Considering a head swap, suggestions?

[ForcedFirebird]

Guys on the f-body site have gone .030" over but say that's it, that's as far as anybody dared. I can work the iron heads and keep the stock MIM and LIM. As far as the plenum, I'm getting one of boostedrs' UIM/plenum because I am getting the flanges CNC for him and getting a good deal.
Will the 3400 heads work with the LIM from my 3.1?
http://60degreev6.com/showthread.php?t=35562

[Superdave]

nope, the iron head stuff and aluminium head stuff are totally different.

that plenum may work on a FWD 3.1 LIM but the ports are still small.. and i'm pretty sure that the 3.1 LIM won't port match to the 3400 heads.

[Guest]

No, the 3400 heads require the 3400 LIM, at least. Or a completly custom intake manifold.

You'll only be limiting yourself, the most I've seen out of a iron head was well, there's two, TWO that are exceptopns to teh rule and they are both turbocharged, high;ly built turbo examples.

There's a 3.4 in a 4th gen F-body, I can re,member the guys name, but he had highley ported heads, intake, large cam, custom pistons, etc at something like 18 PSIG, made just under 400 HP and over 400 ft/lbs of torque, the other is Curtis Walker's Z42 (no longer in teh car), that made almost as much at a slightly lower PSIG of around 8 to 10 PSIG IIRC, but had even more into the build,parts and time, than the F-body, was capable of runing much higher boost pressures, but thechassis just could not handle it.

Now compare that to stock or nearly stock 3400s running somewhere between 10 and 12 PSIG and making 350+ HP.

Even if your goals are not that high, the more eficiant breathing and better combustion chambers will yeild a much nicer driving and much more effciant engine overall using the genIII top end on your genI bottom end, with the change in pistons. Currently I'm running a stock replacment hypereutectic piston in my boosted hybrid and the pistons looked just fine when I removed the heads after two years and MANY miles of abuse, so you don't need to spend a LOT on pistons to make a combination work.

My nubers were lower than they should have been on the dyno, due to a lean AFR and intake tubing tahtw was too small, along with a turbo that was on the small side, but my torque numbers were good,

Take this oprotunity to build something that you'll enjoy and be able to use day in day out, with a little bit of "ooooo" factor when you popo your hood, even in N/A form.

Just imagine taking a 3400 top end and porting it. Starting with something that usually outflows a ported iron head and making it flow even better.

[ForcedFirebird]

There's a 3.4 in a 4th gen F-body, I can re,member the guys name, but he had highley ported heads, intake, large cam, custom pistons, etc at something like 18 PSIG, made just under 400 HP and over 400 ft/lbs of torque

Boostedrs has gotten over 400RWHP on a 3.1 in a 3rd gen Camaro and he got deep into the 12's with a stock converter and 9" slicks with a 4:11 rear end.

Currently I'm running a stock replacment hypereutectic piston in my boosted hybrid and the pistons looked just fine when I removed the heads after two years and MANY miles of abuse, so you don't need to spend a LOT on pistons to make a combination work.

I agree with good tuning I have seen 30PSIG in a Reliant K-car with stock pistons (should have seen what happened to them after installing a more efficient intercooler, crumpled tinfoil,lol). I got these Keith Black custom turned pistons for $120 (same price as the hypers). As far as the manifolds, the stock upper on the gen1 is the restrictive part that is going away on the current motor anyways.
After more research there are people running higher SCR and lower boost, so the new motor might still get some AL heads. If I have to I can run a mix of race and high test. This car is not my daily driver, it's a project that I can take out for a drive and to the track(I've got four other vehicles). I almost grabbed a V8 for it right after I got it, and decided to see what I can get out of the 6er (so far already spent 1/2 the price of the V8 haha).
How much comp should I expect with the 3400 heads and RWD pistons (or just the size of the chambers and I'll figure it out)?

But remember, he can't use the 3500 top end. the combustion chambers are too wide for the 3.1 bore.

Even .030 over?

[Superdave]

like .080 over or so.. lol

the 3500's bore is .2 larger than the 3.1.. the 3500's combustion chambers barrely fit the 3400.

[Guest]

I haven't seen any dyno numbers from boostedrs on here or TGO, if there point me a link. Tiago (that was who I was trying to think of), has proven dynos numbers a few times over, along with a vid, that I lost from when my laptop crashed.

