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Hello All,
As this is my first post, I'll give you all some background on me, hopefully make this process a little easier. I've got a good background in mechanics, my father was a big-time chassis guy in the 70's and I've been wrenching with him since I could hold the wrench. I've done a few projects completely on my own and learned my limits the hard way. I've worked on small block chevy's from 283s through LS7s and I've helped a buddy with a twin turbo 3800 F-body pretty recently. I've never actually dug into my 3400 for anything beyond oil changes, a replacement air filter and plugs. I did rip a 2.8L out of an S10 a few years ago but didn't work on it, at all, sold it and dropped in a 302SBC.
This leads us into my next project. I bought brand new a 2005 impala with a 3400 a few years ago for my daily beater after an accident at the track decided I can't drive stick anymore. I've had it for more than three years now, completely stock, put about 54K miles on it with synthetic oil changes ever 3-4K, a K&N drop in filter at about 45K and E3 plugs at 50K. It drives great, and has more power than I expected from a 3.4L V6, but more is never enough.
I've been reading on this and other forums for quite some time now and have begun playing with head/cam changes on my dyno simulator and have pretty well settled on doing a 3500 top swap with a ported 3500LIM and a ported 3400UIM, pacesetter headers(there aren't any other drop-ins and I don't want to take the time to fabricate my own) with a single 3" steel core cat(have to have emissions) and a ZZP cat-back w/o resonator, not sure on mufflers yet. I've managed to find stock 3500 flow numbers, thanks to this site, but nothing on either the MMS or WOT ported heads. I'd like to be able to compare the power gains and the efficiency of the designs in my simulator before dropping $2K on the top end.
Besides those flow numbers I was hoping for some alternative ideas and suggestions. Like I said this will be my first 60* build-up and while I'd like to keep it pretty mild(250-270ft/lbs crank) and I'd prefer to leave the short-block stock, I'm looking forward to a solid daily driver that can get out of it's own way a little better.
Suspension and chassis mods are already under way, the standard stuff plus a little. Doing custom arms front and rear, KYB AGX struts cut and converted to coil overs all the way around, sway bars, strut tower braces, and some extra tubing the length of the chassis for some front to back stiffness. Spare tire will be sticking around but the carpet has been yanked from the trunk and the battery installed on the passenger side. I want to keep the interior comfortable and failrly quiet as this will remain my daily driver and I have to keep the extra seating in the rear. Can't seem to find much in the way of fiberglass or carbon fiber for the impala bodies so it probably won't loose much weight. Hood and trunk latches and shocks are going the way of the dinosaurs to be replaced with aluminum prop rods and pins. Door handles will be ditched and shaved for light-weight servo's (aka poppers) glass will probably be replaced with lexan. I'm going to trim weight where ever I can without changing the looks or comfort of the car. I live in AZ so the A/C is staying.
Brakes are another question I have, though probably better for a W-Body forum, I know the camaro calipers work, but I was hoping for some pictures of the install, I'd like to use an F-body bracket to mount a Wilwood Dynalite for the front and I'll fab a bracket for a two piston for the rear. I'll keep the stock rotor diameters, maybe go to 12" in the front and 11" in the back, put some aluminum alloy 18" wheels all the way around to clear the brakes and decrease sidewall a little. I don't want to go bigger as I don't think it looks right and doesn't increase performance but will notably impact ride quality.
Thanks!
As this is my first post, I'll give you all some background on me, hopefully make this process a little easier. I've got a good background in mechanics, my father was a big-time chassis guy in the 70's and I've been wrenching with him since I could hold the wrench. I've done a few projects completely on my own and learned my limits the hard way. I've worked on small block chevy's from 283s through LS7s and I've helped a buddy with a twin turbo 3800 F-body pretty recently. I've never actually dug into my 3400 for anything beyond oil changes, a replacement air filter and plugs. I did rip a 2.8L out of an S10 a few years ago but didn't work on it, at all, sold it and dropped in a 302SBC.
This leads us into my next project. I bought brand new a 2005 impala with a 3400 a few years ago for my daily beater after an accident at the track decided I can't drive stick anymore. I've had it for more than three years now, completely stock, put about 54K miles on it with synthetic oil changes ever 3-4K, a K&N drop in filter at about 45K and E3 plugs at 50K. It drives great, and has more power than I expected from a 3.4L V6, but more is never enough.
I've been reading on this and other forums for quite some time now and have begun playing with head/cam changes on my dyno simulator and have pretty well settled on doing a 3500 top swap with a ported 3500LIM and a ported 3400UIM, pacesetter headers(there aren't any other drop-ins and I don't want to take the time to fabricate my own) with a single 3" steel core cat(have to have emissions) and a ZZP cat-back w/o resonator, not sure on mufflers yet. I've managed to find stock 3500 flow numbers, thanks to this site, but nothing on either the MMS or WOT ported heads. I'd like to be able to compare the power gains and the efficiency of the designs in my simulator before dropping $2K on the top end.
Besides those flow numbers I was hoping for some alternative ideas and suggestions. Like I said this will be my first 60* build-up and while I'd like to keep it pretty mild(250-270ft/lbs crank) and I'd prefer to leave the short-block stock, I'm looking forward to a solid daily driver that can get out of it's own way a little better.
Suspension and chassis mods are already under way, the standard stuff plus a little. Doing custom arms front and rear, KYB AGX struts cut and converted to coil overs all the way around, sway bars, strut tower braces, and some extra tubing the length of the chassis for some front to back stiffness. Spare tire will be sticking around but the carpet has been yanked from the trunk and the battery installed on the passenger side. I want to keep the interior comfortable and failrly quiet as this will remain my daily driver and I have to keep the extra seating in the rear. Can't seem to find much in the way of fiberglass or carbon fiber for the impala bodies so it probably won't loose much weight. Hood and trunk latches and shocks are going the way of the dinosaurs to be replaced with aluminum prop rods and pins. Door handles will be ditched and shaved for light-weight servo's (aka poppers) glass will probably be replaced with lexan. I'm going to trim weight where ever I can without changing the looks or comfort of the car. I live in AZ so the A/C is staying.
Brakes are another question I have, though probably better for a W-Body forum, I know the camaro calipers work, but I was hoping for some pictures of the install, I'd like to use an F-body bracket to mount a Wilwood Dynalite for the front and I'll fab a bracket for a two piston for the rear. I'll keep the stock rotor diameters, maybe go to 12" in the front and 11" in the back, put some aluminum alloy 18" wheels all the way around to clear the brakes and decrease sidewall a little. I don't want to go bigger as I don't think it looks right and doesn't increase performance but will notably impact ride quality.
Thanks!
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