Engine Swap

[enforcer GT]

Would it be possable to take the the engine, trans, and pcm out of a 95ish 3.4L Minte Carlo and put it in my 95 Lumina 3.1L? What exactly would i need to do to make the swap? THANKS

[SaveTheMontes]

I'm glad you asked this question as I'm pondering a somewhat similar question. I believe the Lumina's are more or less a 4 door Monte with slightly different styling on the body. My question was going to be would a engine swap in my 97 LS work if I used a newer engine from say a Monte from 2000-2004? If so, how many hours of labor would somebody guess this to take?

[big_sam_2004]

Well both swaps ware totally possible and shouldnt require too much work. With the lumina being on the same platform as the monte, a swap should be a piece of cake especially with those engines. Also all of the engines in the 00-05 monte's are identical to those in the earlier generation. I dont know exactly what6 needs to be modified, but cost SHOULD be minimal (besides the engine of course) and require little or no fabrication. I hope I was of some help....

Big Sam
510 RIchmond, CA
"The Bayologist"

[SaveTheMontes]

Figured so, thanks for the reply. I'm starting to have a little tranny problems. I figure if I do swap the engine I may go with a 3.8L supercharged and of course a new Tranny will be needed. What Tranny do you recommend because that piece of crap GM uses was also used by the Flinstones! One can't properly use the power of these engines with such lame tranny's...any thoughts?

[montemod]

I'm currently looking into putting an LS1 into my 98 Monte Carlo Z34. It's gonna be a whole summer project but I think it can be done. I've got a Camaro rear end to put on and I'm converting the car to RWD. I was going to put a 6-speed tranny in but that would increase the cost of modifications by far more than I want. I'm looking at an estimated 10-12k I believe, but that is only a rough estimate.

[TuBlaz]

The tranny you want behind the L67 (SuperCharged 3800) is the 4T65e, or 4T65e-HD(Heavy Duty). Wherever you get the L67 from try to get the tranny as a package, it may save you some $$$.

-TuType aka TuBlaz
(1989 Buick LeSabre T-Type)
w/1997 L67 & 2001 4T65e-HD

[richtazz]

Both swaps will require a full engine harness, ECM, Trans, and axles from the donor car. It is NOT a simple swap, and WAY beyond a normal DIY abilities. They never put a 3800 in a 97 Lumina/Monte, and the the engine cradle is different between a newer 3800 Monte and a 3400 Monte, so you'll also need motor mounts, trans mounts, exhaust, etc...

[phewop118]

They did put a 3800 series II in that generation of montes/luminas, but I don't think until 98. It replaced the powerful, but unreliabe and expensive 3.4 "x" engine.

[richtazz]

His car is an OBD-I emissions vehicle, and they didn't put a 3800 in the Lumina/Monte until OBD-II. Since the engine cradle is different between the 3800 series and the 3100/3400 series, it is a MAJOR job to swap the two even in the same year car. Because of the OBD-I/OBD-II issue, all the wiring is different, and the emission/engine control systems are not even remotely the same, unless you are a fabricating genious, and an electrical engineer, it WON'T work. A 3.4 DOHC from a similar year (94-95) could be done, if you have a complete donor car that you can steal the trans, axles, underhood wiring harness and ECM from. Just beware, this is a MAJOR job, and the 3.4 DOHC is a problematic turd once it get's over 150k, so the extra power isn't worth the extra headaches.

[maxwedge]

Originally Posted by richtazz

His car is an OBD-I emissions vehicle, and they didn't put a 3800 in the Lumina/Monte until OBD-II. Since the engine cradle is different between the 3800 series and the 3100/3400 series, it is a MAJOR job to swap the two even in the same year car. Because of the OBD-I/OBD-II issue, all the wiring is different, and the emission/engine control systems are not even remotely the same, unless you are a fabricating genious, and an electrical engineer, it WON'T work. A 3.4 DOHC from a similar year (94-95) could be done, if you have a complete donor car that you can steal the trans, axles, underhood wiring harness and ECM from. Just beware, this is a MAJOR job, and the 3.4 DOHC is a problematic turd once it get's over 150k, so the extra power isn't worth the extra headaches.

Besides my tired stock 98 3800 LTZ has knocked a couple of them off any. They have poor low end torque.