2.8l conversion

[luvmann1980]

hello all,
I recently purchased a 2.8l chevy v6 to put into my Chevy LUV. I have run into a problem. The motor is set up for front wheel drive (fwd) and my truck is rear wheel drive (rwd). Is it possible to convert the engine from fwd to rwd? obviously the tranny needs to be canged but the hoses for the radiator ,after turning the engine, end up it the back. It all appears to come of the intake manifold. can i get a new intake manifold that puts the hoses to the front? Does anyone make those? Is there anything else that needs to be converted? please help im at a loss at this point.

thnx,
anthony

[pepsi_coke]

I know this isnt really helpful .. but why did you buy a FWD 2.8L ? Why not a Camaro or S10 or somethin that was setup for RWD?

[Scott_68B]

Yes, it is possible to change it to rear wheel drive. You can turn the intake manifold around so the throttle body points to the front of the vehicle but you'll have to convert to a RWD timing cover and water pump. You will probably have to fabricate some motor/transmission mounts for your particular application. There will likely be a long list of other things you will need to consider as well.

HTH

-- Scott

[geoffinbc]

There is only 1 RWD bellhousing that will allow you to use a driver side starter. I dont know what year it was from but im certian it was on a Camaro. If you cannot find that you will have to drill and tap for a starter on the other side if there is enough meat.

What year is this motor it will help in figuring out and intake solution.

[sharkey]

you may bet better off selling your 2.8l and looking for a rwd motor. with the fwd motor you will need to make custom mounts, find the ilusive bellhousing mentioned above (if your going with an auto, i dont think there ever was an auto with drivers side starter except for the 4l30e in the izusu trooper) or redrill your starter to the other side of the block. you will need to turn the upper plenum around, but then your throttle body will run into the power steering pump, so custom brackets will need to be made for that.

now if you were to get a 2.8l from a rwd aplication, the mounts would line up, any bellhousing for thats small gm pattern would fit, and you dont need to worry about anything with the intake. there are also some other options when you get into the rwd motors. you can either run throttle body injection (from a truck) or multiport injection (from a camaro). if you wanted to, you could get a 3.4l from a 93-95 camaro and it has sfi injection on it. the best thing would be to grab that motor, trans, wiring and ecm all from the same car.

[firechiken]

The trooper tranny won't help you unless your running 4wd. I think all Troopers were 4x4.

[sharkey]

yea as well as it being a 4l30e. this tranny is completly electronicly controlled and never was used in an actual gm vehicle. it is commenly used in bmw's, isuzus, and even lexus uses them. they are not a great tranny if you are looking for performance and an easy swap.

[Scott_68B]

FYI,

The bellhousing being referred to is from a mid 80's Camaro/Firebird. I got mine from an 86 Firebird 2.8 v6, probably not that rare.

Sharkey, are you sure there are stock motor mounts for a RWD version that will work for this application?

The FWD motor will take more work but it is very doable.

-- Scott

[firechiken]

^^ Chevy Luv is an Isuzu Pup, so it shouldn't be problem.

[luvmann1980]

the engine is a 1983 chevy v6. It will be going into a 4x4 chevy luv. is the trooper tranny electric? will i need to redrill the starter for the trooper tranny? will the trooper tranny hook up to the stock driveshaft? and will it hook up to the stock rearend it is an isuzu 10 bolt. oh and the truck is manual and id like to keep it that way.

sorry i did not specify in the first post.

i have been checkin this every day. but my computer does not like to log in. oh well.

thank you for all your posts thus far hopefully this will help you a lil more.

[Scott_68B]

You have an iron head engine. Disregard everything I've posted above, I made the incorrect assumption that you had a later aluminum head FI engine...sorry.

-- Scott

[Guest]

Even being a FWD iron head 2.8, the same still appies, as far as starter and engine mount issues are concerned. The intake you have will most likely not be easy to use for the RWD, but then again, it is carb, so it may not be that bad. I would still reccomend using a RWD intake, so that the T-stat housing and upper rad hose connection are at the front of the engine, for ease of install.

[luvmann1980]

will i still need to redrill the starter with a trooper tranny?

[geoffinbc]

No a trooper 5 speed will have the starter pocket on the correct side. Use it if you can find it.

[firechiken]

You could use a 5 speed from a trooper, a rodeo , or a pup as long as it was from a 660. The isuzus had the starter mounted on the same side as the FWD cars. I don't know for sure, but I think the bosses are there on the FWD blocks to drill and tap for the RWD motor mounts, so you wouldn't have to fab any sort of special mounts. I don't think this will be too difficult to do.