'04 Venture 3.4 into '96 Grand Prix 3.1

[WymanV]

Well, luck was good The dealership gave it a clean bill of health last weekend-no codes. The exhaust is a bit cobbled right now but when I have some extra $ next month it'll go to the exhaust shop and everything will be done.

Ken

[Golgo13]

I did a 03 3400 swap into my 96 grand prix a couple of years ago. The only problems I had with the swap were that the motor did not have the oil sensor as you mentioned with yours and I did have to swap cam sensors.

I did run my factory injectors w/ the 3400 fuel pressure regulator. I may switch back to the 3100. But now I think I may have a bad injector

good luck

[nixtux]

Got the Engine last night. Would've Thursday night but I decided to start drinking around 8PM so I didn't get out of bed until 6PM Friday.

No engine or transmission.



Old transmission



Trusty 3100 /w 176,000 miles /w 110,000 on a rebuild.

[pontiacdohc@gmail.com]

you should be more then fine with a 6.0 SCFM witha 15 gal tank, not gonna lie thats gonna be a good set up i use a portable 5.3 SCFM/10 gal tank and it works fine inless your trying to play nasscar or ur sanding for long peroids of time.
I have done allot with that little compressor just rectenly removed and installed a a 3100 long block in a 2000 Grand Prix and it helped alot!

[nixtux]

So a 7CFM /w I 2G tank and 125/35psi and 2HP Electric Motor would be good enough for basic stuff?

IE. Removing the Crank bolt, Sanding, maybe air hammer, painting, and then just basic tightening. I doubt I'll use it for breaking much. Just the repetitive loosening and tightening.

I noticed some with SCFM. Is there any difference? Standard vs just CFM? These was a decent deal on a SCFM 6, 15G tank, 2HP (maybe it was more.)

As Far As Compressors Go Its Not The Psi U Have To Worry About Its The Cfm Look For One With At Least 5.5 Cfm If You Plan On Running Anything Like And Die Grinder,impact Or Hammer.

ALSO THE WALL MART SHIT, I JUST GOT A SET OF THEM FOR CHRISTMAS THEY SEEM TO BE ALL RIGHT BUT I ALWAYS CHECK BY HAND TO SEE SEE IF STUFF IS TIGHT OR NOT, BUT AS FAR AS BREAKING BOLTS LOOSE THERE GOOD SO FAR!

[pontiacdohc@gmail.com]

As Far As Compressors Go Its Not The Psi U Have To Worry About Its The Cfm Look For One With At Least 5.5 Cfm If You Plan On Running Anything Like And Die Grinder,impact Or Hammer.

ALSO THE WALL MART SHIT, I JUST GOT A SET OF THEM FOR CHRISTMAS THEY SEEM TO BE ALL RIGHT BUT I ALWAYS CHECK BY HAND TO SEE SEE IF STUFF IS TIGHT OR NOT, BUT AS FAR AS BREAKING BOLTS LOOSE THERE GOOD SO FAR!

[3100 MPFI]

I go with craftsman myself. Can't help with the air compressor seeing I don't have one, but as for the tools, I go with craftsman for the warranty.

[nixtux]

This is a complete irrelevant question, however, I'm curious.

I've been looking at some electric air compressors cause I want to update to air ratchets this week (gets old hand turning everything.)

Currently I have a 125psi gas A/C /w 2G tank, which I rarely use except to air up tires or flush the transmission cooler.

Would 150psi be enough /w 15G tank? There is a decent deal for a 150psi /w 15G tank - and set of air ratchets for $200ish. But I also have my eyes on a 20G 200PSI w/o ratchets for 200.

I know with regular ratchets, some just plan SUCK! I've learned that Craftmans seem to be the best. A bit expensive but you don't end up buying one, breaking a few bolts and the damn thing is just clicking on you or not adjusting.

