98 3100 to 95 3100 checklist

[95camaroinok]

Bought a 98 Malibu that broke the cam for pretty decent price. Got a 95 3100 sfi engine and trans for $125 garanteed. Its out of a Skylark if that makes any difference. Just want somebody to go over what i've done so far and point out anything else I may have missed. Long time lurker, finally decided to sign up. Been on CZ28 and other f-body websites for years.

Changing upper intake/egr, fuel rail and probably injectors, front accy brackets, idler pullies, using 98 starter, using 98 coolant tube assembly, got a heater hose fitting for the threaded intake hole, leaving exhaust manifolds on the 95 motor if I can, The front was the same part number from what I could tell, but the back was different, my crossover pipe goes right on the 95, its pipe was missing. I know I need to swap O2 sensor on the rear manifold(IF I can use the 95 manifold)

As far as I can tell the 95 has one coolant sensor on the head that wont be used, and i have to change the other one. Knock sensor, is the hole the same size for both engines? Im also using the icm and coils from the 98, even tho I think they are identical. Looks like my a/c comp will bolt up too. Engine will be out tomorrow and the part swapping will hopefully begin. just wanted to know if I missed anything so I dont have to make the 15 mile drive to the parts store in the middle of it. Also already bought most of the smaller problematic hoses.

Also planning to change the lower intake gaskets soon to prevent the leak, If I had the extra $$ right now Id just do it now while its all right there but I dont. Hope to do a top swap when I do that as well. Have been reading everything I can find on this site about the two engines but most of what I've seen is going the other way lol.

[bszopi]

Sounds like you have about everything covered. They are bascially identical engines, so if you just use most of the 98 parts, you will be fine. Only thing I can think of on the rear manifold is placement of the downpipe. Some were centered while others were offset That will determine if you can use the 95 one or have to swap over to the 98 one.

Welcome to the site!

[95camaroinok]

Cool, thanks for the reply. I hope to soon be contributing to the info here. I've got a lot of time under the hood with my 3.4 lol. Maybe I can help somebody later on. If I run into anything else on this swap I'll be back here for help. Thanks again Brad.

[95camaroinok]

Ok, havnt had time to work on the car much and had to wait on my check to get more parts. swapped just about everything over from the 98 motor, but ran into one more difference. The timing cover will need to be swapped too as the 98 has one idler pulley that the 95 doesnt have a boss for the bolt. Other than that seemed like everything else lined right up. Guess Im going to go ahead and put a new water pump on while Im right there. Check the timing chain/gears too. (have read on here that these engines really dont wear them too bad) Really dont have the extra $ this week for them with bills, but if they show much wear or stretch then It'll get them....

I hate doing budget builds, My usual engine swaps get all new sensors, gaskets wether they need it or not, timing set, etc. I like to try to be ahead of the game, It does have brand new plugs and wires, new thermostat, and of course fluids though. All the sensors that needed to be swapped went right in, I had someone bring up the smog legal swap to older engine thing on another board and tried telling me the sensors would not work.... anyway.

So far I have about $750 into the whole thing, including the car, new engine and parts/gaskets that I've bought so I guess thats not bad. I sold the twin cam and trans from the wrecked 99 for that so I cant complain yet. Thanks for the advice and for everyone thats posted with information on this site, I spent a lot of time searching threads before I made my post. I will try to keep this thread updated for future reference for anybody else looking to do this swap.

Forgot to mention the rear exhaust manifold ended up getting swapped since the o2 sensor didnt want to come out and egr pipe didnt want to budge. the manifold to head bolts came right out of both motors though. Looked like it woulda bolted up to the exhaust fine but there were some minor differences.

[95camaroinok]

Finally got some time and above 10 degree weather to work on it some more, ran into a slight problem. The timing chain is a little loose, I just cant put it back together and feel ok about it. Problem is, the 95 cam gear is specified to torque to 74 ft/lbs, where the 98 is 103 ft/lbs. Is the 103 a revised torque spec or should I stick with the 95. The cams are the same part number, as are the timing sets. Which one should I go with? Also noticed this site says in the specs that it is 81 ft/lbs. Is this 95 still considered an l82?

[95camaroinok]

Engines in, wont start. Cranks and every once in a while hits once or twice. Fuel pump is working, firing order is right, everything is plugged in, grounds are on, tried waiting 10 minutes with key on to see if the theft module fritzed out. Dont know where to look from here other than rechecking all wires/plugs tomorrow. Any Ideas? Only sensors not from the 98 are the crank sensor on the side of the block and the cam sensor.

I just dont get it, I took my time so I wouldnt miss anything, and the engine with the busted cam would start fairly easy with very slight throttle persuasion, but really didnt have a problem starting.

Im going to check all the connections, maybe swap the ign module/coils, if it comes down to it, swap fuel tanks from the wrecked car, that fuel pump is only bout 6 months old. Any other ideas? I need this thing goin.

[95camaroinok]

Damn haynes manual got me. I bet thats posted on here about a hundred times too. Found the right diagram and she runs great. Have one code, p0172. Time to start searchin for that, but otherwise running pretty. Thanks again.

[bszopi]

Glad you figured it out so far. Keep us updated!