1987 Samurai L32 swap with LA1 Heads and Intake?

[1of625]

I have done a lot of research on swapping the LA1 heads and intake to the L32 short block which is pretty straight forward, but for those of us that are doing this swap into a vehicle that was carbureted,,
Would the engine wiring harness and GM part# 88999196 (1227730) computer from lets say a 1992 Chevrolet Beretta 3.1 with M/T be a plug and play set up once the harness has the correct pigtails spliced in?
Reason I ask is because I do not want to have to deal with having to have Eprom’s burned or computers reprogrammed. I just want to be able to hook everything up and drive.
This will be going into a 1987 Suzuki Samurai.

Any answers or suggestions would be grateful.

[caffeine]

I would think if you spliced in a complete wiring harness and bought a 3400 swap chip that would run the engine pretty well. The 3.1 harness will need some pigtails changed as well though IIRC.

[1of625]

I would think if you spliced in a complete wiring harness and bought a 3400 swap chip that would run the engine pretty well. The 3.1 harness will need some pigtails changed as well though IIRC.

I understand having to change pigtails thats no big deal and if I can just buy a chip and be on the road that would be ok to. The Samurai is not my only vehical, but it is my daily driver so thats why I want to make sure the 3.1 1227730 computer and wiring harness from say a 1992 Beretta would be a plug and play after changing what pitails that need to be replaced.

Thanks for your responce

[caffeine]

Getting your gauges working will be another thing, but if you don't mind not having gauges for a while you can also monitor everything with an ALDL cable and a laptop as well. What are you using for a trans? Chances are you'll also have to extend the VSS wires as well. And depending on where you mount the ECM you could be looking at extending all the ECM wires.

[1of625]

The Samurai speedo cable is connected to the transfer case which is divorced from the transmission, so I know my speedo gauge will work and can probly splice my temp guage in no problem.

As for transmission I would like to use a 700R4, but I would have to cut up my transmission tunnel and I read that without a suspension lift the transmission pan gets in the way of the front drive shaft. So I will probly use a S10 T5 transmission and have the VSS wiring extended to the VSS sensor in the T5

[caffeine]

I have to ask though, why are you considering a hybrid 3.4/3400 instead of a full 3400? The only thing you may need to work around differently is the oil pan.

[1of625]

I have to ask though, why are you considering a hybrid 3.4/3400 instead of a full 3400? The only thing you may need to work around differently is the oil pan.

Well from my understanding the 3400 doesn't have many options for motor mount holes on the side of the block and it is easier to find a 1985-1994 S10 2.8 T5 transmission with the starter located on the passenger side than it is to find a 1995 and newer S10 4cyl T5 transmission.

Plus I got the L32 for free,,,but if I could find a 1995 and newer 4cyl T5 and someone tell me a easy way to do the motor mounts to a 3400 I would go that route so I wouldn't have to buy new pistons for the L32.

I have a mig welder also. So if you know a easy way let me know please.

[caffeine]

I'm guessing you're going to have to make motor mounts anyway? The RWD mounts won't bolt up but there ARE threaded holes in the sides of the block. Mars on this forum mounted one in his Camaro. On the passengers side there are 4 holes for a jack-shaft mount that can be used and on the drivers side there are bolt holes that IIRC are normally used for accessories.

You can also clearance an earlier S10 bellhousing for the starter. My friend did this when swapping a Gen II 3.1 into his S10. No issues with it so far.

[1of625]

I'm guessing you're going to have to make motor mounts anyway? The RWD mounts won't bolt up but there ARE threaded holes in the sides of the block. Mars on this forum mounted one in his Camaro. On the passengers side there are 4 holes for a jack-shaft mount that can be used and on the drivers side there are bolt holes that IIRC are normally used for accessories.

You can also clearance an earlier S10 bellhousing for the starter. My friend did this when swapping a Gen II 3.1 into his S10. No issues with it so far.

The RWD 60degree engines use the same motor mount bolt pattern as the Gen1 SBC so their is hundreds of aftermarket universal motor mounts to choose from. I am going to my local salvage yard Saturday morning and I will take a closer look at the 3400 engine block. I know another bonus to the 3400 is it has roller lifters so I am open to using it.

Ether way my main concern is the wiring and computer being splice, plug, and play.

Thanks for all your replies and if you have any more suggestions or input please let me know.

[caffeine]

I'd be surprised if SBC mounts bolted up. I think SBCs are a wider engine due to having a 90* V vs 60*. I'm pretty sure to V8 swap a 2.8 S10 you have to buy swap mounts.

All that said, if you can buy an OTS T5 crossmember for your car, just bolt up the trans to the engine, attach the trans to the crossmember, and see where the engine wants to sit to make the mounts. Solid mounts are pretty easy to make, and on my friends 3.1 S10, you honestly can't even tell the mounts are solid.