My question regarding Air Ratchets. Should I just front the cash for a set from Sears or would the $50-$75 sets at Wal-Mart be good enough? Just some recommendations regarding compressors/ratchet sets.

Thanks

[WymanV]

The pan in the van had the "plugs" for the sensor, but the hole for the sensor itself would have had to be drilled out and the one for the retaining bolt tapped. Much less trouble to just swap the pans

Yup-that's the pipe. I'll still have to go to a junkyard to get one. When I talk to them on the phone, they get confused and just don't want to get involved. This was the beauty of finding the motor too-"A 3.4 to put in a 96 Grand Prix with a 3.1? Can't be done/need to change the computer/no, we don't have one, sorry".

Ken

[3100 MPFI]

I didn't know about the different pans. By header pipe, are you referring to the exhaust downpipe? If that is the case, you can get one from a 1999 LUMINA (car) with the 3100, and it will bolt right up. That is what I am using in my 1988 Cutlass Supreme.

[WymanV]

I didn't pull anything off brake or exhaust related. Made things a little tight putting it back together, but with age comes patience I guess-took my time and everything came out fine. Fired it up Sunday afternoon and everything works. Still need to replace a too-short heater hose and I'm having a helluva time finding a replacement header pipe but the motor is solid and strong. And BTW-had to change the oil pan too. The GP has what I'm guessing is a level sensor, the Venture did not.

Thanks for your help, gents

Ken

[3100 MPFI]

yes it does. That is why I keep a complete totalled parts car. I have a project coming up that I will need it. What I intend to do might RUIN a car, so I want to do the swap to my totalled car before I do it to one of my good ones seeing I will be cutting out part of the body.

First of all, the stock 3400 is pretty strong, and for as low as 4-6 PSI of boost, you really should not need to do anything. I would just open it up, and check all of your clearances, and go ahead and put new bearing and stuff in.

For an OBD2 conversion, I would recommend using a 1996 PCM. The newer one, you will have to do a lot more.

Some things you will have to rewire for the 1996 in your 1995 is add in a second O2 sensor (which you can do with a simulator). You will also need to add in a MAF, and the newer EGR. All of that is pretty easy.

[nixtux]

My Cutlass is a 95, Supreme. I figured swap over the computers and do a conversions to OBDII. Just want to make sure that's going to work before I buy the car and drive 120 miles to get it (rent a trailer to tow it using two tanks of gas in the old truck.)

Are you familiar with anyone using an external Fuel Pump on these cars? I wouldn't mind getting a high flow external fuel pump. Make it easier to change and the one I have in there is crap. It's a junk yard special that I got in a pinch when the original went out a year and half ago.

My goal is to get a newer 3400 /w low miles and probably rebuilt a good portion of the motor. I'm debating about doing a turbo application, so my goal is to make the motor work n/a but strong enough to take 4-6psi boost. But I'd like to squeeze as much power out of the 3400 w/o boost. Between 220-250HP would be awesome. With good power across the board.

At this point I just want to get my car back together so I can drive it again with the original 3100 (rebuilt 5 years ago, has about 110,000miles since rebuild 176k total - never taken her over 80MPH,) and use the grand prix as a "parts" car for a future transmission/engine swap in my Cutlass. Then junk the Grand Prix.

I have a huge garage (I can easily fit 5 cars in it,) so I have plenty of room to store any number of parts for a future transplant. Ideally I want to have the motor, transmission, exhaust, computers, wire harness laid out neatly to transplant into my Cutlass in March/April.

What would you recommended for rebuilding a 3400? In respect to upgraded parts? Right now I'm a bit short on cash (business always sucks in Oct-Dec, but Jan is normally my best month) but come months end I'd like to drop a few grand into the parts needed for this project.

should I rebuild from the block up? Or just do the top /w new piston (forged I'd assume since I'd like to do a turbo setup sometime. ) But I want it to be really strong so it can take the punishment. I'm not exactly hard on my vehicles, but I certainly enjoy the feeling of torgue. And I like reliablily.

