3400 swap begins - 56k = maybe

[Kardain]

First off, a recap of what's been going on so far...

October - April

Get the trailer. The truck that I was going to use needed a new water pump. No worries, I have a hitch on my car, so off to go get a U-Haul trailer.



Get the engine. I had to work that day, so I took half the day off so I can go get the engine from the junkyard. Junkyard guys thought I was nuts towing with the Fire

3400 from a 2001 Grand Am





Then, between bills and such, spent the next few months getting parts (I'm still lacking a few, but have enough to get started).. Thanks to gectek from this site for the exhaust downpipe .

Which leads to the start (Apr 28 )...

I've been chomping at the bit to get things started, but I only have access to 1 engine lift and my dad's car was parked under it while he was putting on a new 3 carb manifold on his Monte Carlo (pics upon request).

He just finished up, so I was able to get started on prepping the car for the engine swap...







May 01

Diff insert got here -- Limited Slip insert



May 02

Installed the short shifter



May 05 - 06





Reason for the extended time, *makes mental note* need to take out the halfshafts first. Also having the right sized sockets and whatnot helps too...

trans separated (MK7 Isuzu 5spd, will be bolted to the 3400)



Also installed one of the 2 trans mounts:



test fitted the new upper mount as well after giving it a quick polish (94-97 3100):



May 08

Started on the diff insert install since 1) I still need a couple parts for the engine and b) weather wasn't up to having me work outside and 3) I'm not too savvy w/ trans internals...



May 9 to today

A few updates... Oregon Auto in Milwaukie OR (however that's spelled) got me an engine harness (for the right year this time) for 125 shipped

Inspected the harness, need to figure out what a couple of the plugs are for, and replace one or 2 (but I have an extra one here from the wrong year 3400 -- injector harness is different), then that's where the *fun* begins

Installed the other trans mount, removed the lower intake (bong), started prepping for the Addco front sway bar (bye-bye 18mm FE1 bar, hello 25mm bar ).









I love clearance sales @ Summit

Got the engine mount bracket (94-97 3100 bracket) -- will be removed, cleaned and painted.:



Trans is still disassembled at the moment (need to get new spider gears )



Also started putting in the Prothane CA bushings (I'm going to repaint the CA's before I put them back in, also need to get new ball joints and tie rod boots as well...)



More as it progresses

[IsaacHayes]

NICE! I'll be following this thread. That's just what that 3rd gen needs!

[86euro]

What body did the mount and bracket come from? As far as actual mounting, is the v6 a direct replacement?

[Kardain]

the t shaped part came from a 97 Grand Am w/ a 3.1. the part that bolts to the engine is from a Corsica w/ a 3100.

As for the rest, all I have to do is have a custom lower mount adapter welded up and the rest is bolt-in

NICE! I'll be following this thread. That's just what that 3rd gen needs!

My thoughts exactly

[IsaacHayes]

Cool, I always wondered what stock mounts could be used and what had to be made. The lower mount doesn't do much, other than help with the motor rocking/torquing back. The top mount is what holds it up on that side. The lower is a dogbone torq strut. At least on my L body. The other side is held up with the transmission mount only.

[Kardain]

The lower is a dogbone torq strut. At least on my L body. The other side is held up with the transmission mount only.

Same w/ my J body.

With a Prothane lower dogbone:



there shouldn't be any significant rocking...


^^Stock dogbone and Prothane mount

Also the upper mount insert helps some when combined with the lower. I noticed a significant decrease in movement w/ the 2.2l after installing both :



With the poly trans mounts, the whole thing should be fairly solid.

(the 3 above pics were as installed on the 2.2 that I just pulled)

edit:

Oh and one more clarification -- I'm not 100% sure on the Corsica reference... I have to go back to the same yard next weekend to pick up a couple more parts for a buddy, as well as a tensioner bolt that I forgot to snag for the redone pulley layout. I'll check that car model to make sure. After looking at some other past posts, it may have been a Lumina. All I can remember is that it was a Chevy, and the upper mount was the same as the Grand Am mount I had, so I pulled the engine side of the front mount w/out bothering to check the model. that was one of the parts that I couldn't find anywhere around here....

