Help With Junkyard Swap
01-03-2016, 03:01 AM
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Staging Lane
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Help With Junkyard Swap Alright, so I had my car at a friend's house for a while in the middle of a motor swap. I had bought a 3800 out of a newer firebird along with everything I needed for the swap for a steal. Well, I ended up having to move to a different town for a while, and I guess while I was gone, the guy i bought the motor from realized how shafted he got on the deal and came and took it back. I had already disconnected my junk 3.4 (and was not very nice in the process) so the only thing connected to the motor are the mounts and the manifolds.
Long story short, the motor is ready to be pulled, and it will be pulled, the 3.4 doesn't work and isn't worth it to reconnect and fix. It's been to long since the car ran, and I want to drop in some quick, easy power. I'm pretty set on trying to find a totaled roadmaster for cheap, and yank out the engine and tranny and drop it in, then junk the Buick with my old motor and tranny.
I know I'll need the LT mounts and drive shaft from the f body, and a stronger rear end, probably also from a junk lt f body. What all else will I need to make it work? I'm planning on making it easier by just buying an entire junked donor car, but what all will work from the roadmaster, and what will I need to get from a junkyard f body?
Disclaimer, I'm looking at a roadmaster instead of an LT f body because I can imagine even wrecked, an f body will be more expensive than the Buick, and when I junk the donor car, there's more metal in the roadmaster to hopefully recoup the cost of buying it. But if I find a dirt cheap donor f body, I'll go with that instead
Long story short, the motor is ready to be pulled, and it will be pulled, the 3.4 doesn't work and isn't worth it to reconnect and fix. It's been to long since the car ran, and I want to drop in some quick, easy power. I'm pretty set on trying to find a totaled roadmaster for cheap, and yank out the engine and tranny and drop it in, then junk the Buick with my old motor and tranny.
I know I'll need the LT mounts and drive shaft from the f body, and a stronger rear end, probably also from a junk lt f body. What all else will I need to make it work? I'm planning on making it easier by just buying an entire junked donor car, but what all will work from the roadmaster, and what will I need to get from a junkyard f body?
Disclaimer, I'm looking at a roadmaster instead of an LT f body because I can imagine even wrecked, an f body will be more expensive than the Buick, and when I junk the donor car, there's more metal in the roadmaster to hopefully recoup the cost of buying it. But if I find a dirt cheap donor f body, I'll go with that instead
01-03-2016, 05:48 AM
#2
I'm not as educated on the LT cars, but I'll give a few things that I came up with....
You didn't mention exhaust, so you'll need to address that. I would be willing to bet that the factory exhaust manifolds from the Buick Roadmaster will not work at all on an f-body unless you have custom exhaust built.
Your factory V6 rear end will suffice just fine until you can swap it out for something better. That'll save you some time and money for the time being.
Glad you have the driveshaft on your swap list. Get rid of that horrible two-piece V6 unit!
Now like I said I'm no LT expert, but if it's anything like an LS swap you'll need to swap out the factory computer. Maybe, just maybe, the Roadmaster PCM will run all the engine and body systems without any reprogramming.
Scrap metal prices are way low right now, so don't expect to get even close to what you pay for the donor car. I used to collect scrap, but last time I took a load in steel was just 2 cents a pound.
Good luck with you swap, and if you get in a bind I'm sure there are folks in the Conversions & Hybrids Forum that can help you out.
You didn't mention exhaust, so you'll need to address that. I would be willing to bet that the factory exhaust manifolds from the Buick Roadmaster will not work at all on an f-body unless you have custom exhaust built.
Your factory V6 rear end will suffice just fine until you can swap it out for something better. That'll save you some time and money for the time being.
Glad you have the driveshaft on your swap list. Get rid of that horrible two-piece V6 unit!
Now like I said I'm no LT expert, but if it's anything like an LS swap you'll need to swap out the factory computer. Maybe, just maybe, the Roadmaster PCM will run all the engine and body systems without any reprogramming.
Scrap metal prices are way low right now, so don't expect to get even close to what you pay for the donor car. I used to collect scrap, but last time I took a load in steel was just 2 cents a pound.
Good luck with you swap, and if you get in a bind I'm sure there are folks in the Conversions & Hybrids Forum that can help you out.
01-03-2016, 09:14 AM
#3
Staging Lane
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Thank you for the input y2k
I figured that the V6 rear end would work, but from what I hear the 12 bolt rear ends can't hold any power, and as soon as I step on it, it'll break. I'm fully aware that I don't think I'll be able to refrain from at least a victory burnout or two lol
I read a few threads about someone swapping a roadmaster into a 93 Bird (at least I think it was a 93) but there seemed to be a lot of misinformation and contradictory statements being thrown around in that thread, so I figured I'd start clean
And as far as the exhaust, I don't know why I didn't mention that one. I guess it seemed like a no brained to me that I just forgot to mention it lol
I read on one of the threads about a similar swap that the pcm from the roadmaster will work, I just need to get an f body harness, and someone then recommended (but said it wasn't explicitly necessary) that I then get the pcm tuned to run the roadmaster version of the LT1 to run in an f body car.
And unfortunately I'm painfully aware of the low price of scrap at the moment :/ I had to get rid of a junk car for almost nothing not to long ago. But I'm hoping I can turn that to my favor by buying a completely trashed car right now when whoever has it can't really get rid of it for much anyway, and they hopefully by the time I get everything from it I need and the old motor pulled, prices will have recovered at least a little
I figured that the V6 rear end would work, but from what I hear the 12 bolt rear ends can't hold any power, and as soon as I step on it, it'll break. I'm fully aware that I don't think I'll be able to refrain from at least a victory burnout or two lol
I read a few threads about someone swapping a roadmaster into a 93 Bird (at least I think it was a 93) but there seemed to be a lot of misinformation and contradictory statements being thrown around in that thread, so I figured I'd start clean
And as far as the exhaust, I don't know why I didn't mention that one. I guess it seemed like a no brained to me that I just forgot to mention it lol
I read on one of the threads about a similar swap that the pcm from the roadmaster will work, I just need to get an f body harness, and someone then recommended (but said it wasn't explicitly necessary) that I then get the pcm tuned to run the roadmaster version of the LT1 to run in an f body car.
And unfortunately I'm painfully aware of the low price of scrap at the moment :/ I had to get rid of a junk car for almost nothing not to long ago. But I'm hoping I can turn that to my favor by buying a completely trashed car right now when whoever has it can't really get rid of it for much anyway, and they hopefully by the time I get everything from it I need and the old motor pulled, prices will have recovered at least a little