'93 3.1 into a '86 2.8?

[Aurora By Olds]

Ok, so I decided to do an engine swap for my buddy. I have a '93 3.1 out of a lumina, and he has a '86 celebrity.
He had told me that it ws TBI, serpintine belt, so it wasnt as big of a deal, but I come to find out that its all v-belt with a good ole 2bbl carb.
So, I have the choice of either making the 3.1 carbed, or converting the celeb to MPFI.
The problem, is I dont know If I can use the intake, front cover, water pump, etc from the 2.8 carbed to fit the 3.1

The other factor, is I could make it 3.1L MPFI, BUT, I would have to swap the PCM and harness, and I dont know exactly how difficult it would be to splice a PCM into this vehicle. On top of that, they desperatly want to save the AC (it still works), which cannot be mounted to a 3.1, and does not have a serp belt pulley.

SO, what I would really like for you all to tell me, is that I can use the 3.1 block and swap everything onto it from the ancient 2.8, including the intake, front cover, water pump, and mounts.
Thanks for your input.

[geoffinbc]

Yes the carb stuff will swap over fine. But the thing is the iron heads must swap too. Which really sucks because they were the small valve heads. I would really like to see the MPFI swap into the car. It would not be hard you just need to mount the ECM and run the wires and make some splices for power and the guages (which may also need some chaging) overall it would be a very nice final result. Be sure to have manuals for both cars on hand.

[Aurora By Olds]

Yes the carb stuff will swap over fine. But the thing is the iron heads must swap too. Which really sucks because they were the small valve heads. I would really like to see the MPFI swap into the car. It would not be hard you just need to mount the ECM and run the wires and make some splices for power and the guages (which may also need some chaging) overall it would be a very nice final result. Be sure to have manuals for both cars on hand.

Ah, yes, found that out tonight as I decided to rip the intake off and try it.
Im a bit nervous of swapping the 2.8 heads onto the 3.1, as who knows what kind of condition they are in.
But if I decide that route, I will just have to check them out.

The MPFI swap did sound like a good idea, until I realized one thing - Since it is not TBI like I once thought, there is no fuel pump pushing 30+ psi for the FI to work properly.
That's going to be the hard part.
The guages are all dummy lights, and I dont really care if any of them work.
The Speedo is mechanical, which would end up throwing a code with the newer PCM, but shouldnt cause any major problems.
For what its worth, I think I will just make it a cheapo job and check into putting the iron heads on the 3.1
Thanks for your help.

[geoffinbc]

Well then see if you can scrounge up iron heads from an 86 or later vehicle. Then you will get the big valves.

[Aurora By Olds]

Ok, so I'm probably just going to give up on this idea.
Its becoming more and more of a PITA every step of the way.
I already have the gasket set for the 3.1, so I will probably just throw that together, and toss it into a skylark I have laying around.
As for the Celeb, a used engine is out of the question, as they are basically extinct up here, so I might look into tossing a rebuild kit into the 2.8 and getting it out of the way for my other 2 or 3 vehicles awaiting engines.