3.2 engine swap to MTX

[Baldo-]

Hello everyone, it's been a long time since I've visited the boards. My '93 MTX SHO kicked the bucket a while back, and no shop was able to actually diagnose the problem. "It's your ECU, that'll run 1400 and we don't wanna fix it, see ya" or "Your timing belt went, you ejected a valve, we don't wanna fix it, see ya" or "You overheated the engine, heads are warped, nothin will turn over, don't wanna have anything to do with it, see ya."
Now I kinda assumed the shops were in the business of fixing cars, so this was strange to me, but I tried to check it out myself. I have *general* knowlege of cars and a manual and some spare time, so why not give it a try? Well I get under the timing cover and the belt looks mint. Of course it still needs replacing, but obviously that wasn't the problem... These engines are non interferance, and I'm running stock cams, so I shouldn't have ejected a valve... and I can turn the engine manually and smoothly.. so nothing should be warped correct?
Anyway, the car has sat for a while because of this mystery problem. And now my mothers friend tells me that his neighbor has an SHO. Not sure the year, but it has a fresh engine rebuild... It's a 3.2 and it seems that some problems with the rest of the car are making them get rid of it. Basically if I take it off their hands it belongs to me.
3.2 time. I now have a parts car and a rebuilt engine. I have used the search function to try and find all the info I can about swapping, but theres a ton to weed through, could anyone help me with linking some writeups or sending some tips my way? I'd really appreciate it. Theres nothing I want more than to drive my SHO again. The practically mint exterior/interior (forest greeen/black leather) has just been staring at me, and I've jsut been having SHO dreams. It's time this poor car gets on the road again!
THanks in advance for all the info!! and Happy SHOing to everyone.

 

[squidlips]

I just finished mine. I followed the write up from shotimes.com. It went step by step with good pictures. Everything was realitivly straight forward. The only thing I did not do was the remounting of the coil pack, mine seemed to work fine where it was. Get the motor yanked and then post any questions. Everyone here was very helpful when I did mine.

 

[luigisho]

First of all what is an accurate description of why the car won't run? Starter cranks but no start? Does tach move when engaging the starter? It could be as simple as replacing a crank sensor. What are the diagnostic trouble codes?

As far as a 3.2 swap you can do this if you have the time, tools, and patience. Yank the old motor, replace bearings and gaskets/seals, swap heads, oil pump, oil pan, exhaust manifolds, intake manifold, and flywheel off the 3.0 to the 3.2 block. Reinstall to mtx car. Sounds easier than it is but it's doable.

Check out the writeups on the shotimes.com website and there are alot of posts here archived regarding this. The search function will pull a ton of stuff up and you should be able to amass enough info to get you through it.

 

[strings1732]

As far as a 3.2 swap you can do this if you have the time, tools, and patience. Yank the old motor, replace bearings and gaskets/seals, swap heads, oil pump, oil pan, exhaust manifolds, intake manifold, and flywheel off the 3.0 to the 3.2 block. Reinstall to mtx car. Sounds easier than it is but it's doable.

You do not have to swap the heads, you can cut a chunk off the front 3.2 head. Oil pump does not have to be changed either. All accessories, all pulleys, the timing tensioner stud/spring post and everything else 3.0 is used. essentially it's like swaping everything that currently is on the 3.0 motor over to the new 3.2 motor, minus the internals and the heads. I opted to swap my 3.0 heds, even though the 3.2 had about half the miles because some stupid person's idea of taking the exhaust manifolds off was to pry and gall the aluminum... I'm glad I did too because the 3.2 had blown a head gasket.

 

[SHO SPD]

I also followed the directions on SHOtimes... I found it worked pretty well. It covered most of the parts, but you dont need to swap oil pump. and the chunk to cut off the head is real easy to cut off. Good luck!

 

[luigisho]

True, you don't have to swap the heads but since people like the 3.0 cams I figured this is the time to do it. Yes you can cut the 3.2 chunk if you like. As for the oil pump again true you can use the 3.2 pump but the bracket thing will leave a gap that you might want to fill in. 3.0 pump and heads looks cleaner IMO.

 

[strings1732]

That gap is not visible unless the motor is torn down and it affects nothing. I agree it looks cleaner with the 3.0 heads. With my 3.0 heads and 3.2 oil pump and timing covers/tranny/accessories installed, the 3.2 motor looks like it was installed from the factory. Runs good too!