3.1 v6 60... parts selection

[20-inch-bike]

Hello my name is Ryan,
im new to forums but im looking for advise.
im putting a 3.1 in my sand rail, i have a 1999 or 2000 engine pulled out of a buick centry first is that an ideal block to start with? second i will be installing the edelbrook carb intake.. so the stock alum. heads iron heads will be used.. as far as that goes my compression will be lowered do to the change.. so pistons?? which ones? are the rods and cranks the same?? as far as i can tell the comp height is diff from the two designs but the rods stay the same. cams im looking for a good mid to high end cam, but remember the block i am running is roller.. which also means push rods and rockers will change.. are the rockers the same a sbc? i know i have alot of questions but i am looking for some of the best to pass some info and help.. hopefully it will screem once it starts thanks for all your time and advise..

[bszopi]

You will be dropping a significant amount of HP (30+) by going to the iron heads and intake manifold. You would be much better off hooking an ECM up and keeping the EFI setup. Much more options that way as well, as far as internal upgrades.

Welcome to the site.

[Superdave]

you could always have a carb flange welded to the top of the UIM, then seal off the throttle body neck.

but yah, stick with fuel injection and the aluminium top end if you want the best performance.

[Canyonero]

Fuel injection is arguably better for off-road applications anyway.The wiring isn't THAT hard to learn.

[20-inch-bike]

i thank you all for your help so far, however no one is addressing the real question.. my motor will end up being carburated.. and i realize ill loose some power putting cast heads on... there different pistons my issue is im not sure if there is a piston made to bring my compression back up and regain the lost power... so on the line of engine internals as far as roller cams and valves and head who has expirance building these motors up from the inside out??

[20-inch-bike]

i am also looking into maybe getting a core 3.4 and building that...

[Canyonero]

I THINK you could install the standard iron head pistons in a 3400 block. And I'd assume you would need custom pushrod lengths. Most people swap the other way, so I don't know (alum heads on iron head blocks).

[20-inch-bike]

The swap is possible early model 3.4's came with cast heads

[Canyonero]

I know it's possible, I have a cast 3.4L in my truck. But if I would have known better at the time, I would have used a 3400. In fact, I'm researching a 3400 swap for my friends truck in another thread.

I had a spare set of 3.4 pistons, but I traded them off to another member for his 3400 pistons. I can't help you there. Can buy them new I'm sure.

[20-inch-bike]

you can and the blocks are different from 2.8/3.1 to 3.4... but whats so good about the 3400??

[bszopi]

http://60degreev6.com/content/60%C2%BAV6_Family_Tree

Scroll down to 1993 and start reading from there. I'm heading out the door, so I can't really expand on anything else at the moment...

[20-inch-bike]

Thanks... i also wanna say im getting alot of help from a company called ARI... @ engine-parts.com
the 2.8/3.1 i found out is being used back east in mini sprints for dirt track racing

[Superdave]

I won't comment on ARI but for the original engine you posted about, to use the iron heads you'll want to simply get the pistons out of a 3.1 Camaro, or order a set for one. they'll be nearly flattops and get your compression back up to a useable range.

Also, remember to use headgaskets for a 2.8/3.1 Camaro/S10 because they are thinner than the FWD ones and get you back to stock 3.1 compression.


it's not the compression loss that costs power, the iron heads flow terrible. Check out this graph showing the difference between 3.4 iron heads (the same as 2.8 and 3.1 irons) and the generation 3 3500V6 heads (the best out there for these engines).



Even ported the iron heads can't touch the FWD heads.

[Canyonero]

Do you have flow info for the 3rd Gen heads?

[Superdave]

http://www.fullthrottlev6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43700

few more graphs in that thread..

Ben has flow sheets posted somewhere for 3100 and 3400 heads.