 3.8 from a 96 Camaro for sale with a trans for $900. He says he broke it all down and rebuilt it so that might be my best option. It's just been tough finding someone who can do the swap for me out here in Vegas, so that's the only thing holding me back right now. Deff wanna do an exhaust and intake system. I know the V6 will never sound as good as the V8 but any recommendations on getting a good sounding exhaust with a nice growl?

[ssms5411]

Ive had many exhausts , best ive found is the dynomax super turbo muffler in 3", but i would do some Pacesetter headers and go 3" pipping all the way back with mandrel bends, Summit sells the exhaust parts with the mandrel bends. Im doing this to mine , because i have a resonator right now and 3" before the axle and its just too loud at WOT for me. Since im not going to race it or anything like that anymore, just cruise in it. Damm im getting old.lol But the Dynomax has a good sound.

[LETZRIDE]

I would stray away from a rebuilt motor unless you know the guy does good work, is trust worthy and the motor was stored properly. There are a lot of guys who don't know what they are doing and you'll have no idea what you're buying. I know a guy who bought a "rebuilt motor and trans for his 68 Firebird" ...when he got it home and opened it up a few months later it looked like the guy left it sitting in water.

Junkyard motor is cheap and at least you know it is setup to factory GM spec. The bottom end of a GM built motor can handle almost 600rwhp if I remember correctly.

[Dmcrmx]

I would stray away from a rebuilt motor unless you know the guy does good work, is trust worthy and the motor was stored properly. There are a lot of guys who don't know what they are doing and you'll have no idea what you're buying. I know a guy who bought a "rebuilt motor and trans for his 68 Firebird" ...when he got it home and opened it up a few months later it looked like the guy left it sitting in water.

Junkyard motor is cheap and at least you know it is setup to factory GM spec. The bottom end of a GM built motor can handle almost 600rwhp if I remember correctly.

Do you think it would be easier or cheaper to just rebuild the current motor that's in there? It has over 150k on it and from what I'm told a rod knock. I'm afraid to run it again and make things worse inside.. I've seen the rebuild kits online, but I guess until the motors apart can't tell if it's rebuildable.

[cam98aro]

If it has rod knock you are going to spend more fixing it than what it would cost to buy a used engine and rebuild it. You are looking at getting the crank ground down, new bearings, getting the rods worked on, new rod bearings, etc. Also if it does indeed have rod knock that means that there is a ton of metal shavings all throughout the engine, something you must be sure is completely out and cleaned.

Too bad you live across the country from me because I would love to get rid of my 3.8 that's taking up space in the garage

[LETZRIDE]

100% cheaper to buy a used engine and put it in versus a rebuild