What exactly would I need to swap a V8 into a V6?

[IowaGuy]

Well if your doing it for the fun of turning a wrench in a garage, and making something interesting, thats cool. Otherwise from a finance viewpoint...

[MrChrisLS3]

I don't know why some folks think this is a big deal. You already have an SS that comes with everything you need, with the exception of damged parts. They both pretty much the same car, just some different pieces that should pretty much bolt up to the same place. It's not like you're trying to swap the LS into a 20 year old car not built for the engine.

[Mikes SS]

Originally Posted by MrChrisLS3

I don't know why some folks think this is a big deal. You already have an SS that comes with everything you need, with the exception of damged parts. They both pretty much the same car, just some different pieces that should pretty much bolt up to the same place. It's not like you're trying to swap the LS into a 20 year old car not built for the engine.

I agree 100%, why are there so many negative Nancy's here? The same car is made going down the line either for a V6 or a V8 and he has everything he needs already!! I say do it man and enjoy the experience, the whole engine/tranny/suspension comes out as a whole in the front. Just do it, you'll have a car you want and built by you which is more than a lot of people on here can say when all they do is open their wallets and pay someone to do stuff to their cars...good luck bro!!

[lawman007]

A really big motor!!!
Troy

[rontammy0]

Originally Posted by Chevycamarors@19

Yeahh wish I could explain which scene but don't wanna ruin the movie for anyone. Yes it was, I do wish it was more about the cars tho.

I agree...went from street racing thugs to special forces international lol. Lost the street racing roots.

[rontammy0]

Originally Posted by Thrillz

That build put those guys to the point of just quitting. Never seen those guys so frustrated like that.

Yes and that was what we did see....tv hides a lot.

[rontammy0]

Originally Posted by Mikes SS

I agree 100%, why are there so many negative Nancy's here? The same car is made going down the line either for a V6 or a V8 and he has everything he needs already!! I say do it man and enjoy the experience, the whole engine/tranny/suspension comes out as a whole in the front. Just do it, you'll have a car you want and built by you which is more than a lot of people on here can say when all they do is open their wallets and pay someone to do stuff to their cars...good luck bro!!

When you have "negative nancy" in your comment , you hardly have any credit left in the rest of that post for people to take you seriously.

[skidawgz]

Originally Posted by MrChrisLS3

I don't know why some folks think this is a big deal. You already have an SS that comes with everything you need, with the exception of damged parts. They both pretty much the same car, just some different pieces that should pretty much bolt up to the same place. It's not like you're trying to swap the LS into a 20 year old car not built for the engine.

I am extremely passionate about tinkering, but modern cars are a real pain in the ass to rip apart like that.

[Sales @ CAI Inc]

Originally Posted by MrChrisLS3

I don't know why some folks think this is a big deal. You already have an SS that comes with everything you need, with the exception of damged parts. They both pretty much the same car, just some different pieces that should pretty much bolt up to the same place. It's not like you're trying to swap the LS into a 20 year old car not built for the engine.

It would probably actually be easier to put the motor into a 20 year old car not made for it, probably cheaper too, hence all the LS swaps guys do into older vehicles. I'm doing one myself actually, not with the new Camaro motor, but a different LS based motor. With an older vehicle, its just a matter of motor mounts and a new wire harness, your not pairing all the electronics up, you're just adding what you need. With a V8 into a V6 Camaro, your trying to tie everything together and make them work with each other, which is a lot more difficult and costly then just starting from a blank slate of an older vehicle.

Not trying to be arguementative, just sharing what I think most guys who have built cars like this and done swaps have found, its usually much easier and cheaper to start with a blank slate 20 year old whatever car/truck then doing a V6 to V8 swap on a new Camaro.

TO the OP:

I would be willing to bet that if you traded in to a used V8, you would end up with less debt than you would spend to do this swap right, that's not even counting your time, which should be pretty substantial for this effort. I would think you could part out the Free V8, and make enough or more money to cover the difference to trade up to the V8 from your current V6, not to mention save hundreds of hours of time, research, and headache. If you want to do it for the "fun of it". by all means have at it and be proud of the end product. But if I were looking for the most efficient and least expensive way to get into the V8, Id trade in for it and part out the other car to cover the difference, I think that would have you coming out ahead in dollars as well as time, but I could be wrong.

