been awhile since i had to actually ask a question here but here goes. what are the differences in years of the old 3.0? most say the early motors were more of a gas hog but that's about all i seem to be able to nail down. stouter rods later on? larger cc injectors? whats the low down on this? thanks in advance!

 

As far as I could tell between my original '92 motor and the rebuilt '89 I replaced it with, the only differences I could see were with air induction and emissions. Injectors are different in design somehow, but I don't remember exactly. Something about how they function. You can read about it on autoshop101.com. I posted a link to that site in the main page FSM links sticky. The main fuse panel under the hood had some design difference....mainly how everything was located. A couple of connectors were different. There were differences in terminals on the ECU, but that was because the '89 was a 5spd and my '92 is an automatic. The nuts and bolts of everything all seemed to be the same, though.

 

just an FYI, some of the tensioners, and brackets they used on the later motors are a LOT more beefy. when i rebuilt the top-end on my truck, it came as a surprise to me that the motor had been swapped for a 94 3.0...
confused the heck outta the parts counter at the auto parts store when i brought them a timing belt tensioner from a 94 and tried to tell them that it was from a 90... lol...

 

hmm some good info there. might look into seeing if the later tensioners etc are different. cover looks the same but i will have to look deeper and see what is really up. hopefully i can jsut reuse my harnesses from the old motor and all the sensors etc will be similar. swapping afew isnt a biggie. thanks guys!

 

Yes, the t-belt tensioners are different. I think they changed in 92 or so with the updated front end.

There are a few more smaller differences, but I cannot remember them off hand..

 

88 engines are a stand alone year only, due to the holes drilled in the block for the placement of the motor mounts.

You can use a 93 engine in your 88, but you CANNOT go the other way around.

The 93 engine used different tensioner setups, as well as water inlet and heater hose setups.

Performance wise, they were all about the same, with only some minor Emissions adjustments made along the way.

 

"You can use a 93 engine in your 88, but you CANNOT go the other way around."

Really? hmmm now i haev to go take a better look at this thing. i dont understand how it works one way but not the other.

 

sorry to hijack but my question is- ngk plug wires for 88 3.0 3vze different from 92 3.0 3vze. The reason im asking is that the ngk wires for the 88 is cheaper and i need one for my 92. Each has different part number.

 

The 93 block was drilled and tapped to accept either style motor mounts....the 88 Stamped steel brackets, OR the 89+ cast brackets. The 88 block has provisions only for the stamped steel brackets from 88.

 

The 'Coug! Knowing way more than any average human....

 

that'd be why his ego has two profiles, and he himself can defeat Chuck Norris.

 

Well, what can I say.

 

yes they are different

 

88 is female slip style on the cap end, 92 is male and clips on. Yea, completly different.

 

Thanks for clearing that up for me coug

 

Whoa, Whoa, lets not get ahead of ourselves shall we, defeat chuck norris? It may be a good fight but against chuck norris their can be no victory.

 

Clearly you have not read my sig line.

 

oh man, my bad, you beat chuck norris? there must be an amazing story behind this, this fight must have destroyed galaxies.

 

Suffice to say I created a disturbance in the force