engine swap possibilities

[TDIXON]

hello guys just wondering i got a 92 buick skylark 2.3sohc bad head. bought a 96 buick skylark 3100 engine and tranny excellent bodyshot.is it possible to swap motor and trans to the 92 without doing majorly drastic work. iknow id have to switch wiring harness and comp but will it all hook to dashcluster or would i have to replace everything. i did do a swap on a 91 grand am that had a 2.3in it and put a 3.1 out of a 92 pontiac transport in it. but i had to change everything and splice complete dash harness. took me almost three mnths to dobut was bad a-- when done. but i dont want to have to do that to my 92 skylark because car is mint with only 79000 original on car. any input would be greatly appreciated.

[3100 MPFI]

Any time you make a jump that big, there is going to be things to overcome. Lets put it this way. I am doing an OBD2 conversion to my 1988 Cutlass Supreme right now. I am using the dash harness from a 1994 Cutlass Supreme with the 3100, and I am using the ENGINE harness from a 1996 Grand Prix 3100. Just going from 1994 top 1996, there are some differences that have to be addressed, and I am going from 3100 to 3100.

There are some issue that will need to be researched. I think the 1992 skylark was only offered with the 4 cylinder, and the buick 3300, so you need to find out if any changes were made to the SUBFRAME between the time they went from the 90 degree engine to the 60 degree engine.

As long as the subframes are the same (or the mounting points, at least), then the engine will pretty much drop right in. The later years did come with a 3100 after all.

Your biggest thing is going to be the wiring. The 1996 is OBD2, and your current engine is OBD1. The closest wiring will probably be if you use a 1994 engine harness and PCM (First year of the 3100 in the Skylark). Unless you already have the engine harness that is. If you have one already, then I would use what you have already.

You might be able to just rewire the firewall connector on the engine side so that you can do this with minimal effort, but in order to do it all the way, that will require pulling the dash. If you stay with a 1994 computer, then your chances of having to tear into the dash are minimized.

[mihela816]

You will need the subframe parts form the 96. The cars are the same body style so I wouldn't think it would be that difficult but you will have wiring to do. You will need new axles because you are going from a 3 speed auto to a 4 speed.

[TDIXON]

the engine mounts up exactly the same. i know about the wiring but needed to know about dash wiring. i dont want to have to destroy all dash wiring if i dont have to. btw subframes are exactly the same.

[3100 MPFI]

Unfortunantly, I don't have any books for the skylark, so I don't know too much about the dash wiring.

In my Cutlass Supreme, the changes to the dash wiring was pretty much minimal. The biggest changes were to the main firewall connectors (3 of them). You could probably just move around the necessary wires, but some things to watch out for is the FUSE BLOCK wiring. In my 1988 Cutlass Supreme, there were a LOT of differences that meant I spent almost a week going over three different wiring diagrams for the power system just to be sure I didn't mess anything up (I was looking at a 1988 diagram seeing that is what the car WAS, a 1994 diagram seeing that is what my new dash harness IS, and a 1996 diagram seeing that is what the ENGINE wiring is).

If you are talking about haveing to add and run wires, that will be pretty much minimal, but as for the specifics, without a book, I can only speculate.

The only thing I can recommend is that if you are really serious about this, get a couple of GM SERVICE MANUALS from EBAY (one for the year of the car, and one for the year you are wiring up the new engine to). You just have to go through the diagrams 1 by 1 to compare them. It is not as bad as it seems as long as you are patient with them.

Also, if you do get the books, and you need help with some stuff, I am willing to help out. If you can get me scanned copies of what you are comparing, I will go over them and try to tell you what needs to be done.

[TDIXON]

thanks for some of the info. have alot to decide if i want to swap motors because i know its going to be alot of work. i think ill start looking for some good wiring diagrams so i can get some ideas of the trouble i might be getting myself into befor i start it. thanks again