[Azrael]

Sorta off-topic but what are those brake calipers from? Or is it a Baer/Corvette big brake kit?

Edit: Nevermind...a quick search led me to the Wilwood kit.

Can't wait to see the outcome of the swap. Should make quite a difference.

[IsaacHayes]

The upper mount is a 95+ style from either N or L body. The bracket that bolts to the engine can be from 94+ N or L body. The Lumina's don't use the side mount.

Gotta love towing the engine home in the same car that it's going into! That's gonna be one fun car to drive soon! Please do post about what you do with the ECM side of things too.

[Kardain]

Sorta off-topic but what are those brake calipers from? Or is it a Baer/Corvette big brake kit?

Edit: Nevermind...a quick search led me to the Wilwood kit.

yep. Wilwood 4 piston calipers and 12.5" rotors.

The upper mount is a 95+ style from either N or L body. The bracket that bolts to the engine can be from 94+ N or L body. The Lumina's don't use the side mount.

Cool. Thanks for the clarifcation.

Please do post about what you do with the ECM side of things too.

I have a custom tuned ECM that is from a 99 Grand Am GT that has been tuned to the injector size on the 2001, and all auto trans settings disabled.

[AWeb80]

that is sweet....good work.

[Kardain]

this is from a couple days ago...

Spent this week doing some maintenance stuff.. Had to take it easy, tweaked my back pretty good earlier this week... new ball joints, ordered new tie rod ends, finished the CA bushings and gave the control arms a shot of paint:



Got the sway bar in (here's a better shot of the brakes) -- Addco 25.4mm to go with my Progress 22mm rear, need to finish torquing down the subframe though:



Put the engine on a stand so i can change the flywheel...

test fitted the engine cover since, when I ordered it a few months ago, I had read that the rear bracket may or may not have been on the engine depending... fortunately it was (and finish taking the sticker stuff off the adapter)



Its to the point where I can get the engine in after yanking my stock P/S lines, but I'm waiting on the diff insert for the tranny before I do that so I can get an accurate measurement of the lower mount.

[Kardain]

Oil pressure sender is installed. Water temp sender installed (in preperation of dropping the engine in... there's not much clearance there).

Need to cut some spacers for the AC compressor this weekend as well.



Not much else new... still recouping from back pain... if all goes well though, engine should be in the hole this weekend... trans on the other hand

[IsaacHayes]

Let me clarify one thing though, when I said 94 side mount I meant the steel black one on the motor. The black rubber mount that bolts to the body and the shiny aluminum bracket you have to use from both the same era (94, or 95+).

Whats those two sensors you got on each side of the oil filter? One I'm guessing is another oil pressure sender other than stock but for an aftermarket gauge, whats the other one?

EDIT: the AC looks like you are missing the OEM spacers. At least my motor has an aluminum spacer on the top 2 bolts. A junkyard trip could save you some machining time. But if you can find some steel tube and just hax saw it to length that would work too.

[Kardain]

Let me clarify one thing though, when I said 94 side mount I meant the steel black one on the motor. The black rubber mount that bolts to the body and the shiny aluminum bracket you have to use from both the same era (94, or 95+).

Whats those two sensors you got on each side of the oil filter? One I'm guessing is another oil pressure sender other than stock but for an aftermarket gauge, whats the other one?

EDIT: the AC looks like you are missing the OEM spacers. At least my motor has an aluminum spacer on the top 2 bolts. A junkyard trip could save you some machining time. But if you can find some steel tube and just hax saw it to length that would work too.

Other sensor is water temp. I'm running all AM gauges (Cyberdyne).

the polished piece I know is from a 97 Grand Am 3.1

As for teh spacers, I'm just going to hacksaw a short length of pipe.

[Kardain]

Engine is in the hole





between the last update and this one I stripped the power steering lines, installed the flywheel and starter. also got the rest of the header piping out of teh way. the overhead hoist is still hooked up with a little bit of tension, and a jack is under the engine until I can get the trans put back together to hold up the tail of the engine.

Clutch is installed (sorry that its a blurry pic... camera couldn't focus in the shadows too well)