Some insight into the 3.4L OHV Motor...

**Iyyob** · 09-15-2009, 08:09 AM

Yoshi the 3500 top end is a great start to acheving you goal @ drifting desires also we have a very very extensive market for suspension parts look in some other posts and browse the forums if you have more questions as not to clutter this thread so much. Good luck

**Smittro** · 09-15-2009, 09:13 AM

Originally Posted by Iyyob

Yoshi the 3500 top end is a great start to acheving you goal @ drifting desires also we have a very very extensive market for suspension parts look in some other posts and browse the forums if you have more questions as not to clutter this thread so much. Good luck

You do realize that post is from over a month ago right? The OP is from 10-14-05.....

**Iyyob** · 09-15-2009, 11:16 AM

Yea but he only has 2 posts here and I haven't seen him on any of the other forums go 2 , btw how's ur build goin ?
**Mods can delete this post it has no good info **

**Smittro** · 09-15-2009, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by Iyyob

Yea but he only has 2 posts here and I haven't seen him on any of the other forums go 2 , btw how's ur build goin ?
**Mods can delete this post it has no good info **

Slow lol. But getting there..

**Gearhead291** · 10-09-2009, 02:44 AM

hey everybody i just got done reading this whole thread.
wow a lot of reading lol.

just to be clear, im not trying to fully build the engine, just trying to give it a little extra hp until i can save up some money and then ill fully build the engine. my car is my daily driver so i cant have it down for more than a day.
i can pretty much rebuild an engine, so i can do the work myself.

my questions are:

if i were to use a 3400 intake(my car is a 94), just the intake, fuel rail & injectors, on my 3.4l it would work right? a direct swap with no mods? just "plug&play"? im not trying to swap the heads at this point.

what year of the car should i be looking at for the intake?

and if i can swap, which gaskets should i use?

thanks.

**Gearhead291** · 10-09-2009, 03:35 AM

bump...

**Smittro** · 10-10-2009, 06:56 AM

Originally Posted by Gearhead291

hey everybody i just got done reading this whole thread.
wow a lot of reading lol.

just to be clear, im not trying to fully build the engine, just trying to give it a little extra hp until i can save up some money and then ill fully build the engine. my car is my daily driver so i cant have it down for more than a day.
i can pretty much rebuild an engine, so i can do the work myself.

my questions are:

if i were to use a 3400 intake(my car is a 94), just the intake, fuel rail & injectors, on my 3.4l it would work right? a direct swap with no mods? just "plug&play"? im not trying to swap the heads at this point.

what year of the car should i be looking at for the intake?

and if i can swap, which gaskets should i use?

thanks.

Forced firebird would prolly be the guy to ask. I'm not sure you can use that intake in rwd 3.4. It faces to the rear of 3400 tranverse but do'nt quote me. ForcedFirebird is a member here but you'd prolly have far better luck finding him @ 60dgreev6.com. Definetly the place to go for answers on your 660.

**Tealcamaro** · 08-27-2012, 11:41 AM

Hi, I have read this whole forum now. I think it is a great forum for 3.4 owners look for extra hp.

But asking forced.firebird.
Can u give me a list to everything I would need to do what russel did but with 99 grand am heads.

**Smittro** · 08-28-2012, 04:59 AM

Originally Posted by Tealcamaro

Hi, I have read this whole forum now. I think it is a great forum for 3.4 owners look for extra hp.

But asking forced.firebird.
Can u give me a list to everything I would need to do what russel did but with 99 grand am heads.

Well the last post in this thread is 3 years old. You can find forced firebird, @ 60 degree v6.com. He's the hybrid 3.4/3500 guy as well.

**harrider2006** · 01-06-2013, 12:23 PM

Thanks for saving me the heartaches of trial & error in the building-up of a 3.4L V6...I am going to replace a 2.8L in a 1991 ISUZU Trooper...all the 2.8 accessories will bolt-on & the MUA-5 transmission bolts-up...!!!
I know this is not exactly an LS1 scenario, but it is an important one to me...Thanks Again & if there are any more "revelations" I would appreciate them...

