Engine swap to new v6?
 

Anyone ever put a newer V6 (like what is in the new camaro, 323hp, which is more than I have now) with a 6 speed in a C3 Corvette?

I am thinking this may be a good option for me in the future. My car is not a numbers matching engine (not sure about the trans, looks like it may be). I would love to have something that didn't drink so much gas. I have been getting around 10-13 mpg right now with the crate 350 and 4 speed manual trans.

I had a 54 chevy pickup that I put a 5.3L (from an 2001 silverado) in with a 4L80E trans. That truck was a driver and towed a boat with it, got about 15-20 mpg (20+ on highways).

I know that there are things that would need modified or replaced. I would need to have the driveshaft modified for the connection to trans (had that done with the driveshaft on my truck). New gauges would be needed.

My bigger question would be...
How would motor mounts fit?
Would I have any clearance issues anywhere? hood, fenders, firewall?
Where would the shifter line up?

Let me hear your thoughts and/or if you know anyone that has done anything like this before.

Thanks

saw a guy put a toyota v6 in one , your car , you do what you want

You can probably expect about 25mpg with a 5.3 and 4L60E, and about 30mpg out of that V6 setup.

What gear ratio are you running in your vette?

Mine would get about 20 with the QJet and the 700R4. I'm hoping to eke a few MPG more out of my new setup (TKO 600 with .64 OD)

You could probably go to a 5 or 6 speed trans and get close to a 20mpg number, doing half the swap.

As for the questions specific to the V6, I think you'd be venturing into new territory. You should start by looking up the external dimensions of the V6 and compare to a small block. I don't think they have the same bellhousing patterns as LS/SBC engines so you'd be in another interesting realm with transmissions as well.

the transmission used with those are made by Aisin, they aren't the regular Tremics that the LSx engines use.

It you want better mileage, I would just got with a 5 speed from Keisler, or American powertrain behind the stock engine. Those High feature V6 engines have a lot of problems, and the cost to do the conversion will buy you a lot of gas.

I remember back in the late 70's during the "gas crisis" a subscriber to a Corvette magazine wrote in and asked the editor his opinon about putting a four cylinder in his Corvette. He had trashed his engine and was going to replace it with something... perhaps more fuel efficient. The editor responded back by saying that the subscriber would be creating a "White elephant" I think he was right on the mark. :D

Some of the newer V6s put out pretty good HP numbers.....
I myself would still want a V8 - but I'm sure it would scoot along pretty good.....

Gonna want pics if you do it!

:cheers:

Yea, I think it would be looked at like a "white elephant" maybe I should think about just replacing the trans, maybe swaping the rear gears (after I find out what they are). I'm just trying to think out side the box, which sometimes can get me in trouble.

If you are looking for gas mileage put an LS1 in there, I used to get over 25 MPG from my C5.

Some of the new v6s put down numbers that were reserved for v8s only a few years back. The mustang v6 has a little over 300hp which not that long ago was very respectable. But I think most people, car guys anyway, feel like that car should have a v8. To me a corvette is the same way. As was mentioned above, you would not have a lot of resources to fall back on like an LS swap or other things that have been done before. That runs into time and money.
I am betting that if your motor runs decent, you would get better milage results working on the stuff behind the engine.
I think you are on the right path now.
Keep us posted.

Great question but I just can't imagine my vette with a V6 in it. I'm currently avg around 9-10 mpg with a 4 speed. I've acquired a T5 from a mustang cobra that I'm going to install. I figure the overdrive 5th gear should really help with the gas mileage but not weigh to heavy on my wallet.

Hard to justify spending spending the money it would take to retrofit a V6. You would have to drive a lot of miles to get any type of ROI out of it.

:iagree: :thumbs: :cheers:

:iagree:
If you do change the motor out, there are plenty of LS motors out there. There are parts needed for the conversion. There is plenty of documentation on the swap.

When Teslas start hitting the graveyard I believe that will be a interesting swap. An Electric c-3, a whole new concept to the name STINGRAY.

I've done that swap into a Fiat - with turbos

After hearing a new Camaro V6 with an aftermarket exhaust jump on it the other day, I wouldn't recommend it. :ack:

I'd think if you removed the frame mounts on the vette, then line up the new engine and mount it with a after market mount from summit or jegs. or you could fab something out of a piece of channel.
I say if you can get a good deal on the engine from a camaro go for it.

my wifes 2000 SS camaro LS1 was rated at 320 hp, runs 12.9's get 25 plus mpg.

I wonder what the real dyno #'s are on the V6, stock camaro LS1 cranked out 402 according to a mag artical back when...

:iagree: The trans swap is a more reasonable avenue to persue. ;)

I just did some calculations on the payback to do a swap.
I made the following assumptions:

$2500 spent on the swap
$3.75 per gallon of gas so at that price $2500 would buy
666.6667 gallons of gas and at 13 MPG you could travel
8666.667 miles for that $2500 and at 30 MPG you could travel
20000 miles for that $2500 which is an additional
11333.33 miles so dividing the additional miles by the $3.75 cost
377.7778 gallons of gas would be saved and at $3.75 per gallon
$1416.667 would be saved so dividing that into the original $2500 spent you need that savings
1.764706 times to save the $2500 invested so multiplying that by the additional miles means
20000 highway miles are needed to save your investment.

I set this up in an excel spreadsheet and I will email it to anyone who wants to question the calculations I did, but I think it's accurate.

One thing that I found interesting is that the more you improve the gas mileage, the more miles it takes to recoup your investment because you are saving less money per mile.

Interesting spreadsheet results, thanks for posting the #s. I would be surprised if anyone would approach that mileage number without a 5/6 sp which would add anywhere btn $2500 and $4000 based on posts.
I've seen a Gran National turbo 6 installed in a C3 running in the low 10's at the track.

I wouldn't bother with the V6 swap, my LS3 6spd gives me around 24 mpg and 426 HP. I'm looking at a LS3 6spd swap for the 73 Z28 I have.