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True cost of a 3.4 swap...

Old 11-15-2005, 11:08 AM
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True cost of a 3.4 swap...

My 93 is very , very clean inspite of the 171k on the odometer. So, it would be good candidate for a 3.4 swap.

From my research, the cost to do the swap is :

* 3.4 with all under hood ancilliaries including pumps,
VSV, vapor cannister etc $1500-$2000

* New clutch $ 200

* Install kit (if you go the kit route) $1700

* Headers/exhaust $500 to $750

* Bits and pieces $250 (air cleaner, relocate battery etc)

So, you are looking at best case of over $4000, perhaps as much as $4500 if you cannot source a good used 3.4

Guaranteeing a good 3.4 is the key...

To me, the economics do not make sense unless a good used 3.4 falls into your lap at a great price and you have to get all the anciliaries or you will get nickel and dimed to death.

For those who have done it and not dropped $1700 on a kit, how much did your install run ....if you can do it for $500 with a good motor then $2500 is fair but it seems the exhaust alone could cost $500.

David
Old 11-15-2005, 11:43 AM
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Originally Posted by nrgetic99

* 3.4 with all under hood ancilliaries including pumps,
VSV, vapor cannister etc $1500-$2000

David
that includes the computer and harness?

this is why ive got $500 in rebuilding (by which $500 i mean including starting from a spair long block so ill still have an extra motor to 2 when im done) my 3vze. not the "powerhouse" a 5vze is, but much cheeper and much easyer to do.
Old 11-15-2005, 11:54 AM
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Originally Posted by snap-on
that includes the computer and harness?

this is why ive got $500 in rebuilding (by which $500 i mean including starting from a spair long block so ill still have an extra motor to 2 when im done) my 3vze. not the "powerhouse" a 5vze is, but much cheeper and much easyer to do.
True cost of motor prolly $2500 ....

David
Old 11-15-2005, 12:07 PM
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I've thought a lot about this too. My 3.slow has nearly 200K on the clock, but when she goes, I'll just rebuild it and keep on trucking. The body, transmission and everything else are in great shape so I just can't justify buying a new truck and the cost for me to do a rebuild is a LOT cheaper than an engine swap. And I have access to my cousin's shop where he does engine swaps all the time.
Old 11-15-2005, 12:20 PM
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I see all these posts about people either swapping or rebuilding as stock. Once you get the motor out, wouldn't it make sense to bore/stroke or redo the heads to get more power? Doesn't seem like it would cost all that much more, and you could probably greatly increase the power
Old 11-15-2005, 01:06 PM
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or leave the stock internals and add a S/C. Plus header install won't be as bad whn you have the motor out. Granted that is another couple thousand, but you said more power
Old 11-15-2005, 01:20 PM
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Originally Posted by FilthyRich
or leave the stock internals and add a S/C. Plus header install won't be as bad whn you have the motor out. Granted that is another couple thousand, but you said more power
That would add another $2k or so on top of the $4-$5k for the swap...

David
Old 11-15-2005, 01:58 PM
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I am curious when you do a swap do things like AC, speedometer, etc. still work correctly?
Old 11-15-2005, 02:32 PM
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Originally Posted by PistonSlap
I am curious when you do a swap do things like AC, speedometer, etc. still work correctly?
If you search there isa very good writeup on the 4x4 wire board.

In short, all will work but all require modifying in either a minor or major way

David
Old 11-15-2005, 03:24 PM
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Originally Posted by nrgetic99
My 93 is very , very clean inspite of the 171k on the odometer. So, it would be good candidate for a 3.4 swap.
For those who have done it and not dropped $1700 on a kit, how much did your install run ....if you can do it for $500 with a good motor then $2500 is fair but it seems the exhaust alone could cost $500.
David
:pat: It is a costly swap $4100 total. I'll let you know Monday if it was worth it or not when I pick up my truck from having the exhaust installed.
Old 11-15-2005, 04:21 PM
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Let's look at it this way. A decent car/truck today is going to cost you at LEAST $500 per month. So how many months to recover the cost of the swap???? Probably less than a year.

