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  1. #1
    Member j_j_mccoy RS's Avatar
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    Torch Red
    1999 Camaro Z28

    Engine Swap from v6 / v8...

    My 96' RS is a 3.8L v6 with appx. 140K miles and I would like to swap it out for a v8.

    I am wondering if any of you have personally ever done this , or your current F-body was at one time a v6.

    I understand this is not an overnight simple project and will take some work , but in the end would be quite rewarding seeing as I have had the car for 9 yrs. and have always taken very good care of it. Yes , I know it has high milage now , but the car itself is in excellent condition.

    If any of you could give your opinions on a starting point for this process , type of engine ( LT1 / LS1 , cid , transmission preference ) ect...

    Something more custom than your everyday SB 350 is more what I have in mind. Still streetable , not going to be a trailer queen ever.

    The sound of a big cam is music to my ears

    Thank you in advance ,


    ~ JJ


    P.S. I'll post a pic soon.

  2. #2
    UberTapping Friction Pimp Anthracis's Avatar
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    18D Cock Diesel
    1999 Z28; 98 SS #2043 RIP

    Well, this is not a simple job by any means. I think that the limiting factor here is going to be money. By the time you are done with everything, you would have spent way more money than if you just sold your car and bought a V8 car.

    Remember, you have to update the engine, tranny, computer, harness, some models have a different cross member, suspension, maybe rear end ratio, etc...plus all the time and effort if you are doing it yourself. Too much money if you ask me.

    Just sell yours and buy a V8. Its not worth the aggravation. However, if you went ahead and bought a salvaged/wrecked V8 really cheap and have all or most of these parts and you don't mind working it yourself, then go for it. But that's the only reason I would even consider it. Plus, those would be used parts and likely to fail soon anyway.

    Plus, you know you are going to want to mod it anyway, so you have upgrade costs coming up too.

    My recommendations if you do go for it:
    -LS1
    -Cam: 224/224 580 114lsa (like a comp cam) You could go more aggressive if you don't mind lopey idle.
    -4L60E Tranny with 4L65 internals or the traditional 6 speed (more fun in my opinion).
    -Moser 12 bolt rear or Ford 9" rear
    -all the usual bolt ons are recommended (LS6 intake, ported/polished heads, etc...).

    Those are my thoughts. Good luck with whichever way you chose to go.

  3. #3
    Member j_j_mccoy RS's Avatar
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    Torch Red
    1999 Camaro Z28

    Yea I can totally agree with your opinion and you made some very valid points. But as I'm sure you feel the same with your ride , I am kinda attached to mine , mostly because it has all those great memories with it and ...well you know how it is , lol

    I did have the 99 Z28 / 6-speedm , but I decided to sell it because while moving I wasn't able to keep both the Z and the RS and someone made a good offer to take it off my hands. I loved the LS1 and may look more into buying another.

    thanks for your thoughts again ~ JJ


    P.S. been awhile since I was active in the community here.

  4. #4
    UberTapping Friction Pimp Anthracis's Avatar
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    18D Cock Diesel
    1999 Z28; 98 SS #2043 RIP

    Welcome back!!

    I can agree with you on what you said. But sometimes its the tough decisions that we have to make.

    Hey, I back you up if you want to still do the swap. Go for it. Take plenty of pics and post them here because others have also expressed an interest in this type of changeout. It would help all these guys out.

    Good luck and keep us posted!

  5. #5
    Catfish for Breakfast Bobby97SS's Avatar
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    white
    97 SS

    Why not just build your 6 GN style w/ a turbo? SBC are bellybutton.

  6. #6
    Member j_j_mccoy RS's Avatar
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    Torch Red
    1999 Camaro Z28

    Quote Originally Posted by Bobby97SS View Post
    Why not just build your 6 GN style w/ a turbo? SBC are bellybutton.

