Is the new Camaro V6 swap freindly?

Last week my boss called and said he needed me to take a ride with him. He picked me up but wouldn't tell me where we were going. He pulled into a Chevy dealer and said we where picking up his new car. Seems he got a hell of a deal on a base '13 Camaro, V6 with a 6 speed.

Anyway, we go to pull out of the lot and he stops and turns the traction control off. We leave the lot sideways and I'm pretty impressed at this point. A couple miles up the road I asked when I could drive it and he pulled over to switch spots.

I pulled out easy in first, ran it hard up to the redline and banged it into second with a good chirp from the tires. It pulled hard through second and I slammed it into third with another chirp from the tires. O.K. now I'm really impressed.

It's certainly not neck snapping acceleration by any means but it does have a nice pull all the way through the rev range. We got back and I popped the hood and pulled the engine cover off and saw a pretty compact little engine that would look right at home in a much smaller car.

I'm thinking a 300+hp V6 powered S10 with a 6 speed would be mighty fun, or double the HP of a G-body while losing a bunch of weight and gaining a bunch mpg's would be epic. Or maybe even stick it in a Chevette for even more fun. I hope they sell millions of these things because I see them as a more practical swap into smaller cars than the LSx's due to the much smaller size.

I wonder what the weight difference is between the V6 and the V8?

I have to stop myself from being dismissive of the v6 in newer camaros and mustangs. 10 years ago 300 hp was damn quick, kids these days just take it for granted.

An old boxy s10 with that under the hood would make me chuckle with delight. Or if this forum has taught me anything, its that miata needs to come up somewhere.

Are they really much smaller? My impression of them was that they were about one cylinder width shorter, though I admit I didn't measure. Maybe they're 4 inches shorter and that might matter, but with the number of SS cars running around I can't imagine that it would make sense to use the V6 instead of the V8.

In reply to mazdeuce:

It looked tiny to me in the engine bay. My first thought was how good it would have fit in my E21, no way a SBC is going in there without massive massaging of lots of things.

those are the "new" 3.6 liter motors. Stout motors (once the timing chain issue was worked out)

Ill email me old gm teacher to see what they weigh. i know they had a dozen laying around campus

It'll bolt in easy enough, but engine management will be a major hurdle due to the direct injection.

Direct injection means no "easy" engine management outside of it's native (electronics) home. The OEMs are missing a huge gap by not offering tuneable ECMs for the direct injection engines, IMO. They're in a very unique position to own this market as the aftermarket companies can't easily hack these ECUs to ignore the missing controllers and there aren't any companies making Megasquirt-ish DIY level ECUs for direct injection. Direct injection has completely different hardware requirements for the electronics, and so far the volumes are low enough that the aftermarket isn't going after it unless you're paying BIG bucks.

Bryce

It can't be long until megasquirt 4 comes out to run these D.I. engines, right?

Paging MS Matt to the white courtesy phone!

In reply to Nashco:

Your Sig says you have a fiero so I'm going to assume you have looked into this.

Use the older Cadillac CTS V6 engine? Or maybe retrofit the port injection system to the newer Camaro V6 engine, if possible?

The Mustang 3.7L V6 is port injected, shorter and slightly narrower than a LS1, and about as tall. It's also been used in a couple of hardcore track day cars across the pond and has an aftermarket the old V6s could only dream of. I think it would make an excellent swap candidate for an older RWD car. Feeling sacrilegious?

Camaro v6 is just a reworked old catera motor. Im sure the swap has been done. Mustang or fiat is mich better tho

I am 110% anti Ford. I don't care if they had a 4cyl making 450hp and got 75mpg I wouldn't want it. I realize that's very narrow minded and a large portion of the people here would never get it but I don't really care. Some people from down under may understand my hatred of Ford, I hear that once a year they show up for a fight and a race breaks out.

Lots of people tune direct injection motors - we do it all the time on the LNF 4 cylinders. Don't expect to find lots of hidden BHP in the LLT engine, though. GM didn't waste much in their programming.

Around 370 lbs. for the V6, not sure how much for the V8s.

Why the heck would you even consider that V6 when an LSx could be had for cheaper? And there are a ton of well-documented swaps of putting one of them in an S10

nicksta43 wrote: I am 110% anti Ford. I don't care if they had a 4cyl making 450hp and got 75mpg I wouldn't want it. I realize that's very narrow minded and a large portion of the people here would never get it but I don't really care. Some people from down under may understand my hatred of Ford, I hear that once a year they show up for a fight and a race breaks out.

SLAP

Get out.

nicksta43 wrote: I am 110% anti Ford.

As long as you understand that GM blows. And they don't even do that well.

Forget about the 6-cylinder, tell me about the transmission. What is it/who makes it? What will it bolt to and how much torque can it take? Is it physically smaller than the T-56/TR-6060?

In reply to SEADave:

It's an Aisin Warner AY6 6-speed manual. That's all I've got.

Also to the OP: The V6 changed to integrated exhaust manifolds (molded into the heads), for the 2012 MY IIRC?

Sky_Render wrote: Why the heck would you even consider that V6 when an LSx could be had for cheaper? And there are a ton of well-documented swaps of putting one of them in an S10

Variety? A challenge? Fuel economy? A strange and rare fear of engines with 8 cylinders?

wspohn wrote: Lots of people tune direct injection motors - we do it all the time on the LNF 4 cylinders. Don't expect to find lots of hidden BHP in the LLT engine, though. GM didn't waste much in their programming. Around 370 lbs. for the V6, not sure how much for the V8s.

You misunderstood the intent of the discussion. He was asking about swapping the engine into another chassis, not tuning a car for more power that already has direct injection. Of course, you CAN swap the engine into another car and have it work perfectly fine as long as you transfer all of the electronics with it. Once you start removing stuff like ABS, wheel speed sensors, body controllers, instrument clusters, airbag systems, etc. from the electrical system, it's anybody's guess what the response mode is for each particular vehicle.

This is where a stand-alone ECU is perfectly poised to enter the market if they can add hardware to control the direct injection. Not for additional power, but for engine independence.

Bryce

Nashco wrote: Not for additional power, but for engine independence.

Viva La' revolution!

alfadriver wrote:

nicksta43 wrote: I am 110% anti Ford.

As long as you understand that GM blows. And they don't even do that well.

I meant to add a line about hoping they continue to sell lots of overpriced junk so they can keep you driving Alfa's and I can be jealous

From what I can tell, the integrated exhaust manifolds that most people complain about seem like they might actually be a benefit for dropping these engines into smaller cars and tighter engine bays.

As long as the packaging of the integrated manifold works for your needs, anyhow.

Actually, being a 60 degree motor, it should be narrower than an LSx as well as shorter. Could be taller, though, so it depends on your packaging restrictions.

nicksta, this year's Bathurst musta really bugged you. One Ford in front with a whole raft of Holdens trying to get past...

I am rite with you on doing a swap that is NOT a LSX variant and even more in to the 6 and 4 cylinder swaps. People don't get it when I tell them this. I was asking about this for a 944 and what motor would you use if it could not be a V8 (or bigger)

I got some great suggestions once people got over the "I don't want a V8 thing".

In reply to Driven5:

Ah, no. It makes the engine wider in a critical spot (pretty much where frame rails would be) as they are "optimized" not "block hugging". Interestingly, the outputs seem to be almost an exact match to a turbo hotside pattern, and low-and-behold, the new V-Sport Caddy's have twin turbo V6's...