Has anybody built up a 3.4L - NJFBOA - Home of New Jersey's Camaros and Firebirds

bokey · 03-02-2006, 11:51 AM

Has anybody yet? I have a 1995 3.4L camaro for $2700 I think I may take a look at. It has about 115,000 and seems to be in perfect condition.

I think read somewhere that it has 160hp, but I don't know much more about it. I figure I could to intake, exhaust, at first. Then do maybe a new torque converter, tires, cam, and head work? Just a thought and thanks for your opinions.

Tru2Chevy · 03-02-2006, 01:09 PM

Head work should be high on the list, the heads on those motors are junk. Some people have done a head and intake swap from the FWD 3400 motors and had pretty good success. You might want to look into that.

The 60* v6 is a very durable motor, so it's a good base to build on. Plus they have a better sounding exhaust than those crappy 3.8s

- Justin

bokey · 03-02-2006, 03:07 PM

never knew that, thanks. I was also thinking pulling a set of heads off another junked 3.4 have them PP, new springs, valves, etc. so I can still use the car. Once done, I'll just swap them on.

I was looking at the engine bay of some 4.1 gens. Looks like a pretty tight space to work in

my theory is you can make any car fast, just depends on what you do to it.

NJSPEEDER · 03-02-2006, 03:31 PM

the 3.4 as it sits stock has a ton of breathing problems, both in and out.
the air intake leading to the TB has no real resource for improved volumes of air. i have a design in mind for kasey's 3.8 car that coudl be applied to the 3.4 that will help, or since the 3.4 intake is straight like the LS1 and 99 and up 3.8's there shoudl be space to adapt a lid type intake and grab air off the nose of the car.
the exhale is equally challeneged from what i have seen. all of the aftermarket headers are a rip off for the performance gain, so don't even bother. if you can weld or have a friend that knows how, some home made pipes will save money and see serious gains. collect it into a stock style single 3inch.
tuning is normal for a GM vehicle. designed to run on 87 octane. put in good gas and find someone or someplace to burn you a proper chip. the timing tables alone will yield huge gains in performance.
gears help any car, especially one with as little torque as the 3.4. if you are going for the 1/4 mile effect with a stock or mild bolt on engine, 4.10's will be the ticket. if you are planning a power adder you may want to look into 3.73's. unfortunately the stock 3.4 cam spins out of power below 5000 rpm, even if you improve teh intake and exhaust the best you can hope for is useable power to 5200-5400rpm tops, so you have to stay a bit conservative on gear selection.

hope this helps

qwikz28 · 03-02-2006, 06:05 PM

i think rksport makes a supercharger for it. i think its powerdyne based

Tru2Chevy · 03-02-2006, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by qwikz28

i think rksport makes a supercharger for it. i think its powerdyne based

That kit is pretty crappy though....we've been through a lot of 3.4 mods with the guys on fullthrottlev6.com.

- Justin

qwikz28 · 03-02-2006, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tru2Chevy

That kit is pretty crappy though....we've been through a lot of 3.4 mods with the guys on fullthrottlev6.com.

- Justin

o ok. i didnt know that

bokey · 03-02-2006, 06:38 PM

wow, never realized that the 3.4's had that many issues. No wonder why nobody has touched 'em. Hmm, that really makes me re-think about getting invloved...

I think it's safe to say: Would be sinking in way too much money for not a whole lot of gain?

Tru2Chevy · 03-02-2006, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bokey

I think it's safe to say: Would be sinking in way too much money for not a whole lot of gain?

IIRC, the one guy who had the 3400 FWD top end swap and a full exhaust put 190ish to the wheels (which makes it a bit more powerful than a mostly stock 3.8 car).

- Justin