This will be my first engine rebuild so please excuse any stupid questions. I have a friend who will be helping who is more versed so I'm not going into this super blind. But at this point, kind of/

I hope that makes sense.

If you pull the engine seperate from the transmission, as long as you remove the exhaust crossover, then it will come out just fine. The ABS does not get in the way (But you hvae to watch out for it, 'cause they are pretty close. I did it to my 1996 Grand Prix without a problem.

If you use the newer engine, you will not have a problem (as long as you swap out the fuel injectors). You do NOT want to use the 2000 PCM at this time. Use the 1996 one. The newer PCM will need to see some SENSORS that your car does not have, and I don't know how to add, for example, the 2000+ PCM needs to see the pressure of the FUEL TANK, but it has the same fuel setup as the older car as far as I can tell. That is one of the reasons that the newer cars gets a CHECK WALLET..... er..... check ENGINE light if the gas cap is left off. I don't know how it will run if you don't hook it up.

The 3100 I pulled out of my 1996 Grand Prix, I had done an LG8 conversion (large port 3100) to it. The only things that I didn't do was the fuel injectors, seeing that they were the thin ones, and the PCM might not be able to run them right). Everything else was pretty much bolt on, and it made the 1996 L82 3100 into basically a full late 1999 LG8 3100 (yes, the large port 3100 came out in 1999. That was the only year that had it so that if you had a 1996-1999 L82 you could do the swap without messing with the EGR. The older LINEAR EGR bolted right up to it with the stock EGR pipe and everything.

[3100 MPFI]

If you pull the engine seperate from the transmission, as long as you remove the exhaust crossover, then it will come out just fine. The ABS does not get in the way (But you hvae to watch out for it, 'cause they are pretty close. I did it to my 1996 Grand Prix without a problem.

If you use the newer engine, you will not have a problem (as long as you swap out the fuel injectors). You do NOT want to use the 2000 PCM at this time. Use the 1996 one. The newer PCM will need to see some SENSORS that your car does not have, and I don't know how to add, for example, the 2000+ PCM needs to see the pressure of the FUEL TANK, but it has the same fuel setup as the older car as far as I can tell. That is one of the reasons that the newer cars gets a CHECK WALLET..... er..... check ENGINE light if the gas cap is left off. I don't know how it will run if you don't hook it up.

The 3100 I pulled out of my 1996 Grand Prix, I had done an LG8 conversion (large port 3100) to it. The only things that I didn't do was the fuel injectors, seeing that they were the thin ones, and the PCM might not be able to run them right). Everything else was pretty much bolt on, and it made the 1996 L82 3100 into basically a full late 1999 LG8 3100 (yes, the large port 3100 came out in 1999. That was the only year that had it so that if you had a 1996-1999 L82 you could do the swap without messing with the EGR. The older LINEAR EGR bolted right up to it with the stock EGR pipe and everything.

[nixtux]

Did you have to remove the ABS pump to get the motor to clear?

I'm about ready to pull my 3100 out of my cutlass, however, I'm not sure if it's going to clear with the pump in? Also I have to extract the transmission since it's toast. Would it be best to pull the motor then the transmission or just do both at the same time? I'm pretty sure the pump will need to be removed for both cause it doesn't appear to have clearance for both with the pump in the way.

I also found a 96' Grand Prix SE /w a bad motor I'm probably going to pick up. Would that provide the parts needed for a complete swap to a 2000+ 3400 (Newer is better I always say.) For example, Computers, Sensors (I get I'll likely want to replace many of them for GP,) but I don't want to get the car if it isn't going to benefit my project.

Sorry I didn't make a new post, however, this seems to follow suite with what I'm doing so I figured give it a shot.

Thanks for any advice in advance.

Excellent. Thanks Taylor!

Got it in there last night and everything but the exhaust done on the bottom. Hope to get the top done today and maybe-just-maybe fire it up.


Ken