98 Cutlass 3.1 to 3.4 swap.

[Mercurysoundz]

Hello, I have a 98 Oldsmobile cutlass with a 3.1 and a cracked block. I was looking around to find a replacement engine for it, and the direct drop in engines are from another 98-99 cutlass or malibu. Those engines being rare are getting pricey and I am building this car to be a dependable driver for my almost 16 year old daughter. I know that 3.4 engines can be swapped with changing intakes and possibly exhaust. I was told a 2001 3.4 would work with intake and exhaust swaps, could I use a newer 3.4 like from a 2003 grandam and just swap the intake and exhaust too? I know the swap from the vin M engine to the Vin J would work, how about using a vin E engine? I can find those very cheap. I can't see any major differences, just wasn't sure if there was something I didn't know. Thanks for your help.

[Guest]

There's no need to swap the intake, in fact you'd likely be making things worse by doing so, due to some slight differences in the intake port shape and position. The EGR might cause a slight issue, but using the later EGR should be electrically compatible.

The exhaust manifolds likely do need to be swapped, due to chassis fitment, not really engine differences.

The other thing that comes up as usually swapped is the cam sensor, but I don't recall the details on what years crossing need to swap the cam sensor.

There\s an '05 3400 that would be difficult to swap, and that would be from the Rendevous. The crank trigger is very different than the early crank trigger.

[caffeine]

According to Alldata the Rendezvous crank trigger is the same as the older motors; it's just the Chinese-made Equinox and equivalents that have the newer 24x? triggers, still different from the LZx series triggers.

[Guest]

According to Alldata the Rendezvous crank trigger is the same as the older motors; it's just the Chinese-made Equinox and equivalents that have the newer 24x? triggers, still different from the LZx series triggers.

Yes, I think you're right, it was the Equinox I was thinking of. They are not Chinese made they are (or were) assembled a couple hours from me, both the engines and the vehicles.