Given the availability of 3400s, I bet it would be cheaper or at least close to the same cost to grab a complete engine vs. changing the pistons and heads over on a RWD block.

[1of625]

I'd be surprised if SBC mounts bolted up. I think SBCs are a wider engine due to having a 90* V vs 60*. I'm pretty sure to V8 swap a 2.8 S10 you have to buy swap mounts.

All that said, if you can buy an OTS T5 crossmember for your car, just bolt up the trans to the engine, attach the trans to the crossmember, and see where the engine wants to sit to make the mounts. Solid mounts are pretty easy to make, and on my friends 3.1 S10, you honestly can't even tell the mounts are solid.

Given the availability of 3400s, I bet it would be cheaper or at least close to the same cost to grab a complete engine vs. changing the pistons and heads over on a RWD block.

I agree going with a complete 3400 would be the best way to go, I just need to visually take a better look at the 3400 engine block.

I know the motor mounts that bolt to the 60degree RWD blocks are shaped different than the 4.3 and SBC, but I am pretty sure the 3bolt triangle bolt pattern that actually bolts the mounts to the block are identical. I could be wrong though.

I am going to use the 1987-1992 3.1 M/T Cavalier, Sunbird,or Beretta 1227730 computer and wiring harness because they don't use a VSS buffer or BCM. Which will hopefully make it a splice, plug, and play set up for me.

Any other thoughts or advise on this swap?

Thanks

[caffeine]

You'll need a memcal adapter from Moates unless you want to solder the chip directly to the 7730's memcal.

Grab a knock sensor from the car you get the ECM from.

Drill/tap a coolant passage somewhere for the Samurai's coolant temp sensor (if it has one).

If there is an oil pressure gauge, you can probably adapt a sender into one of the NPT ports on the side of the block that has the oil filter.

For the fuel lines, Russell makes AN fittings that attach to the 3400 fuel rail. Since the Samurai is carbureted, what are you planning for a fuel pump and return line? Easiest thing would probably be an inline pump and I've heard of having the return line go to the filler tube before. Russell also makes a fitting that will basically add an AN -6 fitting on to any 3/8" fuel line.

For the clutch, what master/slave are you using? If you're using the stock master with a T5 slave, Russell makes a fitting that will work with the later T5 slaves and also the LT1 T56 slave.

Depending on what alternator is used, you may need to wire in a 10k ohm resistor into one of the wires going to the alt. If you have a warning light in the dash, that will work in place of a resistor.

If you have power steering, again, Russell makes fittings that will thread into the stock RWD V6 power steering pump, and you can use -6 PFTE-lined braided steel hose to plumb it to your power steering system. The RWD power steering bracket will bolt to the aluminum heads with an extra hole drilled on it. You'll see when you get to that point.

Other RWD accessory brackets will probably need holes drilled to mount properly as well.

As for exhaust, some OBX S10 2.8 headers are nice, and fit the T5, but I don't know if they will work in your car. Other than that, 3500 front manifolds are nice. If you go the OBX route, budget in a 2.5" flex pipe to weld into the y-pipe, otherwise you'll have fitment issues. You'll also need to turn the lower holes on the headers into slots since they are designed to bolt to RWD heads. It would also be a good idea to take a die grinder and port the primaries into D-ports for the best flow.

If you have a tach, I'm not sure what signal it's looking for but IIRC the ICM outputs a 3x signal that's compatible with pretty much any aftermarket tach.

A stock 2.8/3.1 clutch/pressure plate will hold the power, but IMO 6-pucks are way more fun .

With a 3400 throttle body you'll probably need to either modify the cable linkage or get a long cable that loops around. Some W-bodies and N-bodies have really long cables that will work. IIRC the cable I use in my Firebird came from a late 90s Oldsmobile intrigue.

Once you flip the LIM around 180*, you can use the coolant pipe that runs on top of the runners for one heater core line, and the one coming off the RWD water pump as another. Remove the pipe coming off the side of the thermostat housing and drill/tap it for 1/2" NPT, then either adapt that for a coolant temp sensor or block it off. Britishcarconversions.com also sells forward-facing TB housings if the stock one doesn't work well for your application.

I think that takes care of pretty much everything. .

[1of625]

You'll need a memcal adapter from Moates unless you want to solder the chip directly to the 7730's memcal.

Grab a knock sensor from the car you get the ECM from.

Drill/tap a coolant passage somewhere for the Samurai's coolant temp sensor (if it has one).

If there is an oil pressure gauge, you can probably adapt a sender into one of the NPT ports on the side of the block that has the oil filter.

For the fuel lines, Russell makes AN fittings that attach to the 3400 fuel rail. Since the Samurai is carbureted, what are you planning for a fuel pump and return line? Easiest thing would probably be an inline pump and I've heard of having the return line go to the filler tube before. Russell also makes a fitting that will basically add an AN -6 fitting on to any 3/8" fuel line.

