V8 swap.

Asked by Kameron Feb 08, 2018 at 03:55 AM about the 1995 Chevrolet Camaro Coupe RWD

Question type: Car Customization

I have a 95 camaro just sitting with a 3 4l in it. I
wanna drop a v8 in it honestly just to get the know
how knowledge. Is it possible i can just drop like a
4 8£ vortex in there or do i have to swap reend get
new wirring harness amd all that jazz. I seen a
couple videos where a guy took a Lt1 from a
caprice and just dropped it in there with a trams
and re end swap. Hebdidnt change his guages so
his dash only read 100mph. But the car ran a
drove.  So is it possible i can do the swap without
getting a donor for its computers and what not

3 Answers

38,925

if you go with a carburated V-8 the wiring will be fairly easy , but something with EFI would be better , you would need the ECM from the donor and probably the ignition transponder would have to go with it or be programmed , the fuel pump might have to be up graded , and the rest of the drive train would have to be beefed up , those are some things that I can think of and I've never done it, I believe it would be a learning experience

1 people found this helpful.
5,445

Another engine swap. *sigh*. Ok. As someone who does this for a living, let me ask you a very, very simple question: Are you looking to do this the RIGHT WAY, or are you looking to piecemeal something together that likely will fail inspection, drive terribly, and fall apart or implode within 5k miles or so? I really, really hate Youtube engine swap videos for the simple fact that people will watch one and then decide "Hey, I can do that too!" What they don't take into consideration is...this person is likely using this car as a project just to see if it will work. There's no long term usage consideration, there's no thought of making it street legal, there's no thought given to reliability. Anyway, in answer to your question, if you want to do it correctly be prepared to spend some serious cash on getting this to work. You're going to need a new transmission, new rear end, new computer, new headers, new exhaust, new gauge cluster, a bunch of new wiring, new wiring harness, new sensors, new fuel pump, new fuel injectors, a dyno, new spark plugs, and a LOT more to get it done right. If you don't have $10k plus sitting around, forget it. Buying the motor is the cheapest part of what you are about to do. Now, if you just want to get it "running and driving", you're still going to need at least half that budget and I HIGHLY recommend against doing it at all if you're going to cut corners. It is dangerous, expensive, and will run atrociously. Keep in mind....you've got a '95 V6 Camaro. That car is probably worth $1000 or so on a good day. You're about to sink serious money into converting it into a V8. It would be FAR, FAR more practical to just get an LS1 V8 ('98 - '02) Camaro and, if you're interested in learning how to swap motors, swap it to an LS2 or LS3. That is a much easier project but will still require a lot of work and a good chunk of cash. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

157,475

Engine swap is not a good first project to get "know how" especially in today's somewhat complicated vehicles. Start off with a smaller less ambitious project and work up from there.

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