I am thinking buying some of these heads.
The water passages are the same.
The bolt patterns are the same.
The exhaust side looks the same.
The springs look a little different. there angled kind of like on a big block. But there in all in a straight line like the old V6 heads.
I just need to get a good/better look at the intake side and the springs, every thing else looks just like an old V6 head.
Any one know for sure or not if they will work?

There are no v6 fbody's after 1995 that come with 3.4L engines.. so I do not know what you are talking about... 97+ 3.4L GM heads..

if you want to upgrade your headers, go aftermarket (and NOT GM!)

uhmm.... I think you misread his thread.


Series II aluminum heads do not fit up but Series III heads do but you need to modify headers/exhaust manifolds to get them to line up, I don't think its too hard. I am not sure of the years and cars, (3400 series motor). I am pretty sure you need ot change the pistons as well, or you will have something like a 12:1 compression ratio.

Someone did a swap, with aluminum heads, and a differnet upper intake. I think his screename here is Russell.

Hello there.

silicuda - GM continued using the 3.4L Engine in the Chevrolet Venture among other mini-vans, and in 1999 reworked the engine and tossed it into the Grand Am as the GT option, and some of the 3.8 cars as a base option, etc etc.

MustangEater - the Gen II Aluminum heads and Gen III aluminum heads are nearly identical. the differences are in the exhaust port (O shaped on the II, D shaped on the III) and i think valve sizes. other than that the castings are the SAME.

oil pan 4 - the heads you are describing are NOT Gen III Aluminum heads (used on 1997+ 3.4L engines). the Gen III Aluminum heads had canted valves (slanted, not straight up and down). the ones you are describing are either iron heads or like Gen I Aluminum heads, as the Gen II also have canted valves, but O shaped exhaust ports, and yes iron heads were used on FWD engines for a while until the aluminum ones were developed. i would not get those, as they wont offer as much performance gain.

if you want the best bang for the buck, you can get Gen III Aluminum heads off of ebay. However if you switch to these heads, there are a minimum set of requirements you have to meet:

to do a head swap to Gen III Aluminum heads you need:[list=a][*]Gen III upper/lower intake manifold (1996+ 3100 / 1997 3400 - id reccomend the 3400 intake as it flows better)[*]Throttle Body from a FWD Car.[*]Fuel rail from a 3100/3400 engine[*]fuel lines from a 3100 engine (they also need to be rebent and slightly modified to fit the fuel lines in the camaro/firebird)[*]RKSport / Pacesetter headers -- the exhaust manifolds that fit the Gen II/III heads DO NOT work in the engine bay of a f-body. period. the 3.4L RWD exhaust manifolds will not work with the Gen III (97+) Aluminum heads because the port is the wrong size and the bolt holes are not far enough apart (the bolt pattern is farther out than on the RWD 3.4) - the Gen II has the same bolt pattern as the Gen III but the ports on the Gen II are O shaped and the same size as the iron heads.[*]Alternator has to be slightly moved upwards to clear the valve cover[*]Longer Belt[*]a relocation of the Engine Temperature sensor is needed, im still working the bugs out of this one and currently my fans stay on all the time, so its not a huge issue, but... this was a problem as its setting a SES light.[*]AND THE BIGGEST ISSUE: the AIR pump will have to be removed unless you can find a way to a)route the pipe and b)put a hole in the headers. there is no provision for the AIR pump on either pacesetters (unless they changed them since tiago had them) or RKSport's headers. the problem with this is that if you live in a state that requires emissions testing you will fail without your AIR pump connected, because it is part of the smog equipment.[/list=a]

anyway. this is the minimum amount of stuff i went thru..there were some other things, like getting a 90* bend to attach the heater hose to the intake, and moving the coilpacks up a bit to have them clear the 90* bend, and trust me that was a pita. i have a picture online of the completed swap, you can check it out here:

completed engine in engine bay

btw - note the wrench, i hadnt gotten a longer belt yet and the stock belt wouldnt fit over the pullies (hey i was trying...)

Also MustangEater is right, if you dont change the pistons you end up with 12.2:1 or something like that compression. its not fun cause you have to run high octane gas. (i believe like 93 w/octane booster or even 101 octane). I know of one person running 12.2:1 CR - but i also know hes had problems (and his isnt a RWD car). if you do change the pistons you still get a slight gain in CR - up to 9.5:1 - because the combustion chamber in the head changes from 52cc to 28cc (wow..)

anyway. if you have any other questions, AIM ID and email are in the profile - feel free to contact.

-R

Are there any considerable performance gains associated w/ this swap? I'm considering turboing this car (94 V6), and will be rebuilding the motor anyways, I can get some low comp. pistons fabbed, so that's not an issue.

Are there any other aftermarket aluminum head options available for these cars?

Thanks

It's all about money the stock heads are 53-55cc's and I here that the Al ones are about 28cc's.
It would be a good idea to keep the stock heads port them and find some stronger pistons.

It's all about money the stock heads are 53-55cc's and I here that the Al ones are about 28cc's.
It would be a good idea to keep the stock heads port them and find some stronger pistons.

It's all about money the stock heads are 53-55cc's and I here that the Al ones are about 28cc's.
It would be a good idea to keep the stock heads port them and find some stronger pistons.

Using the stock 3.4L engine w/ 3" flowmaster catback exhaust..
140rwhp/182rwtq

Using the stock-form (nothing has been ported or polished) 3x00 upper end(aluminum heads, intake, fuel rails, etc with my cutout capped)..
166.9rwhp/203.9rwtq

that look like an improvement? anyhow. basically my stock 3.4L (no internal engine work done) went from 164 hp / 215 tq to 196 hp / 239 tq. looks like a good improvement to me.

the aluminum heads in their stock form, flow almost as well as the fully ported iron heads that Tiago has on his car (i have flow #'s from both). i have yet to port/polish the heads or gasketmatch the intake. its not just about the money cause i found the heads and intake on ebay for 60.00

its a difficult swap, but not an impossible one..would take..well..maybe a week to do.

-R

That's awesome you managed to get that much power out of the little bastard. Do the aluminium heads up the compression, if so, how much?

That's awesome you managed to get that much power out of the little bastard. Do the aluminium heads up the compression, if so, how much?

well. if you use the pistons in the stock 3.4 that are designed for the iron heads - - CR goes up to about 12.5:1.

if you change the pistons to ones designed for the aluminum heads smaller cc -- 9.5:1.

so right now my CR is 9.5:1. psi in the cylinders is 175.

-R