Originally Posted by Black34v6

The first bottleneck is the plenum. While it looks pretty decent, being that the outer size is 3 inches wide by 2.5 inches tall (or somewhere around there – I forget) where the inside is really only like 1.5 – 1.75 inches wide x one inch tall! The plenum has an incredibly thick construction (why I have no idea, its not like you are boosting the motor from the factory) and it makes for very little space for the air to travel inside. Then on top of that the airflow has to split, make two 45 degree turns in order to get to one more 45 degree turn down into the engine. This equates to a lot of bad sharp angles that the airflow has to navigate – effectively slowing it down. The fact that the runners are super short makes for more problems being that there is no way the engine is capable of any top end power, hence the problem with the engine “dying” at 4500 rpm. Ask any 3.4L owner and they will tell you that the engine seems to top out around 4500 rpm. While most people are ok with this, the tachometer shows that the engine has a rev potential of 5500 rpm and a redline of 7k. This is due to the forged steel connecting rods in the engine that can take more abuse than most. The other thing GM didn’t think of – fuel supply. While 16lb injectors come stock on the 2.8-3.4L engine, they are only capable of supplying the engine with enough fuel for a max of 160 hp. (sound familiar?) After you go past 160 hp, the injectors begin to become less and less efficient, costing the driver more in terms of gas mileage and not really working to their full potential. Putting larger injectors helps a good deal.

All this said, it seems to be that the 3.4L engine is a stout powerplant with untapped potential. I proved this when I bolted the aluminum heads to the block itself. Using a stock 3.4L RWD engine block I mated the Gen III aluminum heads and 3100 intake (1996 model year) along with the fuel rails and larger injectors, the stock 3400 throttle body (50mm, just like the RWD stock tb) and adding RKSport headers (due to the fact that nothing else fit that would work in the RWD engine bay, pacesetter headers would work just as well) I realized a gain in the form of 27RWHP and 30RWTQ. (thats from 140rwhp -> 167rwhp and 183rwtq -> 203 rwtq). Once I took the cutout plate off to open the exhaust fully, it gave me another 3 horsepower and 3 torque (both rearwheel) taking me to 170RWHP and 207RWTQ. That’s a 30 RWHP gain and 24 RWTQ gain. Factor in 15% drivetrain loss and that comes to 200 horsepower at the engine. Now when I started, stock engine save for the 3” catback exhaust and K&N FIPK – I had dynoed at 140RWHP and 183RWTQ – that’s 164 HP and 215 TQ at the crank. Just updating the heads and intake from the restrictive version that GM put on there in 1993-1995 to the ones they were currently using in 1996 gave me an increase of 36 hp and 30 tq (170rw=>200c / 207rw=>245c) over what came from the factory. Then I decided to upgrade to the “3400” parts. I made sure I got a set of heads used on the 1999+ Grand Am GT, which featured bigger valves and roller rocker arms built in, as well as larger runners and ports on the plenum as well as an increased plenum size. I still haven’t dynoed the current setup that I’m running, but it’s enough that to date I have beaten a 1996 Convertible Z28 that was going all out to catch up to me and couldn’t until I decided to let off the gas a little. A 3.4L with parts from GM’s factory shelves, complete with casting flaws – keeping the car from being caught by a stock 1996 Z28. To me that’s a major achievement. I can get the owner of the Z28 to come on here and back me up if you need proof, I’m sure he would help me out. He’s one of the members of my car club.

