SmoothSteve3 Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 Hey everyone- I'm getting pretty close to doing a performance rebuild on my 1990 lumina's 3.1 Liter V-6. I heard that only replacing the rocker arms and not the cam and pushrods can do more damage than good. Is this true? I ask because doing it one part (like the rocker arms) at a time would be more do-able moneywise for me than doing an entire rebuild all at once. On the same topic, what manufacturers do you guys recomend for performance engine parts? Thanks! SmoothSteve3 1990 Chevy Lumina 3.1 Liter V-6 Ride on White Lightning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted August 12, 2003 Report Share Posted August 12, 2003 I put 1.6 rockers with new pushrods in, and they did great. However, I kept breaking pushrod guideplates. So, what you would need to do would be to take some metal out of the "U" in fork on the guideplates. My pushrods were rubbing the "U" and caused the fork to break off. Or atleast thats what I think. Im back on stockers now, (no time to mess with the guideplates) cuz I need my car to be reliable. BUT, IMO, its going to be cheaper to get a junk 3.1L for like $100 and rebuild it. Plus, you will be out so much time taking yours apart to modify it. And if you want to do a cam, get ready to pull the motor. You cant do much to these (or much to get any serious HP gains) without doing a complete rebuild. Thats my advice at least Robby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Burning Rom Posted August 13, 2003 Report Share Posted August 13, 2003 You might as well find a car with a 3100 in and modify that if you're gonna go for a performance build Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted August 13, 2003 Report Share Posted August 13, 2003 Okay, find me a performance cam for a 3100. NOT a regrind Robby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothSteve3 Posted August 13, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2003 Robby- Thanks for the suggesstion on the rocker arms/pushrods/guideplates. I'm not quite sure when I'll get around to actually doing some of these major mods.......did you get a noticeable gain in power or torque with the 1.6 rockers? The website is pretty awesome too. Thanks a million! SmoothSteve3 1990 Chevy Lumina 3.1 Liter V-6 Ride on White Lightning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted August 13, 2003 Report Share Posted August 13, 2003 Thanks!! The site is Redfox340's I just have my right up on there. The HP gains were excellent. We have a little dragstrip on a back road at home, and before the rockers and adjustable modulator, I ran like 79-80mph, with the rockers and modulator, I ran like 82-84. Oh, on the highway, its awesome, I can press the gas in Overdrive, with A/C on, going up a steep hill, and be Accelerating. They make highway driving (in overdrive) fun. The motor really comes alive at like 3-4.5K with the rockers, and it does have more low end torque, gets off the line a lot better. Robby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SmoothSteve3 Posted August 13, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2003 Robby- That write up is yours?!?! Dude, thats pretty awesome........heh, you wouldn't happen to know much about instrument clusters would you? I'm trying to replace mine.........but have encountered some problems....lol Once again, AWESOME job on the write up........ SmoothSteve3 1990 Chevy Lumina 3.1 Liter V-6 Ride on White Lightning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Burning Rom Posted August 13, 2003 Report Share Posted August 13, 2003 Okay, find me a performance cam for a 3100. NOT a regrind Robby Nothing wrong with a re-grind. I'd rather have a custom made cam than an off the shelf cam. Plus I like the added option of having a roller cam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskey River Posted August 13, 2003 Report Share Posted August 13, 2003 Robby- That write up is yours?!?! Dude, thats pretty awesome........heh, you wouldn't happen to know much about instrument clusters would you? I'm trying to replace mine.........but have encountered some problems....lol Once again, AWESOME job on the write up........ SmoothSteve3 1990 Chevy Lumina 3.1 Liter V-6 Ride on White Lightning Since your sig suggests you drive a lumina, I did the pinouts for someone else on here a month or so ago. All you need to do is a search for "Instrument Cluster Swap" or something to that effect. All the pinouts are in there. You will be happy to know that all but 1 of the wires has to be moved and you will have to run a tach wire from the engine compartment to the cluster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted August 14, 2003 Report Share Posted August 14, 2003 Robby- That write up is yours?!?! Dude, thats pretty awesome........heh, you wouldn't happen to know much about instrument clusters would you? I'm trying to replace mine.........but have encountered some problems....lol Once again, AWESOME job on the write up........ SmoothSteve3 1990 Chevy Lumina 3.1 Liter V-6 Ride on White Lightning Since your sig suggests you drive a lumina, I did the pinouts for someone else on here a month or so ago. All you need to do is a search for "Instrument Cluster Swap" or something to that effect. All the pinouts are in there. You will be happy to know that all but 1 of the wires has to be moved and you will have to run a tach wire from the engine compartment to the cluster. Whiskey River, are the pinouts for a base GP cluster (speedo, fuel, temp) the same as the lumina ones?? Im assuming they are or very close. Im wanting to upgrade to the full analong used in 91-93. I just need the pinouts to help finish the job. Thanks for any info. Robby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted August 14, 2003 Report Share Posted August 14, 2003 Robby- That write up is yours?!?! Dude, thats pretty awesome........heh, you wouldn't happen to know much about instrument clusters would you? I'm trying to replace mine.........but have encountered some problems....lol Once again, AWESOME job on the write up........ SmoothSteve3 1990 Chevy Lumina 3.1 Liter V-6 Ride on White Lightning Thanks!! That's like 5K plus words. I just hope others are helped out by the info, even if the dont put in the rockers, just the tear down part is useful. Anyway, I was going to recommend Whiskey River for the cluster questions. He knows his stuff, and I see he already posted, so I dont need to recommend. Robby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted August 14, 2003 Report Share Posted August 14, 2003 Okay, find me a performance cam for a 3100. NOT a regrind Robby Nothing wrong with a re-grind. I'd rather have a custom made cam than an off the shelf cam. Plus I like the added option of having a roller cam. I would rather have a hole new cam. That way I get the lifts I want without messing with the valvtrain. If you want to go with stock lifts, then a regrind with longer durations is good. I wouldnt want the 3100 cam b/c its roller and has the thing the cam pos. sensor senses on it. I just like things to be as simple as possible, guess thats why Im building up a 3.1L. In all honestly, I would love to make a carbureted 3.1L Robby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89oldscutlass Posted August 14, 2003 Report Share Posted August 14, 2003 Hey Guys since you all brought up the 3100 vs 3.1 I was wondering if any of you guys with the 3100 is having problems with the lifters collapsing and failing.I recently went to help my brother in his garage working on cars and a lot of his customers with the 3100 with the roller rockers cams and lifters are having to replace their lifters.Robby as far as putting a carburator on your 3.1 you should be able to get the intake off a early 80s oldsmobile cutlass sierra fwd with the 2.8 in it.A guy brought one in last week for a oil change.Whats funny is he is wanting to put a multiport fuel injection off a 3.1 or 2.8 on his.My brother told him it would cost him more then the car was worth to switch it over so he said he would think about it and get back in touch with us if he decided to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted August 14, 2003 Report Share Posted August 14, 2003 yes the roller lifters suck on the early 3100's between noise and failure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted August 14, 2003 Report Share Posted August 14, 2003 Hey Guys since you all brought up the 3100 vs 3.1 I was wondering if any of you guys with the 3100 is having problems with the lifters collapsing and failing.I recently went to help my brother in his garage working on cars and a lot of his customers with the 3100 with the roller rockers cams and lifters are having to replace their lifters.Robby as far as putting a carburator on your 3.1 you should be able to get the intake off a early 80s oldsmobile cutlass sierra fwd with the 2.8 in it.A guy brought one in last week for a oil change.Whats funny is he is wanting to put a multiport fuel injection off a 3.1 or 2.8 on his.My brother told him it would cost him more then the car was worth to switch it over so he said he would think about it and get back in touch with us if he decided to do it. Well, I was just saying if I could have everything my way. Actually, I would probably get an Edelbrock Torquer performance intake with iron heads and make it work that way. The iron heads suck big time, but I wouldnt have any computer junk Robby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian P Posted August 14, 2003 Report Share Posted August 14, 2003 nothing's better than having a computer that's tuneable! I'd hate to deal with carbs and chokes and manually adjusting a/f mixture and all that crap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted August 14, 2003 Report Share Posted August 14, 2003 To me, they both have their advantages/disadvantages. I like Carb cuz its easy; no wiring stuff. I like FI cuz like you said its fully tuneable (or atleast OBD1 is easily). I guess far down the road, I might do a carbed 3.1L project with forced indiction, that way, I dont have to use a computer to tune it. Robby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whiskey River Posted August 14, 2003 Report Share Posted August 14, 2003 Robby- That write up is yours?!?! Dude, thats pretty awesome........heh, you wouldn't happen to know much about instrument clusters would you? I'm trying to replace mine.........but have encountered some problems....lol Once again, AWESOME job on the write up........ SmoothSteve3 1990 Chevy Lumina 3.1 Liter V-6 Ride on White Lightning Since your sig suggests you drive a lumina, I did the pinouts for someone else on here a month or so ago. All you need to do is a search for "Instrument Cluster Swap" or something to that effect. All the pinouts are in there. You will be happy to know that all but 1 of the wires has to be moved and you will have to run a tach wire from the engine compartment to the cluster. Whiskey River, are the pinouts for a base GP cluster (speedo, fuel, temp) the same as the lumina ones?? Im assuming they are or very close. Im wanting to upgrade to the full analong used in 91-93. I just need the pinouts to help finish the job. Thanks for any info. Robby To my knowledge they are close but not the same. Someone else tried to do the wiring as I had laid out for the Lumina and only a couple of things worked. Maybe someone with a GP service manual can post them on here and we can get most of the Instrument cluster pinouts posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robby1870 Posted August 14, 2003 Report Share Posted August 14, 2003 Robby- That write up is yours?!?! Dude, thats pretty awesome........heh, you wouldn't happen to know much about instrument clusters would you? I'm trying to replace mine.........but have encountered some problems....lol Once again, AWESOME job on the write up........ SmoothSteve3 1990 Chevy Lumina 3.1 Liter V-6 Ride on White Lightning Since your sig suggests you drive a lumina, I did the pinouts for someone else on here a month or so ago. All you need to do is a search for "Instrument Cluster Swap" or something to that effect. All the pinouts are in there. You will be happy to know that all but 1 of the wires has to be moved and you will have to run a tach wire from the engine compartment to the cluster. Whiskey River, are the pinouts for a base GP cluster (speedo, fuel, temp) the same as the lumina ones?? Im assuming they are or very close. Im wanting to upgrade to the full analong used in 91-93. I just need the pinouts to help finish the job. Thanks for any info. Robby To my knowledge they are close but not the same. Someone else tried to do the wiring as I had laid out for the Lumina and only a couple of things worked. Maybe someone with a GP service manual can post them on here and we can get most of the Instrument cluster pinouts posted. Thanks for the info!! I guess I put a post up and see what someone can come up with Robby Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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