How much power can a 3100 make?

[bkaab]

I looking into doing a little build on my 96 SE. What kind of power can a 3100v6 make. And is it out of the question to shoot for 200hp at the crank?

[Futures Passed]

I don't know of any particular power limits of the engine, but the stock transmission fails before the engine does from what I recall.

[bkaab]

I will be doing a 5 speed swap also. I'm shooting for 200+ hp out of it Naturally Aspirated. Plans of caming it, 3400 topswap, maybe a higher compression, full exhaust, and tuned. I don't see why its not possible but others have told me otherwise.

[2.8-350TBI]

It'll be easier and cheaper to swap in a 3500 buddy. 200 at the crank for around $600.

Add a tune and youre set

[bob442]

wow everybody is horny for the 3500 swap even though there isnt many crank triggers.

"yeah, go ahead, swap the motor, you just wont be able to make it run till a part is produced in a higher quantity" lol

[3400-95-Modified]

wow everybody is horny for the 3500 swap even though there isnt many crank triggers.

"yeah, go ehead, swap the motor, you just wont be able to make it run till a part is produced in a higher quantity" lol

Exactly...

You can easily make 200 CRANK hp on a 3400... Geoff or Heavywoody on Beretta.net has a 3400 that has some old WOT-Tech port work done to it and LS6 springs and and thats it, and he put down 184 WHP, 204 WTQ through his 282 5-speed in his beretta, I did the tuning on it and it was just a really generic tune, I know we could probably squeeze more out of it for on the road but we dialed in the A/F on a dyno.

Also with a 3500 you have to spend way more time making or fabricating motor mounts since boss's changed on the block and there is the added cost of the crank trigger and TB adapter if you want to run the 3500 upper, so I say if this is his daily, he could source many of the parts have them waiting and then do a full 3400 top end swap on his 3100, possibly a mild cam and tune it and be done in a weekend if he knows what he's doing. Minus the 5-speed swap... that well in a GP may take longer to do.

[Futures Passed]

I'm shooting for 200+ hp out of it Naturally Aspirated. Plans of caming it, 3400 topswap, maybe a higher compression, full exhaust, and tuned. I don't see why its not possible but others have told me otherwise.

Sans the cam and compression, that sounds like what I want out of my 3100 (I like the idea of being able to beat a stock Grand Prix GT with an engine that is over half a liter smaller). If your engine bay has enough room, you can also get a big cone filter like this one, which would compliment the top end swap quite well:

It's definitely possible, and it sounds like all the stuff on your list should put it over that number.

[Mars]

Check my Fiero thread. 214WHP. 3400 with a cam and 3500 manifolds. Very mild cam at that...

[bkaab]

What's better about a 3400 block over the 3100 other then being .3L bigger? I see a lot of good numbers for it but seems like no one builds 3100s.

[Azrael]

The 3400 (LA1) and newer 3100's (LG8 vs your older L82) have bigger intake ports and runners and slightly bigger intake valves in the heads. The LA1/LG8 stuff is almost a direct bolt-on with a few minor alterations.

The people who stick with a 3100 are usually those without the space/equipment available to them to yank an engine out. I barely have room for my tools let alone an engine hoist.

[bob442]

The 3400 (LA1) and newer 3100's (LG8 vs your older L82) have bigger intake ports and runners and slightly bigger intake valves in the heads. The LA1/LG8 stuff is almost a direct bolt-on with a few minor alterations.

The people who stick with a 3100 are usually those without the space/equipment available to them to yank an engine out. I barely have room for my tools let alone an engine hoist.

QFTT
and/or they got a great deal on a 3400 top end and have a healthy 3100 bottom end. There is nothing wrong with saving money and building a hybrid. Nothing at all.

How ever i see a slight problem, your signature shows and states a 95 GP and a 96 GP, if your 95 is the one reciving the work you will have to upgrade or degrade your engine manigment as approx 95% of GM's built in 1995 got OBD 1.5 and it can't be tuned IIRC.

If you want to save money, and build for power, buy heads right out from wottech or send in some cores and get Ben to port them, as they come back to you assembaled, machined, and ready to go. Doing things yourself and sending the heads out to get milled ends up costing you more, unless your getting it done for free. Speaking from personal experiance.

Check the classified section often, there is a few people that were selling top ends for 150-200$

http://60degreev6.com/forum/showthread.php/49194-3400-top-end

[bkaab]

Sorry thats my old car. Its the 96 I will be doing the work to. All I need to get is a different PCM and I can tune it with my DHP Powertuner.

[95SleeperAcheiva]

I found one of those HP calculators a few years back and was able to put in my gear ratio, weight of car, and 1/4 mile time to get an idea of the HP. I wont claim it's accurate but it has to be close. My numbers came to 305. even if it's within 20% that's 240 HP. Now I did mine on a very minimal budget, and as Smokey said, your power is in what you do to the heads, "MAKE HER BREATHE!" So, that being said, port and polish, keep her clean, and think FLOW!

I cut 3.5 seconds off her stock times with a 3.4 swap, 3.5 upper, 80MM TB, HOURS of hand port and polishing upper and lower intakes to a 1500 grit finish, open pipes, weight reduction (2660 with driver), 110 t-stat, custom torque converter from Dayco Converter at 4800 stall ($85 new), 3.5" custom cold air intake with ram air scoop under front bumper, and it put me at a best time of 14.23 in the 1/4 mile. Oh, 116 octane fuel, I don't think she needs that but race fuel smells cool man! Go to youtube and look up achieva vs camaro, and then check my other video and you can see my "hill-billy" exhaust. It works, that's what counts.

Hell, just chopping your emissions will get you 30+ HP. And don't fall for the BS and by a "High-Flow Converter." The whole concept of making an EGR system work is dependent on maintaining back-pressure. It' must have 3-5 lbs to work, stock converters do that and lowering any of that back pressure will make it fail e-check.

Good luck, 200 hp is easy. Getting it to stick to the pavement and not blow a trans apart is the hard part.

[Superdave]

200 is easy with a 3100, Drop on some newer 3100/3400 heads (ported if possible), a well ported matching LIM and use a 3500 UIM with a 65mm TB. That will take care of the intake side. On the exhaust side swap over to the 3500 "header" type manifolds, run 2" off each side and merge it into 2.5", then a good cat and decent muffler.

That alone should net you 200 @ the crank and with a good tune you may see even more.



If you want to go further a cam will really make it sing.

[robert 1980]

I have a nice 3400 topend for sale.Needs a good home?lol
Rockers intakes heads everything