top end swap for f-body

[stormwolf1972]

ok i know most of you guys are FWD guys but i thought i'd ask here too....i am going to do the top end swap on my 94 3.4 firebird. i know to use the top end off a 2000 up 3400 ( cant find a 3500 here in mississippi...yet). now i have found an msd unit that will raise the fuel pressure from the pump and another msn product to adjust the timing a little.....tuning is non existant as you all know but i think these will work. i am also planning to use a jet module stage 2 i think....no emission testing here . with all the front a arms and the crossmembers replaced with tubular units and a one piece aluminum driveshaft i think i can get 200 HP at the rear wheel. i am using all the other mods( cai headers exhaust and cam) . does anyone have anything they can think of i need to watch out for? any advice will be very welcome

[camaroguy]

$1000 for a 3500 from http://www.okautoparts.net/

[SappySE107]

You will need tuning. There is nothing from MSD to retard your timing enough all the way around using a computer tuned for iron heads. Get a megasquirt or some other tunable solution. Jet is junk, don't bother with that.

I believe the 3500 plenum won't clear your hood/firewall? You can use the 3400 plenum on 3500 heads and lower though. Depends on what you want to spend though for 3500 parts since they are still pretty expensive for stock (but they kick ass too).

What cam are you running?

[stormwolf1972]

i havent decided on the cam yet, but not much hotter than stock...i am talking to crower for the cam and possibly a new crank....i can get 3500 heads here, but for the price for one i can get an entire core motor for a 3400. all the parts i need in one place for a great price...i actually have 2 of these cars. if the 3400 swap works well on this one i will do the 3500 swap on the other one...just shooting for about 200 hp rear wheel. i know this thing will do it

[stormwolf1972]

oh and russel..the only guy i know of to complete this on an f-body showed a 40 hp increase WITHOUT any tuning.....bigger injectors and minor timing adjustments should be all i need...i am not going turbo like he did

[SappySE107]

He didnt turbo and he has a issues due to no tuning. That is why I highly recommend tuning. If you do larger injectors its just going to be more fucked up with the stock ECM.

The fuel pump isn't going to increase line pressure. It will just allow you to raise it with an adjustable fuel pressure regulator.

[sharkey]

i would deffinitly look into a megasquirt or another aftermarket ecu. you need to be able to tune. with no emmisions testing, you are free to do anything you want, so an aftermarket ecu is perfect.

[stormwolf1972]

ok so what is the easiest aftermarket ecm to use.....i have already looked into a fast setup...too pricey....i dont want to lose my gauges and i have an auto trans....any advice?

[sharkey]

ok that complicates things a little bit. you need to run an aftermarket ecu as a piggy back so you dont lose gauges or auto trans function.

i would use a megasquirt. its far from the easyest, but it is the cheapest. to run it as a piggy back you need to add a second IAT and coolant sensor for the megasquirt, as the stock ecm will need to use its own pair of sensors. basicly you will take the injector, ignition and iac functions from the stock ecm and run them off the megasquirt, and that will leave the transmission and gauges to the stock ecm.

[stormwolf1972]

ok i am trying to avoid a megasquirt...lol....this car is going to be a daily driver...i am not trying to tune every last bit of performance out of this one....just want to be able to count on it every day......the other 3.4 bird is going to be my plaything....any advice for other piggyback systems?

[sharkey]

i have had a megasquirt in my car for almost 2 months now and i drive 75km (60 miles) every day, no issues at all. many people have daily driven their megasquirted cars for years without issues. a lot of people think because its cheap, its garbage, but thats not true. it uses high quality stuff, the reason its cheap is because its an open source user based setup.

[stormwolf1972]

ok so how do you get the ms initially tuned?....is there somewhere we can download something to get it started...i tried reading the ms website some and got really confused really fast...lol...not a newb or anything i have rebuilt a few cars before and even a few computers...but never tried tuning a car before

[SappySE107]

Id doesn't matter if you want to tune every last hp out of it or you just want it to run right. You need a programmable setup. Megasquirt is an option. So is haltec or TEC-3 or any other more expensive setup. You could convert to the obd1 3.1 computer used in a w body or other FWD setup, and program from there. Is your transmission electronically controlled?

[sharkey]

its a 94 so im 99% sure it will be a 4l60e, fully electronic.

[stormwolf1972]

yep electronic.but my dad has the 700r4...which is the same thing as the 4l60-non electronic...came out of a vette...i could always use that...is the old 3.1 easier to tune?