I guess the point of all this is that I’m tired of people giving up on this engine. Its got a lot of potential but it is a challenge. You can’t just slap parts on it like you can with the V8. Even the 3.8 is a challenge but the 3.4 has so many design flaws that it comes across as a failure when it simply needs to be “woken up”. I’m tired of hearing that making the 3.4L perform is impossible – it isn’t. If it was then neither myself or Tiago would have gotten any results from our testing and working so hard. It is a challenge though. And it’s not an easy one at that. Lots of time and effort have to be put into it. So if you think you are up to the challenge of making something cool and custom, then stay with the 3.4 and realize your own personalized car at the end. If you want an easy way out, sell your car and buy a V8. I really don’t care either way. But sooner or later everyone will realize that the 3.4 isn’t as bad as they think. If GM had put a little more thought into the 3.4L like they did with the 3800 Series II – then the 3.4 would have been rated in the top 10 engines of all time. 200 hp is achievable in “stock” form. I’ve done it. Can you?

**FireFalcon** · 12-28-2015, 09:30 PM

I purchased the upper plenum and lower intake manifold off of a 1996 Grand Am GT in the junkyard today, Would that intake bolt to the existing iron 3.4l heads?

**FireFalcon** · 12-29-2015, 03:53 PM

I looked up images of the heads and intake and they do not match, If i were to get the 1999 Grand Am Gt heads would those be able to bold directly onto the 3.4l V6 block?

**pajeff02** · 12-29-2015, 06:59 PM

Welcome to the site! Unfortunately, my knowledge is mostly limited to the LS engines and not its V6 brethren. I see that in '96 the Grand Am GT came equipped with a 3.1 liter engine. We had a 3.1 in a Chevrolet Lumina years ago and it was a very stout and reliable powerplant. The 3.4 is described as a "bored out" L98, which is the 3.1 liter engine, however, I am not sure about parts interchangeability.

**FireFalcon** · 12-30-2015, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by pajeff02

Welcome to the site! Unfortunately, my knowledge is mostly limited to the LS engines and not its V6 brethren. I see that in '96 the Grand Am GT came equipped with a 3.1 liter engine. We had a 3.1 in a Chevrolet Lumina years ago and it was a very stout and reliable powerplant. The 3.4 is described as a "bored out" L98, which is the 3.1 liter engine, however, I am not sure about parts interchangeability.

Well the 1995 through 99 used the same intake but the heads were not revised until 1999 for better airflow, if i were to buy the heads for the 99 I've read they should be a direct bolt on to the 1994 3.4L block, the one question i still have is if it would be able to pass emissions, I believe after installing the intake and better flowing heads i would most likely have to get an ecu for the car such as the mega squirt or a stand alone ecu. I also recently purchased some accel superstock spark plug wires and ordered some E3 spark plugs for the car, I've also been thinking about setting up a spectre cold air intake system for the car, do you have any other recommendations to improve upon the stock 3.4L engine?

**pajeff02** · 12-31-2015, 06:25 AM

Anything that improves airflow through the engine will improve your power. How about some headers for the 3.4 heads?

1994 PONTIAC FIREBIRD PaceSetter Headers 70-1208 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing

**FireFalcon** · 12-31-2015, 06:51 AM

Originally Posted by pajeff02

Anything that improves airflow through the engine will improve your power. How about some headers for the 3.4 heads?

1994 PONTIAC FIREBIRD PaceSetter Headers 70-1208 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing

I'll have to save up for the headers but that sounds like a good investment

**VolvoAmazon** · 10-08-2016, 05:03 AM

I joined this site because of THIS post. While my wife owns a 6th Camaro (recently acquired of trade of a 5th Gen), my interest is strictly in the 60° V6, because of its remarkably compact dimensions, which would allow it to fit handily into the engine bay of a Volvo 122S. Even the 4.3, with its 90° vee, has exhaust ports where my upper control arms want to be. So nice to hear, over the din of "The 60° engine is crap! Get a V8!" a reasoned voice of a man who has done his research, ESPECIALLY when it involves GM factory parts for the transverse (FWD) engine that seem vastly to improve the breathing over the parts supplied on the longitudinal (RWD) engines.