Questions for my motor swap

[nfswift]

Time to get the Fiero back on the road with a shotgunned engine swap

Trying to find as direct a swap as possible from the 2.8 stocker to anything I can bolt my intake mani onto.

Sources on the net have been very hazy, maybe I'm not reading the right parts of the family tree or the wikis on 60*s but were the 3.1L ever iron heads? The LHO/3.1 to be specific? Local sources have not turned up ANY 2.8s and even only a handful of 3.1s that appear to be the LHO rather than the L82/3100(crazy eh..) I thought the 3.1 and the 3100 were totally different engines? I've had one guy tell me outright he's NEVER seen an iron head 3.1L in years of wrecking.

I'm hoping I can go grab an LHO out of an 88-93 FWD car (early 90s corsica cavalier lumina sunbird?)throw my intake on and be done with it? I know the flywheel will be needed because my '86 fly will be weighted instead of neutrally balanced, but aside from this any FWD MPFI motor should be as DIRECT as a swap gets? The LX9 will have to wait, the car can no longer be in storage the way it is...

[robertisaar]

never seen an iron head 3.1? obviously never seen a Lumina APV(and every other U-Van) either... those had them or as an option a 3.8...

i would ditch the intake it has now, it sucks, but not in a good way.

as far as what will bolt in easily........ i would say you have quite a few options, but unless you want a headache, stay away from the DOHC motors, they are BIG...

and LH0 implies that the motor is an aluminum head Gen 2 3.1 with MPFI.

[nfswift]

This has to be done on the double, that's the only reason my 3500 is being postponed more than it's been already. I just need a very direct very cheap swap to get the car driveable and in stock form.

I'm not worried about how much my intake sucks, believe me, I know.

Crap, I'm just going by the wiki article and it never specified which heads the LHO had and they have VERY little about the LG6 iron head motor, I assumed the LHO was the iron head because it was a 3.1L and never said stated straight across that the LHO had aluminum heads, the LG6/iron head article doesn't even specify a displacement so I ignored it.

LG6-TBI, 120HP out of a 3.1L, in Corsicas and vans? Good god thats sure a tough pill to swallow just to get the car cruising again. I hope FFS that the Fiero intake mani will help it breathe a bit better and make more HP than a stock 2.8L like logic says a 3.1L should, if there is any god it has the HO iron heads from Fiero 2.8s and f-body 3.4s.
Ai, the things I do to make my Fiero go.

[bszopi]

All iron heads from 86 on are the HO heads. Lumina van would probably be your best bet, IIRC.

[nfswift]

Well it's down to two choices

$400 for a 225k 3.1L out of an APV with 170 comp across the boards and 30PSI oil pressure at a hot idle

or

$6-700 for a 2.8L out of a Jimmy with 14k on a full rebuild with a comp cam and springs in a box as extras.

The Jimmy motor I think is carbed, this worries me, weren't some older 2.8s much much worse than others? Something about the journals and oiling?

Tough call here.

[robertisaar]

i can't believe you would pay 400 for a tbi 3.1 with 225K miles...

[nfswift]

Wreckers here are a completely different breed dude.

You couldn't find a low k runner 3400-3500 etc etc for less than $1000 dollars.

The only other 3.1L that flagged in local wreckers here was some POS with 140ish comp across and they wanted EIGHT HUNDRED NINETY for it.

[nfswift]

And 225KM is only 139k miles

[robertisaar]

wow, i don't know what they're smoking up there, but i can get ahold of 50K mile 3400s for around 500.

and you didn't make any indication of being in Kms. so its a little more liveable.

[nfswift]

The sheer amount of salvage where I live is just smaller.

A 50k mile 3500 up here you would be lucky if you walked out the door 900 dollars shorter.

That POS 3.1L made me laugh. Still don't WANT to pay 400 for a moto with over 200k KMs on it but with 160+ comp across and good oil pressure it's a quick swap, wont even have to re-drill the starter to the other side, throw my intake on with some fresh gaskets, new water pump, new timing set and just go.

Still the 2.8L with a full rebuild sounds like a good way to go too, but I don't think I can justify spending more than I absolutley have to to get it running... that other money could go to the last parts for my LX9

[hookdonspeed]

if your looking to re-use the fiero intake system *ick* get a 3.4l from like a 94 camaro/firebird, and get rodney dickmans starter jig to re-drill the starter holes on the right side, other then that then engines are almsot the exact same...

lots of writeups on it on fiero.nl

[nfswift]

Lol I've mentioned twice that I have a 3500 sitting beside the Fiero right now, it's simply not a quick swap to do compared to an iron head and I need the car running like yesterday.

It's just about having a driveable Fiero for the summer and getting it out of storage, giving the 3500 another year means I could probably have a turbo ready to make things extra ridiculous. Why would I waste time and money modding an iron head when the 3500 is getting closer and closer to being a reality?

From what I've gathered he 3.1L will be a direct swap, just need to swap intake and exhaust manis and get the newer flywheel on there and go? I heard some stuff about 88+ differences in sensors but I guess I'll have to deal with that when it comes up...

[hookdonspeed]

the camaro/firebird 3.4 is the same as the 3.1 with 1 difference, the starter location, its as simple as drilling/taping 2 holes, takes about 15min to do, the rest is just swapover to the new block and your good to go, even the heads on the Fbody 3.4 are the same as the fiero 2.8, saxman did his 3.4 swap in his formula in a weekend.

as for the 3500, im doing my swap right now, it will be 3-weekend swap with the wiring and exhaust and all, im still getting everything ima need together.

[ssdurango]

Put you 3500, bottom end in and throw the fireo heads and intake on. haha just kidding. I think the compression would be out of whack.

[nfswift]

Oh yeah, I know the 3.4 is just a bored 3.1L but it's about availability.

2.8 = impossible to find

3.1 = hard to find with iron heads but easier to find LHO and 3100

3.4L = damn near impossible to find too

So I'm stuck with what's available and whats cheap. It's just so I can drive my car, I've had it since I was 18 I'm tired of it being on stands.

The 3500 will be like coming out of the stone age, but I've gotta replumb fuel, add a crank sensor, install my TCE wheel, find 3400 coil packs, weld the throttle body linkage (using stock 3500 will work I'm sure), repin the harness to work with a 7730, weld my Innovate wideband into an exhaust, and probably tune it from there with a romulator so it's just a TAD more effort to get that project finished up...