2.8 to 3.4 or 3.1 that is the question.

[hookdonspeed]

ok, lets start off saying ive never realy looked into "swaps" before. i had an 86 fiero GT 2.8l that i built up the 2.8 prettynicely before someone decided to steel it. but now im looking to get another one (found an 88 in good condition), and figured a swap would be an easyer way of getting more power, then later possibly building that up, i looked into some of the parts for the engines, i see that the 2.8, 3.1 and 3.4 heads are the same (cast iron). i see that the crank and rods on the 2.8 and 3.1 are the same, but the 3.4 is diffrent. ive read that the 3.4 camaro engine was a "direct swap" to the fiero, but is it a TRUE direct drop-in? would i have to change anything regaurding the ECU? i know it bolts up, and the intake and all will fit fine, but the ecu part makes me a little scared. also i was planing on somekinda blower or turbo on it in the future, ive read on some of the forums people saying the cranks were fine, but what about the rods? pistons i can get, ive seen them many places, but i havent seen any forged cranks or high perf rods for the 60degV6, any info on any of this would be much welcomed.

i do know the 3.4 camaro engine would need to be drilled for the starter holes.
im sure this question has probly been asked before, i just didnt see it when i looked around so sorry if its been posted before and just being a tard and not seeing it.

[sharkey]

the differnce from a 2.8l to a 3.1l is the crank (2.99" stroke vs 3.307" stroke), but they use the same block. a 3.4l is the same crank as a 3.1l, but has a larger bore and a different block.

the 3.4l f-body motor is pretty much a direct swap into a fiero with the exception of drilling the starter holes. with your fiero intake and the distibutor, your stock computer will run it, but its not optimal. whenever swapping anything its best to have it tuned. your best bet would be talk to some of the guys on the fiero forums, im sure someone has done a chip for a 3.4l swap, and may be willing to burn another.

[sharkey]

also, the stock crank is a good peice, never heard of one breaking. the stock rods are rated for 7000rpm, with better bolts, beam pollishing and shot peening they can take more. the only upgrade we have for rods is using small journal 327 rods and machining the big end down and using custom pistons. you can also do this with aftermarket 327 rods.

[hookdonspeed]

ty

thats good news to hear, do you know if its possible to use the 3.4block out of say a transport and use the bottomend from the camaro 3.4, and still use the heads and intake setup from the 2.8fiero? or am i just asking for trouble there? just trying to save mysself the trouble of dilling the holes.
::wonders to himself how much custom pistons would be, or maybe just have cower make the rods to order like he had done on his saturn::

[scoopy03]

also if you wanted you could swap in a 3.8 supercharged engine in it. there are a lot more noticeable gains from the 3.8 then from the 2.8 to say the 3.1 or 3.4.

[hookdonspeed]

ya, i though about that too, but something keeps scaring me away from it, probly the fact that i try and stay away with doing any wiring changes.
also i was trying to keep the stock look, kinda a sleeper aproach, but that will probly be given away once i change the cam and exhaust. any recomendations on who to have burn a chip when it comes that time? my last fiero i just used a hypretech chip, seemed to do the job. (altho it was still the 2.

...how i miss it.

[ForcedFirebird]

also, the stock crank is a good peice, never heard of one breaking. the stock rods are rated for 7000rpm, with better bolts, beam pollishing and shot peening they can take more. the only upgrade we have for rods is using small journal 327 rods and machining the big end down and using custom pistons. you can also do this with aftermarket 327 rods.

Why do you need to use custom pistons? Aren't the SBC small journal rods 5.7"? Or is it the wrist pin size?

[sharkey]

the 327 uses larger wrist pins. the other option would be to have the rods bushed, but at the point you need to upgrade rods you either want to run higher compression and rev the hell out of the motor, or run lower compression forged pistons for boost.

you could use a gen 3 3.4l block from a fwd and use the crank, rods (can use either fwd or rwd stuff with those 2) and pistons from a rwd 3.4l. the iron heads, intake, ect will bolt on. you could also take advantage of the hydralic roller cam these blocks use, although there is very little aftermarket for them.

drilling the starter holes is easy, look around the fiero store web sites for the jig, it makes drilling them very easy.

[hookdonspeed]

actualy i was thinking about keeping the compression around 9.5:1 and running 12-20lbs of boost, with an O-ringed block, or is that something thats probly not possible on these engines?

[ForcedFirebird]

actualy i was thinking about keeping the compression around 9.5:1 and running 12-20lbs of boost, with an O-ringed block, or is that something thats probly not possible on these engines?

I've seen it without o rings. Hope you have a good tune . Keep us informed, I love boost.

[hookdonspeed]

ive been looking at the mega-squirt 2's, they seem like they can do whats needed, would probly have to switch to DIS to get the proper timing control it seems (from what ive read so far) i did some reading up on the haltech, but it seems thats overpriced and hard to configure. (read some horror storys on cold days not being able to get the cars to even start) i supose now all i have to do is find time to actualy get this done lol.

[sharkey]

megasquirt will run a distributor just fine. ive been running my ms2 on my ironhead 2.8l with the hei distributor for 8 months now with no issues at all.

[hookdonspeed]

good stuff to hear...
now the only question, is anyone wana work my normal job for me so i can work on the car? :P