A heck of a lot cheaper than buying a new vehicle, plus the insurance savings, etc.
Old 11-15-2005, 08:44 PM
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Originally Posted by PistonSlap
I am curious when you do a swap do things like AC, speedometer, etc. still work correctly?
Speedo works fine, need ac compressor from 3.4 so it matches up with the belts, anything else. 924runnersr5 and I about 2 days from driving our project 3.4 swap.

BTW we he has an auto so it was alot harder than the 5spd version of the swap. It was alot of work, but id do it again. Thats me talking before I see the result!
Old 11-15-2005, 08:49 PM
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Originally Posted by DavidA
Let's look at it this way. A decent car/truck today is going to cost you at LEAST $500 per month. So how many months to recover the cost of the swap???? Probably less than a year.

A heck of a lot cheaper than buying a new vehicle, plus the insurance savings,
etc.

agreed. if i had a 2nd gen in great shape and i had good credit, i'd get a 0% CC and finance everything over the term of the promotional 0% period. even if it costs $5,000 and the promo period was 12 months, that's only around $416 per month. alot cheaper than putting down a huge down payment and car payments. but again, only if the 2nd gen was in great shape mechanically and cosmetically.

bob
Old 11-15-2005, 10:15 PM
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Yea I just went through the same ordeal.....my 3.0 crapped out again for the second MAJOR time in two years.....was told it'd be 1300 to fix so I said fix it so I did instead of doing the motor swap.....more and more things were found wrong into the repair and I ended up paying 2600 to fix my 3.0......if I woulda known that I woulda done the conversion....oh well...

future plans are to either sell my new motor soon and do the conversion, or rock the 3.0 till I sell her.....

I am seriously contemplating selling my new motor just put in and then gettin started on the swap....I have seen no desert time yet this season bc of school and I have my other truck if I wanna go out and play around or relax w/ freinds, not to mention most of my freinds drive built trucks so atleast I'll get co-pilot.....
Old 11-16-2005, 08:50 AM
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I'm only in it for about $1600 not including about $600 of parts I've sold. I've swapped in a manual tranny for about $300 ( a very good swap)! Of course I'm doing the labor and the wiring ( can't justify going to school for electronics and not doing it). I will be getting a custom cross over to the driver side for the exhaust and I only need the air intake,o2 sensors, and belts now. I should have enough hoses laying around for extra usage.
Old 11-16-2005, 10:24 AM
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Originally Posted by hektikwon
I'm only in it for about $1600 not including about $600 of parts I've sold. I've swapped in a manual tranny for about $300 ( a very good swap)! Of course I'm doing the labor and the wiring ( can't justify going to school for electronics and not doing it). I will be getting a custom cross over to the driver side for the exhaust and I only need the air intake,o2 sensors, and belts now. I should have enough hoses laying around for extra usage.
Where did you source your doner 3.4 and how much did you pay if you don't mind me asking ?

Thanks

David
Old 11-16-2005, 10:50 AM
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Originally Posted by hektikwon
I'm only in it for about $1600 not including about $600 of parts I've sold. I've swapped in a manual tranny for about $300 ( a very good swap)! Of course I'm doing the labor and the wiring ( can't justify going to school for electronics and not doing it). I will be getting a custom cross over to the driver side for the exhaust and I only need the air intake,o2 sensors, and belts now. I should have enough hoses laying around for extra usage.
Are you having Mike @ORS make your custom cross-over?
Old 11-17-2005, 08:58 AM
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I got the engine from Nashville, TN for about $750. No i'm not getting ORS to do the crossover but I didn't know they did that.
Old 11-17-2005, 10:56 AM
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Originally Posted by hektikwon
I got the engine from Nashville, TN for about $750. No i'm not getting ORS to do the crossover but I didn't know they did that.
They have been doing a custom cross-over in front of the firewall for in-house customers for a while, they are talking about trying to do some to ship out now too. Mike is working on one for me to test out.

Last edited by mt_goat; 11-17-2005 at 10:57 AM.
Old 11-17-2005, 07:03 PM
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Originally Posted by mt_goat
They have been doing a custom cross-over in front of the firewall for in-house customers for a while, they are talking about trying to do some to ship out now too. Mike is working on one for me to test out.
I didn't know that Let me know how it works out cause I may be ready to crank her up soon, depending on my cash flow. That would definately be a worthwhile investment.

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