I may have found a 94z for a steal, but there is an issue. The motor and tranny are out of the car. Now, I've turned a wrench or two, but am admittedly daunted by the prospect of installing this on my own. Any idea how many labor hours would be required?

I'd rather do it myself, and I can read wiring diagrams, but I've owned an lt1 car before and understand what it's like to try and do anything under that hood. I did a search about the conversions but didn't turn up a lot, is it terribly complicated to put the stock motor and tranny in?

 

Just hope its the original motor cuz different years had different harness's and adapting wiring harness's would be a pain. Its a pretty easy swap back into the car itself. Drop the front subframe if it isnt out already from the car and install the engine to the k frame and make sure the car is jacked up really high enough to clear rolling the subframe underneath the body of the car. Jack up the subframe to meet the body and bolt it up and your well on your way. Thats the hardest part everything is just goes back together.

 

do engines have the vin number stamped on them?

if they do, you could get the year off of the vin. 8th letter I believe, and go backward from z = 99

 

If a shop has the right tools and know 4th gens it would be about 6-8 hours. That is on the assumption that all the parts are there and clean and so on. It can take a long time once you have to start hunting up bolts or other parts, cleaning stuff before you can install it, etc. That's why a lot of shops won't quote a job like that and will do it just hourly. They are afraid of underquoting and getting the shaft. But if it's hourly, you had better be able trust them not to make the job into a "career opportunity".

Rich

 

As usual, Shoebox has the answer:

http://shbox.com/1/block_vin.jpg

The important thing is that the correct vehicle has the PCM/engine harness with it. If that's the case, the engine/harness interface issues are minimal, as long as its a 94-97 engine. Knock sensor and short Opti harness are two simple differences that come to mind. If you end up with a later model (96/97) engine, you simply don't plug in the crank position sensor and the EVAP vacuum detector switch.