Either way, good luck!

[v6sonoma]

All it takes is time and money. It's definitely possible but like most say in this case it's really not worth the effort. I would sell the engine/tranny to someone on ebay and take that money and trade in on the car you want. keep in mind the SS has plenty more than just the V8 to make it perform. In the end it's gonna be a long journey for not as good a car as you could have. Either way if you do it take pictures!

[BigRedViking]

Possible yes, smart probably not. Too many variables, motor year, is it the same as the V6 car? Will you have to take emissions tests? Those are some good questions to ask yourself. Are you ever going to sell the car? You're still going to be dropping some cash. My suggestion is to part it out, and sell the scrap metal. Take the money and run. Or buy a twin turbo, or supercharger kit. Being a diesel mechanic you're probably handy with turbos, or have some connections.

[Rocky1974]

Originally Posted by rmaringa

I have a wrecked V8 for free, everything seems in good condition aside from the unibody and a few other things.

What all do I need to swap from the V8 into the V6 to make this work? I'm looking for serious replies here. I would rather build this than go trade in a car that's already paid off to get myself in more debt.

So what components do I need to swap? Can anyone help with guidance, please?

You will need the entire driveline, engine, transmission, and rear end(The V6 manual uses the same rear end as the V8 auto). You will also need the radiator, exhaust system, powertrain control module, and the engine wiring harness.

The powertrain control module, instrument cluster, body control module, and infotainment system are all "married" to each other, so they all will need to be either swapped or reprogrammed. All this is assuming that the 2 cars are otherwise identical(Same year and equipment). You may run into other complications if the cars are not equipped the same. GM makes almost yearly wiring changes, so if they are not the same year, you will probably have connectors that won't connect or features that will no longer work. If the cars are different, you will need wiring diagrams for the 2 different cars and access to GM's systems for re-programming or plan on swapping ALL wiring and electronic modules between the 2 cars. If you swap parts and end up with a combination of features or parts from different years that GM never built, even GM wont be able to help you.

As already has been mentioned, the brakes and suspension are also different. These wont HAVE to be swapped to make the car run, but SHOULD be swapped to make the car safe.

Plan on lots of time, money and frustration.

[33Chevy]

Read #38 post carefully. He is right.

[Rocky1974]

Originally Posted by MrChrisLS3

I don't know why some folks think this is a big deal. You already have an SS that comes with everything you need, with the exception of damged parts. They both pretty much the same car, just some different pieces that should pretty much bolt up to the same place. It's not like you're trying to swap the LS into a 20 year old car not built for the engine.

Originally Posted by Mikes SS

I agree 100%, why are there so many negative Nancy's here? The same car is made going down the line either for a V6 or a V8 and he has everything he needs already!! I say do it man and enjoy the experience, the whole engine/tranny/suspension comes out as a whole in the front. Just do it, you'll have a car you want and built by you which is more than a lot of people on here can say when all they do is open their wallets and pay someone to do stuff to their cars...good luck bro!!

Really guys? Do you guys really NOT know just how computerized modern cars really are and just how technical a swap like this would be? GM has done everything they can to make this kind of stuff as difficult as possible for a multitude of reasons. They do this to discourage theft and make life as difficult as possible for chop shops. They are also trying to make the cars so that you have to return to the dealer for any and all maintenance.

Go back and read through Ofers's threads about adding My Link to the 2010-12s. He worked on that for over a year and he would still be working on it, if he hadn't gotten help from someone with experience in GM programing, to write some custom code to make it work. And all that was just to make a fancy radio work. Multiply that all by about a factor of a hundred and you might have some idea what it would take to swap an entire drive line.

I think the easiest way would be to swap the entire mechanicals, electronics, and wiring from the donor car to the V6 car. But it would be a huge job and would take weeks to months to complete, unless he has full time to devote to the project. Then, still, there could be complications down the road. The electronic VIN would no longer match the actual VIN, unless he swaps that too, which is illegal. If they no longer match, there could be problems with smog testing or even getting the car serviced. Every time someone figures out that the VIN numbers no longer match, the first thing they are going to think is that the car is stolen. I'm not saying that it can't be done, but it would take a lot of time and patience to do it right.