What are some of the "easier" as in, less stressful on average engines to swap into a 1989 Camaro? Or a 89 and up Camaro just to broaden it abit.

I'm thinking of swapping the engine in for something a little more fun than the stock motor. Which is quite a restricted peice of machinery.


If anyone has link to a project where someone swapped a new engine into a Camaro of close to these years, well that'd be great!

 

GM has a nice line of crate engines. ZZ4 is a nice one.

 

I was over at GMPP's site a few times. I really need to get one of them catalogs.

Just took a quick look at the ZZ4 crate. Sounds good, and I'm sure there are loads of aftermarket support for it, it is Chevy engine afterall. Now for the hard part, the swap. I'm gonna do some searching around, see what I can dig up.

 

somebody posted a link a few months ago to a company that designed and built an engine specifically for the TPI setups in the 3rd gens.

it was built with the limited rpm band of the TPI taken into account, and i beleive the only major changes that needed to be made were injectors and a custom chip.

seems like it was a 35x block that produced 365hp and some ungodly amount of torque using the TPI setup.

couldn't even begin to tell you what to search for though...

 

Any SBC will swap right in using the same motor mounts and everything. If your looking for EASY and dont have emissions than you could go the carb'd route. Thats what I did on my old 87,blew the 305 TPI up...stuck an L98 in it (350 TPI) kept having head gasket problems w/ that so I yanked it out,sold all the TPI parts and put a Vortec headed 350 in it pushing between 350-380 HP.

I changed motors 3 times in my 3rd gen,so if you have any questions feel free to PM me.

 

This one is good. I have this one being installed right now: http://www.sdparts.com/product/SD360...ripEngine.aspx

These are really good to if you want to go Carburated. You can also get a Vortec intake and still use your TPI on it if you have TPI that is..
http://www.sdparts.com/catalog/crate...0HOEngine.aspx

 

Here is the Scoggin Dickey web site but you can just order any GMPP engine from your local Chevy dealer.
http://www.sdparts.com/categories/CrateEngines.aspx

 

Those links will help a lot, thanks.

 

If you drop in a ZZ4 you don't have to go carbureted. Do you have TPI? If so you can get a stealth ram for about 470$ + whatever injectors you need since it'll work with TPI computers.

 

LT1 swaps are fairly easy.

 

Well, if I happen to get the 89 like I want, it'll either be the 5.7L TPI, the 5.7L TBI, or a 5.0L TBI. They all have names, just can't remember off hand right now.

But if I find a pretty nice RS, with a V6, I'd be happy just the same, cause then I wouldn't be modifiying an IROC-Z, I'd start with a RS and who really gives much care to them? The engien is coming out just the same, but then I'd probably have to get a new transmission, right? Thought so.

 

yeah, new trans if your swapping into a V6. If you start out with an L98 (5.7 tpi) you don't really need to pull the engine to make some good power. On an L98 an LT1 intake, a cam & bolt on's will make nice power. I wouldn't waste $4000.00 on a vortec crate engine either. You can get new vortec heads for around $600 a pair and the vortec tpi intake is I believe around $400. Add a cam and a tune and it's a lot less than $4000. For $4000 I'd be swapping to an LS1 or an LT1 instead of wasting my time on a vortec tpi.

 

So you think he should get a Vortec like me

 

Hmm, well after thinking about it, I have come to see that there are two situations with their own following actions.

A) I get me a L98(5.7L(350) TPI) or a LB9(5.0(305) TPI). I then proceed to modify it with bolt-ons.

B) I get anything but a LB9 or a L98. I swap a new motor in it after fixing everything else of course.

Originally I didn't think I would want a L98 powered 3rd Gen because of how low they start off when compared to you know, *quietly* LS1s.

Anyway, if I get one, I'll look around for some bolt-ons. But if it isn't even a LB9, then I'll just work on it until it has practically no problems(except cosmetic, I'm lazy) and eventually swap it's engine.

Thanks for your opinions and ideas, guys.

 

I say go LT1 or a LS1 swap. They can be had for cheap, make good power out of the box, good gas milage, etc.