PhantomFE3

ok so i have a '92 sonoma that i use for my winter beater, right now in MN winters the 4.3 v6 TBI isnt holding up so well, it bogs down really bad when it gets below zero, it seriously lacks power in the cold and when the weather warms up it has horrible piston slap and is definitely alot weaker than it was 5 years ago..

i know they made v8 conversions to s-10s and sonomas, so me and my dad were saying that we could get a 305 or a 350 TBI and we could bolt it in in place of the worn down 4.3. i know for sure we'd have to get the different motor mounts for the v-8 and we would have to take the computer from the donor car as well, but are there other things im overlooking?

its a 92 sonoma and its 4wd so it has the beefier suspention so i dont think we would do much for suspention in the front, the transmission and differentials and everything for the 4wd is all good and it has the towing package, it seems almost perfect for a v-8 swap.

im looking more towards a 305 out of a camaro, probably put a beefier cam in the motor, it would be my winter beater/hunting vehicle, we wouldnt need tons of power but torque is what we'd need and the 305 is alot better than the 4.3. if anyone has any comments/concerns about this and if theres anything im overlooking please let me know and give me some advice and feedback on this. also if youve got a 305 TBI your not using shoot me a price on it

ShiftyCapone

iTrader: (7)

We are going to have to stick to the TBI aspects of your swap to keep this legal. We will pretend your vehicle is an f-bod with a formerly swapped 4.3 in it instead

You will need the motor along with the ECS module and injectors for that particular motor. It should be a straight forward swap TBI wise. The tuning guys will chip in on the ECM compatability. I am pretty sure you can keep what you have and just get a new chip burnt.

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

The fueling would probably be somewhat close with the 4.3L chip, but the computer will calculate the rpms too high since it will recieve 4 pulses/rev rather then just three. Youll need to get another chip for a 5L tbi with a 7747 ecm.

PhantomFE3

so basically what your saying is that, lets take a camaro for example, i take the 305 TBI out of the camaro, put it in my truck, i would go ahead and take the ECM out of the camaro too? thats what i thought i would need, it seems alot easier just to take the ECM out of the camaro and stick it in there rather than to get a new one burnt

DM91RS

check this site out.....www.jagsthatrun.com

E-Z Rollin

Check s series .org all the swap info on s-10's you'll need.

BMmonteSS

You can't just swap the ecm, the wiring is all different. 4.3 to V-8 swaps are real popular around here (read: hickville usa) so I've gotten to tune quite a few. Believe it or not they run surpisingly well if you wap a 4.3 for a 5.7 The ecm basis all the fueling off of individual cylinder volume, the 4.3 has the same cylinder volume as a 5.7. The ecm calculates the rpm's wrong but that really won't matter since the injectors are fired based on a ref pulse from the dissy, you get two extra pulses because there are now two extra cylinders so you end up with the extra fuel needed. Other than some hesitation when you stabed the throttle and bad gas milage they ran pretty good. The guys that swaped to a 305 had tons of problems, would barely idle and had less power than with the 4.3 The 92's used a funky ecm that as far as I know only came with 4.3L. You'll need to double check that.

From my experience this is what you need.

1. A modified oil pan to clear the cross member. I've seen home made jobs and I think advanced adapters sells an oil pan just for this swap.
2. I think the motor mounts work fine just the way they are. You need to double check that.
3. You need a 350 knock sensor, and possibly a EST module. I say possibly because some ecm's used a built in knock module either bolted to the ecm itself (white box) or built into the memcal (long blue chip inside the ecm)
4. Most importantly you need a custom chip, or if your lucky find out if your ecm was ever used in a full size truck. If so you might be able to just order a stock chip for your engine size.


If you can get me the sevice no. off of your ecm, as well as the 4 letter chip code I can look and see if your ecm ever ran a v-8.

PhantomFE3

where would i find these at so i can get the numbers off of them?

ZSnyper

The ECU and the motor is all that is necessary really. YOu would need to get ahold of 2.8l V6 mounts. The TBI harness in your "camaro" is already the same as the one in the donor Camaro. I think two wires need to be lengthened is all. O2 and TPS I think. Check www.s10swap.org. They have all the info needed.

BMmonteSS

Nope the 4 wheel peel s-10's and even the 2 wheel drive s-10's use a different ecm. Check out this site http://www.tunercat.com/tnr_desc/do_tc.html
They list what year cars came with what ecm's, 92 is an odd year they used several different ecm's depending on the motor. I've never heard of using the 2.8 motor mounts, sounds odd since the 4.3 is just a 350 with the two front cylinders loped off. I wish that link you listed worked cause that site would probably answer a lot of questions. I do know for a fact that if your swaping a v-8 into a 4x4 you need to modify the oil pan to clear the cross member.

The service no. and chip code is listed on the tag on the front of the ecm.