3400 up for grabs

[streetdreams]

today when I was puttin plugs in my car, my friend who builds motors was sayin that now a days theres not too many cars like mine around in good shape. he said my car would make a great donor car for a motor since the body is mint and than he pointed to an engine he had on a stand and said. if this was my car I'd put that in there. it was a rebuilt 3400 out of a montana.

he said it would be a little tricky to put in but nothin too hard. I dont know how cheap he'l let it go for but he did say he'd help me put it in and get it running if I wanted it. anyone ever done this swap? its a 88 GP SE coupe and I've never seen them with any other motor than the 2.8, 3.1

I think it would be cool, maybe not enough power though. what do you guys think? this motor is clean too, if he'd let it go for under $600 I'd price out all I need and probably save up and go for it. any advice, opinions?

[manitcor]

a little more tricky than a 3400 swap in a newer w-body but not impossible, the fun part will be the wiring, just about everything else should be ablt to drop right in with minimal modifcation.

[Brian P]

yeah it's going to take some modification as well as a need for a custom ECM chip otherwise it won't run right. You'll need to get the correct accelerator cable, wiring, p/s pump pulley, many of brackets, etc

[manitcor]

as long as the engine and trans drops into the cradle you can do a 3400 with a 4t60e

 

The trick is getting an ODBII harness to match up to your bulkhead connector and have everything work right. Then get a DHP PCM and you can tune to that.

 

Or go ODBI using 3100 seneors and see if you can use memcalc to program for the 3400. Personally I would o ODBII if you can.

 

The accelerator cable can be stolen from just about any w-body that has the 3100 in it. Or you can make one if you have the know how.

 

Ive done this swap in a few w-bodies, just not one that old.

[THe_DeTAiL3R]

I think it would be cool, maybe not enough power though. what do you guys think? this motor is clean too, if he'd let it go for under $600 I'd price out all I need and probably save up and go for it. any advice, opinions?

 

Montanas are pretty quick for a minivan. I think they had a little more power than the GAs (due to exhaust manifolds or something?) I dunno.

 

Anyways it would definanaly be worth the swap. If a base Impala 3400 moves noticabley better than my car (3100, which is a huge improvement over my old car 88 GP SE) then you will for sure have fun with that engine. If you'd like a good comparison, just go out and drive any 3400 Grand Am, as they don't really weigh a whole lot more than a gen1 w-body.

[Brian P]

yeah the whole reason why I'm dropping a 3400 in is:

 

More off the line power, but the top-end power feels about the same. Cars this big need power off the line though, like no other.

 

I need to change my oil pan gasket, and since the engine pretty much has to come out for that, I'll just drop something else in.

 

Place to put my cam in.

 

I helped to do a 3100 install on a '88 Cutlass. Yes there's plenty of quirks, and it can be a royal pain. Be prepared to have the car layed up for a bit though. physical dropping in the engine will be the easiest and quickest to do, it's just everything else....

[manitcor]

yeah the whole reason why I'm dropping a 3400 in is:

 

More off the line power, but the top-end power feels about the same. Cars this big need power off the line though, like no other.

 

I need to change my oil pan gasket, and since the engine pretty much has to come out for that, I'll just drop something else in.

 

Place to put my cam in.

 

I helped to do a 3100 install on a '88 Cutlass. Yes there's plenty of quirks, and it can be a royal pain. Be prepared to have the car layed up for a bit though. physical dropping in the engine will be the easiest and quickest to do, it's just everything else....

 

you will actually have a very easy time, since you already have a 3100 you dont have to do anything but put the 3400 in as if you were putting a replacment 3100 in. Your only issue will be changing over the timimg cover from the 3100 to the 3400. for the most part everything else is a driect swap and can be done in a day (im not even kidding on this).

 

However I do reccoment if not now eventually getting an ODBII pcm in there or a way to program your exisitng PCM as you wont ee the full poential of the 3400 untill you can run the 22.5lb injectors and tune for the 3400

[Brian P]

timing cover's different??? It's the same as much as I can tell. I am looking around for OBD2 and missed the chance to grab a PCM from a '97 Venture at the yard with a 3400/4T60E, but I'll just hope for the best.

 

Yeah it'll definetly be a cake walk, but I'm doing some other things as well in addition to the engine, so I'm giving myself up to 2 days.

[manitcor]

timing cover's different??? It's the same as much as I can tell. I am looking around for OBD2 and missed the chance to grab a PCM from a '97 Venture at the yard with a 3400/4T60E, but I'll just hope for the best.

 

Yeah it'll definetly be a cake walk, but I'm doing some other things as well in addition to the engine, so I'm giving myself up to 2 days.

 

The timing covers are slightly different due to the different accessory mounting used on the 3400 (you swap over all your old 3100 accessories). There is a mounting boss that is not used and will rub agsint your belt, you can either A) cut it off or swap the timimg cover

 

you can check out http://www.3400swap.com for more details on it.

 

As for the PCM upgrade, I would honestly reccomend a 96-99 MC LS PCM as that gives you the option to upgrade to a programmable PCM program later on should you choose.

[Brian P]

Well keep in mind it's a 3400 from a W-body Impala. I didn't notice anything different, but I didn't look at the area where the accessory belt routing guide plate is. Is that the area with the boss?

[manitcor]

the serpetine routing from an impala may be the same, if you download the pdf guide on 3400 swap they have a pic showing excatly what im talking about. Its actually on the rear closer to the alterator

[Brian P]

yup just saw it. I don't have that boss iirc but if I do, I'll grab the sawzall. I DO have a spare timing cover from a 3100 but I already have the new sealant, gasket, and crank seal on the 3400 cover. May as well keep it. Thanks for the heads up though.

[streetdreams]

I talked to himtoday about the engine and he told me he'd need to get $800 to let it go

since it is frshly rebuilt (I thought it was brandnew when I looked at it ) I asked him how bad the wiring is to do and what exactly he was saying would be tricky when putting it in and he said that the wiring is pretty simple actually. its the accessory brackets and such that will cause interference and call for new mounting points and handmade brackets. the wiring he said is actually pretty simple because he wants to run obd1 so its just a matter of splicing off the connectors on the motor and wiring in my style connectors to mate up with. I asked him if the engine came as is missing the waterpump, upper intake etc and he said no, all the accessories for the engine that were in the van ie wiring, p/s pump pulley,waterpump,intake, brackets are all sitting at home