For the clutch, what master/slave are you using? If you're using the stock master with a T5 slave, Russell makes a fitting that will work with the later T5 slaves and also the LT1 T56 slave.

Depending on what alternator is used, you may need to wire in a 10k ohm resistor into one of the wires going to the alt. If you have a warning light in the dash, that will work in place of a resistor.

If you have power steering, again, Russell makes fittings that will thread into the stock RWD V6 power steering pump, and you can use -6 PFTE-lined braided steel hose to plumb it to your power steering system. The RWD power steering bracket will bolt to the aluminum heads with an extra hole drilled on it. You'll see when you get to that point.

Other RWD accessory brackets will probably need holes drilled to mount properly as well.

As for exhaust, some OBX S10 2.8 headers are nice, and fit the T5, but I don't know if they will work in your car. Other than that, 3500 front manifolds are nice. If you go the OBX route, budget in a 2.5" flex pipe to weld into the y-pipe, otherwise you'll have fitment issues. You'll also need to turn the lower holes on the headers into slots since they are designed to bolt to RWD heads. It would also be a good idea to take a die grinder and port the primaries into D-ports for the best flow.

If you have a tach, I'm not sure what signal it's looking for but IIRC the ICM outputs a 3x signal that's compatible with pretty much any aftermarket tach.

A stock 2.8/3.1 clutch/pressure plate will hold the power, but IMO 6-pucks are way more fun .

With a 3400 throttle body you'll probably need to either modify the cable linkage or get a long cable that loops around. Some W-bodies and N-bodies have really long cables that will work. IIRC the cable I use in my Firebird came from a late 90s Oldsmobile intrigue.

Once you flip the LIM around 180*, you can use the coolant pipe that runs on top of the runners for one heater core line, and the one coming off the RWD water pump as another. Remove the pipe coming off the side of the thermostat housing and drill/tap it for 1/2" NPT, then either adapt that for a coolant temp sensor or block it off. Britishcarconversions.com also sells forward-facing TB housings if the stock one doesn't work well for your application.

I think that takes care of pretty much everything. .

The instrument cluster does not have oil pressure, but it does have temp guage that is a one wire so that want be a problem. It does have the factory tach, but hooking that up I can figure out later.
My Samurai has already been converted to the GM alternator so that shouldn't be a problem.
The Samurai's come from the factory with a fuel return line and I am going to use fuel injection hose.
I am going to use a in tank fuel pump attached to the factory pickup tube.

My Samurai has manual steering and with it only weighing 2,200lbs I can't even tell that it is manual steering. So I am not worried about power steering as of right now.

The samurai factory throttle cable is really long and has the same hook up at the carb as the LA1 TB, so that shouldn't be an issue ether.

The exhaust I was thinking of maybe trying to use the 3400 manifolds and cross over pipe so that I only have to run one pipe from the engine back and keep everything nice and tight under the tub without a lot of welding. I am not looking for performance, just more power and hopefully the same or better fuel economy I am getting right now.

This will be my daily driver, it's almost as good in traffic as a motorcycle.
I am reading threw a 3.5 F-body swap right now to see how he did it and again thanks for your fast responses, info, and suggestions. I will let you know what I come up with from the salvage yard.

Thanks again

[caffeine]

Is there enough room behind the engine for a FWD crossover pipe? Seems to me you need about 10" of clearance or so.

Remember, free flowing exhaust is good for fuel economy too . The OBX headers are good on a budget, and include a y-pipe that is useable; you just need to weld-in a flex section to make it fit nicely. The Y-pipe points a single 2.5" output straight out the passengers side about level with how low the T5's bellhousing sits.

[1of625]

Well it seems I have let my ADHD hype up the idea of putting the 3.4 into my Samurai,, after going to the junk yard and playing with the RPM calculator it seems that a 3.4 is not such a good idea after all.

As the Samurai sits right now with 28.8” tires at 70mph it is turning 3500rpm. I drive 60miles a day round trip and 40 of those miles are interstate and I get 32.7mpg. With that being said I know the 3.4 or 3400 would not like turning 3500rpm or atleast will not get me the MPG I am getting right now turning that many RPM.
Some of you may say to just change the differential gears,, Well speaking in differential terms 3.73 is the highest gear ratio available for the my Samurai and that is what is in the front and rear now. For those of you wondering why the RPM’s are so high, it is because my Samurai came from the factory with a divorced transfer case that has a gear ratio of 1.409.

So in the end it would not be beneficial or cost wise for me to put a 3.4 or 3400 in my Samurai.

I want to thank everyone that contributed to this thread and if anyone is looking for or interested in a RWD L32 3.4 engine that was refreshed about 40,000 miles ago that has 3rd gen 2.8 heads and fuel injection on it feel free to send me a PM,,,, by the way I live in Georgia.

Thanks again for the suggestions and answers .