86 High Sierra Engine Swap to 3.8l V6

[86gmcHSGuy]

Long time reader, first time poster but had a thought... I have a 97 Camaro with the 3800 series 3.8l V6 and I was wondering if it would be possible, and if so, how difficult it would be to swap it into my 86 GMC High Sierra step side. It currently has the stock 305 but is not running.

 

[75gmck25]

Do you plan to keep all the electronics, or will you also convert to a carburetor? Is this mostly a money saving alternative, or is there something really good about that 3.8 engine you have?

A transplant seems possible, but it’s an awful lot of work to end up with a 3.8L in a full sized truck. I know both the RWD 3.8 and the 4.3 (what GM would have used in your truck) are used as engine swaps for Jeeps, so I assume the required parts are out there to fit it in a truck.

Bruce

 

[idahovette]

.............WHY??.........very little if anything is interchangeable??

 

[DoubleDingo]

.............WHY??.........very little if anything is interchangeable??

^^^THIS^^^ Just get another v8 and swap everything over from the 305. Much easier and affordable, then you can use the extra cash for other stuff, like beer, or go fast parts, or both. Even a crate engine would be cheaper than that swap you're considering.

 

[Grit dog]

Agree.
Aside from it not being any sort of upgrade (save for running vs not running), if you have to ask, then it’s not the project for you.
(Or for many people, don’t take it the wrong way, just doesn’t sound easy or beneficial)

 

[Bextreme04]

Well, I'll be the other side of this. Yes, it will bolt in without too much effort. You will need to move the computer and wiring harness as well. There isnt much in the way of programming available for the black box ECU's in those years. You can swap to an 0411 ECU and tune for free. If you dont know what any of that is, then you probably dont want to take this on. You should be able to hack up the harness and get it down to just a few power feed wires, but if you arent good or comfortable with electrical and dont know anything about tuning, it can be challenging. You can probably actually leave the black box as-is and just modify the harness... but you wont have a speedo either, since the 4L60e in that camaro wont have a mechanical speedo connection. You could just swap the motor and not the trans, but you would need to modify the tune in the PCM to get that to work right.