[ForcedFirebird]

I haven't seen any dyno numbers from boostedrs on here or TGO, if there point me a link. Tiago (that was who I was trying to think of), has proven dynos numbers a few times over, along with a vid, that I lost from when my laptop crashed.

I thought I saw his numbers somewhere, but I guess it was only in his sig. I've seen videos of 4th gen V6's making 400 but with the 3.8
What kind of times was Tiago getting in the 1/4?

[ForcedFirebird]

I haven't seen any dyno numbers from boostedrs on here or TGO, if there point me a link. Tiago (that was who I was trying to think of), has proven dynos numbers a few times over, along with a vid, that I lost from when my laptop crashed.

I thought I knew who you were! I found some old threads from Tiago on cv6/fbv6, amoung a few others that could pull the wheels off the ground N/A with sub-15's in the 60*. This is my first v6 project and think I'm going to have some fun. Ordering MegaSquirt this week, and the cam should be here by Fri. Six_Shooter, you have that 3.2 dynoed at how much? And YOU were the one who mentioned the high SCR is good with boost . I just want to be able to get by on 93 octane pump gas or up to a 50-50 race/pump mix(probably just for the track with the boost turned up).

[SappySE107]

At .040 on a 3400 block, I measured 12.4:1 using 3500 heads with work and stainless valves (31.7cc vs 32.4 stock 3500). Stock 3400 heads are 28.x cc but ported how I would do them for boost, they would be roughly 29cc with stainless valves. I mention the valves because they increase compression over stock valves. The 3400 top end has the most flow potential using available gaskets/parts but you need the 3500 plenum to pull it all off. To do that with a 3400 upper would require a lot of porting but I am not sure if you can fit a 3500 plenum (without lowering the engine).

Stock 3400 heads with camaro 3.4 pistons should give you 11:1+ compression. Depending on the boost level, I think that could be very interesting.

I would def do a head swap.

[ForcedFirebird]

When the pistons get here, I'm curios to see if they also could be machined to help lower compression a bit.
The short block in the car now is in great shape, so the piston/head combo is staying with the exception of P&P along with one of boostedrs's UIM and one of the 75mm TB's from ryan hess. Also just ordered a mild reground turbo cam (.440/.440 212/212 @ .050 112 LSA Adv Dur of 260) that will be going in soon.

Stock 3400 heads with camaro 3.4 pistons should give you 11:1+ compression. Depending on the boost level, I think that could be very interesting.

What about 3400 heads on a .030 3.1 with RWD pistons? The motor in the car now is staying iron headed, but I'm looking for a good block to work over to do a swap later.

To do that with a 3400 upper would require a lot of porting but I am not sure if you can fit a 3500 plenum (without lowering the engine).

I'll have to see how much room there is under the hood with the stock engine in there. I'm also going to have to figure out a way to keep the dizzy. boostedrs was able to mod the dizzy to work, but he has a cowl hood that gave him extra clearance. Maybe in the future I could end up going with a cowl, but kind of want the car to be in "stealth mode " (not to mention the 4th gen t/a hood I like is over $800).
Does anybody know if the gen1 3.1 can be modded for a DIS (I've heard the 3.4 has provisions)? And are there advantages over a dizzy?

[Guest]

The genI 3.1 has a dizzy, in fact the genI 3.1 is pretty much a carry over of parts and design, juts like the genII 3.1 is a so similar to the genII 2.8.

Once I get a bit more time, I'm going to be modifying a dizzy to clear the genII intake and fit under the hood, well under the cowl actually. My trucks dizzy is under the cowl area, or at least partially under that area.

My initial dyno numbers are in my sig. The numbers will be MUCH higher when it comes back out, there were some issues with tuning back then, and wome other things I learned from that build that will be changed to increase numbers somewhat easily.

[ForcedFirebird]

Sorry, what I meant is can I go with a distributorless to eliminate the problems with dizzy clearance.

[Guest]

Sorry, what I meant is can I go with a distributorless to eliminate the problems with dizzy clearance.

Yep, I did.

Custom external crank trigger FTW!

[ForcedFirebird]

Yep, I did.

Custom external crank trigger FTW!

Could you enlighten me? Did YOU make the trigger, or adapt one from something else?

[ForcedFirebird]

Actually had the front of a 4th gen Camaro apart today. It looks to me like using the 3.4 gen timing cover, you could have used the pick-up sensor. Just don't know if the gen1 3.1 crank needs provisions for the wheel.