Swaping L82 into LG8 Malibu?? Help!

[benwalburg]

I have a 97' Lumunia with the L82 3.1 (first gen of 3.1) that has a crashed exterior (agricultural tractor hit it) that I would like to get the motor swaped into my 00' Malibu (LG8 series 2 3.1 motor) that had a coolant problem that ran the engine into the ground.

The Lumunia motor starts and runs perfectly and only has 40k miles on it. The Malibu has 98k miles on the vehicle.

I talked to a mechanic and he said there would be some computer errors that he wasnt sure he'd be able to reset after doing the swap- other than that he did not have any other concerns. est 1100-1400 once he sees it a better guess.
Can any of you think of any concerns as well as provide any feedback re: the price? I'm bringing both vehicles in Monday night providing everything sounds doable.

Thanks for your time- insight and obvious wealth of knowledge visible from reading thru just a few threads here.

[bszopi]

Shouldn't be too big of a concern. You are going to a less powerful, less efficient engine, though.

Check out 3x00swap.com and goto the downloads area. Get the 3400 swap guide and look it over, as you are technically just doing the opposite. Off the top of my head, I can't really think of any issues your mechanic would have to deal with. Both engines are from OBD-2 cars, so sensors will be the same. Price seems reasonable, figuring $80/hr, as it will take a couple days to do the swap.

[IsaacHayes]

Being a 97 engine it should have the roller rockers no matter what which will clear the larger newer intakes. Swap the lower intake and upper intake onto the 97 engine and everything else should bolt up no problem... Put a new lower intake gasket too on of course. metal felpro/dorman would be best. If it doesn't have roller rockers it should have the notches in the head for them, you can swap over the 00 ones then (I think they didnt go from 10mm to 8mm studs until like 03 or something so that should be fine).

The intakes will get you close to the power it had before with the newer 3100. The heads won't be quite as good as they have slight revisions over the years and slightly larger intake valve. But it shouldn't be too noticeable at all.

[SappySE107]

Just don't even do it. It would be cheaper to find a newer 3100 and have it dropped in instead of having a mechanic tear 2 engines apart to swap parts and then do the engine swap. Even a 2000 or newer 3400 would be a drop in ordeal compared to what you propose.

[bszopi]

Only thing is, he's already got the L82, so the cost of the engine is null. Obviously not the best end result, but if he's just trying to get the car back on the road, a swap would be easy enough. I would just put it in as is and not worry about swapping parts between the 2 engines (unless absolutely necessary).

[SappySE107]

He is going to be swapping the fuel pressure regulator at min, and at best the injectors as well. The EGR changed so the manifolds may as well be swapped as well. Paying a mechanic to do that vs buying a 00+ 3400 is now worthwhile, at least to me. car-part.com for something local would give you a price comparison, as it may not be close at all in your area.

The 97 may have roller rockers, but the heads still don't flow as well or as consistant as 3400 and 00+ 3100.

[benwalburg]

Only thing is, he's already got the L82, so the cost of the engine is null. Obviously not the best end result, but if he's just trying to get the car back on the road, a swap would be easy enough. I would just put it in as is and not worry about swapping parts between the 2 engines (unless absolutely necessary).

Exactly- I have both vehicles sitting next to each other in my enclosed garage with no running vehicle.

The only expense with this route is the swapping (mechanic) I'm well aware the earlier motor has less hp/tq little less fuel econ etc. but as stated some wheels are better than none!

as for finding a 3400 with low miles (As I originally stated the l82 from the lumunia has only 40k miles, not like its 150k towards the end of its life) runs around 900-1500 depending on the millage, then between the pulling the malibu 3100 out and putting the new 3400 in about another grand in total. So I'm looking at 2k in total costs compared to ~1200 in total cost.
Unfortunately due to the current economic times I do not have the extra 800 bucks to fork over for the increased performance.

I'm going to researching alt. 3100/3400 to see if i can find any bargins
Any other feedback?

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

DIY!

[benwalburg]

DIY!

little intimidating-would try but no tools- that and admitting my fulltime dayjob is in front of a computer.
I have family machanic support/tools for just about anything besides doing a swap tho

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

if you have a spare car, and a little bit of space, its worth trying. i mean like they were saying its not the best idea to downgrade the engine and swapping parts back and forth at a mechanics is going to start piling up in costs really fast. for the cost of your engine swap i could find you a whole car, low mileage with a working engine in it!! whats the point in paying that much for basically nothing. you could buy more than enough of the tools you need with that cash, or spend some of the money on making your older 3100 better before you put it in. im no pro, but im betting some new heads, headers and intake could make that thing scream compared to before.

then think about how much you can brag to your friends about how you built your motor.
and really, did you play with Lego as a kid? engines arent very hard. especially the older ones.

get lots of ziplock bags for the nuts and bolts (label the bags so you know where the parts came from) and if you NEED to, take pictures. it helps you remember where shit went.

paying someone else to do something anyone could do is senseless. $1100 can buy a goooooood collection of tools. brand new or used. either way.