    It was another route I had thought of because I have seen some sick turbo Nat 6's ... I worked a short time for a dynoshop and we had one customer that put down 557 rwhp and that was in Colorado a mile up. I just recently moved back to Florida and I"m sure those numbers with turbo and all would be much greater as you would not need the amount of boost you do in Denver or higher elevations.

    ( space here , amg can't get past wall of text , lol )


    The main reason I steered more to a v8 is :

    1. Sounds beautiful with the right build
    2. Torque is pretty easy to gain
    3. Parts would more likely be easier to find and more options in what mods you choose , you could have 20 people with a 350 and not one be exactly the same.

    But in your favor having a 1996 RS with a fully built Nat engine and big numbers would be cool because it would definately be different from " oh , meh , it's just a built v8 " and I'm sure would give a few people a suprise not expected.

    Don't quote me on this but I think the 3.8 L v6 accually is a buick engine. Aside from emission features and other factory additions , it is very close to what the Gran Nat engine was , just N/A instead of Turbocharged.

    */discuss

  7. #7
    Visualize°Design°Create SSwt00SS's Avatar
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    '18 CTS-V
    '13 ZL1

    for the money you would spend to swap out the engine, suspension, etc., it would be easier and cheaper to go out and buy yourself a car that alreasy has a V8 in it...

  8. #8
    Exalted Cyclops 67CamaroRSSS's Avatar
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    2002 Z28 A4 NBM
    Sadly now demodded :(

    Turbocharge the bent 6! It's the same basic motor as the GN. Beau coup upgrades though. A few months ago I saw a 3rd gen TTA at Firebird running low 11's at 120+ and it sounded pretty mild at idle. You'd freak people out big time.

  9. #9
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    Arrest Me Red
    1999 Trans am

    yep, cheaper to make the v6 really fast, or buy a v8 for the money put in doing a swap

  10. #10
    ArtistFormerlyKnownAsMac Silver Streak's Avatar
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    All Black
    83, 87, 02 All WS6 T/As

    Planning on doing this to my Camaro this summer.. but I am taking all the parts from my Firebird and dumping them into my Camaro and visa versa... 'birds body is in rough shape and is a hardtop whch I dont want... so I'll be selling that off when the conversion is complete.
    -Geno
    1983 Black WS6 "WindCharger"
    1987 Black WS6 "WS87"
    2002 Black WS6 "Silver Streak"
    Sold the other four f-bodies

  11. #11
    Senior Member 35thAnniZ28's Avatar
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    eating bulldog
    son of biscuit

    dood just buy a donor car....like a crashed car ...for like 4 g's..and get some guy to transfer all that shit from here to there

  12. #12
    Rice Killa JwMonE99's Avatar
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    Black With T-Tops
    96 Z28 M6

    I am actually getting ready to swap out my V6 and drop an LS1 in it. I am doing the work myself with some assistence from a friend. We going to get the motor out of a wrecked Firebird but the motor is still good, does anyone know if the V6 Camaro 99's transmission can handle the LS1 or should I go for the new trannsy as well? Right now I still have the A4, I am aware that im going to need new gears and im getting the 3.73 gears ready as well.

  13. #13
    Rice Killa JwMonE99's Avatar
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    Black With T-Tops
    96 Z28 M6

    Does anybody know?

  14. #14
    ArtistFormerlyKnownAsMac Silver Streak's Avatar
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    All Black
    83, 87, 02 All WS6 T/As

    Anything that is matched to the v6 will have to be replaced with the v8's.. springs, shocks, radiator, tranny, computer, etc.

  15. #15
    Rice Killa JwMonE99's Avatar
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    Black With T-Tops
    96 Z28 M6

    Can you or someone else tell me exactly everything that will need to be replaced, motor, transy, gears, springs, radiator, computer shocks, what else?

  16. #16
    ArtistFormerlyKnownAsMac Silver Streak's Avatar
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    All Black
    83, 87, 02 All WS6 T/As

    Like I said.. anything that has to do with weight, power or performance needs to be swapped... its pretty much a complete tear down and rebuld of the car.. hense why most people aren't doing it.... time consuming and expensive.

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